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The content of the present pages will be disapprea shortly
THIS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE (besides the rastafarians introduction below) HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE:
http://www.rootsreggaeclub.com/culture_reggae_afro/the_rastafarians/the_rastafarians_main.htm
INTRODUCTION TO THE RASTAFARIANS CULTURE AND HISTORY (see RASTAFARIANS FULL VERSION):
THE RASTAFARIANS:
Chapter
Dissonance and Consonance
Anyone who listens to Rastafarian music, be it the ritual Nyabingi or the popular
reggae, will detect in the lower beats deep structural dissonance which mirrors
the social conflicts within the society. But careful attention to the lyrics
of such songs as Bob Marley's "No 'oman No Cry" reveals a search for
a consonance in his repeated refrain "Everything is going to be all right,"
sung as by one who is possessed, Dissonances which the society feel are responsible
for its alienation whether real or imagined. These dissonances often create
deviant situations of a counterculture which lead either to the death of a society
or to its rejuvenation. Cultural dissonance, like musical dissonance, constantly
searches for a consonance in which to resolve itself, which in most cases is
latent within the culture itself. Often the resolution is revelaed to a prophet
or a seer, generally from the class of the oppressed; in some cases the consonance
emerges from the countercultures. An Example of this dissonanace-consonance
combination may be seen in the Rastafarian evolution---dissonance, and in their
cultural contribution to present day Jamaica---consonance-resolution.
For an up-to-date picture of the Rastafarian movement, we must undetake a short
review of their development, high-listing some of the predictions made by scholars
and journalists who observed them in their struggling days. The first such scholar
was George E. Simpson of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. His study was carried
out in 1953, in the West Kinston areas, where he attended open-air meetings
of the cultists. His short paper on the movement was published by the University
of the West Indies' Journal of Social and Economic Studies in 1955, under the
title "Political Cultism in West Kinston, Jamaica." The article, though
less than twenty pages and mostly descriptive, contained some rather important
insights into the funtion of the movement in that early period. He described
it as made up of "illiterates, or semi-illiterates, confused, poor, and
bitter...urban dwellers." They were regarded in those as lunatics, ganja
smokers, and professional criminals. But he also saw in them budding entrepreneurs,
a movement of resistance to political oppression, and a religious alternative
to the other wordly Christian organizations in the slums which had grown stagnant
and irrelevant to the needs of the oppressed. He observed:
Cult activities provide release from the drabness, drudgery, and humiliation of everyday living in an economically depressed area. Members compensate for their lowly status in Jamaican society by denouncing their oppressores, by insisting upon their superiority over those now in power, and by rejoicing over their knowledge that deliverance is at hand. The despised and rejected have responded to their situation by creating a world of their own, and they exhaust themselves emotionally in their meetins through singing and verbal violence.
Following Simpson's lead, other sociologists and journalists began to observe
the Rastafarians of West Kinston, mostly paying attention to the setting out
of which the cult emerged.
Up to the late 1960's, Rastafarians were to be found mostly in areas of the
city which used to be called "dungle"---a word which signified "dung"
and "jungle." These were the worst areas of the city, even lower than
ghettos. A true picture of these areas is to be found in Sam Brown's poem "Slum
Condition," written to describe the situations of life for the Rastas in
the 1960's. However, two good descriptions of that era were written by the brilliant
sociologist, Orlando Patterson, and the Oxford scholar, Katrin Norris. Patterson,
in his book The Children of Sysiphus, described the Rastafarian district as
follows:
...on the left were shacks; dreadful, nasty little structures---a cluster of card-boards, barrel sides, old cod-fish boxes, flattened tar drums and timber scraps. A few of the more luxurious, consisted of carcasses of old cars.
A less poetic description of the same place is given by Katrin Norris in her book, Jamaica: The Search for Identity:
Only a few hundred yards beyond the harbour and the central shopping areas (of Kingston), in a most conspicuous position along what should be a waterside boulevard, is a horrifying sight. This is one of the squatting settlements of the Rastafarians.... They live in the utmost squalor in huts of boards, metal scraps, motor car parts, tires, cardboard, and anything they can lay their hands on.
The areas described by Patterson and Norris no longer appear in Kingston. In
1966, the government recaptured them from the Rastafarians by sending in a fleet
of bulldozers under police guard and ploughed them under. Many Rastas from these
areas found other lands to capture or moved away to the country where they have
built new villages of a more permanent quality. Today, the Rastafarian communities
are no longer so depressing, although conditions are in no way ideal among the
new camps. The writer paid a visit tot the Adatra Road community, which in 1965
was nothing but several shacks such as those described above. He was greatly
surprised at the improvements. Many Rastafarians who once lived in broken-down
shacks were now living on the same grounds in middle-class dwellings made of
concrete blocks with running water and other amenities. Their community hall,
which was only a "bush-arbor," is now a permanent hall of substantial
concrete where classes in sculpturing and music are held for community youths.
It is from this community that the now famous drummer, Count Ossie, the father
of Rastafarian drumming, was until his death a member of this community. They
have cut many records and are now known all over Jamaica and the outside world.
One-quarter mile from the Mystic Revelation group is the Rastafarian settlement
known as Lennock Lodge, once described by the "Saint," under the caption
"Rastas are Cave Men," in the Star of April 9, 1962. In that article
he described the area as follows:
At the foot of the Long Mountain range of Wareka Hill commencing...at the end of Sligo Avenue, numerous members of the Rastafari cult eke out a miserable existence on the rugged hill slope owned by the forestry department. Among sharp pointed rocks and cactus they erect unsightly shacks cut out of cardboard, old wooden boxes, tree branches and other materials, with which the land is lettered. The less fortunate ones, such as the newcomers to the settlement, live in shallow caves like animals.
Today, this camp, described by the "Saint," is a massive settlement of Rastafarians who have built permanent dwellings on the hillside. As many as fiftenn acres of the most enviable housing lands overlooking the bay area and the airport have been captured by the Rastas. Houses of all sizes and shapes with their red, black, and green colors perch precariously on the hillside. The life style remains much like that described by the "Saint:"
THIS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE (besides the rastafarians introduction below) HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE:
http://www.rootsreggaeclub.com/culture_reggae_afro/the_rastafarians/the_rastafarians_main.htm
INTRODUCTION TO THE RASTAFARIANS CULTURE AND HISTORY (see RASTAFARIANS FULL VERSION):
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