ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the rapid global dissemination of the Jamaican Rastafarian Movement was facilitated by the reggae music associated with it. Local Rastafarian reggae bands are to be found on nearly every island in the Caribbean, enabling Jamaican Rastas to successfully export their "culture of resistance" regionwide. The Rastafarian movement experienced substantial growth in the European metropolitan centers of London, Birmingham, Paris, and Amsterdam during the mid- to late 1970s, as immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa faced a burgeoning urban crisis and the growing specter of racism. In many parts of West Africa the use of and trade in cannabis is, along with reggae music, closely associated both in actual fact and public perceptions with the culture of Rastafari. And finally, but perhaps most importantly, the powerful links that exist between the movement and various aspects of contemporary transnational popular culture—namely music, drugs, and fashion.
