Introduction to Rastafarians, Legal Highs, Herbal Highs, Herbal XTC, Legal Ecstasy
From North America to mother Africa, a new Rasta sound can be heard from the Caribbean haunting the places where Rastafari Black people get together for music and dancing. From the prestigious Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast to the secluded Meridian Hotel built by Kwame Nkrumah in the seaside city of Tema in Ghana, wherever the reggae is heard, its lighthearted mysterious Rastafari sound always evokes an emotional reaction. Beginning with a slow, undulating, hesitant beat, the music of reggae assaults the primitive brain stem where emotions originate. Before the brain can decipher the new beat, the driving Trench Town Rastafari music captures and transports the listener. The effect of reggae is magic; it is Africa, Jamaica, soul, nature, sorrow, hate, and love all mingled together. It sprang from the hearts of Africa's children in "Babylon"—Jamaica. It is liminal music that sings of oppression in exile, a longing for home, or for a place to feel at home.
Reggae, like its earlier counterpart calypso, quickly became a medium of social commentary as part of the African cultural tradition transported to the Caribbean by the slaves. It still serves as a social safety valve through which oppressed peoples express their discontent. Like the music of Africa, the reggae is for dancing, but the lyrics elicit a variety of responsive emotions—crying, rage, and rejoicing. As Bob Marley sings in "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)"
More about Rastafarians - The Rastafarian Cult and the Rastafarian Movement
The Rastafarian cult is a messianic movement unique to Jamaica. Its members believe that Haile Selassie, former Emperor of Ethiopia, is the Black Messiah who appeared in the flesh for the redemption of all Blacks exiled in the world of White oppressors. The movement views Ethiopia as the promised land, the place where Black people will be repatriated through a wholesale exodus from all Western countries where they have been in exile (slavery). Repatriation is inevitable, and the time awaits only the decision of Haile Selassie. Known only to the true believers, the details of the actual departure are secret. In the past some fantasies called for planes to the United States, and then ships from there to Africa. Some envision the operation being launched from the shores of Jamaica by at least ten British ships at a time, while others see the operation being undertaken in Ethiopian vessels at Jamaican expense.
The destination of this great migration is also vague in the minds of some speculators. The majority see Ethiopia as their homeland; others view Africa as the true homeland. There is no unanimity about the destination. To many, Ethiopia means Africa, while to others, Ethiopia is the promised land, though they will settle for any part of the continent.
Rastafari and Reggae
Reggae is a cultic expression that is both entertaining, revolutionary, and filled with Rastafarian symbolism. The symbols are readily understood in the Jamaican society, but the real cultic dimension of reggae was unknown until the Rastafarian song-prophet, Bob Marley, made his debut in New York. Marley stamped his personality on reggae until the sound became identified with the Rastafarian movement. Reggae music is now a multimillion-dollar industry, but its cultural significance derives from that unique sect whose music is an inseparable and expressive ingredient. This book is about this sect—the Rastafarians.
The Jamaican Rastafarian cult is the largest, most identifiable, indigenous movement in Jamaica. As such, it has a philosophy and structure capable of providing a rallying point for the masses in search of social change. In the last ten years, the movement has attracted much attention, not only in this West Indian island where it originated, but also in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Africa. Although the movement has been in existence since 1930, very little—and that mostly sensational—has been written about it. Consequently, the movement is generally misunderstood, not only in Jamaica, but also in America and Canada, where many members and affiliates have migrated. Some of the reasons for the Rastafarian's bad publicity in the early days of the movement may be due to some provocative incidents associated with fringe groups of the movement.
Two incidents worth mentioning are the "Henry Fiasco" of 1960 (which created an islandwide emergency after the shooting of two soldiers of the Royal Hampshire Regiment and three Rastafarians under the leadership of Ronald Henry), and the so-called "Holy Thursday Massacre" of April 1963 (in which several police and civilians were killed on the North Coast near Montego Bay).
