Europe, Africa, Jamaica (Pt III)
published: Wednesday | May 16, 2007

Peter Espeut

I have been commenting on the powerful 1997 book, Jamaica Genesis by anthropologist Diane Austin-Broos, in which she proposes a plausible theory of the evolution of Jamaican culture. It is a theory of conflict: after Emancipation the African-based religion dominant in Jamaica came into conflict with (non-Anglican) Protestant Christianity from England to produce a Jamaican version of Christianity underpinned with an African understanding of spirits and how to control them. And in the early 20th century this synthesis came into conflict with ecstatic Pentecostalism from America producing a new synthesis more in tune with the African view of spirits and how the world works.

In the 19th century, adopting non-conformist Protestant Christianity was one way of challenging Jamaica's oppressive domestic economic, social and political arrangements supported by the British Parliament and the Anglican Church. In the first half of the 20th century adopting American Pentecostalism was one way of challenging the rigid colour/class system of pre-Independence Jamaica dominated by the colonial state and the now mainstream (British) non-Conformist Christianity.

Religious hybrid

Remember that neither the 'pure' Baptist faith brought by the English nor the 'pure' Pentecostalism brought by the Americans was what we adopted in Jamaica; over the last 200 years we developed a religious hybrid - a syncretism - with a strong African foundation in the background. Beneath the surface is belief in duppies, dreams and divination; and some resort to obeah if Christian prayer fails. The more ecstatic (Puk-)Kumina, Revival Zion and Myal are in the picture, but on the fringe, since they are less respectable and less socially acceptable.

Jamaica's culture of protest is deeply ingrained. Remember that in Atlantic slave history Jamaica had the greatest number of slave revolts, and (except for Haiti) the most serious ones. And after Emancipation there were: the Kingston John Canoe Riots of 1840; the Buie Riots of 1859 in Falmouth; the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865; the Montego Bay Riots of 1902; the riotsagainst the Chinese in 1918 beginning in Ewarton; the 1938 disturbances in Islington, Frome and the Kingston waterfront; the Rodney riots of 1969; widespread blocking of roads in the 1970s, '80s and '90s; all these indicate a seething discontent with Jamaica as it is, and readiness to take to the streets.

The emergence of Rastafarianism in the 1940s was another profound protest against Jamaican society which had failed to produce real equality after Emancipation. Dressed in religious garb, Rastafarianism began as a rejection of Jamaican economy, polity and society containing the unrighted wrongs of slavery. The fact that Rastas pay no homage to the Jamaican flag (the Black, Green and Gold) but rather to the 'Ites' (Red) Green and Gold is an indication of where true loyalties lie. Disrespect for the national anthem shows that many Jamaicans do not believe independent Jamaica is organised for their benefit, any more than slave Jamaica or colonial Jamaica was.

The spread of Rasta as a religion to the far corners of the globe is due less to belief in the divinity of Selassie than to its rejection of capitalism and warmongering. The characteristic dress and hairstyle of Rasta, and its rejection of wage slavery (employment), are a profound rejection of Western ideals and standards.

Rasta elements captured popular music in the 1960s, and reggae was born, songs of protest which matched Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and then went further. Its worldwide popularity is not just because of its pulsating beat, but because of its message rejecting the domination of so many by Western white Christian capitalism. Globally, reggae has positioned itself as the musical voice of the oppressed, because it is grounded in an experience of oppression at home. We need to understand what Bob means when he sings, "I want to disturb my neighbour".

The protest continues today: on talk shows, in the music, rejection of mainstream churches, refusing to register to vote and refusing to vote, dropping out of the formal economy, street protests; and by the large numbers who migrate elsewhere to work hard for the rewards they cannot get here. And most notably, a main vehicle of protest against injustice is through crime. Crime won't be contained until Jamaica becomes a more just society, and comes to closure with our oppressive past.