ABSTRACT
Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the turbulent 1930s in the context of social, political, and cultural conflict in a dying colonial order. In Jamaica, European social, political, and cultural hegemony held sway over the masses of people of African descent. This meant that their lives were governed by British social and political institutions and cultural values, which were projected as the marks of civilization. In contrast, African culture (religion, language, music and dance) and folkways were denigrated as the marks of incivility and backwardness. Of course, British hegemony faced unrelenting opposition from the masses as they struggled for political freedom and cultural identity. In the early twentieth century, the conflict intensified and came to a critical juncture in the 1930s. One manifestation of the conflict was widespread labor unrest, leading to the crystallization of a powerful trade union movement. Another manifestation was a growing demand for enfranchisement, leading to universal adult suffrage in 1944 and culminating in political independence in 1962. Yet another manifestation was the emergence of the Rastafari movement that rejected the whole colonial establishment with its institutions and values, calling instead for a revitalization of Jamaica’s African heritage and a return to Africa, the ancestral home of black people.
