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Women and Rastafari Politics, 1934-1960
26 April 2023, 5:30 pm–7:00 pm
An event part of the UCL Institute of the Americas Caribbean Seminar Series
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Sold out
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
UCL Institute of the Americas
By 1960, it was widely believed in Jamaica and overseas that Rastafari women were merely pawns of Rastafari men. This discussion included claims that women primarily followed men, did their bidding, and generally subjected themselves to exploitation as an underclass within the Rastafari movement. However, this presentation explores women’s independent and critical contributions to constructing the emergent Rastafari’s political objectives and the colonial attempts to undermine the movement as a cult of outcasts using claims about women’s devaluation and exploitation by men. The presentation will show women’s independent activism in developing Rastafari’s socialism and Black nationalism to transform Jamaica into a sovereign Black state.
About the Speaker
Daive Dunkley
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies at University of Missouri
His research focuses on the history and culture of the African diaspora, and he is the author of several books, including Leonard Percival Howell and the Genesis of Rastafari (2015) and, most recently, Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement (2021).
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