Dreading Inna Babylon

Dreading inna Babylon

Rastafari in Jamaica: Notions of Authenticity, Networks and Modes of Alternative Commodification

Master of Cultural Anthropology Master Thesis 30-8-2013

Name: Merhawi Fessehazion Student number: 6184685 Thesis supervisors: Dr. Gerd Baumann & Dr. Peter van Rooden Second reader: Dr. Francio Guadeloupe Third reader: Dr. Barak Kalir E-mail address: [email protected]

Content Introduction ...... 1

Chapter 1: Histories: A Strangely Problematic Setting: from Oppression to Commodification ...... 5

Ideologies of Resistance that came before Rastafari ...... 9

The Emergence of Rastafari in Jamaica ...... 10

The 'Dealing' with the Rastafari Movement by the Colonial Government...... 13

The Shift in the 'Dealing' with the Rastafari Movement by the State ...... 15

Chapter 2: Fieldwork Methods, My Position in the Field and Ideas about the ''Authentic'' Rasta ...... 18

Fieldwork Methods ...... 18

Fieldwork intro: Who Was I? Their reflections on my Reflexivity ...... 19

Encounters: Whom did I Meet in the Field? Rasta, Non-Rasta, or an Essence of Rasta as Authenticity? ...... 22

Rasta's ...... 22

Non-Rasta's...... 24

An Authentic Rastafari? ...... 25

Chapter 3: Distinctions: Being Sorts of Rasta : Symbols and the Embodiment of them ...... 33

Symbols ...... 34

Haile Selassie ...... 34

Red, Gold and Green ...... 38

Dreadlocks ...... 40

Empress Menen ...... 41

The Embodiment of these Symbols ...... 43

Chapter 4: The Lack of Formal Networks and Contradictions ...... 45

Organizational Structure...... 45

Examples out of the Field ...... 48

Contradictions due to the Lack of Resources and Formal Organization ...... 50

Ideological Resources...... 52

Chapter 5: Creating a Space within Babylon by Alternative Forms of Commodification ...... 53

Examples out of the Field ...... 55

Feelings Towards the Commodification of Rastafari ...... 56

Conclusion ...... 59

Epilogue ...... 63

Literature ...... 64 Introduction

''Tell you about the Blackman Redemption; can you dig it? A Blackman Redemption; can you stop it? Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh no!'' - Bob Marley and the Wailers

My initial acquaintance with Rastafari was, like with most of the people who do not live in Jamaica, through Reggae music. It was a form of protest music what sparked my interest in it, like Hip-Hop did when I was of a much younger age. Living in the Netherlands as a black man, I was, like many other people of color, trying to find my place it in this predominately white society. The focus of reggae lyrics that were inspired by Rastafari ideologies resonated with me. It helped me to find a sense of pride in being black. Something that I could not find in white mainstream music and national TV. The more that I started to listen to the music the more I got interested in Rastafari history and how it has developed from its beginning until now. The vantage points to look at Rastafari were and are numerous. As an anthropology student I started to develop an academic interest in the [Rastafari] movement. How they practiced their pan-Africanist ideas, defined blackness, why I had to explain on numerous occasions that the flag of Jamaica is not the same as the one of Ethiopia, that the consumption of weed is not legal in Jamaica and that the Jamaica population does not predominantly exists out of Rastafari's. It got me to wonder why these people were conflating the Ethiopian flag with the Jamaican flag. Especially when I knew that the history of Rastafari in Jamaica is one of oppression. How did these ideas that these people have came into being? When browsing through various tourist magazines, in which agencies are trying to lure tourists in coming to visit their country, one of Jamaica's biggest USP (Unique Selling Point) is Rastafari. There are different package deals wherein tourists can visit different hallmarks of legendary reggae artist of whom the most popular is Bob Marley. When visiting the numerous craft markets that Jamaica has to offer images of Bob Marley and the colors of the Ethiopian flag are to be seen in abundance. Tourists are walking around with knitted hats that have the colors of the flag of Ethiopia with artificial dreads attached to them, or are walking around with t-shirts with Bob Marley, or are wearing bracelets with the colors of the Ethiopian flag. The salesmen and women are all trying to sell these tourists different crafts which they think these tourists came for; and Rastafari holds an important role in various stands. This incorporation of Rastafari into the Jamaican culture and the important place it holds in it made me understand that the conflation of Rastafari and Jamaica by these various people was far from illogical.

My starting point of this thesis is that Rastafari started out as a counter-culture. It gave an alternative in the way that people looked at Africa and the way that black Jamaicans could perceive themselves. This was made possible via different ideologies and symbols. Via these symbols and ideologies they had set themselves apart from mainstream Jamaican society and the colonial regime. These symbols and a part of the ideologies are being co- opted/commodified [by the Jamaican state and tourist industry]. An interesting question from a academic perspective is: 'What happens when this ''Redemption'' is being commodified?' That is the predicament in which the Rastafari movement in Jamaica finds itself. From being shunned by the establishment and main society to becoming a ''lifeline'' in itself. So Rastafari finds itself being conflated with a system that has tried to oppress it from the moment of its offset. What sparked my interest was how ordinary Rastafari's dealt with these changes and which effects it had on them as a movement. Are they deploying various strategies to differentiate themselves from 'Babylon?' How do they find their place in nowadays Jamaica? This created the following question that I constructed for my thesis: 'How do Rastafari's in Jamaica differentiate themselves from 'Babylon' now that their symbols and ideologies are being co-opted by the Jamaican state and tourist sector (Babylon)?' To answer this question I have worked out a conceptual theoretical triangle. My first theoretical concept is in this triangle 'authenticity.' To differentiate themselves they have to distinguish the 'real' from the 'unreal.' I will analyze my data that I have gained during my fieldwork by using the works on authenticity by van der Port. My second theoretical concept is 'networks.' When talking about the ''authentic'' Rasta my focus will be on the individual. Another level of distinguishing oneself is on a group level. On a level of a 'moral' community. How do Rastafari's operate in groups to differentiate themselves from 'Babylon'? I will place this in a theoretical framework by drawing from the works of Eriksen. My third theoretical framework is 'alternative commodification.' It is next to impossible for Rastafari's to place themselves completely out of Babylon. With this theoretical concept I will analyze how Rasta's work within Babylon, but still manage to differentiate themselves by adhering to their ideologies. In the first chapter 'Histories: A Strangely Problematic Setting: from Oppression to Commodification' I will first give an short history of Jamaica and then I will place Rastafari in a historical and social context from which it arose. This will be done to understand how it went from being oppressed to being commodified. But also to get an better understanding of how Rastafari is being used as an political ''pawn'' in which it is being stripped of its own agency in being able to define its own identity/authenticity. 2

The second chapter 'Fieldwork Methods, My Position in the Field and Ideas about the ''Authentic'' Rasta' exists out of three parts. First I will describe the methods that I used during my field work period. In the second part 'Who was I? in the field? Their Reflections on My Reflexivity' I will place myself in the field. Who was I, how was I being perceived the field by others and what were the effects for my research and fieldwork period? In the third part, 'Encounters: Whom did I meet in the field? Rasta, non-Rasta, or an essence of Rasta as authenticity?' I will analyze the data that I have gathered and place it in the theoretical concept of authenticity. In the third chapter 'Distinctions: Being Sorts of Rasta: Symbols and the Embodiment of them' I will argue that there are different sorts of Rasta's. Rastafari is not a monolith religion, so people tend to have different views about how to 'carry out' their livity. It is interesting to analyze how these symbols are being perceived, if the commodification of these symbols has influenced their perceptions of them and how they are being embodied. I will argue at the hand of my interviews that Rasta's in a broad way adhere to the same symbols (e.g. dreadlocks), but they can interpreted them in different ways. In the fourth chapter 'The Lack of Formal Networks and Contradictions' I will argue that the 'resources' that Rastafari's can use are scarce. The reason for this is the lack of (strong) organizations and persons, within the movement, that hold a position of authority, concerning the ideology of the movement. Instead of formal organizations the 'connections' between Rasta's are build on personal informal networks. The lack of resources, or the abundance of them, leads to contradictions, concerning the direction the movement should go, how Rasta's deal with Babylon and how they believe that Rastafari can change Babylon. In the fifth chapter 'Creating a Space within Babylon by Alternative Forms of Commodification' I will argue that Rasta's cannot completely withdraw themselves from Babylon, so I will show at the hand of my research participants how they experience the commodification of their culture, how they deal with it and how they contribute to it. In the conclusion I will answer my main question and how, via the three main theoretical concepts that I have used, Rastafari's deal with the commodification of their culture. I will shortly introduce three academics here, because I heavily draw my information them. The first one is Dr. Stephen A. King and the book is 'Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control'. King, a professor at Delta State University, is a professor who's interest lies in speech communication. The second one is Dr. Noel Erskine and his book 'From Garvey to Marley'. Erskine, who is a professor of Theology and Ethics at Emory University is an researcher who's interest lies in the historical and complex nature of black theology and pedagogy, the history and development of the black church, Revivalism and Rastafarism, to 3

name a few. The third one is Dr. Frank van Dijk and his book 'Jahmaica: Rastafari and Jamaican Society, 19930-1990.' Van Dijk is a cultural anthropologist who promoted on subject of Rastafari and is currently linked to the social science department of the University of Utrecht.

Chapter 1: Histories: A Strangely Problematic Setting: from Oppression to Commodification

''the stone that the builder refused became the cornerstone. Nobody would know of Jamaica if it wasn't for Rastafari.'' - Mutabaruka

This quote was pondered by Mutabaruka during the silent march that Rasta's held in Kingston, to get a compensation for the survivors and family members of the Coral Garden massacre. But also, as Mutabaruka said; they were not just standing there for the plight of Rasta's, but also for black Jamaicans. The quotes in the above stem from the violent past of Rastafari in Jamaica and that the structures that were build during the era of slavery and colonialism are still not ''evaporated'', what the national slogan [of Jamaica] 'out of many one people' tries to imply. Rastafari is being intimately linked with Jamaica. During my talks with people here in the Netherlands variety of them thinks that the red, gold and green colors are the colors that make up the flag of Jamaica. This suggests the strong association that people have between the [Rastafari] movement and Jamaican society. This strong association is also what I had noticed during my fieldwork period. Throughout the country, and especially in the various craft markets, the red, gold and green colors and Bob Marley pictures are to be seen in abundance. Busses were taking tourists to various places, like Nine Mile the town where Bob Marley spent the first couple of years of his life, and the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston. When walking through the various craft markets in Ocho Rios, Negril and Montego Bay the red, gold and green colors were more recurrent than the ones of the Jamaican state. Next to the obvious natural beauties that Jamaica has to offer to the tourists Rastafari works as a ''cultural cloth'' to deepen the Jamaican experience for these tourists. In Negril there were parties were non-Rasta's were singing Rastafari themed songs and various Rastafari Reggae artists are performing for these tourists. During my fieldwork I also spoke to different Jamaicans who gladly talked about Rastafari's in Jamaica when they found out that I was a student carrying out my research. When talking to a cab driver in Ocho Rios he told me that the people in the area really respected Rastafari. Another driver in Montego Bay who brought me to the Coral Gardens remembrance said that they [Rastafari's] were the holders of Jamaican culture. They are the ones, according to him, that lived the life a lot of Jamaicans could not (i.e. a clean life). Next to these 'positive' messages that I was hearing from non-Rasta's I did hear some comments about the way I kept my dreadlocks. Different women wanted to ''clean it up'' for me, and when I declined their offer, they did not understand why I wanted to keep it in a ''unkempt''

manner, a way that a lot of Rastafari's keep their dreadlocks. When sitting in a cab on my way to mainstreet Ocho Rios a police car drove by with a Rastafari sitting in the back. The other people sitting with me in the cab were reacting in the following way: 'of course ah Rasta'. These encounters incited questions in me how Rastafari's perceived the performed entanglement between Jamaican culture and Rastafari culture. From my research participants, who were Rasta's themselves, I got a whole different picture of how they [Rastafari's] are being perceived in Jamaica. They brought up the days when they were being called 'dutty'(i.e. dirty) Rasta. My research participants also painted different pictures. They were saying that these non-Rasta's were still despising them, that the government was still not accepting them and that they were predominately being used to lure tourists and to make money out of them. In order to understand these different views about Rastafari in Jamaica I will give the reader some information about Jamaica and then a historical backdrop of its history in Jamaica. After that I will describe the social and economic context in which the Rastafari movement came into being in Jamaica and its relation with the Jamaican state/people from then until now. Jamaica is an island that is one of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Seas. In the North lies Cuba at a distance of a mere 140 kilometers and to the east Haiti at about 180 kilometers. Its greatest length is approximately 240 kilometers, its greatest width some 80 kilometers (van Dijk 1993:33). The Island was predominantly inhabited by the Arawaks who largely depended on fishing, lived along the shores of the Island and were generally described as peaceful ''primitive'' people; who were quickly ''exterminated'' in one hundred and fifty years, by the Spaniards; who arrived in 1509 on Jamaica. A combination of fatal European diseases, mass- murder, slavery, ill-treatment and suicide were the reasons why not one of the original Jamaicans were left by the beginning of the seventeenth century. As a substitute the Spaniards important enslaved Africans, although on a ''limited'' scale (about one thousand). By the midst of the seventeenth century the island came under British rule (Ibid.: 45-46). Jamaica was at first a colony for small farmers and white indentured labors, but that changed when sugar entered Jamaican society. Sugar was mainly used by the elite as a sweetener and a medicinal ingredient and became, after 1700, an everyday product in Europe. Jamaica provided the opportunity for large-scale production. The production of sugar required an enormous labor force and to this end thousands of slaves, who mainly came from the African West Coast, were brought to the island. By 1775 there were 12.737 whites and 200.000 enslaved Africans (Ibid.: 47).

The abolition of the slave trade in the British territories followed in 1807. By 1820 there were about 35.000 whites (one of the distinctions that were being made was between the mostly Scottish and English-born immigrants and the Jamaican creoles(i.e. white Europeans born in Jamaica)). Socially below the whites was an intermediate class of free colored (mulatto or brown) persons, originating from children born out of the sexual relations between white masters and female slaves. By the beginning they [Mulatto's and brown] already outnumbered the whites. The third group were the blacks, who heavily outnumbered the white and colored classes (Ibid.: 50). By 1 August 1834 the abolition of slavery finally came, but the 311.000 ''former'' slaves were compelled to work on the plantations, without pay, for another four years (van Dijk 1993:53-54; Edmonds 2003:30). With the abolition of slavery the plantation owners found difficulties to find cheap labor; which they found in indentured labors from India, China and Africa. However the indentured labors turned out to be too expensive for the plantation owners. The final blow (dealt in 1864) for the plantation economy in Jamaica was the dropping of the protective measures, favoring colonial sugar imports, by the British Crown (van Dijk 1993:54) Jamaica slowly gained independence. In 1958 it became a province in the Federation of the West Indies, a federation among the British West Indies. Jamaica attained full independence by leaving the federation in 1962. Jamaica's current population is predominately of black African origin, descendants of slaves from Africa's West Coast. According to the 2001 census 91.2% Jamaica's population is black, 6.2% is mixed and 2.6% is other or unknown1 . In spite of the Island's motto 'Out of Many One People', suggesting complete racial harmony, ethnic origin and skin color are still of great social significance. The former colonial hierarchy still influences the social and economic position of Jamaica's population to a great extent. Social status and economic and political power in Jamaica society were based on a three-layered strategy, in which the white European population formed the top, a significant group of what in the Jamaican context are ''brown men'' formed the intermediate middle class, and the black African masses the lower classes. With the upward social mobility of the black and mulatto population this class-color correlation started to fade. But is has to be said that a small group of whites still exercises a disproportionate influence and power over the island's economy and politics. The mulatto middle class is, in spite of increased social mobility, over the recent decades, still well represented. The overwhelming majority of the lower classes, the peasantry and what one could term the lumpenproletariat or underclass, is black. (van Dijk 1993: 37-38) .

