The Rastafari Movement: A North American and Caribbean Perspective by Michael Barnett (review)

Scholarship on Rastafari continues to grow, but popular awareness and classroom treatments of the movement are too often rooted in early research and pop cultural portraits. Specialized research on Rastafari is often too narrowly focused on specific historical or geographic perspectives to be useful for a general audience. And popular Rasta-authored books about Rastafari are often uncritically confessional. Michael Barnett’s The Rastafari Movement is a slim volume that tries to thread the gaps through these problems by presenting the contemporary breadth of the movement using a focused Afrocentric group identity theory.

The foreword and introduction raise the question of how to explore the movement as Rasta and scholar. Barnett suggests that his position as both gives him a kind of privileged access to ongoing developments in Rastafari. While this may be true, the reader must maintain a critical eye to discern how Barnett’s twin commitments shape his text. He writes, “There are in truth many dimensions to Rastafari, but one that has a particular appeal for the author is its African-centered aspect” (ix). He adds, “For me, Rastafari is more than just a religion: it is a counter-culture that offers an opposing Africanist definition and vision of life” (ix). Given these statements, it could be tempting to conclude that the book’s Afrocentric theoretical perspective is a tautological iteration of the author’s own opinion. Indeed, Barnett’s personal conclusions are peppered throughout the volume. But to conclude that this is tautology would be a mistake: Barnett is inviting us to see the contemporary movement in action and he himself is a protagonist as he explores the questions: “What does it mean to be Rasta? What is the nature of the Rastaman/Rastawoman experience?” (ix).

The chapters themselves are straightforward. Barnett clearly and succinctly lays out the history of the movement and the development of various “mansions” within the movement. The latter are explored side by side to show varying foci and distinct variations in doctrine, ritual, and practice. The chapter on gender dynamics in Rastafari shows variation in the movement, but Barnett tiptoes around normative and evaluative issues. In this case, an outsider’s descriptive voice seems to shield the movement from Barnett’s own doubts. The chapters on symbols in Rastafari and globalization of Rastafari are brief, but they are useful overviews for anyone unfamiliar with the movement.

The final three chapters are quirky. In chapter 7 Barnett presents us with observations and descriptions from the field. While some of these read as fieldnotes, others seem impressionistic or simple chronicles of events. The organization of the material struck me as unsystematic and perhaps unrepresentative of anything other than diverse positions in the movement and Barnett’s reflections on those differences. In one section Barnett chronicles the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica in 1966, a commemoration he helped coordinate. Among other things, the celebrations included a visit by Prince Ermias, one of Haile Selassie’s grandsons. The visit is described with enthusiasm, but as a reader I was left begging for certain questions to be asked: was Prince Ermias treated as a religious figure? As a grandson of Haile Selassie, was he considered by some to be divine? What were his thoughts on his grandfather’s divinity?

Chapter 8 compares Rastafari with other movements, most notably the Nation of Islam, and it seems to have been drawn from Barnett’s dissertation. Chapter 9 explores contemporary issues in Rastafari. As with chapter 7, it was not clear how this chapter was organized, but there is no doubt that the issues presented, such as the place of cannabis in the movement or the place of white Rastas in the movement, are crucially important. The appendix augments chapter 9 by presenting primary information about contemporary issues.

In the end, this will be a helpful book for general readers. It introduces concepts and contemporary questions affecting Rastafari, and...