Book: Let us Start with Africa: Foundations of Rastafari ScholarshipEditors: Jahlani Niaah and Erin MacLeodReviewer: Dr Glenville Ashby‘Let Us Start with Africa’ is an anthology of essays; a collection of progressive studies tracingThe book cover of Let Us Start With Africathe growth and contribution of Rastafarianism to Black Culture. It marks the inaugural Rastafari Studies Conference at the University of the West Indies, Mona in 2010. Therein are diverse ideas, arguments and pronouncements of a movement that many societies still deemed a fifth column.For the most part, this is a constructivist body of work that lends interpretation to an enigmatic, counter cultural philosophy that has slowly seeped into modern Black Thought. It is a revelatory and catalytic thesis on black theology, history, philosophy, and music.Repatriation,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, the cornerstone of the movement, Rex Nettleford argues,Jerseys From China, is multilayered. Migration to the African continent is dynamic,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, happening in the subtlest realm of the mind. It stands alone, never predicated by physical departure from the Diaspora. In some ways,Wholesale MLB Jerseys, Rastafarianism has always been a prophetic movement. That Africa today is calling the Diaspora the sixth region of the continent, and with open calls to repatriate by officials in Benin and Ghana, lends credence to the movement’s mystical character.‘Grounding’ with the Rastafarian can be enlightening but a frustrating experience. Competing branches comprise Pan Africanism of which Rastafarianism is but one. Ethiopia is Zion to its followers, their Mecca. Nowhere else in Africa. When the Church of Haile Selassie I openly challenges the authenticity of the other three Rastafarian sects and claims that they are progeny of the Zara Yacobrite people of Ethiopia – a fundamental truth of the black experience is challenged.And any discourse on the Diaspora cannot marginalize its strong Yoruba roots. Where does all this fit into the Rastafarian paradigm?But ‘Let us Start with Africa’ is all about Rastafarian epistemology and black ontology laid bare. All else must fit into its uncompromising, idyllic template. Impressive but arguably, it opens the door to sophistry and pedantry. And for all its gem-like worth,Cheap Jerseys Online, stubborn questions surround the birth of this movement. Regrettably, scholars are sometimes their own worst enemy, presenting their reality in a romantic veneer that subverts history and irrefutable truths. And na?vet? is a direct corollary of romanticism.There is no mention of the likes of Leonard Howell and Claudius Henry. Rastafarianism cannot be viewed through a cone-like lens. Adopting a linear, monolithic approach to such a complex study can be a disservice to students of the movement. Rastafarianism is as much haunted by its past as it is by its intra-faith rivalry. Who or what constitutes a Rasta is yet to be clearly and universally defined, although Nettleford comes close, with his suggestion of an inner landscape, an unfolding experience with no reference to physical appearance.For the most part, though, Rastafarianism is still stripped of its profound sociological and theological roots by white culture, and sometimes seen as a mesmerising curiosity; a one dimensional counter-cultural expression propelled by the driving sounds of reggae. To national leadership in the Caribbean, the Rastafarian movement remains ‘quietly’ confrontational,NFL Jerseys Supply, posing an existential challenge to the status quo; a clear and present threat to nationalism and nation building. However, its immeasurable contribution to black consciousness and ‘liberation’ is undeniable. Regrettably, it will remain mired in its own uncompromising lore and stymied by entrenched competing black interests and by a Third World still spellbound by Western culture.Feedback: [email protected] or follow him on [email protected]Let us Start with Africa: Foundations of Rastafari ScholarshipEdited by Jahlani Niaah and Erin MacLeod, 2013Publisher: The University of The West Indies PressISBN: 978- 976-640-409-3Ratings: Recommended