Another reason contributing to the negative image of the Rastafarians is their strange hairstyle known as "dreadlocks," which some people feel is wild and unattractive. The Rastas adopted the dreadlocks during their "jungle existence" in the hill country where the movement developed its early characteristics. This dreadlock appearance is the distinguishing mark of the movement. Another trait contributing to the Rastafarian's negative image is their members' use of "ganja" (marijuana) in their sacred rituals.
Despite the early adverse publicity of the movement, the negative reaction to the members' hairstyle, and their constant use of the "weed," this Jamaican movement has evolved into a dynamic, creative instrument for social change. The Rastas are admired by the masses and highly respected by the political leader Michael Manley, who called them a "beautiful and remarkable people."
But while the Rastafarians have quieted down in Jamaica, a new wave of adverse publicity has surrounded some of their followers in New York City where the movement appeared after Jamaica's independence in 1962. Some Jamaicans who immigrated to the United States during this post-independence period were either Rastafarians or marginal followers of the movement. After reaching New York, they found themselves psychologically uprooted in a strange land and, for the most part, out of work and homesick. The dreadlocks' appearance in New York and in other North American cities where the cultists were relatively unknown compounded the isolation of the newcomers. As nostalgia set in, these new immigrants became convinced that only a Jamaican movement could offer them identity. Today, there is nothing more Jamaican than the Rastafarians. The assumption of Rasta garb and habits was natural.
This North American version of the Rastas—mostly youth-oriented and ganglike in character—soon adopted the prevailing patterns of the big-city youth culture. Several groups began opposing each other for separate ganja-turfs which resulted in a wave of shooting and killing. The behavior of these immigrant Rastafarians brought unwelcome publicity to their middle-class Jamaican counterparts living in North America who felt their prestige was threatened by the cultists' Jamaican identification. However, much of this negative behavior is changing and, in time, the creative dynamics of these Rastas will probably be turned toward creative channels like the "Old Settler" Jamaicans who are known for their industry and achievement.
This study will show the emergence and development of the Rastafarians cult from its inception in 1930 to the present. Particular attention will be paid to the socioeconomic conditions from which this cult emerged; its ideology; its function as a socioreligious movement within the Jamaican community; and its impact on the Western world. This book will also explore some of the myths surrounding the movement, as well as discussing some of the more serious contributions the Rastafarians have made to Jamaican society.
The web site has four aims: First, to make an original contribution to Caribbean studies—an increasingly important topic—in which there is a scarcity of indigenous research. Many of the previous studies of the Rastafarians' beliefs and practices are limited and outdated. Among these earlier investigations are: a short paper by George Eaton Simpson, 1953; the small monograph by Smith, Augier, and Nettleford, I960; and the author's monograph, 1968. "The Report on the Rastafari Movement" by Smith, Augier, and Nettleford, I960, has become a classic, although only fifty pages long. Professor Rex Nettleford's recent book Race, Identity and Protest (1973), contains an excellent chapter on the movement. Also Soul-Force: African Heritage in Afro-American Religion, 1974, includes a chapter on the movement although assimilating much of the native religious culture of Jamaica—has rejected most of what is considered typically Jamaican, even to the point of spurning Jamaican nationality. It is unlike the Revival and Pukumina cults which can be considered Christian-oriented cults. The Rastafarians reject Christianity and firmly believe in Haile Selassie as the returned Messiah and Ethiopia as the promised land of all Black people.
Third, to show the effects of cultural deprivation and what can result in a society when individual members are denied the opportunities to perform the cultural roles which are normally expected of them—hindered by adverse socio-economic and political conditions—and the environment necessary for their fulfillment.
Fourth, to study the nature and dynamics of a millenarian-messianic movement and its function and impact on a typical Caribbean community. An investigation of this nature will reveal that the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica is only one of thousands of such movements which have emerged throughout the world.
