Rastafari event sheds light on progress of religion worldwide

Hailse Selassie I of Ethiopia (1892-1975), symbol of the Rastafari worldwide and revered by its followers. Photo courtesy of Leandro Gordóvsky via Creative Commons’ flickr. 

Camila Fernandez/Contributing Writer

On Nov. 15 students will be able to immerse themselves into Rastafarian culture as the African & African Diaspora Studies Program hosts its fourth annual Humanities Afternoon.

The event, Rastafari Then and Now: Caribbeanist Anthropology, Gender Relations and Global Dimensions, will be starting at 1 p.m. in the MARC Pavilion.

According to Jean Rahier, director of AADS, the program will introduce Rastafari as a theme that will make the event “provocative” and “informative.”

Last year’s theme was based on the irrational hatred of homosexuality that one finds at the level of many governments in Sub-Saharan Africa. This year, AADS’s theme will address how Jamaica’s religion Rastafari and its followers have been treated over time.[pullquote]“The second lecture is about how Rastafari came as a religion, what it has become and where and how it has spread on the global stage across the Caribbean, Latin America, but other places of the world as well,” said Rahier.[/pullquote]

According to Rahier, AADS decided to organize this event to attract students from other areas in the humanities. He hopes that students will identify with the theme of the event and how it relates to African Diaspora in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

“There are people in a whole bunch of locations whom might not be Jamaican and are followers of the religion,” says Rahier.

Students from other departments in the School of International and Public Affairs, such as Global and Sociocultural Studies, History, Politics and International Relations and Religious Studies departments can participate.

To carry out the theme, the program will organize the event around two particular lectures that follow up with sessions of questions and answers.

Lectures will cover the Rastafari tradition, how Rastafarians were treated in the 1960s and how this compares to the way they are treated today. Michael Barnett, a sociology lecturer from the University of the West Indies, will also lecture about the religion in today’s society on a global scale.

After introductions, the first speaker will be Bob Hill, a history professor from the University of California that specializes on Jamaica. According to Rahier, he will talk about how the religion has been treated since the 1960s when large numbers of Jamaicans arrived to the United States.

“The second lecture is about how Rastafari came as a religion, what it has become and where and how it has spread on the global stage across the Caribbean, Latin America, but other places of the world as well,” said Rahier.

Besides hearing about what the lecturers have to say about the religion and its global impacts, the students will get an insight as to what the AADS program has to offer.

Rahier said the program offers courses on topics such as global dimensions, African history, cultures of the Caribbean and African literature.

“One can make sense of the solidarity that might exist between a Jamaican and a Haitian right here in Miami,” said Rahier.

According to Rahier, since the program is based on the studies of the spread of people from their original homeland, it is considered to be an area of social sciences, giving it a special connection with the humanities.

“You have to know that this is part of the history of AADS,” says Rahier.

This event gives the opportunity for students and professors who are involved with literature, history and humanities in general an opportunity to identify with the themes of  Africa or African diaspora.

-news@fiusm.com