Chanting Down Babylon

Chanting Down Babylon
Author: Nathaniel Samuel Murrell
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781566395847

This anthology explores Rastafari religion, culture, and politics in Jamaica and other parts of the African diaspora. An Afro-Caribbean religious and cultural movement that sprang from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1930s, today Rastafari has close to one million adherents. The basic message of Rastafari—the dismantling of all oppressive institutions and the liberation of humankind—even has strong appeal to non-believers who are captivated by reggae music, the lyrics, and the "immortal spirit" of its enormously popular practitioner, Bob Marley. Probing into Rastafari's still evolving belief system, political goals, and cultural expression, the contributors to this volume emphasize the importance of Africana history and the Caribbean context. Author note:Nathaniel Samuel Murrellis Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Visiting Professor at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica.William David Spencerserves as Pastor of Encouragement at Pilgrim Church in Beverly, MA, and was an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston. He has authored, co-authored, or editedThe Prayer of Life of Jesus, Mysterium and Mystery: The Clerical Crime Novel, God through the Looking Glass, Joy through the Night, 2 Corinthians: Bible Study CommentaryandThe Global God.Adrian Anthony McFarlaneis Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. He is author ofA Grammar of FearandEvil–A Husserlian-Wittgensteinian Hermeneutic.

Golden Legends

Golden Legends
Author: W. B. Carnochan
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 0804760985

From the eighteenth century to the present, travellers, explorers, journalists, imaginative writers like Samuel Johnson, and legendary reggae musician Bob Marley have shared a fascination with Abyssinia. So did even earlier writers and mapmakers, who thought Abyssinia was the land of the mythical (and fabulously rich) Christian ruler, Prester John. The principal subject of this book is the allure of the exotic, as represented by Abyssinia, to the British imagination. In addition to Johnson and Marley, some others included are the eighteenth-century Scot James Bruce, nineteenth-century explorer Richard Burton, author Evelyn Waugh, Wilfred Thesiger (best known of twentieth-century British explorers), Sylvia Pankhurst (crusading journalist and daughter of the suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst), and the contemporary Irish traveller Dervla Murphy. The author also considers the beginnings of anthropology and the variations of quest narrative in modern travel writing.

Noises in the Blood

Noises in the Blood
Author: Carolyn Cooper
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 1995-02-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822381923

The language of Jamaican popular culture—its folklore, idioms, music, poetry, song—even when written is based on a tradition of sound, an orality that has often been denigrated as not worthy of serious study. In Noises in the Blood, Carolyn Cooper critically examines the dismissed discourse of Jamaica’s vibrant popular culture and reclaims these cultural forms, both oral and textual, from an undeserved neglect. Cooper’s exploration of Jamaican popular culture covers a wide range of topics, including Bob Marley’s lyrics, the performance poetry of Louise Bennett, Mikey Smith, and Jean Binta Breeze, Michael Thelwell’s novelization of The Harder They Come, the Sistren Theater Collective’s Lionheart Gal, and the vitality of the Jamaican DJ culture. Her analysis of this cultural "noise" conveys the powerful and evocative content of these writers and performers and emphasizes their contribution to an undervalued Caribbean identity. Making the connection between this orality, the feminized Jamaican "mother tongue," and the characterization of this culture as low or coarse or vulgar, she incorporates issues of gender into her postcolonial perspective. Cooper powerfully argues that these contemporary vernacular forms must be recognized as genuine expressions of Jamaican culture and as expressions of resistance to marginalization, racism, and sexism. With its focus on the continuum of oral/textual performance in Jamaican culture, Noises in the Blood, vividly and stylishly written, offers a distinctive approach to Caribbean cultural studies.

Chanting Down the New Jerusalem

Chanting Down the New Jerusalem
Author: Francio Guadeloupe
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2008-12-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520942639

In this brilliantly evocative ethnography, Francio Guadeloupe probes the ethos and attitude created by radio disc jockeys on the binational Caribbean island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten. Examining the intersection of Christianity, calypso, and capitalism, Guadeloupe shows how a multiethnic and multireligious island nation, where livelihoods depend on tourism, has managed to encourage all social classes to transcend their ethnic and religious differences. In his pathbreaking analysis, Guadeloupe credits the island DJs, whose formulations of Christian faith, musical creativity, and capitalist survival express ordinary people's hopes and fears and promote tolerance.

