Exploring ras tafari culture

• Author: Marcus Goffe
• Position: Jamaican attorney
• Pages: 22-24

Ras Tafar i is a uniqu e and distinctive communit y

and culture comprisi ng mai nly Af ricans and de-

scendants of the African Diaspo ra. I ts fo rmation

was inspired by the coronation, on No vember 2,

1930, of a black African named Ras Tafari

Makonnen as Emperor Haile Selas sie I of Ethiopia.1

His fol lowers, known as Rasta farians, beli eve that,

according to Christian b iblical prop hecy2the

Emperor w as the manifes tation of God or “Jah” on

earth. The Ras Tafari community s eeks to preserv e

its Africa n ancestry and the traditions i t has inher-

ited and s ustained in the face of slaver y and colo-

nialism. The commu nity has always strongly af-

firmed its desire for re patriation to Afr ica, the

physical and spiritual homeland of its ancestors,

millions of w hom were forcibly displaced during

the 400- year transatla ntic slave tr ade.

Although a rel atively young communi ty, Ras Tafari

culture has a broad reach, perme ating popular

culture globally. This is in large part due to its in-

fluence on reggae music an d the su ccess of mu-

sicians like Bob Ma rley, whose work has spread

Ras Tafari philosophy far and wide. Mig ration has

also expa nded the culture’s rea ch with communi -

ties established most notably in Afri ca, th e

Caribbean , the United States, the U nited

Kingdom and other European coun tries, as we ll

as in c ountries of Central and S outh America. The

Ras Tafari c ommunity is trans-boundar y, physical-

ly r ooted in Jamai ca, but spiri tually roo ted in

Africa generally and Ethiopia in particular.

Although co nsidered indigenou s to Jamaica, in

the non -legal sense, the R as Tafari communit y

does not qua lify as an indigeno us community un-

der prev ailing interna tional norms, because it did

not exist prior to coloniz ation. The Ras Tafari com-

munity emerged agai nst a bac kdrop of p overty

and oppr ession and id entifies its members as de-

scendants of ind igenous African s forcib ly dis -

placed t o Jamaica by slavery an d colonialism.

The Ras Tafari culture is a unique fusion of African

cultural tradition s and Caribbea n cultural infl u-

ences. Having adopted the red, gold and green

colors of Afri ca, Rast afarians c an be easily i denti-

fied by th eir traditional hand-knitted tams

(“crowns”), sc arves and other adornme nts, as well

as by the traditiona l dreadlocks worn by many.

With the broad appeal of the Ras Tafari worldview

and the global standing of reggae music, tradition-

al Ras Tafari symbol s and imagery have been pop-

ularized and used extensively in commercial prod-

ucts ranging from T-shirts, jewelry, arts and crafts

items, smoking paraphernalia, hats, cloth es, bags

and shoes. Very few of these products are made by

Rastafarians, and none of the monie s accrued from

their sale benefi ts the Ras Tafari community.

The R as Tafari com munity is most of ten associ at-

ed wit h creating and popular izing reggae. At the

root of this dis tinctive music are th e oral testi-

monies relati ng t he Ras Tafari ’s stru ggle to pre-

serve their religious an d cultur al ident ity in

Jamaica. O riginally inspire d by their experi ence as

marginalize d Africans in Jam aica, reggae music

evolved fro m traditional Ra s Tafari dru mming pat-

terns an d the commun ity’s spiritu al ideology.

Although much has been wr itten ab out the Ras

Tafari over the past 8 0 years, to date it has largely

come fro m secondar y sources. L ittle has been

based on a nthropological re search involving first-

hand inter views of communit y members. This has

often led to th e Ras Tafari being misunderstood

and misreprese nted, in turn fuelling prejudice

and di scrimination against th e c ommunity.

EXPLORING

RAS TAFARI CULTURE

1 Revered a s the King of

Kings, Con quering Lion

of the Tribe of Judah

2 Christian Bible -

Revelation 5:5 and

Revelation 19:16

AP RI L 20 11

22

Jamaica n attorne y, Marcus Goffe, Lega l Advisor to the Ethio-Afr ica Diasp ora Union Millenni um Counci l,

introduc es the R as Tafari cul ture and explores what the community is doing to prote ct and p reserve i ts

cultura l identit y.

Photos: Jake Homiak, International Rastafari

Archives Project, Smithsonian Institution, USA

“Nyahbinghi” is a fusion of earlier African-Jamaican forms.

Ras Sarge seated before a three-drum ensemble (repeater,

bass and funde).