Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement

Daive Dunkley

ISBN 10: 0807175692 / ISBN 13: 9780807175699

Published by LSU Press Okt 2021, 2021

About this Item

Neuware - 'Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement is a pioneering study of women's resistance in the emergent Rastafari movement in colonial Jamaica. The movement was established in Jamaica in 1932 as a challenge to British colonialism and racism, and was roundly denounced by the government and many Jamaicans. At the same time, the Rastafari movement remained heavily patriarchal, so that women involved had to contend not only with the various attempts made by the government to suppress the movement, but also with oppression and silencing from among their own ranks. Unfortunately, the absence of research on these women has helped to perpetuate the myth that Rastafari women were widely silent and subordinate to the male leaders. Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement examines the lives and experiences of a group of Rastafari women between the movement's inception in 1932 and Jamaica's independence from Britain in 1962. Countering many years of scholarship that privilege the stories of Rastafari men, this study uncovers some of the early Rastafari women's sense of agency and resistance against both male domination and societal opposition to their Rastafari identity. Though the primary sources for a study of early Rastafari women are scarce, Daive Dunkley brings together materials from the government archives, newspapers, and oral sources to reconstruct various aspects of the lives of these women. Dunkley argues that the woman in this study made themselves critical to the early growth and resistance ethos of Rastafari, ensuring that it challenged discrimination and suppression based on class and gender, as well as religion and race. Early women promoted the transition of the movement into the creation of interracial alliances, which in turn aided the movement's development into a global phenomenon'.

Seller Inventory # 9780807175699

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement
• Publisher: LSU Press Okt 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807175692
• ISBN 13: 9780807175699
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 16D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 16 millimeters depth
• Weight: 481 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Winner of the Barbara T. Christian Literary Award

Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement is a pioneering study of women’s resistance in the emergent Rastafari movement in colonial Jamaica. As D. A. Dunkley demonstrates, Rastafari women had to contend not only with the various attempts made by the government and nonmembers to suppress the movement, but also with oppression and silencing from among their own ranks. Dunkley examines the lives and experiences of a group of Rastafari women between the movement’s inception in the 1930s and Jamaica’s independence from Britain in the 1960s, uncovering their sense of agency and resistance against both male domination and societal opposition to their Rastafari identity. Countering many years of scholarship that privilege the stories of Rastafari men, Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement reclaims the voices and narratives of early Rastafari women in the history of the Black liberation struggle.

About the Author

D. A. Dunkley is associate professor of history in the Department of Black Studies at the University of Missouri.