CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE The Philosophy of Rastafari and the Culture of Reggae Music: A Bridge to the Continent of Africa for Black People Living Throughout the Diaspora A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies By Phiven Saifu December 2014 The thesis of Phiven Mekuria Saifu is approved: ______________________________________ ________________________ Dr. Karin Stanford Date ______________________________________ _______________________ Dr. Adilifu Nama Date ______________________________________ ________________________ Dr. Anthony Ratcliff, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Dedication This paper is dedicated to the Ancient African Kemtic Nile Valley concept of the one creator of all life, planets, cosmos, stars, universes known and unknown. This paper is for the African ancestors whom gave culture and spirituality to the world long before colonization. This paper is for my children Empress, The Ruler and the Eye of Heru: remember your glorious ancient African history and know humanity, spirituality, culture, mathematics, astrology, science, literature and everything your eyes can see has its origins in Africa. Everything spread from Africa before the continental divide, study and research and you will see the proof. Do not think you are ever seeing anything new, just remember. Never give up, never stop trying, never let anyone tell you NO. If you want something go after it, no matter how many times you fall or how long it takes. All things came from you, you can achieve EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING no matter what anybody says to you. I love you. All that matters to me is that I make you proud to call me mama. I dedicate this to my Geta, who inspired and motivated me to go back to school and finish my MA degree despite the 9-year time frame the program took me. You believed in me, wiped my tears and told me I could finish this program and receive the MA degree no matter how long I took. Your daily support and encouragement were constant and consistent and you always had visions of my completion and success with this Graduate Program even when I, or others did not. When others told me I would never receive my Masters degree from CSUN you were always there telling me I would and not to listen to negativity. I give thanks for your presence, being and I love you. Without you none of this would have manifested. Dr. Stanford, Dr. Nama, Dr. Ratcliff, Dr. Mitchell, Anita, the PAS and now Africana Studies Department and all the Professors and CSUN Faculty whom worked to help me maneuver through the lists of tasks set before me to receive my degree, thank you for your support in helping me receive my MA degree. Thank You to my teachers who believed in me and my academic success after ten years of coming in and out of the Interdisciplinary Masters Degree Program at CSUN, supporting my academic plans and goals, and never ever saying anything negative toward my pace ay completing the program and doubting that I did not have the capabilities of earning a Masters degree. I appreciate my teachers, who remembered my abilities put fourth and pursued in their courses after a ten-year times span and offering me their words of encouragement in my pursuit of a graduate degree. Despite the ten year time span I took in the Interdisciplinary Program, not one Professor ever said one negative word against my potential at receiving a Masters Degree at CSUN but rather always had positive words of motivation and inspiration for a student who never stopped trying or never gave up at pursing a higher education. This Thesis Project is for all the youth whom are not of the dominant culture but rather are marginalized and fall into the peripheral. iii Table of Contents Signature Page ii Dedication iii Abstract vi Chapter 1: Introduction to a Rastafarian State of Mind 1 Personal Attraction to Rastafari and Reggae Music Chapter 2: The History of Reggae Music 10 Music as a Emotional Outlet for Jamaica Drums Mento Rock Steady Reggae H.I.M Visit and Rastafari Chapter 3: Rastafari The Man 41 Chapter 4: The History of Resistance in Jamaica 57 The Maroons of Jamaica Queen Nanny Rebel Woman Chapter 5: The Birth of the Rastafarian Culture 64 Leonard Howell Reggae Music After Bob Marley Conclusion 86 iv Index 92 Bibliography 94 v ABSTRACT The Philosophy of Rastafari and the Culture of Reggae Music: A Bridge to the Continent of Africa for Black People Living Throughout the Diaspora By Phiven Saifu Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies The purpose of this work is to provide a way of understanding the culture of Rastafari and Reggae music as a form of resistance against the dominant culture. This work will show the Rastafarian function and operation of developing a psychology of Blackness and waging an ideological attack on social, economic, and political problems through reggae music. Cultural hegemony has become the problem