Becoming Rasta: origins of Rastafari identity in Jamaica

288 Pages·2016·3.574 MB·English

by  Price, Charles

Becoming Rasta
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Becoming Rasta
Origins of Rastafari Identity in Jamaica
Charles Price
(cid:4)
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2009 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Price, Charles, 1963–
Becoming Rasta : origins of Rastafari identity in Jamaica / Charles Price.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–8147–6746–7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–8147–6746–X (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978–0–8147–6747–4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–8147–6747–8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Rastafari movement—Jamaica. 2. Identification (Religion)
3. Blacks—Race identity—Jamaica. 4. Jamaica—Religion. I. Title.
BL2532.R37P75 2009
299.6’76097292—dc22 2009014684
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Livication
I livicate (instead of “dead-icate”) this book to all of the
elder Rastafari of Jamaica, and to the younger ones who
will continue to carry forward the banner of Rastafari.
I also livicate this book to my baby grandson, Bongo BJ,
who eventually will grapple with Blackness and identity.
Ras Sam Brown, Rasta Ivey, Ras Brenton, and Brother
Yendis have passed away. May our memories of them
live forever.
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction 1
1 Race Formation and Morally Configured Black Identities 19
2 Ethnogenesis, Surprise, and Collective Identity Formation 55
3 The Positive Power of Stigma and Black Identity 98
4 Encounters 132
5 Acts of Identity Work 166
6 Rastafari Nation on the Move: Identity and Change 201
Conclusion: Toward a More Comprehensive 223
Understanding of Racial Identity Formation
Acronyms 233
Notes 235
References 241
Index 259
About the Author 267
vii
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Preface
This book examines the historical, social, and personal sources
and consolidation of Rastafari identity and experience in Jamaica. It re-
veals the ways in which both the ancient and modern past provide cul-
tural resources for the present and how the Rastafari use these resources
to fashion a positive Black identity in the face of discrimination.
There exists a substantial volume of work on the Rastafari, much of it
published since the late 1980s. Surprisingly absent in these accounts are
Rastafari testimonies about how they came to identify as Rastafari, an
identity which first appeared in the early 1930s. Their accounts tell us about
the paths and journeys that people have taken to become and remain Ras-
tafari. The recollections of the Rastafari on their experience and identity
also offer us much more. Their stories invite us to ask novel questions and
seek answers framed by new viewpoints. Why and how are stigmatized
identities like Rastafari and Blackness given positive value? What are some
of the ways in which personal experience, society, and history reciprocally
shape each other? We will draw valuable answers to these questions and
others from the personal and social experience of the Rastafari.
On November 2, 1930, Ras Tafari, King of Ethiopia, was crowned Em-
peror of Ethiopia, and adopted the name Haile Selassie I, or Power of the
Holy Trinity. The Emperor also identified himself as “King of Kings” and
“Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” These new appellations mani-
fested biblical significance for attentive Black Jamaicans who associated
the Emperor’s titles with the Messiah as identified in the Old and New
Testaments of the King James Bible, especially the Book of Revelation.
International newspapers, including Jamaica’s leading paper, the Daily
Gleaner, covered the coronation. A sentence in a brief column published
there on November 3, 1930, read: “The Empress and Emperor seated on
golden thrones, dressed in the Abyssinian style, beneath a canopy sur-
mounted by the Crown of Judah” (p. 18). This passage, dripping with im-
agery, captured the imagination of many Black Jamaicans.
ix