A study of these movements has considerable significance in understanding the dynamics of the so-called Third World. Between local ethnic (or native traditional) religions and the missionary religious faiths, religious movements such as the Rastafarian cult are of great interest to scholars of phenomenology and the history of religion. They also contribute important biographies of prophets and martyrs. To the sociologists and anthropologists, they provide studies in the dynamics of culture contacts and social change,- and to political scientists, they provide the studies of ideologies. Some of these movements may be seen as reactions against colonialism, interest groups, and the emergence of nationalism. To the psychologists, they may exemplify stress and adjustive phenomena. Linguists may find the emergence of new symbolic language formations—an evolving field—not to mention the potential for students of theology.
The present work is the product of over ten years of research. The original research covers the years 1963-1966, from which a monograph was published in 1968—only a limited number of copies were distributed. Encouraged by the persistent demand for this initial study, the author has decided to update the original monograph. This book is the culmination of that undertaking.
My thanks to my many Rastafarians friends in Jamaica who helped me in my research over the years. To cite each name individually would be impossible, although many of their names appear in this book. As usual, my wife, Theodora, has been of great help typing and retyping the early drafts of this book and offering constructive criticisms which are incorporated into the work.
My thanks to Miss Nancy Krody of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Temple University, for reading and correcting the manuscript; and to Mrs. Grace Stuart for the final typing.
The author, who has observed the Rastafarians since 1946 and has carried out systematic research among them from 1963 to 1966 (on which his first monograph was based), later returned to Jamaica to study their development from 1966 to the deaths of Haile Selassie and Bob Marley. An up-to-date assessment of the movement may be stated as follows:
The present membership of the Rastafarian movement, including sympathizers, may number three hundred thousand.2 No census has yet given an accurate account of the membership, but a knowledgeable Rasta leader states that six out of every ten Jamaicans are either Rastas or sympathizers.3
The membership is young and has no individual leadership. Up to 80 percent of those seen in the camps and on the streets are between the ages of seventeen and thirty-five. The leading brethren are mostly men from thirty-five to fifty-five years of age. The older members are either ex-Garveyites or sympathizers of his movement.
Most members are male. Women play an important role in Rastafarianism at present, but the majority are followers of their husbands. In special meetings women act as mistresses of songs or as secretaries, but these roles are changing rapidly. The male assumes most of the responsibilities of the movement, though at present, a large segment of Rastafarian women now sell their products such a knitted clothing, baskets, mats, brooms, art works, and other sundries.
Until 1965, the membership was essentially lower class, but this is no longer the case. Once considered "products of the slum," the Rastas have now penetrated the middle class. They are found among civil servants and the elite; some are students at the prestigious University of the West Indies; some are in the medical and legal professions and other upper-class occupations.
Based on the earlier research, the members were almost all of African stock. At present, the overwhelming majority
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of members still are, but there are also Chinese, East Indians, Afro-Chinese, Afro-East Indians or Afro-Jews, mulat-toes, and a few Whites. Every ethnic minority is now represented in the Rastafarian camps.
The members are predominantly ex-Christians. About 90 percent of the members interviewed were from Protestant or Catholic churches or Pentecostal sects. The minority who said they had no church connection did acknowledge that they came from Christian homes.
As a group the Rastafarians see Jamaica as a land of oppression—Babylon. Their only avenue of escape is by supernatural means or by seizing the power and creating a Utopia for the oppressed.
The island of Jamaica is the third largest in size of the West Indian islands after Cuba and Haiti. Jamaica is 150 miles long and 52 miles wide, subtropical, a land of warm weather without the extremes of climate common to the mainland of the United States. Jamaican harbors are among the world's finest, and Jamaican rivers add beauty and economic value to the island. Hills and mountains form the center of the island, ranging from the gentle Cockpit Mountains of the west to the high John Crow and Blue Mountains of the east, with altitudes exceeding seven thousand feet. These high mountains and the broad, easily drained plains below provide diversity of climate and agriculture.
