The Rastafarian Movement :: essays research papers fc

The Rastafarian Movement Since its founding in the 1930s, the Rastafarian hunting expedition has grown to the point where it has become a major heathenish and political force in Jamaica. During its existence, the movement has challenged Jamaicas neo-colonialist societys attempts to keep whites at the sack and blacks at the bottom of the socio-economic structure.Because of its controversial actions, the movement has evoked responses from observers that range from " abhorrence" to "curiosity" (Forsythe 63). On one hand, Rastafarians have been criticized because of their belief that Haile Selassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia, is God and that marijuana (ganja) should be used as a sacred sacrament. On the other hand, the Rastafari have been praised for their continual resistance to and confrontation with oppression, racism, and the evolution of the poor and underprivileged (Campbell 1).Unfortunately, most early studies of the Rastafarian movement seduce a dist orted image of the group. Jamaicas national newspaper, the Daily Gleaners, anti-Rastafarian perspective direct many to conclude that the Rastafarians were Black Marxist "racists" whose "criminality" was linked to drug-addiction. As an example of the distorted image, Morris stated the followingThey are vehement in their attacks on the government, the white man, imperialism and Christianity, and their eloquence is touched by that naivete which derives...from an roughly total ignorance of the world, economic affairs, and any sense of history. This is not to say that they do not have a cause it is simply to state that any(prenominal) case they may have, they parody it with their odd speech, dress and behaviour. (89)Despite the a lot negative image projected in the press and other writings, the Rastafarian movement has grown at a rapid rate. In 1977, an estimated 75,000 primaeval Jamaicans were followers of Rastafari (Davis and Simon, Reggae Bloodlines, 63). By 1988, Barrett conservatively calculated the membership of the worldwide movement to be 300,000 (2). Forsythe observed that Rastafarianism "represents a growing force wherever tidy West Indian communities are found--in Britain, Canada, the USA and in the Caribbean" (63).There are several possible explanations for the rapid growth of Rastafari. One major doer in its expansion was the emergence in the late 1960s of reggae music, a derivative of American rhythm and blues and Jamaican ska. Reggae helped spread the school of thought of Rastafari to the wider Jamaican audience and the world. During that period of time, Bob Marley and the Wailers were the principal popularizers of reggae.