The Rastafari Movement: History, Culture, and Systems of Belief

[evanovitch]

n 1943, Howell returned to Pinnacle and was met by his distraught wife. Tyneth Bent, a white woman who turned down a rich, Cuban plantation owner to marry Leonard Howell, had been tortured by the
rumors of her husband’s thirteen wives -- a legend that had even been printed in the local newspaper. Howell’s affairs were no secret at Pinnacle. Some claimed he lay with as many as forty women in one night, and he is said to have enjoyed five women at once. Another of Howell’s nicknames was “Honeyman” and he had a bank account in this name. Tyneth confronted Howell and, frantic, held a knife to her own throat. Howell fell to his knees, declaring his love for her and begging her not to kill herself. She dropped the knife, but later that night disappeared into the wilderness surrounding Pinnacle. She was later found dead, her body mangled by vultures. When Howell went to Spanish Town to report her death, he was arrested again, this time on suspicion of murder. In April 1944, after the testimony of many witnesses corroborated his story of her suicide, Howell was released.

http://afonorow.files.wordpress.com/...bliography.pdf

[Wahalla]

once on here i pointed out the strong influence of East Indians to Rasta and was berated as a cousin told her something. And someone posted a whole bunch of usual links of why it was an African iteration...

as usual if i say something and wait around it will be confirmed by an academic paper..

My latest theory was that patwa africanness is degraded by Rasta and miss lou as it began to become urbanised and under the influence of the yankee. (with the migration to the urban centers from the 1950's) In isolation rural patwa was more "african"... this paper does the urbanisation of Rasta....not the its impact on language..And the theory that Rasta is merely a form sect of chrisitanity with a number of changes....

the other thing it does mention was the Howels white wife.... i was aware of this but never ever seen it sited before so did not mention it... so could not take the slings and arrows of being called a liar... Garvey entanglement with anotehr rich white lady is better documented but not her name..I always imagined them siting around and talking bout sex with white women....And he was the main suspect in his wives death...

That Howel was a hard man is never discussed as he is iconised

The paper does mention pre Garvey Pan africanism... and Woods....which is forgotten...garvey was not the first pan african or black nationalist... Nor does this paper metion hte influence of bogle on Howel and garvey... or Bogles black roots...

[jah_yout]

n 1943, Howell returned to Pinnacle and was met by his distraught wife. Tyneth Bent, a white woman who turned down a rich, Cuban plantation owner to marry Leonard Howell, had been tortured by the
rumors of her husband’s thirteen wives -- a legend that had even been printed in the local newspaper. Howell’s affairs were no secret at Pinnacle. Some claimed he lay with as many as forty women in one night, and he is said to have enjoyed five women at once. Another of Howell’s nicknames was “Honeyman” and he had a bank account in this name. Tyneth confronted Howell and, frantic, held a knife to her own throat. Howell fell to his knees, declaring his love for her and begging her not to kill herself. She dropped the knife, but later that night disappeared into the wilderness surrounding Pinnacle. She was later found dead, her body mangled by vultures. When Howell went to Spanish Town to report her death, he was arrested again, this time on suspicion of murder. In April 1944, after the testimony of many witnesses corroborated his story of her suicide, Howell was released.

http://afonorow.files.wordpress.com/...bliography.pdf

Where are the moderators? This post has little to do with the thread title and appears to be another attempt by a Jamaican Christian to defame and malign the Rastafari culture...something they have a long history of doing...please remove this malicious thread or change its misleading title to "attack on Rastafari founding father"

[evanovitch]

once on here i pointed out the strong influence of East Indians to Rasta and was berated as a cousin told her something. And someone posted a whole bunch of usual links of why it was an African iteration...

as usual if i say something and wait around it will be confirmed by an academic paper..