The End All Around Us

The End All Around Us
Author: John Walliss
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-12-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317491033

The Apocalypse or end times are a recurrent theme within contemporary popular culture. 'The End All Around Us' presents a wide-ranging exploration of the influence of the apocalypse within art, literature, music and film. The essays draw on representations of the apocalypse in heavy metal music, science fiction, disaster movies and anime. The book examines key apocalyptic texts, focusing on their relevance to today. It will be invaluable to all those interested in the religious and cultural impact of apocalyptic thought.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music
Author: Christopher Partridge
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2023-06-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1350286982

The second edition of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music provides an updated, state-of-the-art analysis of the most important themes and concepts in the field, combining research in religious studies, theology, critical musicology, cultural analysis, and sociology. It comprises 30 updated essays and six new chapters covering the following areas: · Popular Music, Religion, and Performance · Musicological Perspectives · Popular Music and Religious Syncretism · Atheism and Popular Music · Industrial Music and Noise · K-pop The Handbook continues to provide a guide to methodology, key genres and popular music subcultures, as well as an extensive updated bibliography. It remains the essential tool for anyone with an interest in popular culture generally and religion and popular music in particular.

The Lyre of Orpheus

The Lyre of Orpheus
Author: Christopher Partridge
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0199751404

The study of religion and popular culture is an increasingly significant area of scholarly inquiry. Surprisingly, however, Christopher Partridge's The Lyre of Orpheus is the first general introduction to the subject of religion and popular music. His aim in this book is to introduce a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives to be used in the study of religion and popular music and popular music subcultures. He addresses a range of issues from postcolonialism to postmodernism, from sex to drugs, from violence to the demonic, and from misogyny to misanthropy. Part One provides a general overview of the history of popular music scholarship and the key approaches that have been taken. Part Two looks at approaches from the perspectives of theology and religious studies, examining key themes relating to particular genres and subcultures. Part Three narrows the focus and examines key artists and bands mentioned in Part Two, including Elvis, Bob Dylan, Madonna and Björk. Written to be accessible to the undergraduate, The Lyre of Orpheus will also appeal to general readers interested in the role of religion in our culture.

Afro-Caribbean Religions

Afro-Caribbean Religions
Author: Nathaniel Samuel Murrell
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2010-01-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1439901759

Religion is one of the most important elements of Afro-Caribbean culture linking its people to their African past, from Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santeria—popular religions that have often been demonized in popular culture—to Rastafari in Jamaica and Orisha-Shango of Trinidad and Tobago. In Afro-Caribbean Religions, Nathaniel Samuel Murrell provides a comprehensive study that respectfully traces the social, historical, and political contexts of these religions. And, because Brazil has the largest African population in the world outside of Africa, and has historic ties to the Caribbean, Murrell includes a section on Candomble, Umbanda, Xango, and Batique. This accessibly written introduction to Afro-Caribbean religions examines the cultural traditions and transformations of all of the African-derived religions of the Caribbean along with their cosmology, beliefs, cultic structures, and ritual practices. Ideal for classroom use, Afro-Caribbean Religions also includes a glossary defining unfamiliar terms and identifying key figures.

An Ethos of Blackness

An Ethos of Blackness
Author: Vivaldi Jean-Marie
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2023-09-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231558104

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 values—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.

On Racial Frontiers

On Racial Frontiers
Author: Gregory Stephens
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1999-06-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521643931

Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison and Bob Marley each inhabited the shared but contested space at the frontiers of race. Gregory Stephens shows how their interactions with mixed audiences made them key figures in a previously hidden interracial consciousness and culture, and integrative ancestors who can be claimed by more than one 'racial' or national group. Douglass ('something of an Irishman as well as a Negro') was an abolitionist but also a critic of black racialism. Ellison's Invisible Man is a landmark of modernity and black literature which illustrates 'the true interrelatedness of blackness and whiteness'. Marley's allegiance was to 'God's side, who cause me to come from black and white'. His Bible-based Songs of Freedom envisage a world in which black liberation and multiracial redemption co-exist. The lives of these three men illustrate how our notions of 'race' have been constructed out of a repression of the interracial.