Women and Rastafari Politics, 1934-1960

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.