1 http://www.indexmundi.com/jamaica/demographics_profile.html 7

Among the middle and upper classes in Jamaica, the dominant cultural orientation has long been exclusively European (British) and American. As a former British colony, the official language spoken in Jamaica is English and the ''Queen's English'' is regarded as good and civilized. This is notable when reading various articles about ''broken English''(Patois) and ''good English''2. The vast majority of the population, however, speaks Patois (pronunciation: Patwa), a dynamic mixture of several African languages and English, which is generally perceived by the elite as the lower-class language, the language of the poor black peasantry. Similarly, the elite considers European features - a thin nose, small lips, straight hair and a light skin color - to be more beautiful and desirable than African somatic features. (Ibid.: 38- 39). My research predominately took place in Ocho Rios, so a short description [of Ocho Rios] is in order. Ocho Rios (Spanish for ''Eight Rivers'', which is probably a corruption of the Spanish original name ''Las Chorreras, which means ''the waterfalls) is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica. Many believe that Christopher Columbus first set foot on land in Ocho Rios. Just outside the city, travelers and residents can visit Columbus Park, where Columbus supposedly first came on land, and see maritime artifacts and Spanish colonial buildings. Ocho Rios was first a small fishing village, until the beginning of the 1990s, when the beaches of Jamaica were beginning to get recognized as a tourist attraction.3 It has a port for cruise ships, as well as cargo ships loading sugar, limestone and, in the past, bauxite, which is just a five minute drive away from the city. The town is known for the use of it by the very first James Bond movie 'Dr. No'. It is also known for its 'Dolphins Cove', a place where people can interact with dolphins. Ocho Rios was going to be my only field of research, what has changed during my research. It was a fieldwork site that was to small and during my interviews I was recommended to visit other places as well. So I absorbed Negril, Kingston and Montego Bay in my research.

2 http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/allwoman/Get-your-child-to-speak-properly_14232098 3 http://www.thebluehousejamaica.com/Ocho_Rios_History.html 8

Ideologies of Resistance that came before Rastafari

''Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.'' - Psalm 68:31

Jamaica has a history of being a soil that sprouted different resistance groups prior to Rastafari. I will give a short oversight of these different groups to show the reader the historical context in which Rastafari has sprung. Captured Africans, by slave traders, and transported to the 'New World' longed for and believed that a return to Africa, within their own lifetime, was feasible. As time passed the expectation of returning to one's home took another form. It became a belief of returning home after death. These longings of returning back home faded away as time passed due to the decline of new arrivals and the crealization. Due to the abolition of the slave trade slaveholders had to focus on the reproduction of their slaves instead of attaining new enslaved Africans from Africa. The absence of ''new'' Africans made it hard for the slaves to have a connection with their homeland. Legends and myths became more important because of this absent. This does not mean that the enslaved Africans did not pursued freedom at all. Due to the fact that returning back to Africa was next to impossible freedom had to be achieved in the New World and one of the options was either individually through running away, manumission, or collectively through rebellion and insurrection (van Dijk 1993:57). More slave rebellions occurred in Jamaica than in all other British colonies in Caribbean combined4. Jamaican Maroons had succeeded in creating a state within a state and provided a safe haven for runaway and rebellious slaves. So, ideas about returning back to Africa were not just ideas that originated from Rastafari, but have a long preceding history. Throughout the New World there were different initiatives that were focused on bringing freed former Africans slaves to Africa. These different programs were set up by the British to settle the poor black in Sierra Leone in the late 18th century. There were also different initiatives in the United States to resettle former enslaved Africans in Freetown. These 'Back to Africa' ideas never really crystallized in Jamaica, but remained a latent ideological factor. There are different reasons why Ethiopia became such an important symbol of Africa's past glory. One of the reasons is that Ethiopia commonly was used to designate the whole of the African continent (van Dijk 1993:59-60). Many black people began to identify themselves with the frequent references to Ethiopia and the Ethiopians since Christian preachers begun

4 http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=310&Itemid=222 9

their missionary work in the Anglophone parts of the ''New World'' and parts of Africa. This next quote, by van Dijk, captures their connection to the Ethiopians and Ethiopia:

''What must have struck them, was the parallel between the biblical Israelites and themselves: taken away from their homeland, exiled and enslaved in a strange country. Was the Diaspora of the House of Israel not very much like the scattering of the black people by the Atlantic slave trade? And would not the next step be the end of exile and slavery and the return to the Promised Land? In fact, were the African people in the West not very much like, perhaps even, the true Israelites?'' (Ibid.:61)

These parallels that have been found by black people in Diaspora and other references of Ethiopia only strengthen the feeling that is being described in this excerpt. It had an effect on black people in Jamaica, South Africa and the United States of America. This glorification of Ethiopia via the Bible had been termed 'Ethiopianism'. It originated in South Africa during the 1870s and was a secessionist church movement rebelling against missionary churches that condoned the practice of white colonial rule and apartheid. It also challenged prevailing arguments that blacks were inferior in the Bible and articulated a more positive image of black people in the Bible (King 2002: xvi) Like I have said in the above it is important to see what happened before the Rastafari movement began. The emergence of Rastafari was not a coincidence, but a continuation of the past. Black people in the colonies and the New World already had ideas about repatriation and the significance of Ethiopia.

The Emergence of Rastafari in Jamaica The social context in which Rastafari emerged is in an important point of departure, in order to be able to understand the arising of this new movement in Jamaica. A hundred years after the ending of slavery the structure that was created during the days of slavery, that was based on the believe that white was a symbol of purity and goodness and that its opposite, black, was a symbol of impurity and evil, was still standing. There were a handful of white people at the apex of the society, a number of brown people consisted the middle class and the vast majority of black people were at the bottom of the society and were hardly benefitting of the economic progress that had been made. The country was, according to Erskine, in a grip of high

employment, poor housing and children malnourishment (Erskine: 2004:42; Chevannes 1990: 62). Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican black Nationalist, born in Jamaica on August 1, 1887, has influenced the Rastafari movement extensively. After traveling throughout Central and South America and England he became interested in African culture and history. After his experiences, during his travels, he believed that blacks must unify to overcome their oppression and returned to Jamaica to found the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). After travelling to the United States the UNIA started a chain of black-owned small business. By 1920, the UNIA boasted a membership of two million blacks. Garvey was influenced by Ethiopianism and glorified Africa's past and taught that God and Christ were black. He linked the regaining of their [blacks] dignity and equal rights to the ability to have a land of their own and being the own masters of this land. He coined the slogan 'Africa for Africans'. With his organization [the UNIA] he sponsored the Black Start Steamship Line, a corporation founded to transport blacks back to Africa (King 2002: xv). He was ridiculed by Jamaica's dominant society, but by a part of Jamaica's black lower classes he was being perceived as saint and later on by the Rastafari's movement he was being perceived as a prophet. The UNIA slogan 'Princes come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands to God (Psalm 68:31)' and a play of Garvey named 'The Coronation of King and Queen of Africa' played an important role in the perception of black Jamaicans to see Garvey as a prophet when Ras Tafari was being crowned as Haile Selassie the King of Ethiopia. Rasta's emerged from the Jamaican black underclass that perceived Garvey as saint. They were frowned upon by the colored class and the white elite. They contended that capitalism and its attendant values of racism, classism and colonialism are products of Babylon. Babylon was a system of (evil) colonialism and political chicanery was the reason for their current situation of powerlessness and poverty in Jamaica (Erskine 2004 : 39). Leonard Howell has been identified as the first Rastafarian preacher in Jamaica. He encouraged Jamaicans to reject the authority of the King of England and to give their loyalties to the new emperor of Ethiopia [Haile Selassie]. He failed to attract a community of followers during his first public meetings in Kingston in January 1933. He soon shifted his center of activities form the capital to the countryside, where he was able to make his first converts under a human and cultural crucible where the traditions of Afro-Jamaicans meet and merge with those of the descendants of maroons and African and East Indian indentured laborers (Erskine 2004: 41). The pledging of his allegiance to an King other than King George V soon attracted the attention the colonial government. As expected, Jamaica's colonial

government objected to Howell's anti-colonial rhetoric. In 1934 the police arrested Howell for breaking Jamaica's sedition laws (Ibid.: xvii). Rasta's did not had the need to change Jamaican society or adhered to Marcus Garvey's 'black capitalism.' What Rastafari brought to the black underclass was an understanding of God, which was a continuation of ideas [e.g. Ethiopianism]. Erskine described the social context in which Rastafari arose:

''The economic situation in Jamaica coupled with the cultural dislocation of the majority of Jamaicans forced them to seek a context in which to make sense of God-talk as they sought to carve out social, cultural, and political space for themselves. Faced with social and economic disenfranchisement and terminal poverty, they turned to a religion as a form of empowerment and resistance to help them understand local and global events.'' (Erskine 2004: 41)

What Rastafari did was that it confronted Jamaican society with its blackness and made it deal with its relationship to Africa. The main catalyst event of the Rastafari movement was the crowning of Ras Tafari (his original name) to Haile Selassie in 1930 (Edmonds 2003: 32). Ethiopia is one of the earliest countries to have adopted Christianity and a part of the Ethiopian nobility claimed to descent from King Solomon of Judah and the Queen of Sheba. So the new emperor [Haile Selassie] appropriated the following titles 'King of Kings', 'Lord of Lords', 'Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah', thus reaffirming the ancient roots of Ethiopian civilization and its independent place in Judaea-Christian traditions (Chevannes 1995:9; Erskine 2004:69). Due to his use of Bible references Jamaicans were able to connect this new belief called Rastafari (Ras, the Ethiopian for 'prince' and Tafari) to the Bible and can been seen as a continuation of pre-existing ideas like Ethiopianism. Many blacks in the Caribbean and the United State got their first glimpse of Ethiopia due to the international media exposure that the coronation of Haile Selassie received. Some of Garvey's followers consulted their Bibles and subsequently believed that Haile Selassie was the 'King of Kings', the black Messiah prophesized by Garvey (King 2004:xvi-xvii). He said 'look to Africa for the crowning of a king to know that your redemption is nigh'. The reason why black Jamaicans noticed his crowning was because of the work and ideas of Marcus Garvey coupled with a heightened black, pan-African consciousness.

The 'Dealing' with the Rastafari Movement by the Colonial Government Even during Howell's incarceration Rastafari's continued to make the press in Jamaica. The difficult social and economic conditions in the early 1930s due to the 'great depression' created a great unrest amongst the Jamaican peasantry. Rastafari's added more fuel to the fire. One of their ideas was that the land belonged to the black population, which attracted the attention of the colonial government. In a country ruled by a handful white people it is understandable why this idea was being perceived as dangerous when a lot of the black underclass were unemployed and landless. Especially the newspaper The Daily Gleaner reported about the Rastafari's and describing them as a 'dangerous cult' (van Dijk 1993:92). Even when being targeted and arrested by police officers Rastafari managed to keep on growing and spreading. One of the reasons for the difficulty to break the movement apart, by the colonial government, was the acephalous nature of the [Rastafari] movement. There are groups, quasi-groups and individuals, who while sharing the core beliefs, nevertheless remain separate and independent. So the faith of the movement is not dependent on a particular leader, like Howell for instance (Chevannes 1995:31) Until the 1970s Rastafari continued to experience different kinds of repressive actions by the colonial government. Although being reluctant to pursue this strategy, because of the fear to contribute to the increase in popularity of the movement, early [Rastafari] leaders like Howell, Hibbert and Dunkley were arrested, imprisonment and hospitalized. Other repressive actions, by the police, were the 1958 groundation, the fracas at Coronation Market in 1959, the Henry rebellion of 1960, the Holy Thursday massacre of 1963, the demolition of Back-O-Wall in 1966, the raids on Claudius Henry's commune in 1967-1968 or the Rodney riots of October 1968 were clear examples of various large-scale retaliation by the colonial government (van Dijk 1993:345). During my fieldwork period I noticed that the Holy Thursday massacre still holds an important place in the memories of my research participants. It was, according to my research participants, one of the important and clear examples of the repressive strategy's that was being applied by the colonial state and police. While Kingston had traditionally been the centre of Rastafarian activity during the 1950s Jamaica's tourist capital Montego Bay had also witnessed a growing adherence to the movement. It was the Custos [i.e. a keeper of country records and the highest officer in that county] of St. James Francis Kerr-Jarret, who in 1956 had urged Governor Hugh Foot to contact the British ambassador in Addis Ababa to see whether Haile Selassie could be induced to deny his alleged divinity. Three years later Kerr-Jarret financed the trip of seven Rastafari's to the Moral Rearmament movement's training center in Michigan. As a result of the trip, the main Rasta formation in Montego bay, the Orange Street Gully group, had fallen apart (Ibid.: 13

164). So this method, applied by Kerr-Jarret, did not split up or slow down the growth of the group, because of its decentralized nature. The presence of Rastafari's was so strong that the local Chamber of Commerce thought it was necessary to accuse the police of pampering the local Rasta's. It [the Chamber of Commerce] claimed that tourist were being harassed by Rasta's who were wielding their machetes (Ibid.:165). The already widespread fear of the Rasta's in Montego Bay reached its climax when on April 1963 six bearded men, said to be Rastafari's, were involved in a violent incident. The incident in which eight persons lost their lives, sent shockwaves of panic and horror through the entire island, and once more convinced many Jamaicans, that Rastafari's were extremely dangerous. This phenomena is named 'moral panic' within the field of sociology. Goode and Ben-Yehuda describe the concept in the following manner:

''These historical episodes represent explosions of fear and concern at a particular time and place about a specific perceived threat. In each case, a specific agent was widely felt to be responsible for the threat; in each case, a sober assessment of the evidence concerning the nature of the supposed threat forces the observer to the conclusion that the fear and concern were, in all likelihood, exaggerated or misplaced.'' (Goode & Ben-Yehuda 1994:150)

When analyzing this event the reader will see that a moral panic, like described in the above, erupted during this ''event''. On 11 April, these men, armed with guns and machetes, attacked a gas station in Coral Gardens, and set the place and two automobiles on fire. Not long afterwards they also killed the property headman of the Rose Hall estate. Later in the morning numerous heavily armed policeman and soldiers, with two armored units, were brought to the area. After different clashes with their pursuers three of the six Rasta's were killed and the other three vanished(van Dijk 1993:165). In the mean time this event added only more fuel to the fire, in regard to the prevailing sentiments about Rastafari in Jamaica. Radio stations created widespread fear and panic with their repeated announcements of an island-wide Rastafarian uprising. The prime minister Alexander Bustamante, two ministers and the top of the police force and military were flown to Montego Bay, and hundreds of police and army reinforcements were transported to the area. It had been said, by Rasta's, that he gave the orders 'to bring in every Rastafari, dead or alive' (Ibid.:165).

On the same day police forces were rounding up every Rasta that they could find in Montego bay and its vicinity. The raids continued throughout the evening and night and no fewer than 170 Rasta's were arrested on every charge the police could come up with; varying from vagrancy to being a suspected person. Many Rasta's started to cut off their locs and beards. An unidentified government spokesman was quoted saying: 'If jail cannot hide the Rastafarians put them on Bogue Hill [ Montego Bay's cemetery].' Jamaica was appalled by what happened by what became known as the Holy Thursday or Coral Gardens Massacre. There were two theories to explain what happened on that day. The first theory was in line what were the popular thoughts about Rastafari's; that they were high on weed, to what the attendant of the gas station testified. It was the most convenient explanation and the one that was accepted by the JPL government. It also ensued a call to elimination the cultivation of ganja. The second theory, which was more plausible, was that the leader of the ''gang'' was bent on vengeance after being shot and sentenced to a prison term last year after a dispute where the overseer of the estate for attempting to cultivate the land without permission and was overheard saying that someone at the gas station betrayed him (Ibid.:166-167). The nation's elite were not interested in the second explanation and demanded action. The Coral Gardens Massacre incident was not directed at the six men, but at the Rastafari movement as a whole. During the funeral of one of the policemen killed during the manhunt the Baptist reverend E.H. Greaves expressed the feelings that were simmering throughout Jamaican society when he demanded 'legislation right away to rid this community of the Rastafarian menace which he said was not good for any civilized country.' Also the Chamber of Commerce expressed it wishes ''to exterminate this evil movement'', concerned about the effects of the event on tourism and trade. These events still hold a profound place in the memories of Rastafari's. During my fieldwork period I also attended the 50th remembrance of the Coral Gardens Massacre. In Kingston there was a silent march to remember those who died and suffered at the hands of the police force and to ask for a compensation for the families who had lost someone and financially compensation, because families as still suffering from the massacre.

