Rastafari The Evolution of a People and Their Identity

"Well-written and engaging . . . breaks new ground both in the data it analyzes and the theory it advances. Price deftly demystifies the 'sudden' appearance of Rastafari by showing how it is rooted in notions of black identity and African redemption." - Ennis B. Edmonds, Donald L. Rogan Professor of Religious Studies, Kenyon College "In clear prose and with a storyteller's disposition, Charles Price offers a detailed analysis of the emergence of collective identity of the Rastafari in Jamaica, illustrating how that collective identity is an ever-changing phenomenon, with variations across time and space. Will be a lasting contribution to the field." - Anita Waters, Denison University "Fascinating and a pleasure to read. Charles Price makes a distinctive contribution by detailing how a Rastafari cultural gestalt emerges. Price shows how cultural patterns can have multiple origins, influences, and significance. Rastafari is a new and necessary reframing of Rastafari culture." - Richard Salter, Hobart and William Smith Colleges "This welcome volume explores the growth and persistence of Rastafarianism in Jamaica. Price . . . provides an exceptionally empathetic account of the faith, and in his sophisticated analysis he successfully integrates the 'small acts' of history with the 'big ideas' they have come to signify." (S. D. Glazier, Yale University) "Price successfully underscores the complex and dynamic nature of Rastafari collective identity formation and ethnogenesis, suggesting that their influence on Jamaican society, and beyond, has been a substantial and enduring one." (Religious Studies Review) "Meticulous and engaging, Charles Price's fascinating book stands as an exemplar of scholarship not just in Rastafari studies, but also in the complicated culture and history of new religious movements." (Novo Religio) "An excellent exploration of the foundations and development of Rastafarianism. Digging deep into the roots of the Rastafari movement, Price shows how British colonialism, the popular religious forms of the island, and political and liberation movements like Ethiopianism all contributed to the coming together of a new and distinctly Jamaican religious form in the first half of the twentieth century ... Price's is an excellent text, from which the interested reader will learn much." (Religion)