Culture and political opportunity: rastafarian links to the jamaican poor

Abstract

This paper asserts that the Rastafarian movement's ideological challenge to the Jamaican democracy became meaningful to the Afro-Jamaican poor and political elites for three reasons. First, given their origins among the Afro-Jamaican poor, the Rastafarians were able to construct resonant challenging frames out of a shared history and experience. The Rastafari were able to construct frames that were built upon the experiences and narratives of their target group. These frames tapped pre-existing pan-African visions such as Marcus Garvey's, the grinding poverty faced by many urban and rural Jamaicans, and benefited from the presence of actual African retentions such as the Revival religion. These emphases made the frames empirically credible and therefore particularly resonant to the Jamaican poor. Second, changing political opportunities, including changes in the political structure and the elevated prestige of the Rastafarian movement led some political elites to use Rastafarian frames to mobilize support among the poor, and helped shift Rastafarian frames from the periphery to the political mainstage. Third, certain mobilizing structures, including the popularity of Rastafarian reggae, augmented the dissemination of Rastafarian precepts. The paper highlights the interrelationship between culture and structure in a movement's emergence and success. Structure constrains movement possibilities, but the framing capablilities of movement actors help create maneuverability for the movement.

Citation

Gordon Buffonge, A.E. (2001), "Culture and political opportunity: rastafarian links to the jamaican poor", Coy, P.G. (Ed.) Political Opportunities Social Movements, and Democratization (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-786X(01)80016-1