The Shift in the 'Dealing' with the Rastafari Movement by the State The coercive measures that the colonial state took did little in disrupting the growth of the movement. If anything it contributed to the continued existence of the movement. One of the following strategy's that the government undertook was the strategy of ''adjustment''; meaning making some concessions to the social movement while not accepting their demands or goals (King 2002:82; van Dijk 1993:347).

The Jamaican government's adjustment, to the demands of the Rastafari movement in the 1960's, was evident in two major ways. First, the government allowed the visiting of Haile Selassie to Jamaica in 1966. Second, the Jamaican ruling class accepted certain means of protest, most notably by allowing supposed Rastafari's to editorialize in the national newspaper, the Daily Gleaner. Both of these measures were aimed at pacifying the movement. Instead of appeasing the Rastafari's the visit of Haile Selassie only empowered them and turned them more towards political activism. It also highlighted the strength and popularity of Rastafari as a grassroots social movement. Leonard Barrett, a noted scholar of the Rastafari movement, called Selassie's visit one of the major turning points on the routinization or legitimization as a social movement in Jamaica. More important the visit of Haile Selassie and his decree that Rastafari should seek ''liberation'' in Jamaica before ''repatriation'' to Africa. This decree only ignited the already growing political consciousness of the Rastafari movement (King 2002:82). The movement formed an alliances with other black power movements in Jamaica and became more identified with the increasingly politicized lyrics of Jamaica's popular music. The other adjustment tactic was that the Daily Gleaner published letters from Rastafari ''leaders''. Samuel Brown, identified by the Gleaner as a spokesperson for the movement in Jamaica, was one of the more ''political'' and outspoken of these Rastafari ''leaders'' to publish in the Gleaner. Brown used the space that he got to counter the prevailing ideas about Rastafari's, for instance that they were a group of ''fanatics'' (Ibid.: 84). This strategy of adjustment basically proved to be unsuccessful. It did little to stem the increased political activism and growing popularity of the Rastafari movement. The ideological and organizational nature of the Rastafari movement rendered many control strategies ineffective (Ibid.:84-85). The development of ''international reggae'' after 1971 made it harder for the Jamaican government and dominant class to ignore or suppress the movement, while a new generation of academic scholars approached the movement more sympathetically (King 2002: 85; van Dijk 1993:346). The movement became more known an popular throughout the world with the reggae soundtrack 'The Harder They Come' and the reggae album of the Wailers 'Catch a Fire.' The PNP candidate for prime minister, Michael Manley, used the popularity of Reggae and Rastafari in Jamaica by beginning to express sympathy to the movement and hired reggae artists during his political rallies (King 2002: 85). He attempted to appeal to the Rastafari and Jamaica's black power movements. It can also been seen as one of the earliest moments when the movement was started to being co-opted by the state, in this case the political establishment.

The adjustment strategy of the government did not entailed any ''real'' concessions towards the goals and demands of the movement. The concessions that were being made were of a symbolic nature; like the visiting of Emperor Haile Selassie and the space that they got in the national newspaper the Daily Gleaner. When this does not work the establishment may opt for another strategy; cooptation. An establishment may, when a social movements agitation becomes especially intense, may try to incorporate leaders or sympathizers into the establishment on ''non- threatening'' positions. Another cooptation strategy may be to incorporate parts of the dissent ideology into the mainstream, entering into a more or less ''merger with the social movement (King 2002:107; van Dijk 1993:348) . When we consider all the ''adjustments'' that has been made by the Jamaican political and cultural establishment, and the significance of those ''adjustments'', one can argue that the ruling class indeed co-opted the Rastafari movement. It incorporated its symbols while deflecting it its most substantive religious and political ideologies (King 2002: 106) One of the most clear examples of the co-optation of a part of the Rastafari movement is the co-optation of reggae. One of the first clear examples of the co-optation of Reggae music and the Rastafari movement was the exploitation of it by Micheal Manley during his 1972 national political campaign. Reggae artists were being invited to perform during the rallies and the perception was created that they were being incorporated into the institutional bodies, which did not happen. The Jamaican tourist board also saw reggae as a potential economic source to bring tourists to the island and started to organize reggae festivals like Reggae Sunsplash. Rastafari started to being incorporated into the Jamaican culture, at least its symbols. Tourist operators offer tourists trips to different landmarks of Reggae prominents (e.g. Bob Marley's birth place) and the craft markets offer different crafts with the red, gold and green colors on it. Rastafari's political demands are not incorporated, so it remains on a symbolic level. When walking through various craft markets you can see how Rastafari has been turned into a commodity. You can by different crafts with it symbols; i.e. a red, gold and green hat with artificial dreadlocks attached to them. The profits that are being made are in the millions of dollars, the Jamaican state and tourist industry turned the symbols of the movement into a commodity and created the illusion that the political parties and society as a whole accepted the group that were ''once'' oppressed. The co-optation of Rastafari does not mean that the harassment in the past are not present anymore. While Jamaican society, the elite and police force seem to have embraced it as a part of Jamaican culture, this seems to not be the case. 17

So you this is the strange situation wherein Rastafari finds itself. It is being co-opted by the state and Jamaican society, but also is not being ''fully'' accepted. What I noticed during my fieldwork period that there was still the feeling they are being more targeted by the Jamaican police force and are still not accepted by the Jamaican society. They [the Jamaican state and society] just pick certain aspects of the culture and market it as something that is authentically Jamaican. So the agency of the movement is in the hands of other parties.

Chapter 2: Fieldwork Methods, My Position in the Field and Ideas about the ''Authentic'' Rasta

Fieldwork Methods The most important method that I deployed during my research was the use of semi-structured interviews. This method helped me to keep the topics close to my research, but also gave me enough space to listen to my research participants and ask questions that I had missed in my interview setup. Observation also played an important role within my research. For instance, it helped me to locate symbols that were taken for granted and not named by my research participants. Via observation I was able to capture visual and linguistic aspects that my research participants took for granted. Due to my observations I was able to bring these aspects under their attention and ask for the meanings that they attached to them. Even with the observation method it is still possible to miss certain aspects that are important to my research participants. This is why I also used the photo elicitation method, in which I gave a disposable camera to several research participants and ask them to photograph what Rastafari means, according to them, from a visual aspect. Afterwards I would develop them and asked them why they choose them and what kind of meaning they had, to them. I used the snowball method to get to know different Rastafari's. My gatekeeper played an important role in this. She knew people who I could talk to, and when friends of her came by her house (where I also was staying) I started a conversation and planned interviews with them. Another method that I deployed was the 'who do I want to interview?' method. Most of the Rastafari literature that I read consisted of Rastafari men that were used in the gathering of data. I tried to create a balance on base of gender. My gatekeeper was a woman and I used the snowball method in order to interview Rasta women within her network, which turned out to be a useful method. I did make sure that I did not interview Rasta's that only came out of her own network.

Fieldwork intro: Who Was I? Their reflections on my Reflexivity 'Are you a Rastafari?' was the question that I got, from a person who wanted to buy some coconuts from sister Apple. She was also standing next to me, and I answered with 'I do not know'. He answered me with 'what are you then?'. This situation occurred a couple of minutes before my first interview and my first couple of days in Jamaica and it arose the question within myself, 'who am I within the field?'. When entering my research site I had noticed that the question of ''I'' and who this ''I'' was, was more significant than I had imagined and that it would alter various times during my research period in Jamaica. My identity, and how I was perceived by others, constantly shifted during my fieldwork. This is why I want to reflect on it and if it did, how it affected me and my research during my fieldwork period. Before'' placing'' myself in the Jamaican context, I am first going to ''place'' myself within the Dutch context. By doing this, the reader will have a better understanding of the ''shock'' that I encountered when I entered my research site. I am a black man, born from Eritrese immigrants, who came to the Netherlands in the early 80's of the twentieth century. I am born in the Netherlands. By the state I am classified as a 'niet-westerse allochtoon' (i.e. a person who has, at least, one parent who is born in a foreign country5) positioned against the 'autochtoon' (i.e. a person who both his/her parents are born in the Netherlands6). So I, as person, who is born in the Netherlands, is still being considered as an ''alien.'' Next to color of my skin I also have dreadlocks and a facial beard. Within the Dutch/Western context these [''African''/''black''] physical features are being connected to a wide array of ideas, from uncivilized7 to being ''exotic'' (which may not even be that different from each other). People in the Netherlands, but also tourists in Jamaica often want to touch my hair, because of their unfamiliarity with it and these experiences are bringing feelings to my mind of when Africans like Sarah Baartman were brought to the European continent to be seen and touched in order to get white Europeans familiar with the ''African race8.'' My racial identity is also not questioned (i.e. people hardly ask me if I am mixed raced). People also do not connect me to a specific (religious) identity. So while living in the Netherlands I do not have to think about ''I'', in the sense that I was positioned as a black non-Western Allochtoon who was not perceived as of being of mixed race. Before arriving in Jamaica I knew that the possibility existed that people could mistaken me for a Rastafari, but I could not imagine, how it could influence, or even limit my

5 http://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/menu/methoden/begrippen/default.htm?conceptid=37 6 http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/methoden/begrippen/default.htm?ConceptID=88 7 http://jezebel.com/5832293/nivea-says-afros-are-uncivilized 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Baartman 19

own actions, during my fieldwork. Another perception of me could be that of a Jamaican, instead of a Dutch student from abroad. One of the first thing that I noticed upon my arrival in Ochi was that Jamaicans tend to address people by their appearance (e.g. a person with specific kind of dreadlocks would be called a Rasta/Nyabinghi and a person with his/her dreadlocks covered would be a called a Bobo). So I was frequently called a Rasta or a Nyabinghi by people in the streets when they called out to me. This made me aware of the way people perceived me when I was walking in the streets. I cannot bring up a moment during my stay when a person, who was not a research participant of mine, asked me if I even was a Rasta. These ideas about my religious identity did not changed when I stated that I was a student from abroad who was conducting research in Jamaica. I also did not ''corrected'' these perceived ideas that people had of me, because I hoped to gain new insights of Rastafari through me. This ambiguous state I was positioned in, and also choose to remain in, was something that I had to maneuver through during my research period. What also played a role was the fact that I sympathize with a lot of the ideas that Rastafari's adhere to. I do not call myself a 'pan-Africanist', but I do combat institutional racism. So my hair and my ideas further strengthened the ideas, of some, that I was a Rastafari. What (sometimes) happened next was that I was put under a greater scrutiny (e.g. why was I not wearing a button with Haile Selassie on it, or why was I not covering my dreads). This form of ''directness'' that I encountered, from my research participants and other Jamaicans, was something that I really needed to get adjusted to. Especially when I was, for the first time, in a non-western country (except for Eritrea) for a long period (three months), without knowing anybody and that I operated in a field of ambiguity did not made it easier. My research participants, when in the field, introduced me to other people in various ways. In an early stage of my research period I met with a lecturer, who is a Rastafari, named Dr. Jalani Niaah. I already established contact with him before the start of my fieldwork. During our talk in Kingston he asked me, in the middle of our conversation, if I was a Rastafari, because of the way that I talked about our topics. He also asked me if I was mix- raced and if I was planning to let my dreadlocks grow. These three questions came back frequently during my fieldwork. When he made some calls for me he introduced me as a dreadlocked pan-Africanist. Rastafari's are also pan-Africanists, so his decision to help me was not illogical. Even Orah, my gatekeeper, during one of our talks, asked me if I was or was not a Rastafari and later on talked about me as a dreadlocked youth. What I noticed from their perceptions of me was that Rastafari is more than a certain belief system; it also a pan- Africanist social movement.

My ''roots'' also played a key role during my research. Like mentioned before, I am a child from Eritrean immigrants. Eritrea is located next to Ethiopia and was a part of it until 1993. After a liberation war of 30 years Eritrea liberated itself from Ethiopia. In the beginning I was curious to see how Rasta's would respond to the fact that I am a man of Eritrean descent, because of its history with Ethiopia. Dr. Niaah said that it was a sad thing that a great nation as Ethiopia was cut off from the sea and that the [Ethiopian] empire fell apart. When I encountered other Rasta's they were curious about my roots and were glad to meet me because of my roots. I can recall one talk that I had with a Rasta (I-Yee) in Kingston. He was even proud to meet me, because I came from the ''Motherland.'' This made him eager to talk to me about his ideas of Rastafari. The same went for Clifford, a Rasta who had a stand in the craft market in Ochi. When I was with him another Rasta came by he introduced me as student from Eritrea, Africa. This directness coupled with the ambiguous position I was in was the initial ''shock'' that I encountered. When walking through the streets in the Netherlands I hardly get bothered, in Ochi I could hardly walk around without people wanting something from me, because I was a tourist/foreigner. I found it really hard to deal with this, because I, as a person, living in West, was aware of the global power structures that placed me in a more prosperous position than the people in streets asking me for something (e.g. money). It was not just that people wanted something from me. I can recall a moment when I was walking through main street with an ice cream and a woman, who was sitting on a stoop, said to me in a lightly irritated manner 'Rasta do not eat cream'. What immediately went through my head was, 'I cannot do anything without people watching me'. Being under constant scrutiny did cost me a lot of energy, because of my unfamiliarity with it. Another aspect of my identity that was put into question, what was my racial identity. Jamaica is a country where the vast majority of the people are from African descent. This group is vastly bigger than the brown and white population of the island. The effect of this was that my fairly light complexion made it that I was ''placed'' in the brown category. I frequently got the question if I was mixed-raced. This affected my ideas of my racial identity and racial identity in general. These seem to be more fluid that I expected. Where in the Netherlands I was being perceived as a black man, without any questions of my racial identity in Jamaica I became something else. I went from somebody who never had to question his racial identity to someone who frequently got the question ''what he was.'' I was not the only one struggling with this idea of race. My gatekeeper Orah; a African-American woman with a light complexion, had to struggle with the same issues of race. In the United States she was a black woman and in Jamaica she was considered ''white.'' One of the reasons for this discrepancy between these different places may be the ''mixing of races'' in Jamaica. Whereas 21

in the Netherlands and United State there are more black people who are bi-racial or of ''mixed'' descent, what makes me/us relatively darker in the Netherlands and the United States than in Jamaica; where because of the very high percentage of Jamaicans of African descent the ''mixing'' cannot take place on a scale as large as in a countries where the majority of people are white. So these ideas of race and identity played an important role in how ''they'' and ''I'' perceived myself.

