The Kebra Negast: The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith from Ethiopia and Jamaica
from St. Martin's Press
What did Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley and Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia have in common? A love for the Kebra Negast, holy book of Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians. Contemporary scholars date the Kebra Negast to the 14th century, but it retells the stories of much earlier Biblical times, one very important story in particular. According to the Kebra Negast, the Israelites' Ark of the Covenant was spirited away to the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia by wise King Solomon's own son, offspring of the union between Solomon and the exotic Queen Makeda of Ethiopia (a.k.a. the Queen of Sheba). Gerald Hausman, a consummate storyteller of native traditions, presents the core narrative of the Kebra Negast, from Adam to the rise of the Ethiopian Solomonid dynasty. On top of this, he injects his own encounters with Rastafarians during his travels in Jamaica--dreadlocked Rastas as modern-day Samsons, their unwavering faith in Jah, and a rare outsider's glimpse at the Nyabinghi ceremony. The combination of ancient tale and modern belief give Hausman's Kebra Negast the rich flavor of enduring truth. --Brian Bruya
My Brother
by Jamaica Kincaid
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Compassion only occasionally lightens the grim tone of Jamaica Kincaid's searing account of her younger brother Devon's 1996 death from AIDS. As in novels such as Annie John, Kincaid is ruthlessly honest about her ambivalence toward the impoverished Caribbean nation from which she fled, her restrictive family, and the culture that imprisoned Devon. That honesty, which includes chilling detachment from her brother's suffering, is sometimes alienating. But art has its own justifications. The bitter clarity of Kincaid's prose and the tangled, undeniably human feelings it lucidly dissects are justification enough.
Rasta Heart: A Journey Into One Love
by Robert Roskind
from One Love Press
Since his pasing in 1981, Bob Marley's music, like tribal drumming, has been sending out a message of love and freedom for all humanity. Twenty years later, Julia and Robert Roskind traveled to Jamaica to learn more about Rastafari-the people and philosophy that inspired his music. Their life-changing odyssey through the towns, villages and mountains of this beautiful island, revealed not only the Rasta way of life but an ancient mystery as well. "RASTA HEART" is truly a journey into One Love. "Riveting... An incredible adventure that reveals the true essence of Rasta!" Dr. Dennis Forsythe author of "Rastafarians:The Healing of the Nations."
The Rastafarians
by Leonard E. Barrett
from Beacon Press
The twentieth anniversary edition of the classic study of the culture, religion, history, ideology, and influence of the Rastafarians of Jamaica.
"Barrett offers the most comprehensive study to date of the Rastafarians."
—Bulletin of the Center for the Study of World Religions
"The most thorough, careful consideration of the Rasta phenomenon available to the general reader."
— The Boston Phoenix
Rastafari: For the Healing of the Nations
by Dennis Forsythe
from One Drop Books
The Rasta Cookbook: Vegetarian Cuisine Eaten With the Salt of the Earth : Recipes
from Africa World Press
Vegitarian Cuisine, Eaten with the salt of the earth
Rastafari: Roots and Ideology (Utopianism and Communitarianism)
by Barry Chevannes
from Syracuse University Press
The Holy Piby
by Shepherd Robert Athlyi Rogers
from Research Associates School Times Publications
First published in 1924. Widely acclaimed as the foundation writings of Rastafarian. Also known as the BLACK MAN BIBLE.
Rasta: : Emperor Haile Sellassie and the Rastafarians
by Jah Ahkell
from Frontline Distribution International
A classic look at the relationship between Emperor Haile Sellassie 1 and the Rastafarians.
Chanting Down Babylon Pb
by Nathaniel Samuel Murrell
from Temple University Press
This anthology explores Rastafari religion, culture, and politics in Jamaica and other parts of the African diaspora. An Afro-Caribbean religious and cultural movement that sprang from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1930s, today Rastafari has close to one million adherents. The basic message of Rastafari—the dismantling of all oppressive institutions and the liberation of humankind—even has strong appeal to non-believers who are captivated by reggae music, the lyrics, and the "immortal spirit" of its enormously popular practitioner, Bob Marley.
Probing into Rastafari's still evolving belief system, political goals, and cultural expression, the contributors to this volume emphasize the importance of Africana history and the Caribbean context. "Long before the term 'Afrocentricity' came into popular use in the United States, Jamaican Rastafarians had embraced the concept as the most important recipe for naming their reality and reclaiming their black heritage in the African diaspora." (From the Introduction: The Rastafarian Phenomenon)
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