Jahmaica: Rastafari and Jamaican society, 1930-1990

Abstract

Jahmaica: Rastafari and Jamaican society, 1930-1990 focuses on the development process of the Rastafari movement and its evolving relationship with Jamaican society. It is a study based primarily on an analysis of archive material, in particular newspapers, pamphlets and files of the British Colonial Office, supplemented with interviews.

In the Introduction it is argued that there is a gap in the literature on the Rastafari movement with regard to detailed historical research. It is also argued that insufficient attention has been paid in the literature to external influences on the development process of the movement.

Chapter 1, Babylon and Zion, discusses the evolution of Jamaican society up to the early twentieth century, a history marked by white European oppression and black African resistance, in which religion, back-to-Africa ideologies and Ethiopianism played a crucial role. The second chapter, The worst evil of all, describes the early years of the Rastafari movement, from its emergence in the 1930s to the absolute depth in its relationship with Jamaican society in the 1960s. The events and developments in the 1960s are discussed in Chapter 3, A problem of grave magnitude. The turbulent developments in the 1970s are the subject of the fourth chapter, A traditional hostility.

As described in Chapter 5, The Obnoxious Minority, Rasta gained a foothold in England, much of the Anglophone Caribbean, in the United States, and in several African, Latin American and European countries, as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Chapter 6, Breaking the tide of radicalism, returns to Jamaica in 1980-1990. Co-opted, disorganized and ideologically divided, the revolutionary potential of the Rastafari movement seems to have almost completely disappeared.

In the concluding chapter, Wait I and I must, the question of the origins and causes of the emergence of the Rastafari movement is examined in more detail. Chevannes argues that Rastafari should be seen as a continuation of Afro-Christian Revival religions. Many of the continuities, however, seem to fall more into the category of "invented traditions" launched by Hobsbawm and Ranger.

It is argued that lack of organization and central leadership has been essential to the further development of the Rastafarian movement. Recognition of (charismatic) leadership is the exception rather than the rule. The Rastafarians' belief that their visions are of equal authority makes the movement a loose collection of prophets, most of them with no followers.

Contrary to what Wallace concludes, repression often backfires and strengthens rather than weakens revitalization movements. It is concluded that it was the superficial acknowledgment and assimilation of Rasta ideas and symbols that took the sting out of the movement. Subversion and co-optation have led not only to a reduction in tensions and a stronger orientation towards Jamaica, but also to more internal divisions.

Finally, it is concluded that partly because of this, the millennial dream of the Rastafarians has survived in a more diffuse form, but is increasingly accompanied by political action.