Encounters: Whom did I Meet in the Field? Rasta, Non-Rasta, or an Essence of Rasta as Authenticity? I can still remember the first time when I drove into Ocho Rios ('Ochi'). I took a taxi from the airport in Montego Bay and Orah (my gatekeeper and the woman with whom I was going to stay with during my stay in Jamaica) was going to pick me up in Main street. Due to different circumstances she could not pick me up and I met with a friend of hers. The first thing that I noticed upon my arrival was that there where so many cars driving through a street that hardly could hold that amount of traffic. When I was picked up by the friend of Orah I asked her the question 'how big is Ochi' when she replied me with 'this is it'. The first thing that went through my mind was 'is this place going to be 'big enough', as a research site, to conduct my research?' I quickly spotted the two crafts markets, that were located on Main street. I saw tourists walking around and the street vendors selling goods varying from fruits to CD's. I finally arrived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Rasta's I was renting a room, in Ocho Rios, in a starting guesthouse, owned by my gatekeeper Orah EL. She was born in United States of America and is living in Jamaica since 1999. She is in the beginning of her sixties and a Rastafari. She brought me into contact with several Rastafari, like Sister Apple, Sister Vanessa and the Prof-I, who is leading the Nyabinghi center of Ocho Rios. She was also my contact who introduced me to Sister Amma, who lives in Kingston. Via Orah I predominately met with other females, something that I also hoped. I tried to make sure that my research population was diverse, based on gender. During my preparation of my fieldwork I had noticed that the used informants were predominately men, something that I did not wanted for my own research. These research informants varied in age from their late thirties to well in their sixties. I had trouble finding Rasta's of my own age. All of my research participants were independent workers. Sister Apple has a little shop on the roadside between Ocho Rios and Oracabessa, in which she sells her fruits and self made 22

crafts, like purses and hats, in which she incorporated the red, gold and green colors. Sister Vanessa is also a woman in her forties who lives in the neighborhood of Sister Apple and is a singer, makes crafts and paintings that she sells. Prof-I is the owner of the Nyabinghi center, who does not work. Sister Amma, who I stayed with in Kingston for four days, works out of her own home. People can order food from her and pick it up at her home. That's how she makes her living. She also introduced me to Amrabak m a Rastafari who travels throughout Kingston with his craft stand. I went to his craft stand at the UWI during black history month and had a talk to him and another Rastafari (I-yee) with who he works. When I talked to him, he attended to me that I should meet with Prof-I. This was something that I heard a lot from different (non-)Rastafari. So I quickly understood that he held a pivotal role within the movement (in Ocho Rios). Sister Amma also wanted to introduce me to some other Rastafari, but because I went to Kingston on a later moment of my fieldwork I could not follow up on her offer because I met her in a later moment of my research. All these people are Rastafari and identify themselves as Nyabinghi's. With my research informants, that are stated in the above, I did not had any language problems, except for Prof-I, who's Patois I found, sometimes, hard to understand. During my fieldwork I traveled two times to Kingston. On my first one day stay I met with Jalani Niaah, who is a lecturer at the university of the West Indies. During our talk he advised me to travel through Jamaica, because Jamaica was not that big, but because I already rented a (rather expensive) room at Orah it wasn't possible for me to do that, but I did went to Negril, like he advised me. I had the feeling during our talk that he really was trying to steer my research. He was a Jamaican and a Rastafari, and because of this I had the feeling, at the moment, that I may had gone about my research in the wrong way, but I am glad I was able to incorporated his ideas in my original plan. During my stay with Orah I had the feeling that she thought she knew what my research was about and she made some remarks about it (e.g. 'this would be great for your research' and 'you really need to interview her'). She, for example, wanted me to talk to one of her friends. I met her earlier (she is one of the founders of the Rasta village for children that is being set up by her and Orah), and I did not felt the need to interview her. In retrospective in may have been a way in asserting the control over my own research. One of the problems I had in accessing networks was that my research informants, who are working in Ocho Rios, did not live in Ocho Rios. In the beginning of my research I had the intend to only ''use'' informants who lived or worked in Ocho Rios. When my research progressed I noticed that I needed to expand it a little bit (which is one of the reasons why I went to Kingston, Negril and Montego Bay). So it was hard to access their networks. I tried to compensate this by asking questions about their networks and how they use these networks. 23

The informants that I talked to in Ocho Rios were Jonathan, a Rastafari who had a stand in the bigger craft market on Main street, and was in his sixties, Clifford who had a music stand in the smaller craft market on main street and Everton, who sold fruits on the road, while walking around. So it was hard to access their networks, but I tried to compensate this with my questionnaire. Another problem that arose was that there are no formal networks that I could use to get know more people, everything was very informal (which is also an complaint that a lot of my informants expressed to me). I also interviewed a Rasta prominent named Mutabaruka, who also attended a meeting at Prof-I's Nyabinghi center, which was also attended by one of my other research participants, Sister Vanessa. I missed this gathering because of the absent of formal networks, and, for instance, a flyer or other form of notifications. I also missed another event because of this. One of the other problems that I encountered with the language barriers was during two (informal) group interviews. When they [my research participants] were surrounded by other Rasta's they tended to switch to a more difficult form of Patios, what made it hard for me to follow the conversation. It demanded a 100% concentration level of me, which made me ''juggle'' between writing and listing. A conversation that took place on a high ''pace'' made it next to impossible for me to ''steer'' the conversation. I also build up a report with another research participant (Everton), but his Patios was something that I could not comprehend and his English was not sufficient enough to have a formal interview. So I tried via informal conversations to get his ideas, about my research topics, from him.

Non-Rasta's The circle that I was surrounded with were predominately Rasta's, so I did not met as many non-Rasta's as I wanted to. My position as a tourist made it hard to establish a ''normal'' relationship with most of the non-Rasta's, because most of them wanted something of me. The persons that I did met had clear ideas about what Rastafari entailed and shared their ideas with me. The ideas that I got from non-Rasta's were that they do see, as Edmond said, Rastafari's as ''culture bearers.'' One day I was sitting in Turtle park, Ocho Rios, catching up on some reading. It is a quiet place where predominately couples and school children hang out. It a breath of fresh air next to the crowded Main street. At a certain moment a man stepped up to me asking me to borrow my self phone, because he needed to make a call. He is a construction worker in his forties and needed to make a call for a job. After his call we ended up talking about Rastafari. This happened when I informed him that I was doing research about it. He tried to explain to me what Rastafari entailed. He used the Bible as an

starting point and that it was a Christian based religion. He was not the only one who used the Bible in explaining Rastafari. I met this man, who I would estimate to be in his thirties. He asked me if I was a Rastafari and was eager to explain what Rastafari meant, according to him. He explained to me that we, black people, are the true Israelites, because it said so in the Bible. He had a strong affection with Rastafari and used to had dreadlocks, but cut them due to the difficulty to find a job with them [dreadlocks]. Being perceived as Rasta also influenced the way non-Rasta's talked and acted around me. I can recall a taxi driver asking me if it was okay by me if who would smoke in the care because he knew that Rasta's do not like it.

An Authentic Rastafari? When I talked to my research participants I always started with the question 'what is Rastafari?' to get an idea about their perceptions/ideas of the culture. I always found it difficult ,and a little bit snobbish. to, from my position as an anthropologist, from another country, to ''decide'' what Rastafari ''really'' entails. So decided to let my research participants to do the talking. I had noticed, when meeting new people in the street and looking for possible research participants that I, subconsciously, had a notion about what Rastafari is and only followed up on a talk when I had the idea that the person was a Rastafari. One of the reasons for this could be because I was aware of my position in the field. Like said before, I was aware how people perceived me, as a tourist, with African roots, but from the West. This meant that people tended to ''cater'' to those perceived notions that they had about me; a black tourist, with dreadlocks, who probably is interested in Rastafari. Orah mentioned to me that the people in Ocho Rios are really perceptive, so during my first days walking through main street people would notice me and try to ''place'' me and try to sell their goods to me, because they would place me as a tourist. This would change during my fieldwork when they would have seen me a couple of times. I can remember meeting a man in the beginning of his thirties who I asked if he was a Rasta and replied with yes. He also asked me to take a look in his shop and I agreed. When I looked in his shop there was nothing that was ''connected'' to Rastafari, but more Jamaican orientated. I bought something from him in a attempt to develop a rapport with him. After this encounter I met him again and we talked about what his dreadlocks meant to him. He replied that the female tourists love them and he used them to get close to them. My first ideas were that he was not a Rastafari, but a 'Rent-A-Dread'. Rent-a-Dreads are, according to King, often uneducated and unskilled Jamaican men - have locked their hair and assimilated themselves within the Rastafarian community ''to appeal to women tourists'' (King 2002:129). What I have noticed is that these Rent-a-Dreads also have other sources of income

along this activity, like this dreadlocked craftsman that I have met, because it is another way to ''sell'' the Jamaican ''experience'' and these female tourists provide a viable source of income. Experiences like the one noted in the above made me think about the question: 'who is and who is not a Rastafari?', but the way they tried to sell me the Rastafari experience gave me an inside in their ideas about what authentic Rastafari entailed. Haile Selassie was being portrayed as the King and the nucleus of Rastafari, while the dreadlocks were being described as part of their African identity. When placing the concept of 'authenticity' in a theoretical framework I used the work of anthropologist van der Port. In his article 'Registers of Incontestability: The Quest for Authenticity in Academia and Beyond' he notes that within the field of anthropology the constructivist approach ''reigns'', e.g. Anderson 'Imagined Communities (2006[1973])'. Cohen also adheres to an constructive approach and describes authenticity as something that is ''negotiable'' and says that something that in past has not been seen as authentic can be seen in that manner in the present (Cohen 1988:379). Authenticity is being constructed in the present, according to him. Within this thesis I will not follow the constructivist approach to validate claims of authenticity made by my research participants. Instead my focus will be on what my research participants base their claims of ''authentic Rastafari.'' The reason why I choose for this approach instead of the constructive approach is because the question of what exactly is authentic can only be answered by the people who ''live it.'' Is it not more interesting to see how this constructed authenticity is being transcended in the present by Rastafari's? Van der Port uses 'registers' to analyze claims of authenticity and describes registers in the following manner:

''I take a 'register' to be a specific mode in which communication takes place - a mode that brings certain experiential fields 'into resonance' (in analogy with the way that the sound of stringed instruments attains 'depth' because a string, when brought into vibration, brings other spaces and materials into resonance.'' (Van der Port 2004: 11).

The register that Rastafari's that I met during my research used was their identification with Africa and more specific Ethiopia and Haile Selassie. I can remember visiting Prof-I at his Nyabinghi centre, where he also lives. When I walked in he was there with two other men. They were talking about different kind of ways to harvest food and what grew in the yard of Prof-I himself. During this reasoning the conversation shifted at one moment to the subject of homosexuality in Jamaican society. When one of the persons condemned it he [Prof-I] said

that as a Rasta he could not say anything about it because Haile Selassie never said something about the subject. The referring to him [Haile Selassie] in this reasoning and Prof-I claiming that he cannot say anything about the subject of homosexuality because Haile Selassie never said anything about it exemplifies the pivotal role of him in their mode of thoughts. Rasta's call the way that they live their 'livity'; which means the way a person lives his/her life. The importance of Haile Selassie is next to the fact that he is being perceived as an symbol, King or God, also visible in their [Rastafarians] daily mode of communication [i.e. as a register]. His speeches are working as a register through which they are communicating. During my fieldwork I have encountered different Rasta's who ask me the question 'what did the King say?' meaning; what did Haile Selassie say about a particular situation or how would he deal with it. Rastafari owed a lot of its structures, or better yet the lack of them, to early revivalist movements that preceded Rastafari. Barry Chevannes said the following about the roots of the lack of organization:

''The proliferation of prophets, shepherds, captains, and their small bands was possible because the beliefs and rituals of Revival, Zion or Pukumina, were based on a worldview common to the population as a whole, which did not necessitate the organization of religious doctrine into a single sect or church, with a single orthodoxy.'' (Chevannes 1994:119)

The lack of a central organization (and a 'single orthodoxy') has had a great influence on the development of the idea of what is and what is not 'authentic' Rastafari under its followers. Haile Selassie is being perceived by the followers of the Rastafari culture in different ways. Mutabaruka sees him as a symbol that connects the Jamaicans, who are the children of enslaved Africans brought to Jamaica, to a history beyond slavery and colonialism and to a lineage that goes back to the first emperor of Ethiopia. Others see him as an African King or as the black equivalent of Jesus Christ. What I have noticed during my fieldwork is that these different views towards how to practice the Rastafari livity goes further than Haile Selassie. They way to analyze Jamaican society has been predominately drawn from the Bible, where early Rastafari's had drawn their believes about Haile Selassie being the resurrection of Christ, for instance. During one of my talks with Jonathan; a Rastafari stand owner in the Ocho Rios craft market said the following about what a ''true'' Rastafari should do and is:

''Rastafari is a Christian part of religion. As a true Rastaman you have to live like a Christian. The only thing that a Rastaman may do what a Christian wouldn't do is smoke. A Rastafarian life is like a Christian, because we go to Church, we read our Bible a chapter a day and we do not envy our brother. We like to live clean, like a Christianity live, I think. Because nuff Christians do not live clean like a Rasta. [...].''

In this quote Jonathan is explaining that Rastafari is a part of Christianity and even claiming that Rasta's are living more according to what is being written in the Bible than Christians do. The one distinction that he makes, what differs Rasta's from Christians, is that they do smoke; i.e. herbs. While there are Rasta's who use the Bible I have also met other Rasta's who do not use the Bible. One of them was Prof-I; who is saying that Rastafari is not a Christian religion, and for example, is not naming his place, where the chanting takes place, a tabernacle, because it is an Christian word. He calls Rastafari an authentic indigenous way of living. It is a livity that goes back to a livity before civilization and modernization. Getting everything that is being made by the earth instead of by man. Mutabaruka also does not see Rastafari through a Christian ''lens'' and has the following definition of Rastafari:

''Rastafari is a liberation movement. Rastafari started out as the need to find something that is unique for black people in the Western world. It is a movement that combats colonialism and white supremacy and is a black power movement with a spiritual nucleus. It means that we find that spiritual nucleus in person of Emperor Haile Selassie the first. And a liberation movement for black people, that's why we are saying: 'African for Africans, those at home and those abroad', like Marcus Garvey. So Rastafari is cultural movement. It is not a religion or something, it's a movement. It is a understanding that black people developed in this part of the world to liberate themselves from white supremacy and colonialism. I do not see Haile Selassie as a God, he is a supreme being, higher than God. [...] It is not what him praise, I praise. I praise him what him don't praise himself.''

Mutabaruka sees Rastafari as a black power movement with a spiritual nucleus and does not praise Haile Selassie for what he did, per se, but as a symbol that ties Africans that are living in Diaspora to Africa and can be seen as an ''anti-dote'' to white supremacy. Vanessa, the artist, also has her ideas about Rastafari wherein she connects the ideas of Rastafari of Jonathan and Mutabaruka:

''Well of course what Rastafari has done. You cannot embrace anything outside of yourself before you embrace yourself first. And embrace yourself in all the essence of who you are. In my awakening to Rastafari then of course naturally I start wonder why is then of course Haile Selassie I of course is the main focus of the Jamaican Rastafari movement. It is the focus, in what way the people want to focus, because some say that he is God the Almighty, some people will say that he is the King of the earth. Some people will say that he is the divine ruler or whatever. It pointed me now to Africa. It never pointed me to Haile Selassie I. It pointed me to Africa, which is of course Hail Selassie I. being what Rasta embrace in terms of the whole. It is deeper than just Hail Selassie I because remember Ethiopia when you check Ethiopia. The history of Ethiopia then you realize that is the cradle of civilization that is where it all began. So Hail Selassie I represent to I the King of the earth. The earth rightful ruler. Because Ethiopia is a Christian nation. The scriptures, of which we of course only half of it, King James version. For those who study, like myself, who go deeper into the translation. The same scriptures tells us that King David was chosen by the Almighty as a King and it is only his lineage that is assigned as the King of the earth. [...] Babylon tries to hide that part of our history because for whatever reason they want to keep us mentally and spiritually enslaved. But the truth is the truth and the truth cannot hide and lives. In accepting, the Almighty, which is father and mother of course. Because Amharic language says that the Almighty is no gender., but at the same time they refer to the Almighty as mother and father. So if you honor creation and the scriptures, just the concept of a God that places people in different places and positions then King David lineage is only dem who can be Kings of the earth. So that for me is how I embrace, I don't see Haile Selassie I as a God, my God. God is for me 29

in all of us. If we embrace the true balance and the right livity and preserve life if we embrace the concept of preserving life. Haile Selassie I is the King of the earth. [...] and Empress Menen is his Empress. [...] He is the only one. Queen Elizewitch all a dem who say that dem is King, they are not. They come here in sheep clothing. They are wolf in sheep clothing. They were not given that right, that divine permission or divine seat. It is through that lineage which of course through Africa. Africa we are the Kings and Queens, and Makeda is African. She is one of the candice, Queens.[...] What he did when he was alive, no other King come and do that.''

