Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14
Rastafari Movement and Emerging Technology There is a predominant sense of anti-materialism in the Rastafari movements belief system. Mostly, this spurs from the foundational structure of the movement towards eliminating western cultural influences upon blacks.1 Western culture promotes the industrial revolution and the advancement of technology. However, amongst fundamentalist Rastafari the abolishment of these advancements is prominent. Therefore, making use of new media, technology, and social media to promote the Rastafarian religious movement should be against their belief, right? The Internet demonstrates this is not so. The Rastafari movement has no real doctrine or structure relying solely on the premise that god is Jah. Haile Selassie I is the messiah, reggae music, poems, and the spiritual smoking of marijuana are all practices of worship. The sole goal of the religion is not to transcend into the afterlife, by externalizing life into heaven or hell. It is built on the belief of returning to the land of Zion, the land of their ancestors which happens to be Ethiopia. This is Rastafari doctrine. In this doctrine, there are ways to follow this path. All are drawn from ancestral roots. Language is one of the biggest factors practiced every day. Jamaicans and Rasta’s mostly speak a form of English called Patois, developed over decades, from generations of Rastafari. The form of “I” in Jamaica means something completely different than what we encounter in Western society. They believe that each Rasta is a part of God (called “I”), and hence substitute “I” for “me” and “mine”, signifying that the Rasta is a part of God and hence another “I”. Everyone is an “I”, so they substitute “I and I” for “we”. “I” also transforms other words such as “Iternal” 1 Washington and Lee University, Rastafarianism, http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint/touchstone/RastafarianismMagee.htm, (Accessed 03/15/14).
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 (eternal), “Ireator” (creator) and “Issembly” (assembly).2 Another practice at the roots of the Rastafarian movement is the spiritual smoking of marijuana in a process of reflective reasoning or grounding referred to by most Rasta’s as “Groundation”. The last and most important step which will be the main focus of my paper is the fight against Western culture, which they refer to as Babylon. Specifically, in this fight Rastafarians aim to clarify the Western misinterpretation of The Bible. Over centuries The Bible has been interpreted, translated, written and rewritten creating hierarchies of societies with Western culture at the top. Rastafari believe righting this wrong by rejecting materialism is one more way of being grounded and closer to Jah—ultimately leading to their repatriation into Zion. My focus will be specifically online platforms and new media devices used prominently in Western culture. Demonstrating how Rasta emersion in these mediums is diverting them away from their fundamentalist ideals. According to the dictionary, the definition of materialism is: a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual things.3 Obviously, for the Rastafarian, that is contradictory to the practice of their beliefs. In order for them to remain truly anti-materialistic, through fighting Western societal pressures, they should abolish things such as: the promotion of Rastafarian movement through the use of the Internet, news media, social media, advertisement, and etcetera. Have they really been successful in doing so and true to Jah; or has Western culture pressured the movement in directions, which lure and promise to promote the word of their religious forefathers through technological advancements in Western society? 2 Chevannes Barry. Rastafari: roots and ideology. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994. 3 Oxford University. The New Oxford American Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University, 2005. Press.
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 The first medium I would like to look at is social media, particularly Facebook. Since 2004, Facebook has evolved into much more than just a social network connecting friends. It has become the world’s largest social media outlet, worth billions of dollars. This development was not just the result of its popularity with millions of users, but also it rose through popularity amongst advertisers, new media devices and many other forms of communication. Facebook created a platform for promoting the self, but also for promoting business, religion, and so much more. Especially in Western societies, Facebook is one of the fastest growing personal dependencies and for many people it has become a significant part of their daily life. Under the terms of being Rastafari, participation on Facebook would seem to be taboo. However, when you search for “Rastafarian” movements, “Rastafarianism” or pages promoting the movement, you are surprised by how many you actually find. Most of them only have a couple hundred likes, but there is one with over 350,000 followers. That is over 10% of the entire population of Jamaica and double the number of practicing Rastafarians in the country.4 If you are Rastafari is this right or wrong? Is giving into these western cultured social media platforms in order to boast your message and practice wrong? I believe so. I am not an expert, on the study of the Rastafari movement; but, I am a pessimist towards religion. In the case of Rastafari, I feel the necessity of social media is not applicable to the message Rasta’s are trying to send. Though I do not have faith towards any one religion, I believe those who do should whole-heartedly stick to the confinements and message of said religion. In the words of Jaron Lanier, “the dominant open digital culture places digital information processing in the role of the embryo as understood by the religious right … I fear that we are beginning to design ourselves to suite digital modes of us, 4 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, International Religious Freedom Report 2005, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51645.htm, (Accessed 03/17/14).
