Chanting Down Babylon: Rastafarian Reader

This anthology explores Rastafari religion, culture and politics in Jamaica and other parts of the African diaspora. An Afro-Caribbean religious and cultural movement in the 1930s, today Rastafari has close to one million adherents. The basic message of Rastafari - the dismantling of all oppressive institutions and the liberation of humankind - strongly appeals even to non-believers who are capivated by reggae music, the lyrics and the "immortal spirit" of its practitioner, Bob Marley. Probing into Rastafari's belief system, political goals and cultural expression, the contributors to this volume emphasize the importance of Africana history and the Caribbean context.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to Rastafarian Phenomenon, N. Samuel Murrell. Part 1 Ideology and the Cultural Context: Dread "I" In a Babylon - Ideological Resistance and Cultural Revitalization, Ennis B. Edmonds; Rastafari - a Psychology of Blackness and Somebodiness, Clinton Hutton and N. Samuel Murrell; Rastafari and the Exorcism of the Ideology of Racism and Classism in Jamaica, Barry Chevannes; Gender and Family Relations in Rastafari - a Personal Perspective, Maureen Rowe; Rasta Woman as Rebel, Imani M. Tafari-Ama; The Epistemological Significance of "I-an-I" as a Response to Quashie and Anancyism in Jamaican Culture, Adrian Anthony McFarlane. Part 2 Roots and Historical Impact: African Dimensions of Jamaican Rastafarian Movement, Neil J. Savishinsky; Marcus Garvey and the Early Rastafarians, Continuity and Discontinuity, Rupert Lewis; Who is Haile Selassie? His Imperial Magesty on Rasta Voices, Sister Eleanor Wint and Members of the Nyabingi Order; The Rasta-Selassie-Ethiopian Connections, Clinton Chisholm; Chanting Down Babylon Outernational - the Rise of Rastafari in Europe , the Caribbean and the Pacific, Frank van Dijk; Chanting Down Babylon in the Belly of the Beast - the Rastafari Movement in Metropolitan USA, Randal L. Hepner. Part 3 Back-O-Wall to Hollywood, the Rasta Revolution Through the Arts: From Burru Drums to Regae Ridims - the Evolution of Rasta Music, Verena Reckord; Bob Marley - Rasta Warrior, Roger Steffens; Chanting Change Around the World Through Rasta Ridim and Art, William David Spencer; Towering Babble and Glimpses of Zion - Some Recent Depictions of Rastafari in Cinema, Kevin Aylmer. Part 4 Religion - Livity, Hermeneutics and Theology: Discourse on Rastafarian Reality, Hon. Rex Nettleford; The Black Biblical Hermeneutics of Rastafari, N. Samuel Murrell and Lewin Williams; The Structure and Ethos of Rastafari, Ennis B. Edmonds; The First Chant - Leonard Howell's Promised Key, with Commentary by William David Spencer; Rastafari's Messianic Ideology and Caribbean Theology of Liberation, N. Samuel Murrell and Burchell K Taylor. Appendices: Emissaries of Rastafari - an Interview with Professor Leonard Barrett, Indego Bethes et al; Who is Who in Rasta Academy - For Starters, a Lit Review in Honour of Leonard Barrett.