My latest theory was that patwa africanness is degraded by Rasta and miss lou as it began to become urbanised and under the influence of the yankee. (with the migration to the urban centers from the 1950's) In isolation rural patwa was more "african"... this paper does the urbanisation of Rasta....not the its impact on language..And the theory that Rasta is merely a form sect of chrisitanity with a number of changes....

the other thing it does mention was the Howels white wife.... i was aware of this but never ever seen it sited before so did not mention it... so could not take the slings and arrows of being called a liar... Garvey entanglement with anotehr rich white lady is better documented but not her name..I always imagined them siting around and talking bout sex with white women....And he was the main suspect in his wives death...

That Howel was a hard man is never discussed as he is iconised

The paper does mention pre Garvey Pan africanism... and Woods....which is forgotten...garvey was not the first pan african or black nationalist... Nor does this paper metion hte influence of bogle on Howel and garvey... or Bogles black roots...

am reading ur brother's book n things he mentions has me seeking out further references….i have read Nettleford's paper on Rastafari but have to admit that i did not know or had forgot that he initially did the research on the behest of Father Manley….i also did not know about Howell's wife being white nor his , shall we say, fondness of the opposite sex….that bit has not been bandied about a lot…his supposed mental illness, yes, but not that bit…it is understandable given the take re spreading of seed etc….it is a blessing, this thing called the internet as it opens up avenues, previously only accessible by visits to libraries etc….love it….As a Ras, i enjoy finding out the nooks n cranny of the movement….blemishes and all….i am awaiting the delivery of HIM Haile Selassie's autobiographyThe Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I: King of All Kings and Lord of All Lords; My Life and Ethiopia's Progress 1892-1937

…..Amazon is having a bit of delay in getting it to moi

[evanovitch]

Where are the moderators? This post has little to do with the thread title and appears to be another attempt by a Jamaican Christian to defame and malign the Rastafari culture...something they have a long history of doing...please remove this malicious thread or change its misleading title to "attack on Rastafari founding father"

let me make sure i understand u…U r saying that I 'have a long history of', n do' defame and malign the Rastafari cultue'?….dat is wat u saying on this forum in public via the internet….am i reading u correctly?

[evanovitch]

Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control By Stephen A. King

http://books.google.ca/books?id=5W1s56Ds1GIC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=nettleford's+paper+on+the+rastafari&source=bl&ots=mf_SN86l5w&sig=7xXDAbu49vOnwZdX6dsxmzg8edc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wsnXU5XsKo_ZoATi1YCwDA&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=nettleford's%20paper%20on%20the%20rastafari&f=false

[evanovitch]

The Ras Tafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica Author(s): M.G. Smith (With R. Au

Title: The Ras Tafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica
Author(s): M.G. Smith (With R. Augier and R. M. Nettleford).
Published by: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University College of theWest Indies, 1960. 54p.
Reprinted in: Reprinted in 1968, and in Caribbean Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, (September1967), pp. 3-29; and vol. 13, no. 4 (December 1967), pp. 3-14.

http://www.cifas.us/sites/g/files/g536796/f/1960e_RasTafariMov_B.pdf

[evanovitch]

[IMG]file:///page3image496[/IMG]
Chapter

CONTENTS


Foreword
I Introduction 7
II History of the Movement
8III Recent Developments
15IV The Doctrines of the Movement
22
V The Movement's Current Organisation
28VI What Ras Tafari Brethren Want 33VII Summary of Recommendations 38



Appendices
I Letter: Land Grant 39
II Letters: Ethiopian Orthodox Church
41III Niyabingi Men
43IV The Creed of a Ras Tafari Man

[evanovitch]

20th July, 1960.


At the request of some prominent members of the Ras Tafari brethren,three members of the U.C.W.I. staff, Roy Augier, Rex Nettleford, and M. G.Smith, spent every day of two weeks with Ras Tafari brethren, making a surveyof the movement, its organisation and its aspirations. They have produced areport, which I enclose herewith.


