Rastafari: From Outcasts To Culture Bearers - Ennis Barrington Edmonds

"Ennis Edmonds provides a lucid and thought-provoking argument for how Rastafari has become established as a mainstay in Jamaican culture. Modifying Weberian notions of routinization and charisma, Edmonds demonstrates how Rastafari symbols have permeated Jamaican society, ensuring the continued existence of the movement despite its minimal formal structure. Rastafari is important not only to scholars of Caribbean religions, but to anyone interested in how new religions find a stable place in society."--Richard C. Salter, Department of Religious Studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

"Not only does Edmonds' work provide an engaging introduction to the history, cosmology, structure and ritual of Rastafari, it also presents a strong framework for understanding how this religious movement grew from its roots among a group of "denigrated outcasts" to a world religion without developing the institutional forms that scholars generally associate with religions. With a sophisticated reworking of Max Weber's theory of charisma and routinization, Edmonds sheds light on the development of this particular movement but also poses challenging questions about the histories of religious movements more broadly. Edmonds' work is essential reading for anyone interested in Rastafari and in theoretical approaches to religious movements."--Judith Weisenfeld, Department of Religion, Vassar College

"Edmonds's work sounds a new depth in the maturing of the scholarship on Rastafari. Not simply another general introduction, this book adapts Weber's theory of charisma and rountinization to analyze Rastafari, thereby breaking new scholarly ground and yielding many intriguing insights to our collective knowledge of this globally-impacting two-thirds world identity movement. As such, this study is a welcome contribution."--William David Spencer, author of Dread Jesus and co-editor of Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader

"Ennis Edmonds's Rastafari is cogently written and persuasive. I am undecided as to which is more valuable, its contribution to the literature on charisma and routinization or its contribution to the literature on Rastafari. In truth it is a fine introduction to Weber's thesis on the institution of religion and at the same time an excellent explanation to anyone trying to understand how it is that after seven decades Rastafari is such an integral part of the Jamaican mindscape but must still fight for its legitimacy."--Barry Chevannes, author of Rastafari: Roots and Ideology

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