Once an obscure group of outcasts from the ghettoes of West Kingston; Jamaica; the Rastafarians have transformed themselves into a vibrant movement; firmly grounded in Jamaican society and beyond. In Rastafari; Ennis Barrington Edmonds provides a compelling portrait of the Rastafarian phenomenon and chronicles how this group; much maligned and persecuted; became a dominant cultural force in the world today. Edmonds charts the evolution of the relationship between Rastafari and the wider Jamaican society; from confrontation and repression to grudging tolerance and eventually to cultural integration. Edmonds focuses in particular on the internal development of Rastafarianism as a social movement; with its network of "houses" (small; informal groups that form around leading Rastas) and "mansions" (larger; more communal associations); to track the process of this strikingly successful integration. He further demonstrates how Rastafarian artistic creativity; especially in fashioning the music and message of reggae; was a significant factor in the transition of Rastas from the status of outcasts to the position of cultural bearers.
#4399780 in Books 2007-03-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.10 x .50 x 9.40l; #File Name: 0195325850184 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. DuBois' political record "later work"By Anne F. OneillWhile it is true that DuBois was "pro-Russia" and "pro-Stalin;" so was much of the left at the time. That was the beef in the peace movement between the Trotskyists and the Stalinists that culminated in the infamous slander lawsuit by Lillian Hellman (another pro-Stalinist) against Mary McCarthy (a Trotskyist who severely criticized Hellman; claiming everything she said was a lie; or at least fiction... which had some credibility in regards to disputed "facts" in Hellman's disputed "memoires"). Just the same; the pro-Stalinist left was conflicted; yet rationalized their stance because of the aggressive stance by the U.S. against a socialist country which embodied; at least in theory; their sought-for political and social ideals.As for DuBois; he finally did call a press conference in 1960 and join the Communist Party as well as renounce his citizenship because he was disgusted with having his passport taken away from him for many years on the premise that by criticizing racism in American society that he was somehow harming the image of America abroad. It did far more to harm America's image by suppressing such freedom of expression of one of its most renowned and accomplished African-Americans in history. The consequence; as he predicted; was erasure from the history books of his memory; except as a "Black scholar."The poster below who didn't like the book (which he admits he didn't read) or DuBois himself (who he slanders) is obviously ignorant of the fact that DuBois' "later work" was in fact the _Encyclopedia Africana_ which is being completed with money from Microsoft Corp. under the guidance of Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and Harvard professors Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates; Jr.0 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Being Black can't excuse being RedBy A CustomerI haven't read the Dubois book; but the review by Anne O'Neill has the intellectual respectability of putting tin foil in your hat to protect your brain from Martian mind-control radiation.First; Dubois was in fact a Marxist and a socialist; and a pro-Russian defender of Stalin and the Soviet Union at the time of this book. A decade later; in the 1960's; he joined the Communist Party; emigrated to Ghana; and renounced his American citizenship. These actions and beliefs constitute serious intellectual and moral failures which disqualify his later intellectual work from serious consideration. Belief in Marxism absolutely incapacitates one from serious historical or economic analysis; much as belief in a flat earth renders one incapable of responsible astronomy.Second; some historical facts: 1) Dubois was not here a victim of "the McCarthy witchhunt of the 1950's." McCarthy did not chair any hearings until 1952; a year later. 2) The HUAC hearings in the 1940's demonstrated that the Communist Party of the USA was openly committed to the overthrow of the US constitution; was controlled by Stalin; had infiltrated high positions in the Federal Executive with agents of the Soviet Union; and was engaged in espionage and policy influence. The post-Cold War opening of archives on both sides of the defunct Iron Curtain has confirmed all of these facts in detail. [Read Ann Coulter's "Treason" for an entertaining introduction to the truth.] Surely these anti-American activities were less American than the HUAC's exposure of them. 3) The Peace Information Center was attacked for peddling Stalinist propaganda and supporting USSR government policies; not for questioning US government policy. Many non-Communists questioned the US government and its policies without becoming targets. 4) The Korean War was not part of a "liberation movement;" it was instigated and controlled personally by Stalin to test American resolve as a prelude to possible Soviet military aggression in Europe. [This is documented by former Soviet archives. Read Norman Friedman's "The Fifty-Year War" for details.]Third; the phrase "Korean modern industrial evolution as it was retarded and hopelessly perverted to suit colonial demands" is patently silly. South Korean has over the last 50 years achieved democratic and economic freedoms which have given this small country an economy roughly the size of Russia's. By comparison; the still Stalinist North Korea cannot feed its own people. Even ex-communist Russia cannot now provide its people the wealth and freedom which South Koreans enjoy.Finally; the central story of the 20th century is the triumph of humanity over the intellectual; moral; and practical disaster called socialism; in both its nationalist/facist and internationalist/soviet guises. In this struggle; in 1951; Dubois was on the side of the mass murderers; not freedom. The verdict is in: The Dubois analyses of the Korean War; and the governments his analysis defended; now deservedly reside in the dustbin of history; completely disproven and discredited by subsequent events and scholarship.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Chronicle of U.S. and International Peace Movement in 1950By Anne O'Neill (aoneill@alum.calberkeley.org)This is the little-known story of the American and International Peace Movement of the post-WWII period and up to the beginning of the Korean War. Dr. DuBois writes of his experience being incarcerated on his 83rd birthday and put on trial during the McCarthy witchhunt of the 1950s; chronicling his arrest as an 'unregistered foreign agent' by the unAmerican 'House unAmerican Activities Committee;' as part of the Cold War hysteria of the time. He decides to fight the charges in the name of fighting for American civil liberties and wins; but the story of the acquital still bore the headline; "Indicted." Dr. W.E.B. DuBois was the Vice-Chair of the Peace Information Center which the government tried to discredit because it forced the nation to look at itself and its policies - the continued threatened use of the atomic bomb and the drive to suppress postcolonial independence movements; such as the Korean conflict after that country's liberation from Japanese military rule and subsequent arbitrary division at the beginning of the Cold War (see 'Origins of the Korean War;' by Bruce Cumings). DuBois called the use of American military forces in Korea 'a tragic military adventure.' The current economic crisis is itself related to Korean modern industrial evolution as it was retarded and hopelessly perverted to suit colonial demands. By this historical fact; DuBois is truly exonerated by history in his analysis of the situation and its outcome.
