Rastafari

December 1, 1994
According to social anthropologist Chevannes, understanding the Jamaican-born movement that takes its name after the prince, or ras, named Tafari Makonnen who was crowned in 1930 as Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie requires looking not so much at dreadlocks or reggae but at the worldview of the Jamaican peasantry who replaced rural with urban poverty as they migrated to Kingston in the early 1930s. Drawing on his 1974 dissertation fieldwork, Chevannes traces Rastafari to forms of cultural reconstruction, including idealization of Africa, and to the belief system and ethics of what he calls Revivalism. Revivalist beliefs, which helped the peasants cope with oppression, turned on a hope of undoing European colonization and domination. Chevannes's writing style is stilted and his view is not comprehensive, yet there is little literature on the subject that would allow placing his work in context. For collections on Jamaica, the African diaspora, or millenarian movements.-Thomas J. Davis, SUNY at Buffalo

November 1, 1994
The term "Rastafari" connotes reggae music and Bob Marley to the masses, but Rastafari is much more than a backdrop of red, yellow, and green banners for music videos. Chevannes examines the religion's history and development in detail, which means his book is also a social history of Jamaica. Chevannes begins by tracing the cultural roots of the Rastafari movement to the slave trade in Jamaica from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century, in reaction to which a foundation was laid for the spirit of resistance that was later a major factor in Rastafari's spread on the island. Chevannes also closely attends to the internal rifts and doctrinal disputes that caused denominational splits within the movement. As Rastafari moved into the larger world, some of its teachings, such as the strict observance of menstrual taboos, were attacked. Chevannes' analysis of that growth and how it is changing present-day Rastafari is fascinating and illuminating. No fanbook for couch-bound "Waspafaris" sitting around the plastic bong, this is a serious look at a living, growing religion. ((Reviewed November 1, 1994))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1994, American Library Association.)