Documenti di Didattica
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DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES
BETWEEN THE RASTAFARI
MOVEMENT AND THE
NATION OF ISLAM
MICHAELBARNETT
Florida InternationalUniversity- UniversityPark Campus
Them say God is a spiritin the sky. And yet you could not go in the
sky to find a spiritup there The have-notsof the Earthcould not
hearus becausethey thinkthatGod is a spiritin the sky.They could
hearno one. When you say a Man is God you marvelto them. We
are coming to tell the world that man is God and God is man!
(Owens, 1976, pp. 116-117)
Godis a manandwejustcannotmakeHimotherthanaman,lestwe
makeHiman inferiorone;for man'sintelligencehasno equalin
otherthanman.His wisdomis infinite;capableof accomplishing
anythingthatHisbraincanconceive.A spiritis subjectedto us and
notwe to thespirit,(p. 6)
Afterexaminationof ethnographicdataandliteratureregarding
both of the movements,Rastafariand the Nation of Islam, several
discernablefeaturescome to light regardingthe issue of identity.
Firstandforemost,the currentstudyrevealsthatthereis a marked
degree of variationof identity orientationamong membersof the
Rastafarimovementthatis in starkcontrastto thatof the Nation of
Islamwherethe variationof identityorientationis negligible.What
becomes apparentis the relativelygreaterdegree of individualism
thatis expressedandexhibitedby membersof the Rastafarimove-
ment (specificallyin termsof theirideological orientation,style of
dress, and theologicalperspectives),in contrastto the membersof
the Nation of Islam where thereis greaterconsistency in all three
categories.This may be attributedlargelyto the differencein struc-
tureof the respectivemovements.The Nation of Islam is a highly
centralizedhierarchicalmovement with one overall leader and,
ultimately, one overall message for its members. The Rastafari
movement,on the other hand, is a polycephalous (many-headed)
one with no overallleaderandno one absolutedoctrine.Whatulti-
mately connects the variousmansions of Rastafaritogetheris the
belief in the divinityof Haile Selassie I. Arguably,the structureof
the organizationaffects the identities of its members. The more
882 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES/ JULY 2006
INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF IDENTITIES
WITHIN THE RASTAFARI MOVEMENT
AND THE NATION OF ISLAM
REFERENCES