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Rastafari: A Universal Philosophy in the Third Millennium

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The project is an international venture with contributors from the Caribbean, Europe, North America and, appropriately, as far away as Africa. Prominent contributors include UWI professors Barry Chevannes and Rupert Lewis, as well as two of the most important writers from within the movement: Empress Barbara Makeda Blake Hannah and dub poet, Mutaburaka. The book is edited by an Austrian, Werner Zips, a professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Professor Zips is also a film director and author of not a few articles and monographs on Rastafari and other two-thirds world cultural phenomena.

Eight years ago members of the Rastafari community, some leading church men as well as a few writers who belonged to neither group collaborated in producing what is still considered by some to be the most important anthology on the movement. This latest work, edited by professor Zips, is quite similar to its late 20th century counterpart. In fact the two works are so much alike that is difficult to resist the urge to compare them. Both volumes are international collaborations and both bring together the creative energies of scholars and lay people alike. A refreshing feature of this latest volume is the contribution of popular dub-poet, Mutaburaka, formerly Allan Hope. Here we see that Muta is not only comfortable in writing poetry, but, as is expected, he is right at home in prose as well. Hannah's thought-provoking essay is entitled: `The Meaning of Rastafari for World Critique: Rasta within a Universal Context'. The essay tells the story of her journey from a TV news reporter working in London in the 60s to her conversion to the faith. In her own words: Rastafari became `a potent mix, easily and eagerly absorbed by me--constantly on the search for the true meaning of life . . . . I was constantly jeered at with slurs about Black inferiority. From being unable to answer questions such as: "If Black people are so great, how come they have never painted a Mona Lisa?", I learned about the great Black civilizations of Egypt, Zimbabwe . . . Timbuctoo . . . Zululand and of course Ethiopia. With Rastafari, I was reborn into a new way of looking at life.' Of interest here is that she was introduced to the faith by watching the Jamaican classic, The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff. Muta's article is also heavily experiential and quite revealing. For him `Rastafari is the evolution of the mind, of the consciousness in Haile Selassie, in Haile Selassie. . . . Because I transcend, I is not what you think I suppose to be. I am what I am. I have to just take I how I is.' In my opinion, both essays written from within the womb of Rastafari, simultaneously unveil the heartthrob of the movement as well as exemplify the radical changes taking place within. The Afro-centric focus and the centrality of Haile Selassie are difficult to miss.

But there are still some nagging questions that Muta, Barbara and the other contributors have left unanswered; one such is this: If both Selassie and Garvey were themselves professing Christians, why it is that Rastafari has become a new world religion? A question like this needs urgent attention. People like the late Robert Nesta Marley, just before he died, and former I-Three member, Judy Mowatt, have given their own verdict in favour of the Christ that died and was vivified. Others like Cedella Booker and Rita Marley have gone in the opposite direction.