Rastafarians. A Movement Tied with a Social and Psychological Conflict

Document from the year 2009 in the subject History - America, University of Bremen, language: English, abstract: The emergence and expansion of Rastafarianism has been a subject for some scholarly study in the Caribbean. The movement has flourished in due process as an outlet to a huge social and psychological confusions and decades-long conflicts inside the movement and society of the islands. To many sociologists, it is the inevitable consequence of Africans in Diaspora, people seeking to define their own identity and psychological needs. It is a movement created not by a revolution but out of confusions and in search of their roots with a Black God on the top. Rastafarianism presents a mixture of politics and theology that has emerged out of its formative years, as they call it 'in the Babylon'. In creating their own religion the Rastafarians depend not only on the historical, social or empirical experience of African descendants in the Diaspora but also for their own analysis to determine an active plan for liberation. Regardless of other social norms, they draw on the transcendental sources of human sensibility, theocracy and imagination. For as persons who see themselves to be persecuted, wronged and deprived, to be all but trapped in a situation of persistent material poverty including cultural degradation, the only way they see to get out of this situation 'Babylon' is through an apocalypse. From the early Christian history we know that small groups who have worshipped false gods or established their own Temples never succeeded and their religions have corroded including their followers. However, it seems different with the Rastafarians; because their movement is growing stronger -speeding in almost all the continents. This book is in part a revised version of both books 'Babylon Muss Fallen, Germany 1989 and 'The Rastafarians: In search of Their Identity, Puerto Rico 1985' and in part a contribution of Rastafarian elders, women, activists and musicians. Dozens of authors wrote in this book and throughout the entire book, we have tried to reflect their ideas and philosophy by printing the interviews in their own words of Rastafarian Language (not in pure Creole English or Jamaican Patois = Patwa) to preserve the originality. Thus, we warn our readers that all words and phrases they find in this book is not written in a standard English but intentionally written (and we were kindly requested ) to reflect the importance of the words and how they use them to interpret their deep philosophical ideas. G.Y. Iyassu Menelik. April 2009, Miami Beach, FL