View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University The Keep Faculty Research and Creative Activity Communication Studies January 1999 The oC -optation of a ‘‘Revolution’’: Rastafari, Reggae, and the Rhetoric of Social Control Stephen A. King Eastern Illinois University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac Part of the Communication Commons, and the Music Commons Recommended Citation King, Stephen A., "The oC -optation of a ‘‘Revolution’’: Rastafari, Reggae, and the Rhetoric of Social Control" (1999). Faculty Research and Creative Activity. 15. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research and Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Co-optation of a ‘‘Revolution’’: Rastafari, Reggae, and the Rhetoric of Social Control Stephen A. King In the 1970s, reggae’s international popularity increased the visibility of the Rastafarian movement around the world. It can be argued that while the international popularity of reggae apparently enhanced the Rastafarians’ cultural identity in Jamaica, much of that legitimacy was illusory.1 While the Rastafarians played a significant role in promoting Black Pride and rehabilitating Jamaica’s African heritage, Jamaica’s neocolonial power structure remained essentially unchanged. Furthermore, the Rastafarians failed to achieve many of their more specific policy goals, including repatriation to Africa and the legalization of marijuana.