Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-330) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- 1. Explaining Rastafari ethnogenesis: a framework -- 2. Initial conditions: converging streams of moral black consciousness in Jamaica and elites' fear of black supremacy -- 3. Vectors, collisions, contention: collective identity formation, 1930-34 -- 4. Rastafari on trial, 1934: expounding the Rastafari doctrine -- 5. Conflict and retreat: sinking cultural roots -- 6. The menace becomes dreadful: Rastafari flex their muscle -- 7. Of beards, insurrection, and rehabilitation: social paranoia and Reverend Claudius Henry's disruptions -- 8. The report on the Rastafari: its effects and concealed motives -- 9. Growing influence brings growing pains: unification and fragmentation tussle -- 10. New challenges for the Rastafari: assault on the House of David, commodification of Rastafari culture, and gender -- Conclusion.
Summary:
"REPI offers a fresh angle on the Rastafari by drawing on underutilized sources such as news stories and colonial records, along with other data such as field notes, interviews and cultural products like screeds and hymns. Charles Price introduces readers to new connections, characters, and events salient to the development of the Rastafari. REPI is a scholarly resource written in a style accessible to a general audience"-- Provided by publisher. Author Charles Price (education, Temple University) offers a history of Rastafarianism and collective Rastafari identity in Jamaica. While the book focuses on the period from the 1930s through the early 2000s, it also delves into Rastafarianism's deeper roots in the 1890s and Revival religions. Closer to the present, the book explores the commodification and cultural appropriation of Rastafari music and culture, in the context of neoliberal capitalism. The book draws on field research conducted between 1996 and 2007, along with interviews of elder Rastafari, archival data, news stories, government memos, and letters, as well as cultural products including hymns, musical recordings, tracts, and web sites. The author describes how Rastafarians resisted oppression, and how this resistance contributed to black consciousness and collective black identity.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.