out of which the Rastafarian perspective has emerged and evolved in response to critical issues experienced by Black people throughout the Diaspora. According to Clovis E. Semmes in his book titled Cultural Hegemony and African American Development, he says “Cultural hegemony is defined as the intentional structural negation of one culture by another.1” The Rastafarians view Black issues in the sphere of race, economics, but most important to their philosophy in terms of the cultural process. The Rastafarians channel their voice through reggae music against the political and economic oppression people of African descent experience throughout the Diaspora. The Rastafarians perspective sees vi the dominant cultures negation of all other alternative cultures as the problem of racial and economic oppression and domination. The interchange of people’s position in the structure of the system based on race and class as a result of politics, economics and an individual’s cultural identity is one reason why people in Jamaica were initially encouraged at developing an African centered perspective of Rastafari for black people throughout the Diaspora. A variety of significant factors arise as a result of the development and evolution of the Rastafarian ideology. Rastafarians see culture as a crucial component to the Black individuals self-perception, functioning and operation, as well as capacity to make a contribution to any society they are in around the world. This paper will explore the ways the Rastafarian movement acts as a counter hegemonic group in response to cultural hegemony by dominant structures controlled by the powerful cultures in Jamaica around the globe. vii Chapter 1 Introduction to a Rastafarian State of Mind Over the past 80 years there has been a lot of cultural phenomenon throughout the African Diaspora, but by far one of the most visible is the Rastafarian movement. Throughout my life time me being Ethiopian I have been confronted by these questions a- lot: What is the connection between Haile Selassie, the Rastafarian culture, Reggae Music, and the Jamaican people; who is Rastafari the man; what is the Rastafarian culture about; where did the Rastafarian culture begin; when did the Rastafarian culture begin; why did the Rastafarian culture begin; and how did the Rastafarian culture begin? When I was younger I didn’t know how to answer the questions, but after coming of age and investigating the culture for myself I could now give my clear perspective on the connection between Ethiopia, Rastafari, Reggae Music, and the Jamaican people, what makes it so culturally appealing to the African Diaspora, and the means and ways the Rastafari works as a counter cultural hegemonic movement. The Rastafarian movement is an African centered spiritual philosophy based on ancient African traditions and culture, which emerged in Jamaica in the early 1900s as a social and resistance response to economic and political issues plaguing Jamaican society and people as a result of British cultural domination and Jamaican cultural negation. In Rasta and Resistance Horace Campbell describes the philosophy of the movement: Rastafarians in Jamaica were in the process of creating a popular culture which was based on the spirit of resistance, combined with the good humor and spirit of joy which had become part of the disposition of black peoples of the world. As capitalist relations in the society deepened, and the people had the distinct feeling that capitalism was destroying 1 their personality, the Rastas were a section of the working poor who wanted to break the spirit of competition and individualism which permeated the society and its main institutions.2 Followers refer to themselves at times as Rastas, and looks at the positive aspects of African history, culture and spirituality for a relatable self-identity and representation in society dominated by western culture in Jamaica and the rest of the World. The Rastafarian movement is composed of African history and ancient cultural practices, spiritual practices, patterns, thoughts, and ideas that lace the movement which evolved as a counter response to British slavery, economic and political disenfranchisement post independence. In African Dimensions of the Jamaican Rastafarian movement Neil J. Savishinsky states; The persistence of African cultural elements and continuities among black populations in the New World represents a fairly widespread and well documented phenomenon. Africanisms—or neo-Africanisms, as they are sometimes called—are most apparent in the language, folklore, religious beliefs and practices, and music, art, and dance that have evolved within the Caribbean and African American communities over the course of the last four centuries.3 Reggae music emerged out of the Rastafarians need to create an outlet to creatively express their thoughts and feelings in response to the economic, political, and social situations of the times.