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...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
The Pennsylvania State University Press
2014
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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) |
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. |
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ISSN: | 2165-5413 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions
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