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 and I worry about a leaching of empathy and humanity in that process”.5 Typically I am very critical towards the standpoints Lanier takes; but in this instance, I have to agree. The Internet and technology is taking away from the purpose of the Rastafari movement and I believe it is hypocritical to claim that social media will do well for the Rasta’s. The community these followers share is tightknit and does not need anything other than their own personal network to spread the word, in accordance with Jah’s spirit. The promotion and advertisement of this religion on social media would by Jah’s definition—blasphemy. As we take a deeper look into the world of technology, the promotion of the Rastafari movement doesn’t just occur through social media, it is everywhere. It is in blogs, websites, videos—etcetera. Though the uses of new media and technology are western cultural influences on society, pure Rastafari denounce it. Nonetheless, old media such as TV and radio became inevitable in their movement in great part due to Bob Marley. Hence, the reality is that the Rasta movement will more than likely move on to promotion and awareness through such mediums as websites, video and blogs. However, if we take a different approach when analyzing these mediums, we can start to see a difference in the way Rasta’s still try to promote simplicity, humanity, and the rejection of materialism. If we apply the values of the Rastafari within these different mediums, we can see there is a solid focus on keeping these values online as well. In this they indeed have succeeded. The websites are very simple and “beta” as Westerners common to technology would call them. The sole purpose of most websites is to create a platform in which to educate non-believers, and those who are not aware of the movement’s existence. Taking great effort to expose the movement and educate non-believers in such a way as not take 5 Jaron Lanier, You are not a Gadget, First Vintage Books, New York, NY, Print. Page 39.
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 away from the message and practice of the movement. Although, this would seem to be against Rastafari practice, the Rastafari movement is not a closed or strict doctrine. Thus, exposure through websites, blogs and videos is; therefore, not banned by the movement, technically. It is a suggested premise by the puritan Rastafari, that the use of these technologies represents an acceptance of Western culture, instead of opposition to it. This in turn, according to the pure Rastafari, will lead them down a path away from the message of Jah. Tear them from their goal of repatriation into Zion by taking away the importance of truth, humanity and spirituality. Puritan believers see Rasta’s using to the Internet to spread the movement as individuals acting alone towards spreading a message, instead of working as an individual to achieve what the message is telling them to do. Lastly, new media and devices such as smartphones, Tablets, IPads, ITouchs’, Nexus’, are all devices in which the Western world has immersed itself in materialism in order to obtain social status, constant information or conform to societal pressures. Though many may claim that such devices are just modern technology advancing in order to replace radio, TV and newspapers they are new technology and materialistic possessions. Therefore, the abolishment of these devices within the Rasta culture would seem correct? Many may argue that according to some of the most prominent promoters of the religion, for example, Bob Marley, the use of modern technology such as amplifiers, speakers, Gibson guitars, TV, radio, music sales, advertisement and more were instrumental in promoting the Rastafari movement from the late 60’s until his death in the early 80’s. The immeasurable importance Bob Marley’s music had on the growth and spread of the Rastafari movement; makes him the most influential evangelist of the movement since its inception. Though Bob Marley when faced with a terminal illness turned
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 away help from western medicine, he was always open to the promotion of the movement and his music through technology. Hypocritical as it may appear, is it any different from other religions such as Catholicism? Catholics and especially the Pope, are supposed to be pious. Despite the piety, the Catholic Church is one of the most well-endowed religions in the world. “Able to float its own foreign reserves and finance hundreds of thousands of missions around the world.”6 When we see hypocrisy and contradiction within one of the most prominent and major religions, many might expect some small degree of hypocrisy to be accepted within the Rastafari movement. Fundamental principles of the movement reel against this. Although