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8 Hope and redemption

Abstract

The major characteristic of millenarian movements is the essential place they give to eschatology – that is, the mythical narrative of the end of the world – which, generally, implies both the destruction of the current world, rendered necessary by its gradual degradation, and the birth of a new, purified and regenerated world. This is the case of the Rastafari movement, whose eschatology is centrally based on the Revelation of Saint John. Interestingly, the eschatological narrative is one of the most central in reggae music. We live in the time of the prophecy, and the Apocalypse announced by the Bible is a near future that has already started. The rastas believe they are the descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; this identification also takes on a fundamental messianic meaning within the eschatology, because it is linked to the lost tribes evoked in the Book of Revelation. Hope and redemption occupy a central and essential place within the eschatology. In relation to the specific context of the African diaspora, the advent of the New Jerusalem, Zion, is tied to Africa.

Abstract

The major characteristic of millenarian movements is the essential place they give to eschatology – that is, the mythical narrative of the end of the world – which, generally, implies both the destruction of the current world, rendered necessary by its gradual degradation, and the birth of a new, purified and regenerated world. This is the case of the Rastafari movement, whose eschatology is centrally based on the Revelation of Saint John. Interestingly, the eschatological narrative is one of the most central in reggae music. We live in the time of the prophecy, and the Apocalypse announced by the Bible is a near future that has already started. The rastas believe they are the descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; this identification also takes on a fundamental messianic meaning within the eschatology, because it is linked to the lost tribes evoked in the Book of Revelation. Hope and redemption occupy a central and essential place within the eschatology. In relation to the specific context of the African diaspora, the advent of the New Jerusalem, Zion, is tied to Africa.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of tables and boxes vii
  4. List of figures ix
  5. Acknowledgements xi
  6. Epigraph xiii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Part I A study in elective affinity: Music, religion, memory
  9. 1 Reggae and Rastafari 21
  10. 2 Interpreting songs 36
  11. 3 A diachronic analysis of Jamaican reggae charts, 1968 –2000 54
  12. 4 The construction of a musical memory 69
  13. Part II Remembering the past
  14. 5 Slavery and the diaspora 85
  15. 6 The construction of a religious chain of memory 105
  16. Part III Revealing the future
  17. 7 Messianism, between past and future 125
  18. 8 Hope and redemption 141
  19. 9 The eschatology as future-present 154
  20. 10 The construction of a socio-political memory 169
  21. Part IV From revelation to revolution
  22. 11 Rhetoric of oppression and social critique 191
  23. 12 Only rasta can liberate the people 205
  24. Part V Conclusion
  25. 13 Time and memory 231
  26. Annex 1 265
  27. Annex 2 271
  28. Bibliography 274
  29. Index 291
Time and memory in reggae music
This chapter is in the book Time and memory in reggae music
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781847792877.00018

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of tables and boxes vii
  4. List of figures ix
  5. Acknowledgements xi
  6. Epigraph xiii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Part I A study in elective affinity: Music, religion, memory
  9. 1 Reggae and Rastafari 21
  10. 2 Interpreting songs 36
  11. 3 A diachronic analysis of Jamaican reggae charts, 1968 –2000 54
  12. 4 The construction of a musical memory 69
  13. Part II Remembering the past
  14. 5 Slavery and the diaspora 85
  15. 6 The construction of a religious chain of memory 105
  16. Part III Revealing the future
  17. 7 Messianism, between past and future 125
  18. 8 Hope and redemption 141
  19. 9 The eschatology as future-present 154
  20. 10 The construction of a socio-political memory 169
  21. Part IV From revelation to revolution
  22. 11 Rhetoric of oppression and social critique 191
  23. 12 Only rasta can liberate the people 205
  24. Part V Conclusion
  25. 13 Time and memory 231
  26. Annex 1 265
  27. Annex 2 271
  28. Bibliography 274
  29. Index 291
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