The Cultural Production of a Black Messiah: Ethiopianism and the Rastafari

Many of the Rastafari people claim that Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia is godly This article explains how the idea of a Black Messiah was culturally produced in the context of Ethiopianist ideology. [End Page 418] It sketches the various expressions of Ethiopianism and some of its leading expo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Price, Charles (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The Pennsylvania State University Press 2014
In: Journal of Africana religions
Year: 2014, Volume: 2, Issue: 3, Pages: 418-433
Further subjects:B Emperor Haile Selassie I
B Rastafari
B Black identity
B Ethiopianism
B Jamaica
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Many of the Rastafari people claim that Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia is godly This article explains how the idea of a Black Messiah was culturally produced in the context of Ethiopianist ideology. [End Page 418] It sketches the various expressions of Ethiopianism and some of its leading exponents in the United States, Jamaica, and Central and South Africa in order to show why the notion of a Black and African Messiah made sense to a number of Jamaicans. Ethiopianists combined race, scripture, historical experience, religiosity, and social criticism in a way that made possible the formulation of a durable and compelling Black Messiah. The Ethiopianist formulations circulating through Kingston, Jamaica, during the 1920s provided the cultural resources for a new identification—Rastafari—as a way of being and being recognized in the world.
ISSN:2165-5413
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions