Jamaica and Utah: Victims of Religious and Cultural Stereotypes

As we discussed the Rastafari religion, one theme that was emphasized was how the Rastafari culture has been fused with the colonial culture to form a unique Jamaican identity. While I do agree that this is true, I do not think that most people around the world view Jamaican culture in this way. Because of the rise of Rastafarianism, most people around the world associate Jamaica with Rastas even though most of the population is not of this religion.

This type of cultural stereotyping based on a religion is also seen in Utah with the Mormon religion. Although most of the people in Utah, and more specifically Salt Lake City, are not of the Mormon religion, the culture is often stereotyped. Although Mormonism does have a large presence in the area, as seen by the picture of the Mormon Cathedral in the center of Salt Lake City, it does not mean that it completely defines the people. Salt Lake City has many different types of people and religions that make up their culture, but this unusual concentration of Mormons has left them stereotyped.

These two highly different regions both show how a religion can come to stereotypically define a culture. This is something to keep in mind when studying religion and its impacts on people and places. This type of cultural stereotyping is an interesting effect of a growing, unusual religion.

Another Post on Mormonism and Rastafari by Nathan Goodson-Gregg

Rastafari in the Boboshanti Community

I found the video assigned this week to be both affirming and surprising. What I mean by affirming and surprising is that there were elements of this community that worked very closely with the image of Rastafari I constructed from our reading, while at the same time there were also elements that were very different from the image I had construced from our reading.

There were many things that I found to be consistent with the images from the reading and class discussion. The high use of symbols and typical Rastafari language could be seen and heard throughout the video. The symbols seen throughout include the traditional red, green, and yellow colors used by the Rastas, the high use of Biblical reference, and the Lion of Judah. Also, the Boboshanti are highly focused on Africa and more specifically Ethiopia, another aspect of Rastas that I would expect to see.

While there were many aspects of this video that I found consitent with my image of Rastafari, there were some things that I found that were quite different. The first thing that I noticed was as being significantly differnet was their clothing. Many of the Boboshanti appeared to be wearing a similar, traditional type of garb such as the one depicted in the picture with this post. With this outfit came the turban-like hat that most of these people wore. This was unusual to me because my image of Rastas was that they always proudly displayed dreadlocks, but here we see something quite different. More notably than their appearance, the Boboshanti seemed more ritualistic and organized than my previous image of Rastafari. Their structured ceremonies and concious religious movements all gave Rastafari a much more rigid and traditional appearance than I had previously been exposed to.

All of these elements made the Boboshanti a unique group of Rastas to observe because they both confirm and defy many conceptions of a misunderstood religion.

Bob Marley Interview: Rationalization and Justification for Rastafari

In this interview with Bob Marley, many different aspects of Rastafarian are highlighted. The most notable thing about this interview is that we can see the many different type of rationalization that take place around the beliefs and practices of a religion.

We first see Marley discuss the use of Marijuana, the most common practice associated with Rastafari. Here Marley justifies the use of Marijuana by claiming that it frees one's mind and begging the question "Why do governments keep Marijuana illegal?" Marley asserts that it is because "the herb" incites feelings of rebellion against materialism and war. Here we see how Marley has justified the use and explained the stigma behind Marijuana by using assumptions and rationalization.

The second and even more notable use of rationalization in this interview occurs in his discussion of the Emperor Halie Selassie I as being the Messiah. We see Marley claim that the Emperor is the "Rightful Ruler" because it is said in the bible and various other sources. He then claims that the reason he has not been accepted is because people want a white god, not a black god. Marley is using proof from post-biblical sources and assumed racism to explain the legitimacy of his religion and why it is not generally accepted.

Looking at this interview has given me some insight into the frame of the Rastafari religion. I hope to further understand this frame as class continues.

The Kebra Negast: Linking Ethiopia to Soloman

This past week our assigned reading for class was an excerpt of the Kebra Negast. This is the text that is considered to be the documented proof of Ethiopia's ties to Israel as well as proof the the holy Ark of the Covenant is located in modern-day Ethiopia. It is in this document that we see the consummation between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel, and the assertion that Israel's true line of kings was moved to Ethiopia as a result of this. It is with this document in mind that I realize how previous stories can be distorted or twisted in order to give a religious group identity.

While the Kebra Negast is more outright in it's distortion of text to grant identity, St. Augustine's On Christian Teaching prescribes many similar types of practices that take place in the Kebra Negast. While Augustine would never advocate artificially created stories borrowing from the Bible, he does at many times seem to advocate a sort of distortion of biblical text in order to grant justification of Christianity. Whether it is assuming that reference to Israel encompasses the entire Christian people or prescribing moral relativity as a way of understanding questionable parts of the bible, Augustine does tend to twist and distort the original meaning of the text in order to serve his purposes.

In the Kebra Negast, this distortion is much more pronounced. We see an entire tale that is woven into the Bible in order to grant the Ethiopians a unique cultural identity as the "true inheritors" of Israel. While some people may find this type of behavior difficult to understand, it makes sense of one notes that Ethiopia is a lone Christian nation surrounded by Islamic states. This type of strong connection serves to strengthen the wills of both Ethiopian Jews and Christians alike.

