Rastafari

The Rastafari Movement: A North American and Caribbean Perspective provides a historical and ideological overview of the Rastafari movement in the context of its early beginnings in the island of Jamaica and its eventual establishment in other geographic locations. Building on previous scholarship and the author's own fieldwork, the text goes on to provide a rich comparative analysis of the Rastafari movement with other Black theological movements, specifically the Nation of Islam and the Black Hebrew Israelites in the context of the United States. The text explores the following topics: • Pan-Africanism, Black nationalism and Rastafari; • gender dynamics; • globalization; • concepts and symbols; • other Black theological movements. This text is ideal for students of religious studies, sociology, anthropology, African Diaspora studies, African American studies, and Black studies who wish to gain an understanding of the history and beliefs of the Rastafari Movement.

The first comprehensive work on the origins of the Jamaica-based Rastafaris, including interviews with some of the earliest members of the movement. Rastafari is a valuable work with a rich historical and ethnographic approach that seeks to correct several misconceptions in existing literature—the true origin of dreadlocks for instance. It will interest religion scholars, historians, scholars of Black studies, and a general audience interested in the movement and how Rastafarians settled in other countries.

What is the first thing a Rastafari does when he/she wakes up in the morning? What is the correct way to grow dreadlocks as a Rasta? What products do Rasta in the Caribbean use to wash their dreadlocks and why? What are 10 Essentials of a Rastafari Home? What can one do to Convert to the Rastafari Livity? What are some Bible Chapters special to Rasta and why? “Rasta Way of Life” is a book for the student of Rastafari Livity. Follow the way life of Jah Rastafari, dictated to Rasta, to enter Holy Mount Zion.

From its obscure beginnings in Jamaica in the early 1930s, Rastafari has grown into an international socio-religious movement. It is estimated that 700,000 to 1 million people worldwide have embraced Rastafari, and adherents of the movement can be found in most of the major population centres and many outposts of the world. Rastafari: A Very Short Introduction provides an account of this widespread but often poorly understood movement. Ennis B. Edmonds looks at the essential history of Rastafari, including its principles and practices and its internal character and configuration. He examines its global spread, and its far-reaching influence on cultural and artistic production in the Caribbean and beyond. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

From its beginnings in 1930s Jamaica, the Rastafarian movement has become a global presence. While the existing studies of the Rastafarian movement have primarily focused on its cultural expression through reggae music, art, and iconography, Monique A. Bedasse argues that repatriation to Africa represents the most important vehicle of Rastafari's international growth. Shifting the scholarship on repatriation from Ethiopia to Tanzania, Bedasse foregrounds Rastafari's enduring connection to black radical politics and establishes Tanzania as a critical site to explore gender, religion, race, citizenship, socialism, and nation. Beyond her engagement with how the Rastafarian idea of Africa translated into a lived reality, she demonstrates how Tanzanian state and nonstate actors not only validated the Rastafarian idea of diaspora but were also crucial to defining the parameters of Pan-Africanism. Based on previously undiscovered oral and written sources from Tanzania, Jamaica, England, the United States, and Trinidad, Bedasse uncovers a vast and varied transnational network--including Julius Nyerere, Michael Manley, and C. L. R James--revealing Rastafari's entrenchment in the making of Pan-Africanism in the postindependence period.

This book is designed for those who want to deepen thier awareness of Rastafari Culture. Many questions answered such as...Who created Rastafari and why? Why is King Selassie I so special in Rastafarianism? What are some of the Principles and Beliefs that Rasta live by day to day? What formula does Rasta use to enter Holy Mount Zion? What does it mean to “Live Natural” as Rasta? The truth of Rastafari and how it began still remains untold. As a Rastafari Empress it is the very purpose of my birth to explain the true meaning of Rastafari. Learn 16 Principles of Rastafari, as they pertain to “Self,” “Others,” and “Zion.” 5 Truths of Jah, and the “meaning of life” according to Rastafari. Blessed.

The first comprehensive work on the origins of the Jamaica-based Rastafaris, including interviews with some of the earliest members of the movement. Rastafari is a valuable work with a rich historical and ethnographic approach that seeks to correct several misconceptions in existing literature—the true origin of dreadlocks for instance. It will interest religion scholars, historians, scholars of Black studies, and a general audience interested in the movement and how Rastafarians settled in other countries.

Who changed Bob Marley’s famous peace-and-love anthem into “Come to Jamaica and feel all right?” When did the Rastafarian fighting white colonial power become the smiling Rastaman spreading beach towels for American tourists? Drawing on research in social movement theory and protest music, Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control traces the history and rise of reggae and the story of how an island nation commandeered the music to fashion an image and entice tourists. Visitors to Jamaica are often unaware that reggae was a revolutionary music rooted in the suffering of Jamaica’s poor. Rastafarians were once a target of police harassment and public condemnation. Now the music is a marketing tool, and the Rastafarians are no longer a “violent counterculture” but an important symbol of Jamaica’s new cultural heritage. This book attempts to explain how the Jamaican establishment’s strategies of social control influenced the evolutionary direction of both the music and the Rastafarian movement. From 1959 to 1971, Jamaica’s popular music became identified with the Rastafarians, a social movement that gave voice to the country’s poor black communities. In response to this challenge, the Jamaican government banned politically controversial reggae songs from the airwaves and jailed or deported Rastafarian leaders. Yet when reggae became internationally popular in the 1970s, divisions among Rastafarians grew wider, spawning a number of pseudo-Rastafarians who embraced only the external symbolism of this worldwide religion. Exploiting this opportunity, Jamaica’s new Prime Minister, Michael Manley, brought Rastafarian political imagery and themes into the mainstream. Eventually, reggae and Rastafari evolved into Jamaica’s chief cultural commodities and tourist attractions.