Review by Choice Review
Erskine (Emory Univ.) shows how Rastafari religion functions for its believers "as a vehicle for social and economic change." In Jamaica, during its days of colonialism and slavery, anti-European perceptions of Christianity were formulated and expressed in "Native Baptist" groups. These views, later influenced by Marcus Garvey, blended African heritage with this non-European Christianity to yield a new religion emphasizing Old Testament passages referring to Africa and "messianic" understandings of the rise of Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) to power in Ethiopia. Rastas, not only those in Jamaica, view themselves as being in exodus and express hope for deliverance from their diaspora. The beliefs and rituals of this religion are not codified in creeds and hierarchies, but are expressed by variations in grammar and word usage, in practices such as wearing dreadlocks or smoking ganja ("the holy herb"), and through "rhetorical reasonings" about life rooted in the experiences of colonial oppression, exodus, and African identity. These features have become universalized among Rastas by means of music, the reggae associated with Bob Marley. But Rastafari is more than an expression of protesting popular culture; it significantly exceeds the localism that term suggests. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. R. L. Herrick emeritus, Westmar University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