The team has made a number of recommendations, which require urgentconsideration. The movement is large, and in a state of great unrest. Itsproblems require priority treatment.
Though the movement has no single leader, or group of leaders, it is willingto produce a small group of prominent representatives to discuss with theGovernment the recommendations contained in this report. I very much hopethat you may be able to arrange such a meeting at the earliest possible oppor-tunity.




Hon. N. W. Manley

[evanovitch]

The aim of this study is to present a brief account of the growth, doctrines,organisation, aspirations, needs and conditions of the Ras Tafari movement inJamaica, especially in Kingston, the capital. The data presented here werecollected during a rapid survey among the Ras Tafari brethren of Kingstonduring the fortnight beginning on July 4th 1960. This survey arose out ofletters written to the Principal of the U.C.W.I., Professor Arthur Lewis, andto the Resident Tutor, Extra-Mural Studies, Mr. Rex Nettleford, by membersof the Ras Tafari brethren living in Kingston. These letters asked the Collegeto assist the brethren in various ways, especially in the educational field, andby publiCising the truth about the brethren and their doctrine. In view ofthese diverse requests, a meeting was arranged at which Professor Lewis dis-cussed the appeals with a number of brethren and offered to send a team ofthree faculty members to work among them for a fortnight in order to deter-mine the predominant needs of the brethren, and to formulate a programmeof action. Mr. Horace Gordon of the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission,who helped to arrange this meeting, acted as Chairman. By kind permissionof the Rev. M. E. W. Sawyers, Chairman of the Jones Town Government School,the discussion took place there on Monday 4th July from 8.30 to 11.00 p.m.The assembly having declared their support for the College survey, it beganthe next morning.

[evanovitch]

TIle account of life at Pinnacle which is presented by these newspaperreports corresponds closely with that given to us by Ras Tafari brethren. Somebrethren say that at Pinnacle, Howell represented himself as God and took thetitle of Gangungu Maraj or more familiarly, Gong. He is said to have livedin a large house with thirteen wives or concubines. His followers worked theestate under his direction: yam was the main subsistence crop, and ganja (alsoknown as marihuana, hashish, Indian hemp, or simply 'the herb') was the maincash crop. The trade in ganja is said to have been controlled. Howell is saidto have acquired property at Rollington Town, Kingston and in the parish ofPortland.


Wahalla, this attests to one of the influence of the East Indians….didnt know that this is where the word GONG came from

[Gen]

JY .....you mixing up Evan with someone else

[evanovitch]

Kill it before it grows' policy of 1934

..He said kill it before it grows -
He said kill them before they grow....(I shot the sheriff) B M n The Wailers
Did u know that the official government policy in 1934 towards the advent iof Rastafai, was , "Kill it before it grows"….
In 1934, the government adopted as its stance on Rastafari, “Kill it before it grows.” Officials vowed to provoke, harass, and arrest the generally peaceful Rasta population. They hoped to stamp out seditious ideas of anti-colonialism and empowerment for the impoverished in this way.

[evanovitch]

Nyabinghi (Ni-uh-bin-gee)

This term has a series of overlapping meanings within the contemporary Rastafari Movement. It refers variously to the island-wide religious gatherings of Rasta brethren and sistren at which communicants "praise Jah" and "chant down Babylon," to the three-part drum ensemble on which chants are composed, to the African-derived dance-drumming style performed at these events, and to the corpus of chants themselves. It also refers to the most orthodox organization within the broader Rasta movement variously known as the House of Nyabinghi or the Theocratic Government of Emperor Haile Selassie I. The term Nyabinghi entered the movement in late 1935 during the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia and is actually derived from an African secret society which operated in the Congo and Ruwanda during the last quarter of the


http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/...sta/terms.html

[jah_yout]

let me make sure i understand u…U r saying that I 'have a long history of', n do' defame and malign the Rastafari cultue'?….dat is wat u saying on this forum in public via the internet….am i reading u correctly?

Not you in particular...I am speaking of Jamaican Christians ---who have a long history of attacking what they don't understand ... And defaming the prophets with salacious stories as in your initial post....curious considering the title of the thread