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An Ethos of Blackness

Rastafari Cosmology, Culture, and Consciousness
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
An Ethos of Blackness offers a groundbreaking exploration of Rastafari as a normative Black ethos and cosmology that emerged in 1930s Afro-Jamaican communities. Vivaldi Jean-Marie traces Rastafari's roots in enslaved peoples’ resistance, Jamaican Revivalism, and Garveyism, highlighting its distinct values that resist Eurocentric and colonial ideologies. The book delves into Rastafari's practices, like avoiding technological exploitation and living in harmony with nature, as well as its theology that reinterprets biblical scripture while rejecting Christianity’s Eurocentric racism. It also critically addresses Rastafari's failure to fully include women and challenge sexism, proposing pathways for future liberation.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for students and scholars of Afrocentric thought, Caribbean history, religious studies, and those interested in social movements resisting colonialism. It also appeals to readers seeking critical engagement with Black theology and cultural resistance.

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This book is a groundbreaking account of Rastafari, demonstrating that it provides a normative conception of Blackness for people of African descent that resists Eurocentric and colonial ideas.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Rastafari is an Afrocentric social and religious movement that emerged among Afro-Jamaican communities in the 1930s and has many adherents in the Caribbean and worldwide today. This book is a groundbreaking account of Rastafari, demonstrating that it provides a normative conception of Blackness for people of African descent that resists Eurocentric and colonial ideas.

Vivaldi Jean-Marie examines Rastafari's core beliefs and practices, arguing that they constitute a distinctively Black system of norms and valuesβ€”at once an ethos and a cosmology. He traces Rastafari's origins in enslaved people's strategies of resistance, Jamaican Revivalism, and Garveyism, showing how it incorporates ancestral religious traditions and emancipatory politics. An Ethos of Blackness draws out the significance of practices such as avoiding technological exploitation of natural artifacts and the belief in living in harmony with the natural order. Jean-Marie considers Rastafari's theology, exploring its reinterpretation of biblical scriptures and its foundations in the rejection of Christianity's Eurocentrism and racism. However, he insists, before Rastafari can fulfill its promise of liberation for people of African descent, it must confront its failure to include women and redress sexism.

Through rigorous and sensitive reflections on Rastafari culture and cosmology, this book offers deeply original insights into the Black theological imagination.

Series: Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past / Present / Future

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  • An Ethos of Blackness
    Rastafari is an Afrocentric social and religious movement that emerged among Afro-Jamaican communities in the 1930s and has many adherents in the Caribbean and worldwide today. This book is a groundbreaking account of Rastafari, demonstrating that it provides a normative conception of Blackness for people of African descent that resists Eurocentric and colonial ideas. Vivaldi Jean-Marie examines Rastafari's core beliefs...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its historical depth and philosophical insight, this study is hailed as "an essential read" for understanding Rastafari’s emergence and complexities (Ethnic and Racial Studies). Lewis R. Gordon commends it as an extraordinary work that situates Rastafari within Jamaican struggles for freedom, offering virtuous critique and a must-read for those interested in liberation movements. Scholars appreciate its clarity and comprehensive treatment of Afrocentric thought related to Rastafari culture and cosmology.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780231209779

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 September 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Columbia University Press

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 248

About the Author

Vivaldi Jean-Marie teaches in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at Columbia University and is a professor of philosophy at the City University of New York. He is the author of Vodou Cosmology and the Haitian Revolution in the Enlightenment Ideals of Kant and Hegel (2018), Reflections on Jean AmΓ©ry: Torture, Resentment, and Homelessness as the Mind’s Limits (2018), Kierkegaard: History and Eternal Happiness (2008), and Fanon: Collective Ethics and Humanism (2007).

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