AR25R: The Culture of Rastafari
Lecturer: : Mr. Miguel Williams
Pre-requisite: None
Semester: 1
Level: 2
See also Course Flyer
DESCRIPTION:
This course offers an introduction to some of the central ideas and issues related to the culture of Rastafari. The objective is to allow students to view a range of cultural artefacts and texts produced by and about Rastafari in order to interpret and assess the significance of the Movement's emergence, development and contribution to local sensibilities as well as global thought and practice.
OUTLINE:
Section 1: Introduction:
- Culture as a lens for Teaching.
- Testimony as a significant Cultural Method.
- The Context of Rastafari Emergence.
- Early Patterns of Resistance.
- Post-Emancipation discourses.
- Development of Rastafari up to 1945.
Section 2:Key Principles of Rastafari:
- The Theology of Rastafari.
- Repatriation and Rastafari Thought.
- Rastafari Livity:
- Organisation Among Rastafari.
- Gender in Rastafari.
Section 3:Influence/Impact Rastafari Issues:
- Social Reception of Rastafari.
- The Impact of Rastafari on Jamaican Popular Culture.
- The Influence of HIM Haile Selassie I and Rastafari Culture in the Region.
- The Global Reach of Rastafari.
Course Assessment :
Course work = 60% which includes:
Field report 20% (12 pages x2 spacing - including appendices & bibliography)
Tutorial essays 10% (6-8 pages x2 spacing plus bibliography) and
Research paper 30% (12-15 pages x2 spacing plus bibliography).
Examination =40% (2 hours / 2 Questions)
Tutorial essays are due one week after class presentation; field reports due 2 weeks after field trip (to be scheduled week of November 2); research papers are due the last day of teaching December 2, 2005.
NB. STUDENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ATTEND AT LEAST ONE FIELD TRIP |