Different aspects of Rastafari come back in this excerpt of the interview that I had with Vanessa. The first one was the following remark that she made: ''It [Rastafari] pointed me to Africa[...].'' This aspect of Rastafari is something that came back during different talks that I had with Rasta's. Jonathan made remark that they [black Jamaicans] are the true Israelites; making the connection between them and the Bible. Orah also sees Rastafari as an culture based on an African lifestyle. Something that I could also see in the way that she dressed (i.e. African based clothing). During an poetry session in Kingston I got into a conversation with one of the performing artists, who was a Rastafari. He called himself an African living in Jamaica. He even went as far by saying that Africans were not living a true African lifestyle and that Rastafari could put them back in touch with it. The following aspect what comes back into this interview excerpt with Vanessa is that of the Christian aspect of Rastafari. She justifies the Kingship of Haile Selassie via the Bible by saying that: ''So if you honor creation and the scriptures, just the concept of a God that places people in different places and positions then King David lineage is only dem who can be Kings of the earth.'' Whether Rasta's did or did not used the Bible in their livity their vocabulary entailed words that come from the Bible. For instance when talking to sister Apple about why she left Negril she said to me that she did not wanted to raise her children there, comparing it to Sodom and Gomorra. One of the more popular words to describe modern day society is 'Babylon' that frequently was used by several Rastafari's. These registers to describe the world and in turn themselves all stem out of the Bible. Another register that Rastafari's, that I encountered, were using is that of a natural way of life. This concept of a natural way of life is an important aspect of the culture. The word 'natural' already implies a state of being that connects to the way humans were/are supposed to

live. The next quote is from an interview that I had with Mutabaruka; a reggae/dub artist and a Rastafari prominent:

''A natural way of life is respecting earth man. And respect human beings, respect life, 'cause life is the sum total of all thing existing (and non-existing). When we say 'a natural way of life' it means you accept nature, life in its totality. So you do not go around and destroy the planet. What you do is enhance the planet.''

A natural way of life is living in tune with nature and preserving life, according to Mutabaruka. At first my ideas about an I-tal livity were that predominately existed out of a eating ''untouched'' food; i.e. food that is harvested and eaten without other substances being added during the process. It was an understanding of the concept that gradually changed during my fieldwork period. During my stay in Kingston I met a Rastafari by the name of I-yee. I asked him what a natural way of living entailed, according to him. He said:

''Rastafari is the purest form of living. That means no drugs, alcohol, salt, meat and fornication. I only eat uncooked food, because like other Rastafari's I do not deal with death. That even means the not cooking of food, because it [the food] dies in the process. When eating food that is alive it becomes a part of you, so it never dies.''

When talking to him he said that everything that he needed he could get out of the trees and bushes around him. His ideas of the natural way of living concept connects to the ideas of Mutabaruka. Both, in their livity, hold an important notion that entails respecting nature and not to destroy it. I first got a broader understanding of the concept when I noticed a picture on a door in the home of Orah, it had the following sentences: ' Let the hungry be fed, the naked clothed. The sick nourished; the elderly protected, and the infants cared for.' So, this had a broader meaning than just the way food should be consumed by Rastafari's. It is also about the way people should treat people in a more general manner. During my talks with Rastafari's I learned that this creed stems from an idea of African livity. This is not an illogical frame of thought since Rastafari's do consider themselves as Africans living abroad. Like Orah mentioned to me when talking about Rastafari: ' Rastafari is a culture, with a spiritual

foundation, based on African lifestyle'. The interesting fact is that the first three sentences are taken from the Bible, which exemplifies the connection between Rastafari and Christianity. These different encounters with Rastafari's made it clear to me that it is not possible to talk about the 'authentic Rastafari.' Like noted in the above, because there was not a single church with a set of dogma's and was focused on the individual made it possible to hold different perspectives, by different Rastafari's. During my research I did found different set of ideologies that kept on coming back: Christianity, Haile Selassie as nucleus, Africa and a natural livity. I will analyze these symbols and ideologies in the following chapter. What I have noticed under my research participants is the reoccurrence of Christianity in different ways. Rastafari is being seen , by a part of the followers in the movement, as an branch of Christianity. Vanessa used the Bible to justify her views about Haile Selassie as a King; and as the only rightful King. Jonathan also sees Haile Selassie as a black King, justifying this point of view via the Bible. The connection that is being made between Haile Selassie and the Bible is a logical one since Haile Selassie connected himself to a lineage that stemmed out of the Bible, thus justifying his position as the Emperor of Ethiopia. All of my research participants had Haile Selassie as their nucleus. From a supreme human being to a black King. Justifying these ideas via the Bible or claiming to see Haile Selassie as a symbol that connected them to a history past slavery and colonialism. Another import aspect of the movement is the position that Africa holds within it. For Rastafari's, who perceive themselves as Africans living abroad, this connection is an important one and the livity that stems out of it. Mutabaruka, Orah and Vanessa, for example, are using it to connect themselves to an lineage that connects them to a great (African) history. It is something that can been seen not only to the ideologies that they adhere to but also to the clothes that they wear, which are African inspired. A natural way of life is also something that, the Rastafari's that I encountered, live by. This goes further than just eating non-processed food. It also entails caring for your kin. Like Prof-I called it: 'an indigenous spiritual way of living'. According to him it is a connection to the earth that has been lost and to what Rastafari connects itself. The ideologies I stated in the above all played, in different ways, an important part of the livity of the Rastafari's that I had encountered. To speak of an ''authentic'' Rastafari livity is difficult because of the missing of a single church and set of dogma's, like I stated in the above, but these registers were frequently used by my research participants. So there are ''overarching'' symbols that are being used, but the meaning of them varies.

Chapter 3: Distinctions: Being Sorts of Rasta : Symbols and the Embodiment of them

I am the only Rastaman - I-yee

This is a quote that I got from a reasoning about Rastafari with a craftsman in Kingston. It describes how the movement has developed and the effect that the commodification of the movement has had on it, because during the start of the Rastafari movement it was clear who was and who was not a Rastafari. The (external) symbols of the movement were only worn by Rasta's. This changed with the rise of (international) reggae music. Rastafari was, when it started, a movement that clearly set itself apart from colonial Jamaican society and even ''attacked'' its values. The idea of laying the focus on a continent that was being depicted as 'dark', 'uncivilized' and even 'barbaric' and portraying it as a continent were Kings and Queens come made them outcasts in colonial Jamaican society; which was focused on ''civilized'' Europe. By focusing on their 'Africannes' Rasta's were setting themselves apart from the rest of Jamaican society. These ideologies were also embodied by Rasta's in various ways. Via the embodiment of their ideologies they were able to set themselves apart from Jamaican society in a visual way and it was a way to 'carry out' their ideologies and ''speak'' via their bodies. With the popularity of reggae music in the 1970s the way Rastafari was being perceived started to change. Initially they were perceived as outcasts, but this changed to being perceived as 'culture bearers', like Edmonds said. Rastafari went from something that was not Jamaican to being a part of Jamaican culture. This change of view made it possible for others (e.g. the Jamaican state) to claim co-ownership and use it (i.e. Rastafari) in a way that they see fit, since it was a part of Jamaican culture and Jamaican culture belongs to every Jamaican. Like I said in the previous chapter the co-optation of the movement was not one that encompassed all the pillars (i.e. religious, political & symbolic), but only the symbols of it. These symbols of the movement, who previously were exclusively were being embraced and used by Rasta's, were now being used by different actors. The Jamaican state and tourist sector were using them the attracted more tourists to the island, tourists used them the get the ''real'' Jamaican experience and Jamaicans used them because they just liked them.

Symbols One of the ways how Rastafari ideology came to expression was via the use of symbols. According to Turner symbols are 'instruments of expression, of communication, of knowledge and control'. Symbols have a role in expressing certain ideas, but they also communicate ideas towards other members of a group and to people outside of the group (if they understand what these symbols are entailing). The acephalous nature of the [Rastafari] movement also effects the perspectives they[Rasta's] have on their symbols. They do not have a single meaning; i.e. they can be interpreted in different ways by different Rasta's. In Turner's terminology, they are multivocal, which literally means that 'several voices can be heard'. According to Turner the multivocality of symbols enables a wide range of groups and individuals to relate to the same signifier-vehicle in a variety of ways (Turner 1975:155). This concept of multivocally can also can be applied to the different symbols within Rastafari and their various interpretations by different Rasta's. This chapter will analyze several Rastafari symbols and their meaning to my research participants.

Haile Selassie Like it is being said in the previous chapter, the crowning of Haile Selassie is the moment in which the movement founds its beginning. Within Ethiopianism there was put a great deal of importance to Africa; which developed even further within Rastafari. Haile Selassie had an important role in the sense that he became the black messiah [the counter part of white Jesus] for the black people in ''exile.'' To understand the importance of this event for black Jamaicans it is important to see this event in light of the sociopolitical situation of that time. In context of the great depression, that affected Jamaica, and in particular the black underclass [i.e. the vast majority of Rastafari's were at the bottom of the social and economical ladder] Haile Selassie's crowning gave them a 'tool' to counter white colonial supremacy by connecting it to the words of Marcus Garvey the Bible (Erskine 2004: 74). It made it possible to view him as the redeemer for black people who were living in Babylon. In a time when black and Africa was being associated with bad, uncultured and white with ''pureness'' the impact that the crowning of black man must have been great. During a reasoning with Jonathan we talked about Haile Selassie and he had the following to say about him:

''What is Haile Selassie? He is a great king of Ethiopia. 72 nations bow to him and shown allegiance to him. No man could a crown him. Two lions did it, one at the right and one on the left. The man to open the seven seals. So that must have been a great man. Remember, Jesus Christ walked upon the earth in flesh. Selassie I is a black man. The black man has his black God and the white man has his white[...].''

The amount of countries that visited his coronation made a great impact on Rasta's, which worked as a conformation to them that he was a great man. Like Jonathan said ''72 nations bow to him and shown allegiance to him.'' Haile Selassie is being perceived by him as a great black King and as the son of a black God. While Jonathan validates Haile Selassie via a 'Christian lens' Mutabaruka does not uses the Bible at all to validate Haile Selassie as a man of importance. He views him as a symbol who connects him to a history past slavery:

''The purpose of Haile Selassie is for black people to have a consciousness of black logics, to define themselves. [...] We [black people] as a people have been lost for years because we come here domicile on the slave plantation island. We don't know where we are going. We call ourselves all kind of names, West-Indian, Caribbean, Jamaican, but when we say African, we scared. So to a Jamaican person, just he don't want to say Haile Selassie, he don't want to say him African neither. That is truly problematic, because a Rastaman come show him that him is a African, Haile Selassie and numb him. [...] Him is a ancient King, because truly it defines we, as a people, that he is not a person who gets up and say that he is a King. Him have a connection with history. 2000 of years, from Ori, him mentioned it to. [...] It doesn't start with Solomon, because Solomon and Sheba is where the Ethiopian view to validate themselves as being Jews. It is still a trouble I say, because enough Ethiopians should validate themselves in Egypt, because Ethiopia was there before Israel. Would Israel validate themselves through Ethiopia. To validate Haile Selassie they connect him to Salomon. But I say wait, you don't have to say that, because Ethiopia was there before Israel.[...] Rasta just draw from the DNA of the black experience, through heritage. Come to show black people, we have something more ancient, either you're a 35

creationist or evolutionist. Either one accepts that Ethiopia is the origin. [...] Rasta comes to declare it and dem fight against wi.''

Haile Selassie is being seen as a person who connects Africans to a history before slavery. It forces black people to 'deal' with the perception that black people have of Africans/Africa and automatically themselves. This is something that also came back in my reasoning with Vanessa; who said:

''It [Rastafari] pointed me to Africa, which is of course Hail Selassie I. being what Rasta embrace in terms of the whole. It is deeper than just Hail Selassie I because remember Ethiopia when you check Ethiopia. The history of Ethiopia then you realize that is the cradle of civilization that is where it all began.''

She also uses Haile Selassie to connect herself to a (African) history which goes further than Haile Selassie. During my fieldwork period I also asked Clifford and Orah to take pictures of what Rastafari meant to them. Both of them took pictures with Haile Selassie in them. When I asked Orah why she took a picture of Haile Selassie(figure 1) and what it meant to her she said: ''for me he is my spiritual head. Jah Rastafari. When I first came into the light of Rastafari I didn't consider His Majesty as my guide/God. Through a series of thirty years I realized that Jah is my guide and spiritual head.'' Where Orah uses the picture to show the spiritual side that Haile Selassie signifies to her Clifford Jonathan uses a Christian lens to explain why he took a picture of Haile Selassie (figure 2): ''So we are sure revelation chapter five show us that he is the lion of the tribe of Judah that reveal to open the book and lose the seven seals. So the world can be save since he came. Because he is Jesus Christ, the second adventure of Jesus Christ. And the triple crown is the trinity. It means that he rules the land, the sea and the skies. You read that it psalms 8. He is the only excellent that cover the globe right now. To conquer the world. 72 nations had to bow down and worship him as Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords.'' Both used Haile Selassie as pivotal symbol in the pictures that they took and explained their meaning to me. So Haile Selassie works as a symbol that represents Africa and connects Rasta's to that [African] history. It is a counter symbol, since it is being oppositional to the white Jesus Christ, but the Bible is being used, by a part of my research participants, to justify that claim.

(Figure 1: A picture made by Orah of a painting of Haile Selassie on the wall of a florist in Ocho Rios)

(Figure 2: A picture of Haile Selassie made by Clifford at his CD stand)

Red, Gold and Green Automatically, the reason why the red, gold and green would be a prominent symbol of the movement is that they are the colors that composite the Ethiopian flag, the country Haile Selassie reigned over. But another important factor is that Ethiopia held an important role within Ethiopianism, since Africa has been named Ethiopia in the Bible. So these two names have been conflated. This is also what my gatekeeper Orah said. During our reasoning over the photo's that she had took in one she captured the Ethiopian flag (figure 3) and explained its meaning with the following words: ''that is the Ethiopian flag, representing the banner of Rastafari as well as Ethiopia, the home land. In Rastafari culture Ethiopia is not just the land mass of Ethiopia it's the continent.'' Herein she makes the connection that the flag does not just mean Ethiopia, but also Africa. The colors of the flag also holds other meanings within the movement. During my fieldwork I came across a older Rasta who was has a little craft shop not too far from where I was residing. When asking him about the meaning of the colors he said: ''Instead of red color on top, I put the green color on top. Because the red color stands for war and bloodshed and the green stands for the Rasta livity [i.e. a natural diet wherein only food that has not been processed is being eaten].'' Herein in becomes clear that he, as a Rasta, puts the natural livity first. Jonathan has a different understanding of the colors and said the following:

''The colors represents our lifestyle; how we eat. The banner is a guideline, just how we read the Bible and learn certain things. It keeps reminding us of our self, the way of life. Fruits, vegetable and everything. Like tomatoes have the red color in them and yellow have oranges, papaya and mango and banana, all those kinds of fruits and it is the color of the sun and sunshine and the gold that they have stole from us out of Africa. The red is for the blood that they have shed during slavery. The green is from the land that they took us from and the vegetables.''