The population of Jamaica is presently estimated at a little less than two million people, of which nearly a half-million now reside in Kingston, the capital and largest city.
The distribution of people by racial origin can be summarized as follows: those of African origin, 90 percent; Caucasians, about 1 percent; descendants of East Indians, 3 percent; those of Chinese descent, about 2 percent.5 Of the remaining 4 percent, the Jews and Lebanese are the largest identifiable groups. Thus the vast majority of Jamaicans are currently of African or Afro-European descent. By contrast, the original inhabitants of the island (when Columbus discovered it in 1494) were the Arawak Indians, a homogeneous people completely different from any group living there now. Columbus' arrival introduced the natives to the Europeans, a meeting which proved eatastrophic for the Arawak Indians: by the time the British conquered Jamaica in 1655 the Arawaks were extinct.
English is the formal language of the island. The greater part of the masses, however, speak a Jamaican dialect. Cas-sidy's Jamaica Talk6 (the first scientific work to deal with the dialect) portrays Jamaica as a place where "a pepperpot of language is concocted." He observes that "Jamaica-talk" is not the same for every Jamaican because of the vast spectrum of dialects. "Jamaica-talk" exists in two main forms which Cassidy illustrates as lying at opposite ends of a scale. At one extreme is the type of "Jamaica-talk" that emulates the "London standard" or educated model spoken among many of the elite. At the other extreme is the inherited talk of peasant and laborer who remain largely unaffected by education and its standards. Their speech is what linguists call "creolized" English; that is, fragmented English speech and syntax assimilated during the days of slavery and mixed with African influences. This Anglo-African admixture continues to be spoken in much the same form today.
There is, though, a third dialectical element in Jamaica located in the middle of the language scale where one discovers an increasing inclusion of local elements of Jamaican rhythm and intonation of words that the Londoner would have no need to know. These characteristics of the language evolved within an island population, which Cassidy calls "Jamaicanism." He defines this term by citing five main divisions:
1. Retention, which includes English words now rare or poetic that are still in common use in Jamaica.
2. New formations, which are in turn subdivided into alterations, compositions, and creations.
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3. Borrowings which are French and Portuguese words which came into English as early as the eighteenth century.
4. Onomatopoeic echoisms.
5. Usage of words which, though not exclusively Jamaican, is the preferred term on the island.7
Speaking of the greatest influence on "Jamaica-talk," Cas-sidy concludes:
Of non-British influences it is obvious that the African is the largest and most profound; it appears not only in the vocabulary, but has powerfully affected both pronunciation and grammar. We may feel fairly certain about two hundred and thirty loan-words from various African languages; and if the numerous compounds and derivatives were added, and the large number of untraced terms which are at least quasi-African in form, the total would easily be more than four hundred. Even at its most, the African element in the vocabulary is larger than all the other non-English ones together.
Cassidy's studies, which were carried out in the 1950s, made no mention of the influence of the Rastafarian movement on "Jamaica-talk." Since the 1950s, a new linguistic change has taken place in Jamaica. This is what we may call a "Rasta dialect"—highly symbolic and radically revolutionary. The development of this new linguistic component will be discussed.
Education in Jamaica has generally followed the British pattern. Though understandable from a historical perspective, the system has created much confusion in the social patterns of the Jamaican people. During the colonial period (and to a great extent to the present day), children were taught about the English culture without attempting to relate it to the environment in which they lived. Madeline Kerr, in her analysis of five schools, points out that the subject matter was basically meaningless to the children. Central to the curriculum was the Bible, taught from a strictly fundamentalist point of view. Children memorized enormous passages of prose and poetry and learned to read by chanting passages from books. Discipline in the schools was often harsh, and although some teachers restricted the amount of lashing, beating was the rule, not the exception.
Prior to independence (and even today), children attended elementary school up to the age of eleven when they were expected to pass a common entrance examination. The completion of this test entitled the child to enter an approved school until he or she passed the General Certificate of Education. This certificate admitted the child, in some cases, to a university.
