Ennis Barrington Edmonds - Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers

Rastafari. The word immediately conjures a host of strong, disparate images. To some, the Rastafarian Movement, which emerged from the ghettoes of Jamaica in the 1930s, is embodied by a dreadlocked youth in a haze of marijuana smoke. To others, it represents an authentic, organic expression of working-class culture, a vibrant movement that has expanded to North America, the British Isles, and Africa. Ennis Barrington Edmonds moves beyond simple stereotypes to provide a compelling portrait of the Rastafarian phenomenon and chronicle how a once-obscure group, much maligned and persecuted as an internal threat to Jamaican society, became an international cultural force. He focuses in particular on the internal development of Rastafarianism as a social movement to track the process of this strikingly successful integration. He also demonstrates how African and Afro-Christian religions, Ethiopianism, and Garveyism were all fused into the Rastafari posture of resistance, organized as it is around charismatic figures. Rastafari presents an intimate account of a unique movement, which over the course of several decades institutionalized itself to become the international cultural, political, and musical force it is today.
 

Rastafari on BBC World Service 2010

For "Heart and Soul", writer and film-maker Barbara Makeda Blake Hannah explores a religion that makes its followers proud of being African: the Rastafari movement.

This programme explores the beginnings of the faith and what slavery and a deep connection with Africa means to its followers.
 

Bob Marley Musician (Black Americans of Achievement)

One of the most popular musicians of the 20th century, Bob Marley lives on as an icon of reggae music. This informative biography provides an excellent introduction to the celebrated singer/songwriter, guitarist, and activist...

Bob Marley A Biography

Bob Marley was the first, and possibly the only, superstar to emerge from the Third World. Although he lived a short life, only 36 years, Bob penned an enormous quantity of songs, pioneering a new reggae rhythm and sound that was distinctly Jamaican. An expert lyricist who could more than hold his own with any contemporary hip-hop word slinger, Bob crafted emotionally powerful chains of words that packed a serious punch. Twenty-five years after his death, the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers is as popular and relevant as it was the day it was released. Author David Moskowitz gives readers an inside look at the man behind the legend.  Fans from all corners of the globe are a testament to the fact that his music transcends race, color, economic class, even language. From Marley's poverty stricken early childhood in rural Jamaica to break out his faith in Rastafarianism, this biography recounts the life and music of one of the most famous popular artists of the last century, an incredible story for long-time fans as well for a new and ever-increasing audience who were too young to witness Marley's history-making music career firsthand. A timeline, photos, and a rich bibliography of print and electronic sources make this biography ideal for both research purposes and casual reading.

Kebra Nagast The Glory of the Kings

The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menyelek. Being the history of the departure of God and His Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and the establishment of the religion of the Hebrews and the Solomonic line of kings in that country. A complete translation of the Kebra Nagast. ”This ancient Ethiopian scriptural text reveals and interprets the story of how the Hola Ark of the Covenant was taken from Jerusalem to Ethiopia by Menyelek, the son of King Solomon of Israel and Queen Makeda of Ethiopia.“ Thus hath God made for the King of Ethiopia more glory, and grace, and majesty than for all the other kings of the earth beacuse of the greatness of Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, the heavenly Zion.

Saheed A. Adejumobi, "The History of Ethiopia (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations)"

Engaging and informative, this historical narrative provides an excellent introduction to the history of Ethiopia from the classical era through the modern age. The acute historical analysis contained in this volume allows readers to critically interrogate shifting global power configurations from the late nineteenth century to the twentieth century, and the related implications in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. Adejumobi identifies a second wave of globalization, beginning in the nineteenth century, which laid the foundation for a highly textured Ethiopian "Afromodern" twentieth century. The book explores Ethiopia's efforts at charting an independent course in the face of imperialism, World War II, the Cold War and international economic reforms with a focus on the gap between the state's modernization reforms and the citizenry's aspirations of modernity. The book focuses on Ethiopians' efforts to balance challenges related to social, political and economic reforms with a renaissance in the arts, theater, Orthodox Coptic Christianity, Islam and ancient ethnic identities. The History of Ethiopia paints a vivid picture of a dynamic and compelling country and region for students, scholars, and general readers seeking to grasp twenty-first century global relations. The work also provides a timeline of events in Ethiopian history, brief biographies of key figures, and a bibliographic essay.

The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant

In a chapel in the old crenellated church of Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia is kept an object that emperors, patriarchs and priests have assured the world is the most important religious relic of all time: the tabota Seyon, Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of Zion. This Ark is alleged to be no other than the Ark that Moses had constructed at Sinai and which destroyed the walls of Jericho. It was brought into Jerusalem by King David and installed in a magnificent temple by King Solomon. Then, the story goes, it came to Ethiopia of its own choice with the half-Ethiopian, half-Jewish son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Are the legends true? Or is this story a monumental deception? Is there any real proof or is it the faith of a people alone that has created this Ark? From ancient texts to local stories, from the Bible to the writings of sixteenth and seventeenth century Jesuits, Stuart Munro-Hay traces the extraordinary legend of Ethiopia's Ark in what is a triumph of historical detective work. Munro-Hay scrutinises every mention of the Ark in Ethiopian records and tests every theory before he reaches his shocking conclusion. The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant promises to settle the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant for once and for all.

The Lost Ark of the Covenant

The Lost Ark of the Covenant is the real-life account of an astounding quest—professor Tudor Parfitt's effort to recover the revered artifact that contained the Ten Commandments, sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This holy object disappeared from the Temple when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 586 BC and was lost—apparently forever. According to the biblical account, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accord with Moses's prophetic vision on Mount Sinai. The Ark, believed to be the throne of God, was carried by the Israelite high priests in the wilderness during their harrowing search for a homeland. When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, the Ark entered the domain of legend. The mysterious disappearance of arguably the most important religious artifact in history led to a plethora of theories about the location of the Ark. Its whereabouts unknown, adventurers risked their lives and fortunes for over two millennia in attempts to discover this sacred treasure. With painstaking historical scholarship, groundbreaking genetic science, and hair-raising fieldwork, Parfitt, who the Wall Street Journal calls "a British Indiana Jones," debunks the previous myths and reveals the shocking history of the Ark and its keepers. From Israel to Egypt, Ethiopia, and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, the journey leads to places Parfitt could never have imagined. He encounters a cannibalistic tribe in Papua, New Guinea. He is ambushed and shot at in Africa. And he narrowly escapes being kidnapped by Islamist outlaws in the wilder reaches of Yemen. Throughout his search, he is aided by a motley crew of kabbalistic mystics, Muslim holy men, charlatans and crooks, tribal elders, and scheming politicians. The Lost Ark of the Covenant is a vivid and page-turning account of the culmination of two decades of research by an acclaimed scholar and adventurer. In the end, legend becomes reality as an unknown history comes to light, and with it our understanding of this lost treasure is changed forever.