What Jonathan does is connecting the colors to Africa, slavery and the natural livity of Rasta's. He has been able to use the banner and connect it to the different aspects of Rastafari; slavery, Africa and the natural livity. Clifford made the same connection as Jonathan when he explained a via photographed bracelet (figure 4), with a camera I had given him. By analyzing the flag it comes to my understanding that this flag is multivocally symbol, like Turner coined. Different people have the ability and possibility to ''write'' the meaning of it [the red, gold and green] with their understanding of Rastafari. 38

(Figure 3: A picture made by Orah of the flag of Ethiopia with the Lion of Judah on it)

(Figure 4: A picture made by Clifford of bracelets at his CD stand)

Dreadlocks Dreadlocks is a style were one washes the hair and allows it to dry out without combing, brushing or treating it in any way. This style was quickly associated with 'uncivilized', 'mad dialects' and 'outcasts'. The dreadlocks appropriated the names that were associated with stupidity, like 'Bongo.' Which soon became, and which still remains, a title of respect. The name Nati (or Natty), referring to hair quality, is another (Chevannes 1990: 70; King 2002: xix). The dreadlocks were initiated in the 1950s by the Youth Black Faith, a Rastafari movement of younger Rasta's who were more radical than the early Rasta's. The early Rasta's like Howell and Hinds differentiated themselves from mainstream colonial Jamaican society not by the way that they kept their hair, but by their ideas about God. There was a great division amongst Rasta's whether to accept this new hairstyle. The ''House of Dreadlocks'' accepted this trend, while the ''House of Combsomes'' did not. It was not until the 1960s that this hairstyle was accepted by the Rastafari movement. (King 2002: xix) The dreadlocks became a expression of the 'inner self.' Were early Rasta's held an importance of the idea of a black God, the dreadlocks materialized these ideas. Erskine described it in the following manner:

''The dreadlocks became a symbol of the new dignity associated with blackness. The wearing of the dreadlocks became an outward sign of ''I-and-I consciousness,'' an outward sign of an inner transformation. The wearing of the dreadlocks was a merging of inner and outer. It was a sign that a rebirth had taken place, and it meant that the wearer had a commitment to redefine self in relation to Africa, to say yes to Africa and no to Europe.'' (Erskine 2004: 106)

These dreadlocks were seen as an transformation to the acceptance of an African identity. This also came back during my reasoning with Vanessa who said:

''well nuff people have dreadlocks who are not Rasta. For me it's not even symbol. It's just me accepting myself. Like Beyonce and all these beautiful black women who the media portrays as an example for a black women. Like Nikki Minaj and our Prime mister with the Chinese looking hair. We are not Chinese! Some of us is mixed, and that is fine, but we need to start accepting ourselves we need to start loving ourselves. Our slave masters taught us to hate ourselves. And a 40

lot of us are still enslaved.[...] It is good to declare yourself, because for a long time we have not able to declare ourselves to be who we really are. So nothing wrong with freeing up yourself. Express yourselves.''

The dreadlocks also have a significant meaning to her in the sense that it helps to accept herself as an African. This becomes clear when she talks about the hair of other black women and saying ''We are not Chinese!'' and that we need to accept ourselves. This is something that Mutabaruka underscores by saying that ''dreadlocks have a transformative function.'' It helps people to get to an new understanding and helps them to accept their ''Africannes'', but also a connection to something ancient and that they[dreadlocks] can be seen as a form of defiance:

''For me the locs are the most important part of expression. Because it represent something that is outside of the box. This is me, take it or leave it. And the locs also symbolize something ancient. Something from a longer time. Even if you go to India you see the Sadhus and them know nothing about Rasta, but they locs. If you go to Nigeria or the Congo you see these locs. The Mau Mau, that's when the Rasta man sees it and start to adopt it. In the fifties when the Mau Mau rise up against the British. And then you have the Nyabinghi order, where the Nyabinghi empress was a woman. From Uganda. They rise up against the British and the colonial system. All of that is a express and the locs represent, even in the Bible the locs represent something. You have Samson, Samuel, Moses, all these three, all the judges in Israel wore locs. The Egyptian Pharaoh's, all of them carried locs. So it is a mark of defiance of the Rastaman, it's a mark of defense, a mark of optimism.''

In short Rasta's adhered different meanings to these dreadlocks. They connected people to a new understanding about themselves by connecting them to Africa and a they can been seen as a form of defiance; because they contested white British European beauty standards. By wearing dreadlocks they were placing themselves 'outside of the box' and even defying them.

Empress Menen Empress Menen, the wife of Haile Selassie, works as a symbol for the rise of the women within the movement. What I found, during my fieldwork, was that the Rastawomen were

becoming more vocal or coming to a realization that they too can ''lead'' the movement or play an important role to accomplish certain goals. Vanessa explained to me that Rastafari still has a long way to go, since it is now very patriarchal, and said that we [Africans] need to honor the 'divine mother', because she is the one through who life enters. Lake contends that the immediate answer of the subordination of women in Rastafari parallels to that of women in the larger Jamaican and Caribbean context (Erskine 2004: 50). The patriarchal structures stems out of the Bible and the old Testament. When the social context is starting to change we can see that the ideas about the role of the women within Rastafari are also changing. Apple connects Empress Menen, as a symbol, to this change. She sees her as the caretaker when the man is on the road and said: ''She [Empress Menen] also resembles the new role of women in Rastafari. The role of women are changing in the world and in Jamaica, for example we have a female prime minister, so why should it not change in within Rastafari?'' Empress Menen can work as a symbol, like in the case of Apple, in which women within the movement are using her to wield more power and the changing social context in Jamaica (e.g. having a female prime minister) has an effect on the women in Rastafari. Empress Menen can also work as symbol to combat patriarchal structures within the movement. During my reasoning with Orah she had also took a picture of Empress Menen and said:

''One of the pulls that pulled me in was the balance of the King and the Queen. And different than all religions at this point, in my mind, that I knew of, the strong presence of the Queen and how Rastafari support and uplift the male and the female. The divine balance of the alpha and the omega. So, queen omega Empress Menen was a strong pull for me, as woman, because as they say we are created in Jah's image, so it is important to have a female, and African female role model.''

In this excerpt of our reasoning Orah explains the importance of the balance between the man (alpha) and the woman (omega). She also position Empress Menen as an equal to the man (Haile Selassie). Empress Menen can be seen as a symbol of the upraise of Rastawomen and a 'tool' to combat patriarchal structures within the movement. Orah is working, with other Rastawomen, to set up a Rastavillage predominately for children. She had set up a school for children in the past what was burnt down and I asked her why she planned to it and why there were not any men involved in the project. She answered me by saying that the male Rasta's have been 42

talking about building the movement but nothing really happened and that it maybe is the time for the women to do the work. This change in consciousness can be understood in the context of the [Rastafari]women taking a more important place in the movement in terms of power and the rise of importance of Empress Menen as a symbol.

The Embodiment of these Symbols When analyzing the embodiment of these symbols in this thesis I analyze how the symbols in the above are being 'inscribed' onto the body. My approach of the concept of embodiment will be that as Csordas, meaning I do not perceive it [embodiment] as an object that should studied in relation to culture, but should be considered as a subject to culture, in other words as the existential ground of culture (Csordas 1990:5). During my research period in Negril I met a couple of Rasta's who were sitting at a little stand owned by one of them. I walked into a reasoning, something that I did not expected. I was scrutinized and asked different questions. The first question that I got was about what my view was about Haile Selassie. I told them that I did not perceived him as a God, what caused some consternation. After I elaborated and explained that I viewed him as a King the Rasta calmed down. The remark that followed my answer was that I should 'declare' it and wear a button with Haile Selassie on it, like he had to ''show'' people that I 'hailed' him and that he was my 'nucleus.' This button and clothing with a picture of Haile Selassie on in were the most common ways to 'inscribe' him on their [Rasta's] body. Another symbol that is being inscribed onto the body is the flag of Ethiopia (red, gold and green). These colors come back in various ways, but predominantly in the form of clothing. These colors are a way to declare to others that one is an Ethiopian/African/Rastafari. This makes it an political statement. Especially in the social context of Jamaica, where, like Mutabaruka said, that the black Jamaican population are calling themselves all kind of names but do not want to call themselves Africans. By wearing the [Ethiopian] flag on their bodies they are also declaring their natural livity. For instance the color green stand for a natural way of life; i.e. being in tune with nature and the eating of unprocessed food (i.e. an ital livity), but also wearing clothes that are not made of animal skin. In short, the wearing of the flag is a materialized form of their livity and a way to declare this way of live to others. The wearing of the dreadlocks are the most known and visible form of expressing their connection to Africa and are an import symbol to distinguish themselves from others. During my fieldwork period I did not encounter one Rasta who did not wore dreadlocks. Not to say that they wore and perceived their dreadlocks in different ways. The most frequent ideology

for wearing dreadlocks, that I encountered during my fieldwork, was the connection to Africa. Mutabaruka saw that dreadlocks opened up a way for black people to express their 'blackness' and connection to Africa. Prof-I, who does not uses the Bible to justify his livity, sees Rastafari as a ancient indigenous way of life. He connects his dreads to this ideology by not connecting it to his Africannes, but to a natural way of life. He sees himself as a tree and the dreadlocks to be the branches of this tree. Orah does connect her dreadlocks to her Africannes, but also sees her dreads as being too holy to expose them in the open. During one of our talks she told me about a conversation that she had with another Rastawoman who told her that she should cover her dreadlocks:

''In terms of locs, I consider it a covenant. And for a while I was wearing my locs out, a lot. And now locs have become a fashion. I remember talking to a Rasta sister one time and I asked her, 'how come you never wear your locs out?', and she said: 'because my locs are too precious', and I thought about it and was like, you know what, I am going to start wrapping my locs again, just so there is a divine cultural aspect because my locs and the fashion locs.''

The entrance of 'fashion locs' made her to change the ideology of her dreads. Next to this meaning that she adheres to her dreadlocks she perceives her dreadlocks to be her 'crown.' This idea of her dreadlocks to be a crown can be connected to the idea that Rasta's consider themselves of coming from a country where they were Kings and Queens, something that can also be derived from their everyday speech. When a woman is talking about her partner or husband she tends to refer to him as her 'King-man' or a man tends to refer to his partner or wife as his 'Empress.' The embodiment of the symbols of Rastafari, by Rasta's, have a transformative effect on the follower of the [Rastafari] movement. The perception of using Haile Selassie as the nucleus of one's life changes they perceive the world, the way that they act and what they wear. Like it has been said in the above, it is about declaring to the (oppositional) world what they are, in which the counter-cultural nature of the movement is being seen. On Orah the entrance of the fashion locs did change her perception of her locs. Vanessa also explained how she used the know that every person with locs was a Rasta and that this has changed. This uncertainty of identification influences her behavior in that she does not greet everyone [with locs] that she comes across in the street.

Chapter 4: The Lack of Formal Networks and Contradictions

''Organize and form inna one again.'' - Protoje

This line of Protoje from his song 'I&I' says two things about the [Rastafari] movement; first, the lack of organization and second the need for an organization within the movement. The past three chapters of this thesis showed different facets of the movement. One of particular, that I want to analyze in this chapter, is the lack of a formal organization and need for it; both what I have encountered during my fieldwork period. With the lack of formal structures or/and a hierarchical organization one would have expected that Rastafari, after its uprising in Jamaica, would have faded away. Especially after being repressed by the Jamaican [colonial] state and its cooptation by the same state. Instead Rastafari has managed to become a movement that various people in Jamaica and over the world have started to identify themselves with it.

Organizational Structure When analyzing Rastafari and the way Rasta's could differentiate themselves from Babylon it was particular on an individual level; i.e. I, as an individual, am deciding to ‘’cut’’ myself of from Babylon. Another level of aligning oneself is on a group level; i.e. individuals who are working together towards specific goals or individuals who are extracting certain ‘resources’ out of others. The latter will be the focus of this chapter. When analyzing networks I will use Eriksen ‘social networks’ as an analyzing tool. He describes it as follow:

''...it refers to an ego-centered set of relationships, as when people talk of 'my social network'. It may also be used to refer to as set of relationships activated for a particular end, without necessarily being organized around a single person.'' (Eriksen 2001:77)

According this text of Eriksen there are two ways to describes networks. One is to see it as a set of ‘ego-centered relationships’ were individuals are ‘’tapping’’ resources out of people they know and maybe have a reciprocal relationship with. The second one is a set of relationships wherein the individuals are using their resources to achieve a particular end. It is the second form that I am going to focus on in this thesis. Do Rastafari's use their networks as a source of resources where they can where they can 'tap' certain 'needs' to achieve certain goals; e.g. in differentiating themselves from Babylon.

Like said in the above Rastafari is an acephalous movement. There is no central organ with a set of dogma's to which members have to adhere to in order to be perceived as a Rastafari. Instead there are different groups or individuals, while remaining separate, that do share a variation of core beliefs [e.g. that Haile Selassie is the nucleus of the movement]. This is something that I have shown in the previous chapter. Different symbols were interpreted differently or are holding (slightly) different meanings by different Rastafari's, while all of them adhered to those symbols. In a broader sense that is how the movement is being structured; around symbols. While there is not a central organization with a set of dogma's in fashion of, for example, the roman catholic church, there are different ''houses''/''mansions'' that are set up in service of Rasta's that adhere to the guidelines of that particular mansion. Edmonds gives the following description of these houses or yards:

''''Houses'' and ''yards'' describe another level of Rastafarian social organization. Houses and yards are small, informal groups or Rastas whose members sustain an ongoing relationship. The term houses expresses the idea that each gathering of Rastas (usually males) attach themselves to a ''leading brethren'' and frequently gather at his house or in his yard to partake of the sacramental herb (marijuana) and to engage in the dialectical discourse called ''reasoning''. The discourse is usually about their faith and current or historical events impinging on their understanding of their place in the world. Within the house leading brethren are often regarded as elders. However, eldership is not a formal position, attained through election, but rather an ''inspirational position'' that is informally conferred on those who meet at least two criteria. Elders must have a record of uncompromising commitment to and defense of the principles of Rastafari-a commitment that often leads to confronting the establishment and even suffering imprisonment as a result. Elders must also have the ability to ''speechify'', that is, to expound the philosophy of Rastafari, to interpret historical and contemporary events through the Rastafarian prism, and thus inspire the brethren to greater understanding and fortitude.'' (Edmonds 1998:350).

There are different ''houses'' throughout the country. For example a Nyabinghi house in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay and a Bobo Shanti house near Kingston. These houses serve for 46

different purposes, for example, they are a place for gatherings. They can function as a place to meditate (e.g. in a tabernacle) , to reason with other Rasta's (e.g. in the yard) and a place of commemoration of different historical events (e.g. birthday of Haile Selassie or the Coral Gardens massacre). There is not a strong ''congregation'', but Rasta's have the ability to walk into one whenever they feel to need to go to one; so the connection with a mansion is informal. A house is mostly centered around an elder who holds a position of respect that he or she has earned over the years. According to Edmonds there are different levels of participation within the Rastafari movement. Many Rasta's (probably the majority) fall in the category of ''own-built'' Rasta's, or 'one a way's' as Orah describes them . These are persons who adhere to the set of ideologies of the movement, but do not identify themselves with a particular group or organization. Edmonds draws from the work of Chevannes to explain that this lack of need to centralize is not unique to Rastafari, but that other Jamaican folk religions also have multi group formations (Edmonds 2003:68). The reason of the decentralized nature of the movement is a belief rooted in the philosophical concept of I&I, which is the reason why there is a resistant to centralization. The I&I concept provides for an ideology that is rooted in the freedom of the individual. Paget Henry explains the 'I and I' concept in the following manner:

''The directness and originality of this mystical knowledge is captured in the I-language of the Rastafarians. Among Jamaicans, Rastafarians are unique in their use of the pronoun ''I.'' It is substituted for ''me'' and ''my'' which represents the old self before awakening to the divinity of Haile Selassie. ''I'' represents the new identity that emerges from participation in the divinity of Haile Selassie. Thus, all things and persons that have acquired this new identity through mystical participations, have ''I'' attached to them in some form. Thus Selassie himself becomes Haile Selassie I. he Rastafarian individual becomes an ''I.'' He becomes ''I-man'' or she becomes ''I-woman.'' A plurality of Rastafarians produces not a ''we'' or a ''you and I,'' but ''I and I.'' ''My children'' becomes'' ''I children.'' One often hears sentences like: Haile Selassie-I I rated (created) this universe, and his truths I-dure (endure) forever. Or, I and I have been made strong by the almighty GOD - Jah-I. These unusual uses of ''I'' all signify a participation in the divinity of Haile Selassie.'' (Erskine 2004:83)

Henry explains how the 'I&I' principle adheres to the idea that a divine spirit resides in every individual and there for the truth is accessible to everyone. This completely differs from the Roman Catholic church that has its priests and the pope. The lack of a formal organization did not break the movement up, instead there is a wide array of networks and personal relationships between different Rasta's in Jamaica. There are connections over the island, something that I noticed during my fieldwork. Rasta's seem to be connected to each other through the various symbols and the (multiple) meanings and philosophy's behind them.

