Yesterday was the final day of UWI’s International Reggae Conference and I attended a talk about Rastafari. One of the panellists was fellow Cuso volunteer Erin, whose paper was on the Ethiopian perception of Rastafari. Her fellow presenters were Dr. Sonya Stanley St. Niaah, Ras Mark and another Rasta (I did not catch his name.)

Despite how Rastafari are commonly portrayed (ganja smoking, dreadlocked, peaceful music-lovers) there tends to be some controversy about the movements roots and culture. There are also a lot of misperceptions, and like many religious or spiritual movements, many different interpretations and manifestations in daily life. All this to say that the panel was lively, informative and at times, confusing.

Dr. Stanley St. Niaah’s talk characterized reggae artists such as Peter Tosh as “revolutionary pilgrims,” who took their cues from Pan-Africanism and Garveyism. This is despite the fact that Tosh never visited Africa, nor were he or Bob Marley well-informed about the political and social implications of being a colonized people in Africa.

Next up was Ras Mark, who left me utterly confused. He discussed the origins of the term “96 degrees in the shade (something about the North and South poles being the true first worlds); the “growth mood cycle (if you were born in an African village, all the other creatures born at the same time were “yours”) and nine stages of development (aura, aroma, sound, image, balance, chemicals, nutrition, lunar and solar). I would have to sit down with Ras Mark a little while longer to join him in the place his mind inhabits.

Then Erin discussed Ethiopian perceptions of Rastafari. In Jamaica, the Rastafari movement sees the former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I as their king and Ethopia (or Africa in general) as their Zion. There are many variations of Rastafari, but most adhere to believing that ganja is sacred, they eat ital food (mostly fruits and vegetables) and generally  live a peaceful life. (Of course, this is an observer’s simplistic characterization, forgive me.)

In Ethiopia, reggae music is moderately popular. Some of the major artists include Teddy Afro Haile Roots and Johnny Ragga. The type of music they create is a fusion of the “one drop” reggae beat and the “chika chika” beat, called chiggae, Erin told us. Check out Haile Roots here. What I drew from Erin’s talk was a striking disconnect between the way Ethiopians and Jamaicans perceive one another’s identity as it relates to Rastafari.

Overall, the talk was a fascinating look at the way in which Rastafari has developed over the years. It also shed some light for me on the way in which Rastafari has developed from a spiritual movement to a worldwide pop culture influencer.