reggae music is one of the strongest promoters of Rastafarian belief, the core of the movement believes in utopia through appeal of an ideology that promotes being pure through for example “ital” eating and the growth of hair, or dreadlocks.7 Another way is to give up materialistic possessions such as modern media: computers, TV, new media devices, and more. Therefore, according to fundamentalist beliefs, these possessions should be excluded from the everyday life of the Rastafarian. In conclusion, ultimately Rastafari aim to fight what they believe is the Western misinterpretation of The Bible that created an elevated view of Western cultures/societies. In doing this, they follow anti-materialism as a way of being grounded and closer to Jah, consequently leading to their repatriation into Zion. The most important fundamentalist view on how this can be achieved is through naturalism, simplicity and the rejection of materialism, as mentioned frequently throughout this paper. Therefore, applying this to the practice of the 6 Avi Jorisch, http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/26/the-vatican-bank-the-most-secret-bank-in-the-world/ 7 Corzine, Phyllis. The King James Bible: Christianity's Definitive Text. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2000. Print. “All the days of the vow of his separation there shall not come razor upon his head” Numbers 6:5.
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 Rastafari would mean the complete banishment of all technological advancements shaping Western society today. Also the promotion of other religions through new media, social media and the progression of the World Wide Web in shaping the way we live our spiritual lives. Sermons, prayers, live feed masses online, and many more ways of practicing various religions in a modern and tech-savvy way, are methods in which the Rastafari movement would oppose vehemently. Though Rastafari are dependent on reggae music for the word of Rastafari to spread and reach people throughout the world and Jamaica, the music should promote itself in a pure manor, in accordance with inherent Rastafari beliefs. Unfortunately with any religion, forms of “sheilaism” are often common alterations by individuals of the importance the religion’s affects.8 This in turn, hurts the overall message within any said religion, especially a religion like Mormonism, where there are those Mormons who are not true to a life without alcohol, caffeine or sex before marriage. Similarly, Rastafari come in many forms. New white Rastafari have risen in numbers over the past couple decades, whereas previously, the Rastafari movement was purely a black-movement. These new Rasta’s conform to the values of Rastafarian belief and the interpretation of Jah’s words for themselves.9 Summing it all up, a true Rastafari should live similarly to ascetics relinquishing all forms of material possessions aiming to promote Jah’s word conclusively opposing: capitalism, colonialism, Western culture, the state, imperialism, technology and classism. While promoting: empowerment and liberation, solidarity with oppressed peoples, reaching spiritual enlightenment through naturalism, solidarity and the
8 Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart, University of California Press, 9 Michael Loadenthal, JAH PEOPLE: THE CULTURAL HYBRIDITY OF WHITE RASTAFARIAN, Page 17.
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14 rejection of materialism; striving for utopia, adopting unity and most important of all, the notion of One Love.
Bibliography Bellah, Robert N. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California, 1985. Print. Chevannes, Barry. Rastafari: roots and ideology. Syracuse: Syracuse University, 1994. Press. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, International Religious Freedom Report 2005, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51645.htm, (Accessed 03/17/14). Jorisch, Avi. The Vatican Bank: The Most Secret Bank In the World, http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/26/the-vatican-bank-the-most-secretbank-in-the-world/, (Accessed 03/15/14). Lanier, Jaron. You are not a Gadget, New York: First Vintage Books, 2011. Print. Page 39. Loadenthal, Michael. Jah People: The Cultural Hybridity of White Rastafarian, Fairfax: George Mason University, 2013. Article. Page 17.
Nils-Erik Soderlund Apple, Google, Facebook Professor Smith 03/17/14
Oxford University. The New Oxford American Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University, 2005. Press. Washington and Lee University, Rastafarianism, http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint/touchstone/Rastafarianism-Magee.htm, (Accessed 03/15/14). Corzine, Phyllis. The King James Bible: Christianity's Definitive Text. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2000. Print. Numbers 6:5.