Examples out of the Field Before starting my fieldwork my initial plan was to get in contact with Rastafari organizations to get in touch with Rasta's that could participate in my research. What I realized was that there were no organizations that I could turn to, but that I had to rely on the personal networks of my research participants to be able to get in touch with other Rasta's. Rasta's are connected to each other through personal networks. My gatekeeper, Orah, is involved the foundation of Rasta village for children in Oracabessa; which will consist out of gardens and a school for children. One the functions of it is to bring people (e.g. students and tourists) who are interested in Rastafari to the village and to learn about it. She is building this village with Taitu, another Rastafari sisthren of her. Rasta's, like sister Apple, are also helping with creating this village. They do not receive any funds via a ''Rastafari foundation.'' When I asked her about the gathering of funds she pointed out to her network of Rastafari's who could help her with the set up. This network consists out of people [Rasta's and non- Rasta's] that she knows from Ocho Rios and abroad. During a conversation between Orah and Prof-I he mentioned to help her with the foundation of the village by (partially) funding it, by donating a part of his proceeds that he would receive from the album sales of his new album. Orah also works at a hotel as a yoga instructor. When the hotel was looking for people who could teach a drum class she [Orah] called Prof-I and asked him if he, or one of his children, would be interested. Orah said to me that the reason why she did this was that she wanted to help other Rasta's where she could. It are these personal relationships between different Rasta's that makes it possible to use them as resources in their achieving goals that are stemming from their ideologies; e.g. creating a space in which they can operate within Babylon without [completely] not adhering to their ideologies. The lack of organization can also have the effect that when strong personal networks are lacking that feelings of need to support other Rasta's can disseminate. During my stay in Kingston I resided at the house of sister Amma, who I got in touch with via Orah, she is a chef who works from her home and where people can order their food and come by her house to

pick their food up. Amma is a Rastafari woman in her late forties living in a one bedroom apartment. When I first saw Amma she had knotted her dreads, without a shawl. She wore a skirt that reached her ankles. It was in the red, gold and green colors and the face of Bob Marley on it. In her living room she had a picture of H.I.M. on the side of the T.V., the colors were also on a piece of rug on the sofa. She lives there by herself and her mother was, during my stay, temporally staying with her. When talking about networks she buys her tofu from a Rasta that she knows. She tries to do the same concerning other food. She believes that Rasta's should support each other. She misses this same train of thought or actions from other Rasta's. She could only name one other Rasta who buys regularly from her. Black people are too much in competition with each other, which is the problem, according to her. The result of the popularity of Rastafari is also that there are more vegetarian restaurants sprouting throughout the country. Rasta's are also buying at these places, instead of trying to support other Rasta's as much as possible. According to her the Nyabinghi does do some little things for the community, like inviting doctors to come and take a look at the elders. In this case of Amma it becomes clear that she is missing a commitment of other Rastafari's in supporting each other. Or like she said ''Black people are too much in competition with each other''; which is a sound that I heard more often. Rastafari's are not just supporting other Rasta's, but are also in support of the plight black people in general, and their causes. The lack of an organization means that Rasta's are completely dependent on personal networks, when these networks are lacking or are weak Rasta's cannot turn to a formal organization for 'resources.' This can especially be problematic when a group is a minority and is not located in one psychical place. These informal networks also have other purposes then just supporting other Rasa's in their livelihood. The following example of this I got during a talk that I had with Orah:

''Recently, maybe about three years ago I has some problems with a Rasta man in Jamaica. I found myself wondering and seeking the help of Rastafari brethren, some king man. And I wound up going to one of the I-tal shops and asked for a meeting with some Rasses. And they came together and heard my plea and gave me some responses, most of them inappropriate, but I was glad to know that I had access to Rasses that I did not know. In a collective, just through an Ital shop. Which tends to be a meeting place for Rastafari, on a casual basis. Like, if you would go to Callabash and asked for a meeting, they could organize it for you.''

This situation also shows that you do not have to know any Rasta's to ''tap'' in their resources, but that there is an possibility to request a meeting in a place as an I-tal shop[i.e. a vegetarian Rasta restaurant], instead of a house or a ''formal''/designated location. This also exemplifies the nature of the movement. The meeting was informal and she was able to tap into a resource and decide if she found the information that she had received useful or not. An example of this is a part of the responses that she perceived as inappropriate; which she then did not use. The lack of formal guidelines or set of rules enabled her to use the advice that she got as she saw fit and decided on her own if she could connect it to her livity.

Contradictions due to the Lack of Resources and Formal Organization In the above it has been shown that next to the communal feeling that Rasta's share that there are a wide array of ideas about the way a Rasta livity should be practiced. The lack of organization(s) leads to contradictions within the movement. For example, what makes a ''good'' Rasta? What can other Rasta's demand from each other? Since there are no set of dogma's to which they have to adhere to and because of the I&I ideology of the movement they can make their own choices in what is 'good' or/and 'wrong.' Ideas that Rasta's have about the movement, its ideologies and the practicing of them can be scrutinized by every Rasta. The 'I&I' ideology prevents the creation of a set of dogma's or can be perceived as the only dogma; i.e. the focus on the individual. This is the reason why there is no room for the creation of a church, in a classical sense. Durkheim stated that the differentiation between the profane and sacred and the elevation of some aspects of social life to the sacred are necessary but not sufficient conditions for the development of a religion. He notes that there are three other needed. First, a development of a set of religious believes. Second, a set of religious rituals that are working as a 'rules of conduct' on how to behave in presence of these sacred objects. Finally, a religion requires a church or a single overarching moral community. So Durkheim came to the following definition of a religion: ''A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.'' (Ritzer 2008:97). A 'moral community' which adheres to the same set of ideologies can have the ability to strengthen a group, which benefits its followers as a source of economic or social capital. Rastafari does not has one set of ideologies, rituals and is, as a moral community, dispersed. But there are ideologies that are being materialized via symbols and are interpreted in various ways. Which does create a sense of a moral community; but also one that is not unified. So when analyzing Rastafari through the concept of religion of Durkheim I would say that Rastafari is in a liminal stage. The I&I ideology prevents it from growing to a

movement/religion that develops a set of ideologies that may help to strengthen the organization of the movement, instead of being a source of contradiction. . Reggae music, for instance, is the biggest ''money basket'' for Rasta's in the providing of their livelihood [for the ones who are able to make a living out of it]. Prof-I stated that ''money that is being made from reggae should be invested in the Rastafari community.'' Amma has the same ideas about this topic as Prof-I and goes even a little bit further. She is very critical towards the reggae artists of nowadays. A lot are using Rastafari to make money. I went to a release party of Jah9 (an upcoming Rastafari reggae artist). I asked her what she thought about her. She liked her music, but about her being a Rastafari she said that she will see over 10 years if she still is a Rastafari. She also said that a lot of the artists are not putting any money in the community and are actually making money out of Babylon, by singing about it, but are not changing it. The absent guidelines of what a good Rasta is makes it that there can be critic but because the ideology is rooted in the individual and not in dogma's or scriptures it is almost impossible to hold another Rasta accountable for instance for not contributing to the community/movement. The question 'where the movement should be going', that I asked to several research participants of mine, led to different responses, because there are no central speakers, but elders, who also lack the authority to push the movement in a certain direction, because there are various [elders] with different ideas. Prof-I stated that he decided, after years of harassment, to stay in his yard whenever it was possible and to deal with Babylon as little as possible. Another research participant, Jonathan, said the following:

''We have to live Rastafari life and make the light shine upon the hill so bright that they cannot see and make say yes Rasta a make the light shine so bright. You have to be the example at all time. Make the Rasta let all people come together. Build one unity. There is too much separation. In Rastafari you have the Bobo, Nyabinghi and the Twelve Tribes, but none of them are coming together under one name, one banner. Then we can get the strength and move with the power. When we have to power we are gonna make one 'cry'. The whole world should then hear that one cry, because it is a powerful cry.''

In contradiction to Prof-I Jonathan has a more proactive stance. He acknowledge the lack of unity and that there is too much separation within the movement and believes that different Rasta's need to get together to make a change.

The organizational structure of Rastafari is predominately based on informal personal relationships. The result of this is that there are different people who have different perceptions of the movement; what makes it difficult to come to a singular voice; which can have a positive influence on the movement, since the possibility of tapping into different resources can create the possibility of attaining goals that fit within the ideology of the movement. Despite the individualistic nature of the movement I noticed that there is a need to organize. I have encountered different initiatives, like the Rasta village for children that is being set up by Orah and other Rasta women in particular and a Rasta village that is being set up in Montego Bay; which is partly state funded. Rasta's cannot step to a Rastafari based organization that can assist them in their initiatives that are based on the Rastafari ideology, because networks are predominately based on informal person relationships and Rasta's predominantly work as independent (craft) workers, which can make it difficult to earn a substantial amount of money of which others could benefit from.

Ideological Resources In chapter three I described the symbols of the Rastafari movement that were being used by my research participants. What stands out is their 'multivocality'; i.e. the different '''voices'' they had. Different symbols are holding different meanings for different Rasta's. For example, Haile Selassie is to one a King and the other a Messiah. One would assume that because of the acephalous nature of the movement that it would disseminate and fall apart. Since every Rasta, in theory, can hold his or her own ideas, because of the 'I&I' nature of the movement, but during my fieldwork period I noticed that this was not the case. Despite the different viewpoints that my research participants had about the different symbols and their interpretation of these symbols they were still 'connected' by these symbols; i.e. there was still a feeling of being part of a ''[Rasta] community.'' These symbols are providing 'ideological resources' to each individual in a different fashion. A symbol like Haile Selassie can be ''filled in'' by different person in manner that is compatible with their ideas. As long as there is an agreement that Haile Selassie is a centre point of the movement. During a reasoning there can be a discussion about a different viewpoint that a Rasta holds about, for example, the nature of Haile Selassie. Even though that there is a sense of a community feeling among the Rasta's the following question remains 'does the missing of a central organization affects the Rastafari movement in the attaining of its goals [changing Babylon]?' Goals as reforming the Jamaican economic and/or political structure require a strong organization; something that is lacking within Rastafari. The effect of this could be that instead of changing Babylon the movement can turn into a 'cultural fad.' Standing of up for their rights and goals will be difficult to

achieve when there is not a uniform body to represent and guard Rastafari's goals and ideology; on a political, economical and political level. What is problematic since the nature of the movement makes it difficult to achieve a uniform set of ideologies about the nature of the movement. A example of the ability to 'guard' it's own representation I got from Dr. Niah. For Niah it is important that symbols are not disrespected. He gave as an example the opening of the latest Marley movie were the Ethiopian flag was placed on the ground and people were walking over it. He gave this example in explaining that Rastafari has to try to guard its own representation. The effects of the nature of the movement are twofold. These ideological resources are providing Rasta's a sense of community since there is an agreement about the symbols that are import for Rastafari [e. Haile Selassie], but these symbols are also interpreted in various ways. While there is a agreement of these symbols there is still a disconnect because of the different interpretations of these symbols. The effect of this can be that the creation of a strong centralized organization will not be possible because of the different usages of the ideological resources.

Chapter 5: Creating a Space within Babylon by Alternative Forms of Commodification

'A wi kultra; a wha di people what' ('It is our culture; that is what the people want').

This statement was being made by a salesmen in a craft market in Montego Bay and was a responds to a question of Edmonds why he was selling different artifacts that were connected to Rastafari (Edmonds 2003:95). He uses this example to describe how the tourism sector in Jamaica sees Rastafari; as their culture and as a commodity. It is a statement that I heard several times during my fieldwork period. During my stay I got into a conversation with a woman, who by the looks of her you would not perceive as Rasta, but did wore a ring with the red, gold and green colors. I asked her what Rastafari was and she responded by saying that is Jamaican culture. Symbols that were and are being used by Rastafari, that got them jailed and persecuted, and were a sign of rejecting the status quo, are now being perceived as a part of the Jamaican culture and identity and being used by the tourist sector of Jamaica. Stronza describes how tourism can be an ''engine'' that can foster in the creation of social and cultural differences. One of the effects of tourism can be the 'commodification of culture'. This means that a process is only being describes by its exchange value (Stronza

2001:270; Cohen 1988:380). The result of this can be that a process can lose its ritual/symbolic value to the person that is using it. An example of this are one of the most prominent symbols within Rastafari; the dreadlocks. Within the Jamaican context this symbol was a sign of resistance, held a Biblical meaning and seen as a resemblance of a Lions mane. Nowadays not only Rasta's are wearing dreadlocks in Jamaica. There are a wide array of Jamaicans who are wearing dreadlocks in various ways. Dreadlocks are even for sale in a form of a wig. The effect of this is that dreadlocks can lose their symbolic value and ultimately become a artifact that has lost its ''intentional'' meaning and is only described by its exchange value. According to Cohen the commodification does not necessarily leads to the destruction of cultural products. Cohen also states that there can be another effect of commodification

''Commoditization does not necessarily means the destruction of cultural products. Neither for the locals, nor for the tourists, although it may do so under certain conditions. Tourist-oriented products frequently acquire new meanings for the locals, as they become a diacritical mark of their ethnic or cultural identity, a vehicle of self- representation before an external public.'' (Cohen 1988:383)

What my thesis has shown thus far is that meaning the symbols used within Rastafari have not changed in their meaning, even when they are being interpreted in various way by different Rasta's. They also did not changed the meaning of their symbols towards the tourists, but that the symbols are being used does not mean that non-Rasta's/tourists adhere to them or have any affinity with them. This is being described in a eloquent manner by Mutabaruka who says the following:

''It's a tragedy, but still it's alright. Because there was a time when Rasta couldn't walk upon the road in Jamaica. You get beaten, people cut of your locs, and dem thing dem. Now you see people hail Rasta, use Rasta language, and try to eat like Rasta and try to look like Rasta. So, that commercialization sometimes lead to a certain, it carries down the essence of it. Because now you have people that locs and all these things. You have people who go into a bank, before black people couldn't go into a bank. Now you have people who locs in bank. So what Rasta was able to do was break down a certain class barrier in Jamaica. Even the breakdown of the class barrier does not mean the 54

acceptance of Rastafari. Because people who love the culture of Rastafari, but when they hear 'Haile Haile Selassie', but that part they do not deal with. Dem love the smoking of the Ganja, reggae music, the locs, the red, gold and green, but when you start about Haile Selassie, that is the part when the say: 'Muta, mi tell yuh di truth, mi never knew that a man with the sense like you believe that, yuh know.' But how can a Rasta not say 'Haile Selassie', that like a Christian say Jesus is not Christ.''

He describes in this excerpt of our interview that even though the acceptance and commodification of Rastafari has its positive aspects; e.g. people who love the Rasta culture, which made it happen that Rasta's are not being harassed in the same fashion as in the mid 21st century, it is still a tragedy, according to him. People tend to disconnect the initial meaning of these symbols and wear them as a sense of fashion. The questions that are arises is how do Rasta's differentiate themselves for the symbolic usage of their belief-system/movement? Are they also contributing to their own commodification? Or are they practicing an alternative form of commodification (i.e. employing themselves to work that aligns with their believes/ideologies)? I will answer these questions with my fieldwork data.

Examples out of the Field Like it has been mentioned earlier in this thesis Rasta's were being harassed by the state and not accepted by Jamaican society [and to a certain extent, still are]. The effect of this was, like Mutabaruka said in the above, that it was not possible for them to work in a bank with their locs out or with a facial beard. Jonathan expressed the situation in which a lot of Rasta's found themselves in the following manner:

''Like in those days a Rastaman step up in a man's place with full of qualifications asking for a job and the man seh 'me haffi no job fi yuh,' yuh see what I mean? And a next guy who haffi no qualifications like yuh come in and get the job. Because them no waan no Rastaman inna dem place. So the Rastaman couldn't get no work. Inna those times. Yuh have yuh pickney and yuh waan to go to work and yuh are going to the man place, and read the sign 'help wanted', and yuh go in there and him nuh give. Because of dreads, in those days.''