One of the great problems of education in Jamaica is the lack of proper training of teachers, the majority of whom, until recently, reached a standard scarcely higher than the American high school.
With the coming of self-government there has been a remarkable increase in educational facilities. In 1944, primary school teachers numbered less than three thousand; by 1960, the figure had grown to over five thousand. School attendance figures are even more revealing. Whereas in 1944 there were only 171,455 elementary school pupils, by 1960 the figure had grown to 315,000. Great emphasis was also placed on secondary education. While there were only twenty-three secondary schools in 1944, by 1960 the number had reached forty-one.10 Recently, compulsory education has been instituted by the government. But the future of Jamaican education is in a deplorable state. Teachers are poorly paid, and with the economic downturn due to the closing of the bauxite companies and the weakness of the Jamaican dollar, high inflation has caused the closing of elementary and secondary schools, and even of one teacher's college.
The University College of the West Indies (now the University of the West Indies) was founded in 1948 at Mona, near Kingston, with an enrollment of thirty-three students. Current enrollment exceeds five thousand.11 A number of vocational and technical schools have been constructed on the island to encourage and meet the demand for mechanical and technical skills in a developing nation. These upper-
level educational institutions provide an excellent education but their number and capacity to meet the needs of an exploding population are grossly inadequate.
Jamaica's economy is basically agricultural, employing over 40 percent of the island's labor force.12 Before the Second World War, agriculture accounted for 36 percent of the island's total exports in the form of sugar, bananas, and rum and comprised four-fifths of the island's export revenue. By 1961, however, agriculture provided only 13 percent of the total income. In the past ten years, rapid developments have taken place in mining, manufacturing, and tourism. All three industries presently are experiencing the uncertainties of worldwide inflation and recession. Thus the future of the Jamaican economy will demand courageous leadership and sound fiscal planning.
A striking characteristic of Jamaica's agriculture is the large number of small farmers. There are 159,000 small farmers, of whom 113,000 work less than five acres.13 A recent report states that the agricultural pattern of Jamaican farmers has not changed in the last 100 years, largely due to lack of land and primitive techniques. The former government was dedicated to rectifying this imbalance, and new laws have been instituted to make unused lands available to the small farmers. At present, efforts are being focused on increasing agricultural exports.
One of the largest known deposits of bauxite in the world was discovered in Jamaica in the early 1950s. This discovery promoted the establishment of a mining industry and boosted the general economy. Bauxite and aluminum accounted for 50 percent of the island's earnings in 1982.14 The Manley government moved to nationalize the bauxite industry, which created a mini-international upheaval among the ranks of multinational cartels. However, because of world inflation, the bauxite companies experienced a decline in profits and decided to cease mining bauxite in Jamaica. All three companies have now left the island or are about to leave. This has left Jamaica with a staggering deficit.
Industry has become a serious concern for the government. Its industrial development program has been implemented by the Industrial Development Corporation and included incentive legislation as well as promotional activities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. As a result, the island now has a wider variety of manufactured products using both local and imported raw materials. Among these new products are clothing, footwear, textiles, paints, and building materials, including cement. Some of these are used locally, but most are exported.
This economic picture greatly affects the lives of Rastafarians. It is in response to this cultural and economic condition that the Rastafarians have emerged as a movement. The competence of most Rastas lies in the semiskilled or the marginally skilled occupations. They are mostly prepared to do farm labor, but possess no land. Some have taken up painting, masonry, or carpentry; others have become domestic servants, janitors, wood workers, or small shopkeepers. Wages for these occupations, when work is available, does not exceed twenty dollars per week. The labor problem in Jamaica is such that the number of unskilled laborers far exceeds the demand, and the population of unskilled laborers grows in geometric proportion yearly. Unemployment has created a large body of criminals who prey on both rich and poor. It has also caused mass emigration to North America and a deterioration of the human spirit.
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