Social Origins Of The Rastafari Movement

An exploration into why and how Jamaicans become Rastafari in spite of increasing incrimination of the religion So much has been written about the Rastafari, yet we know so little about why and how people join the Rastafari movement. Although popular understandings evoke images of dreadlocks, reggae, and marijuana, Rastafarians were persecuted in their country, becoming a people seeking social justice. Yet new adherents continued to convert to Rastafari despite facing adverse reactions from their fellow citizens and from their British rulers. Charles Price draws on in-depth interviews to reveal the personal experiences of those who adopted the religion in the 1950s to 1970s, one generation past the movement's emergence. By talking with these Rastafari elders, he seeks to understand why and how Jamaicans became Rastafari in spite of rampant discrimination, and what sustains them in their faith and identity. Utilizing new conceptual frameworks, Price explores the identity development of Rastafari, demonstrating how shifts in the movement’s identity—from social pariah to exemplar of Blackness—have led some of the elder Rastafari to adopt, embrace, and internalize Rastafari and blackness as central to their concept of self.

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.

Document from the year 2009 in the subject History - America, University of Bremen, language: English, abstract: The emergence and expansion of Rastafarianism has been a subject for some scholarly study in the Caribbean. The movement has flourished in due process as an outlet to a huge social and psychological confusions and decades-long conflicts inside the movement and society of the islands. To many sociologists, it is the inevitable consequence of Africans in Diaspora, people seeking to define their own identity and psychological needs. It is a movement created not by a revolution but out of confusions and in search of their roots with a Black God on the top. Rastafarianism presents a mixture of politics and theology that has emerged out of its formative years, as they call it “in the Babylon”. In creating their own religion the Rastafarians depend not only on the historical, social or empirical experience of African descendants in the Diaspora but also for their own analysis to determine an active plan for liberation. Regardless of other social norms, they draw on the transcendental sources of human sensibility, theocracy and imagination. For as persons who see themselves to be persecuted, wronged and deprived, to be all but trapped in a situation of persistent material poverty including cultural degradation, the only way they see to get out of this situation “Babylon” is through an apocalypse. From the early Christian history we know that small groups who have worshipped false gods or established their own Temples never succeeded and their religions have corroded including their followers. However, it seems different with the Rastafarians; because their movement is growing stronger -speeding in almost all the continents. This book is in part a revised version of both books “Babylon Muss Fallen, Germany 1989 and “The Rastafarians: In search of Their Identity, Puerto Rico 1985” and in part a contribution of Rastafarian elders, women, activists and musicians. Dozens of authors wrote in this book and throughout the entire book, we have tried to reflect their ideas and philosophy by printing the interviews in their own words of Rastafarian Language (not in pure Creole English or Jamaican Patois = Patwa) to preserve the originality. Thus, we warn our readers that all words and phrases they find in this book is not written in a standard English but intentionally written (and we were kindly requested ) to reflect the importance of the words and how they use them to interpret their deep philosophical ideas. G.Y. Iyassu Menelik. April 2009, Miami Beach, FL

. . . a cult, a deviant subculture, a revolutionary movement . . . these descriptions have been commonly used in the past to identify the Rastafari, a group perhaps best known to North American readers for their gift of reggae music to the world. With both compassion and a sharp sense of reality, anthropologist William Lewis suggests alternative perspectives and reviews existing social theories as he reports on the diverse world of the ganja-smoking Rastafari culture. He carefully examines this culture in its confrontations with the law, its growing ambivalence about itself as well as the continued conflict between many Rasta and contemporary middle-class values. Characterized by rich ethnographic detail, an engaging writing style, and thoughtful commentary, Soul Rebels uncovers the complex inner workings of the Rasta movement and offers a critical analysis of the meaning of Rastafari commitment and struggles. Soul Rebels offers a solid historical overview of the movement, an excellent picture of diversity within the faith, fair and accurate discussions of sexism among the Rasta, engaging life history material, and rich descriptions of what actually goes on in a reasoning session. Lewiss treatment of Rastafari populations in a Jamaican fishing village, an Ethiopian market town, and an urban neighborhood in the northeastern United States sets his ethnography in the cross-cultural and comparative framework central to anthropological analysis.

Decades after its birth and subsequent tour du monde, Rastafari has more recently also appeared in revolutionary Cuba. How the movement has been globalized and subsequentially localized in a socialist and Spanish-speaking context are the main foci of this book. In particular it examines how Cubans have adopted and adapted the movement to their own socio-political and cultural context. Particular attention is paid to Rastafari's development in the context of Cuba's current economic crisis and re-appearance of more overt racism. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Cuba, the study shows how Rastafari's growth and presence on the island have influenced and contributed to the formation and expression of new cultural identities and discourses with regard to what it means to be young, black, and Cuban. Katrin Hansing is a social anthropologist who has worked on numerous Cuba-related issues. Her main areas of interests and expertise include: migration, race/ethnicity, and identity. She is currently the director of a German Research Council funded research project on Cuba's social collaboration ties in Africa.

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.