roots, resistance and redemption the rise of rastafari documents the evolution of the Rastafari movement. Written in accessible language, it recites the history of a contemporary struggle. It explains how a people to this day live by a philosophy that is based on spiritual guidance and self-reliance.
From the very beginning Bryan contextualizes the events of slavery which are largely responsible for the oppression of African people in the so-called New World.
"Five hundred years ago, a terrible thing began to happen. Millions of African people were kidnapped by ruthless, money-hungry mercenaries, pirates and thieves. They were loaded onto boats and shipped off to the New World. About 20 million landed alive. Another 50 million died horrible deaths in the whole process: killed in the village raids; left to die on the long marches to the coast and thrown to the sharks during the endless ocean crossing. Their spirits are not at rest, and nothing has gone right on this planet ever since."
With this perspective, Bryan brings us on a journey of a peoples' rediscovery after centuries of cultural genocide. The book explains how maroon communities were formed in order to develop the necessary strategies to survive the plantations and reclaim a sense of African identity. This period saw much hardship and death, and if it were not for the village philosophy of self-reliance, much of our current African heritage would have been lost.
Through traditions of resistance the Rastafari movement was able to establish its own sense of identity. Due to the historical significance of Ethiopia (arguably the oldest state in the world) the Rastafari movement was able to ground itself in historical, social, political and spiritual terms.
Ethiopianism, Pan Africanism and Garveyism all contributed to the knowledge required for the Rastafari movement to take root and resist the oppressive colonial regimes. This contemporary piece of literature articulates how, in the 1950's and early 1960's, Africans fighting for human independence would organize themselves and prepare for resistance struggles. Other movements, such as the Mau Mau of Kenya and the Nyabingi movement of Uganda, reinforced the convictions of Rastafari to hold steadfast to the teachings of the universe and to maintain one's culture at any expense.
Through spiritual upliftment and self-teaching the Rastafari became a worldwide symbol for people who were looking for alternate world views. Musical forms such as Nyabingi drumming, calypso, ska and reggae promoted the philosophy of Rastafari. Bob Marley, its most popular but by no means its lone voice, brought the Rastafari movement front and centre onto the world stage.
The beat and harmonies of reggae music speak of repatriation and the evils of Babylon and articulate a language of freedom rooted in resistance and redemption. Through struggle the Rastafari movement offers values and solutions to the former plantation system and the current ghettoization of people of African descent.
About the Author
Maurice Bryan is a Caribbean-born writer and broadcaster, with a special interest in presenting various facets of the African experience. His great-great grandmother Belinda Hopkinson was among the 83 African people who, in 1839, combined to communally purchase a 500-acre estate to establish the first free village in British Guiana. Over the past 20 years, Maurice Bryan has lived and worked in several countries on the continent of Africa including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Following his first visit to the ancient sites of Egypt in 1983, he was shocked to discover the extent to which the real history of African people had been distorted, misreported and otherwise concealed from the world. Since then he has spent much of his time researching and reporting the African story.
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