Image above is an artist's interpretation of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon meeting.

Islam in America: A Documentary

This past week I attended Professor Smith's documentary on Islam in America. The documentary mainly focused on the growth and integration of the Arab-American population around the Dearborn, MI area. Through this documentary, I was able to gain a more personal grasp of what the Arab-American population is trying to achieve in this country. I had always heard of the Dearborn are but never really had a chance to learn about it in-depth. This was a very worthwhile experience for me.

Meat Still Life: A System of Symbols

Pieter Aertsen's "Meat Still Life" is, at first glance, an unlikely candidate for a discussion on religion as a "system of symbols." But, upon more careful examination, we see that this painting is a prime example of religious symbols being used to establish pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in a group of people.

In the case of "Meat Still Life," that group of people was Calvinists in the Netherlands. Aertsen employs a variety of symbols and scenes to effectively promote the proper Calvinist way of living. The most prevalent symbols occur in the foreground of the of the work. Here, we see images of pretzels as well as crossed fish. The crossed fish here are representative of Jesus while the pretzels carry religious significance because of their monastic origins. In the background of the painting, we see even stronger religious symbolism portrayed. On the left side of the background we can see an image of the Virgin Mary and Joseph offering bread to some children. On the right side of the background we can see people engaging in partying and oyster shells (oysters are widely considered to be an aphrodisiac) all over the ground. These two scenes juxtapose each other in that the Virgin scene represents a pious way of life, and the other shows a more gluttonous and avaricious life.

All of these various independent symbols combine to form a system of symbols. All of these things work together in this painting to show reverence for God and display the right and wrong ways of living. While this painting is not overtly religious at first glance, upon further examination it reveals a rich amount of religious symbolism incorporated into the more common elements of daily life.

The Various Lenses of Religion

The Friday class discussion of St. Augustine's On Christian Teaching raised a number of interesting points on how people can view a religion. In class, we defined these view points as lenses, a perspective through which someone sees the world. We see a uniquely Christian lens provided in the case of St. Augustine. In his book, he provides a way to read and approach anything in the bible and justify it in a Christian way. It is this accomplishment that has made me ponder the lenses of all religions and how these biases can be used to make a religious argument always valid.

In the case of St. Augustine, his Christian lens serves to provide justification around anything that is perhaps morally questionable or highly ambiguous in the bible. If one were to read the bible just as Augustine prescribes, they would be hard-pressed to find things that do not support Christianity. Augustine's justification of polygamy is an excellent example of his strategic application of the Christian lens. Although polygamy was considered morally wrong during Augustine's life, he argued that its prevalence in the bible is the result of cultural differences and would not be considered morally wrong because it was not unloving or unjust. He has swiftly navigated around this fundamental moral conflict in the text and justified its placement there. These types of applications and navigations are seen throughout the text.

With the evidence of the effectiveness of Augustine's lens in mind, it is easy to see how other religions use lenses of their own to justify parts of their text and history. This issue was raised in class by the islamic poem we read which justifies Muhammad's conquering of Mecca. Here we see poet justifying this action by claiming that if looked at the proper way, anyone can see that he conquered because he was commanded by God and not for power. He also claims that people who look upon these actions negatively are behind a "yellow lens" that is not allowing them to see the real truth. The fallacy here is that he arguing that one lens is somehow more correct than another. It is this type of argument that people use to justify actions of their own religious groups. We must be cautious of these types of arguments because it is hard for people to see things another way if they cannot remove their own lens. 

Saint Augustine and Interpreting the Psalms

Saint Augustine's work On Christian Teaching seeks to give Christian readers insight on how to properly read and interpret religious text. Speaking from within the Christian lense, Augustine provides several interesting methods to properly achieve a sold grasp on religious text. One of the more noticable methods prescribed is careful and complete reading of the text while noting more obivious expressions and obscure expressions of faith. He then prescribes that the readers use the more obvious expressions to "illuminate obscure expressions" and make connections throughout the work. This method can be applied to the main religious text read in class, The Book of Psalms.

This specific prescription of Augustine can be found on page thirty-seven of On Christian Teaching. What Augustine seems to really be getting at here is first a through and complete generally reading of a religious text. He does not expect or even suggest understanding of the text, but rather gaining a concrete knowledge of the actual content. After this reading, he suggests careful examination of the more clearly stated morals and beliefs so as to gain a solid understanding of the basic foundation of the text. Once one does this, they can move on the the more difficult and hard to understand sections. Augustine suggests that one uses the basic principles and apply them to the difficult sections in order to gain a better understanding.

This can be applied to the Psalms as well as any other religious text. For example, Augustine would have us read carefully through all the Psalms and discover the more basic principles that are layed out. In the Psalms, worship, faith, and fear of God are all very basic principles clearly layed out. Augustine would have us look at these basic tenents and apply them to the more fantastic and obscure analogies throughout the work in ordre to gain a better understanding. It is this methodology that is useful for both Christian and non-Christian readers alike to help grast the meanings behind these acient works.