The effect of having dreads was the inability to get a job. A consequence of this was that Rasta's had to found their own way in providing for themselves and an important way to do this was independent craftsmanship, since completely ''cutting'' themselves of from Babylon was impossible like a Rasta that I talked to explained:

''You need money to survive. So you can't move in this world without money at least when you can ride a donkey. You can't survive without food unless you plant your own farm with everything and you can't have your own water if you do not have your own storage. Without money you cannot do anything, something that Babylon had setup that you need to have. You cannot survive without the money in this system, age, life.''

Sister Apple and Jonathan were also saying that it is important as a Rastafari to be independent and use your skills as way of earning money. It is something that you see, when looking at the professions of my research participants (selling natural juices, self made crafts, fruits, CD's, organizing Rastafari orientated festivals and Rastafari buttons/bracelets/necklaces). All these products are in connection with the ideals of Rastafari. They adhere to a natural way of life, but they have also placed themselves in a capitalist space..

Feelings Towards the Commodification of Rastafari Rastafari became an important tourist attraction in Jamaica due to Reggae and it was also deployed as something that belonged to Jamaican culture by the Jamaican state and tourist sector. It generated currency, which was brought into Jamaica by tourists from all over the world. Rastafari gave the Jamaican state a cultural depth that it could use to ''lure'' tourist to the island. What interested me, as a researcher, was what the feelings towards this commodification was by Rastafari's. One of my research participants, Sister Apple, sees the commercialization of Rastafari as a robbery of its natural purpose. ''The reason why the state and tourist industry are using the symbol is because of its strength'', she says. She sees Rastafari as more established nowadays. 40 years ago you would have been attacked for you locs. Sister apple said: ''Now we rejoice to explore.'' She sees it as a release from slavery and as a redemption. When talking about the vast use of Rastafari symbols by the tourist industry/state she said that Rastafari's have to accept that they are not the majority, They just have to believe in themselves, wait for the most High and try not to be abused by the system and use their own independence (skills and

talent). She also sees the usage by tourists of Rastafari symbols of an acceptance of Jamaica and Rastafari. During a reasoning at Prof-I's yard we also touched on the subject of the commodification of Rastafari. Next to Prof-I there were two other Rasta's. They are aware of the usage of Rastafari symbols by the state. When I asked him [Prof-I] about it he said that he does not mind that they [the Rastafari symbols] are being used. The other Rasta jumped in and said that Rastafari does not has the financial resources to introduce Rastafari to the world. ''They [the state and tourist sector] may have the money but that is not what is about for the Rastafari's'', is what he said. Prof-I did say that he made a separation between his own place and the ''outer world''. As an example he used ''Rastafari 3'', who was also reasoning, who is a plumber. That is dealing with the money business that also has to happen. But when Prof-I is in own place he deals with Rastafari business (i.e. caring and sharing the Rastafari livity). So you can say that he differentiate himself from the state/tourist sector, but in another way. The symbols have the same meaning for them and they do not let others change them for them. Prof-I and ''Rastafari 2'' see it in a positive way. Their livity does not stop with Rasta's, is what Rastafari 2 said. They want to help whoever they can help. No matter what their religious affiliation is, so also non-Rasta's have access to their resources. After Rastafari's being killed, trimmed, shaved and harassed by the police Prof-I stated that he just wants to be left alone. The insights that I have gained from the reasoning at Prof-I's and the talk that I had with Apple are the following three; the first one is that they believed that the effects of the commodification of Rastafari are that they have the ability to walk outside as a Rasta without the fear of harassment. I have to note that the complete oppression of Rastafari has not vanished, like I stated earlier in the thesis, there are still believes within Jamaican society that Rasta's with dreads do not adhere to the norm of white European respectability and when a Rasta was arrested I heard the people around me talking that they were not surprised that a Rasta was arrested, probably because he was a Rasta. These incidents contribute to the statements of Mutabaruka that Rasta's are still not free from being oppressed/harassed. The second point that they made, during our reasonings, was that they[Apple and the Rasta's during the reasoning] conclude that Rastafari does not has the financial resources to compete with the state and tourist industry and are not the majority. They seem to accept is and one even said that because of the financial resources of the state and tourist industry they could even introduce Rastafari to the world. The last one was that they seem to ''distance'' themselves from the state and tourist industry. They did not let them effect the perception that they are holding of the meaning of their symbols and creating a space within Babylon wherein they rely on their own independence and skills.

Vanessa also believed that the usage of Rastafari symbols also can have a positive effect on non-Rasta's, like Vanessa explained:

''Let me tell you, on my journey as a mother, sister, as a feminine divine order of Rastafari I have learned to be compassioned. It has taken me a while to be compassionated, but I have learned to be more compassionated to my brothers and sisters, because we have been traumatized. We have been raped and victimized and not everyone will be getting to their truth at once. And not everyone is going to awaken at once. And so for me people embracing these fashions when it is dreads and they are not Rasta's or wearing the clothing . I think it is a little step towards the right direction. They are embracing a concept. It's obviously something that makes them feel good. They may not come to the full awakening of I&I, but they are on their own journey. They are on their own pad. Who am I to judge. All I must do is live good and live up and who I am self in a dignified way and a virtuous way. Maybe my sisters will eventually not just wear 'red, green & gold', but really understand the significance of it and really awaken to self. ''

By wearing of the Rastafari symbols (red, gold and green colors or/and dreadlocks) can have a transformative function, according to Vanessa. By wearing these symbols there is a believe that black people are not shunning the concept, like in the past. Niaah also stated that wearing a Rasta shirt has the ability to inject a sense of pride into someone. For Niah it is also important that symbols are not disrespected. I will re-utter an example of his that I used earlier on in this thesis. It is the example in which people were walking on the Ethiopian flag; that was lying on the floor during the opening of the documentary 'Marley.' The reason why people could walk over the Ethiopian flag was because it does not hold the same significance for them as for Rasta's. It is disconnected from its meaning that it has for Rasta's. The commodification of Rastafari does not have a negative effect per se, in their eyes. The fear that their symbols will only valued by their exchange value and lose their cultural meaning does not seem to exist. Niah and Apple were the only Rasta's that I spoke to who mentioned the disrespectful way people could handle their symbols. Apple who described it as 'a robbery of its natural purpose.' Like Stronza described it in the above, that the ritual/symbolic value of a object can be lost to a person who is using it but this does not seem to apply to Rasta's. 58

Conclusion The Rastafari movement, in contrary to its beginning in the twentieth century, is not considered a threat to the to the security of the national Jamaican state. Were Rasta's used to be persecuted and harassed by the colonial state they now have the space in Jamaica to be Rasta's. It [Rastafari] is co-opted as a symbol of Jamaica's heritage and its symbols are being used as a tourist attraction, in giving Jamaica, next to its natural beauties, as a cultural cloth, which is being offered to tourists, by the Jamaican state and tourist sector, and is being portrayed as something authentically Jamaican. The nature of the movement prevented it from ''disappearing,'' despite the efforts of the Jamaican state. Early Rasta's like Howell and Hibbert were not part of one organization but had their own ideas about what the crowning [of Haile Selassie] meant and what the implications of this was concerning how the movement should be formed. They independently created followers of their own. In contrary to other religions/social movements Rastafari managed to stay away from centralization, which also contributed to the fact that Jamaican colonial government was not able to dismantle it. Examples of this are the multiple incarcerations of Howell and the falling apart of the 'Orange Street Gully group' did not do anything in stopping the growth of the movement. It [Rastafari] instead kept on flourishing and gaining popularity and support under Jamaica's [black] lower class. The decentralized nature of the movement contributed to the fact that the government had trouble in finding the necessary means to stem the growth of it. The decentralized nature of the movement became a ''problem'' with the entrance of reggae music, because Rastafari became co-opted by the state. The lack of a clear organizational structure made the movement more vulnerable to be co-opted. There is not an [Rastafari] organization with a clear leader or leaders that is/are able to protect their interests [i.e. how it is being represented by the state and to benefit from its own commeralization] and gave way to the possibility that everyone could speak for the movement. This thesis analyzed Rastafari from a counter-cultural perspective. Rastafari gave black Jamaicans, who were residing in the underclass of society, a new 'lens' to perceive themselves. A new understanding of God [i.e. a black God] and a black Messiah in the person of Haile Selassie, but also rebuking white European beauty ideals and positively highlighting their African features. The [Rastafari] symbols are a materialized form of these counter- cultural ideas, but are also co-opted by the Jamaican state and tourism industry. The counter-cultural nature of the movement is the interest of this thesis because it is my entry point in analyzing how Rasta's are responding to the co-optation of the movement; or at least the partial co-optation of it. It did tried to analyzed this with the following main question: 'How do Rastafari's in Jamaica differentiate themselves from 'Babylon' now that 59

their symbols and ideologies are being co-opted by the Jamaican state and tourist sector (Babylon)?' By using a theoretical triangle (figure 5) three theoretical concepts (authenticity, networks and alternative commodification) will be used to answer this question.

Networks

Authenticity Alternative commodificatie (Figure 5)

By using the concept of 'registers' of van der Port I analyzed with which form of modes of communication they construct their authenticity. By using fieldwork data; that I got from my research participants, I analyzed how they constructed their authenticity. Rasta's and non- Rasta's are analyzing ones [i.e. a Rasta] authenticity by using speeches of Haile Selassie; who is the nucleus of the movement. Next to this there are a wide array of perceptions about what Rastafari exactly is. Early Rasta's used the Bible to justify their claims that Haile Selassie was their Messiah and these ideas are still present in their mode of communication (e.g. the usage of the term Babylon). Next to the Biblical explanation there are other Rasta's who use Haile Selassie as a symbol that ''connects'' them to Africa. Another important register is the idea of an 'I-tal livity'; i.e. 'not dealing with dead.' It especially is applied on their diet. The belief that a ''real'' Rasta does not eat meat, because he/she would be eating something that is 'dead'; which contradicts with 'life'; and so their 'livity.' But there are Rasta's who eat fish and those who do not; disagreeing if this falls under the category 'meat.' The acephalous nature of the movement enables these different ideologies within Rastafari and what makes an ''good'' Rasta. While in the early days of the Rastafari movement the acephalous nature of the movement could be considered an advantage that helped it to keep on growing this now could be considered a disadvantage with the co-opting by the Jamaican state and tourist sector. By applying the analyze of religion by Durkheim I have shown that Rastafari finds 60

itself in a liminal space. It is not a structured organization/religion, but it is also not a anarchic movement. During my fieldwork period I noticed that there are still no formal (central) organizations that can protect and promote the interest of Rasta's, but that there is a need to ''organize.' Networks are build around informal personal networks. These networks can function as resources where Rasta's are able to 'tap' certain resources or [Rasta] spaces that they could go to. The lack of a formal organization does lead to contradictions about how different symbols are being interpreted and how Rastafari should organize itself to differentiate itself from Babylon, because a organization can set 'guidelines' or a set of dogma's, support Rasta's in carrying out their [Rastafari] livity and in attaining their [Rastafari] goals. The possibility of early Rasta's to attain a job was hard due to their reluctance to conform to white European beauty ideals. So, like my research participants have shown in this thesis, it was almost impossible to get a work in the Jamaican job market. A result of this was that Rasta's started to develop their skills which it made possible for them to work and get an income. This is still the case and favorable under Rasta's. They recognize that it is next to impossible to completely withdrawn themselves from Babylon, so they create a space [within Babylon] for themselves in a manner that does not conflict with their ideals. Examples of this are the manufacturing of wooden sculptures, selling CD's, painting and the selling of fruits. The crafts that they are selling are also fashioned in the red, gold and green colors. So the interesting question is 'how do Rasta's contribute to their own commodification?' Like Apple mentioned that she did not approved it, but in the mean time selling crafts that have these colors in them. Explanations for these contradictions can be found in the fact that one of the problems resides in who is benefitting of the profits that are being made, since Rasta's hardly benefit of the commodification of their culture; which is possible because the [Jamaican] state promotes Rastafari as something Jamaican and that belongs to every Jamaican. When applying the conceptual triangle framework (figure 5) to analyze how Rasta's are differentiating themselves [from the Jamaican state and tourist sector] it comes of use because it helps to connect the different aspects of the movement that are contributing to the differentiation of Rastafari from the Jamaican state and tourist sector The acephalous nature of the movement contributes to the many ‘’voices’’ that are circulating within the movement. The I&I nature makes every Rasta an ‘’authority’’ on its ideologies and a authentic Rasta. This [the nature of the movement] effects the way Rasta’s organize themselves. Since, in theory, every Rasta is her/his own ‘’church’’ no one can claim the definitive voice concerning its ideologies. So the nature of the movement prevents a vertical hierarchy. The effect of this is that the structure of the movement is of an informal 61

nature; which contributes to the prevention of the crystallization of an authentic Rastafari ideology. Alternative commodification intersects with the two other concepts [authenticity and networks] in that the acephalous nature of the movement also prevents the creation of ‘’unions’’ of Rasta’s that can protect their own interests within the tourism industry. What it also does is the creation of a space, on an individual level, in which Rasta’s, through their independence, can profit of the commodification of their culture, but on their own terms. This space is a grey area because they are also contributing to the commodification of their own culture. The effect of the commodification can be that rituals and symbols lose their intendant meaning and be based on their exchange value. Even with the scale of commodification of Rastafari and the apparent powerlessness of Rastafari as a movement to combat it or to let it happen on their own terms the meanings of the symbols do not seem to have changed from their origin. This does not mean that the commodification [of Rastafari] did not and does not influence the movement. Research participants of mine have noticed that when, in the past, that they were able to ‘’spot’’ a Rasta and that every Rasta would greet each other this has changed. Were in the past nobody, who was not a Rasta, would wanted to be identified with the symbols [of Rastafari] in these days everybody is wearing and speaking them. The effect of this is, that, because of this uncertainty, Rasta’s do not, or not so easily, great each other, like Vanessa mentioned. I-yee’s statement ''I am the only Rastaman'' captured the state of Rastafari that several of my research participants mentioned. People can be ''a wolf in sheep clothing'': i.e. somebody can act in a certain way but be somebody else. ''You have to look at somebody’s livity to know if somebody is a real Rasta''; i.e. look at the lifestyle of somebody, not just outside, but also how she/he behaves in her/his home. To answer my main question. Rastafari’s in Jamaica differentiate themselves through their livity. The lack of organization makes it that this differentiating happens on an individual level. They are creating spaces within it [Babylon] that does not (completely) contradicts with their livity, because the (perceived) impossibly to withdraw themselves from Babylon. These are the choices and negotiations that they have to make in their everyday life in trying to provide for themselves and their families. Within their personal networks they assist each other in living the ''Rasta way.''

Epilogue

During my fieldwork period, when trying to find research participants, I noticed that I could not find anyone of my own age. At least in the Ocho Rios area. The average age of my research participants was in the mid forties. All of them grew up when being a Rasta was a decision that came under a lot of scrutiny of the Jamaican society and their own families. The ''need'' to be a Rasta and differentiate oneself may be less necessary because Rastafari is now more accepted than in the past and people can proclaim themselves as Africans. Like reggae artist Burning Spear said: 'do you remember the days of slavery?' Under Rasta's there is this constant vivid remembrance of the subjugation of black people in past, coupled with the repression of the movement, but does the youth also knows/experience this? During my fieldwork I have also put more effort in including Rastawomen into my research. Rastafari is a patriarchal movement were especially men hold important positions (e.g. are able to participate in a reasoning session), but because I spoke to these women I learned that they are combating these notions of sexism within the movement. During my fieldwork period [Rasta] women were active in various projects and pursuing a more active role. All these activities happen on a personal note because of the decentralized nature. The effect on my research was that I was able to attain a more balanced perspective on the movement; because of the different perspectives of the [Rasta] women. I heard critique that I would not have heard and I would not attainted the perspective on the position of Empress Menen as symbol in the wielding of power [by Rasta women] within the movement. It would be of interest for future studies to do more research about how they [ Rasta women] position themselves and the tactics that deploy in gaining a more equal position within the movement. The lack of strict ideologies within the movement can be a positive factor in this.

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