The end of Afropessimism and their-story: Rastafari as ethos

Abstract

Afropessimism is a programming developed through the global and hegemonic structures of white supremacy. As theorists of African liberation, Rastafari deems it necessary to focus on the destruction of “Babylon” or oppressive Western modernity. The movement offers an important African diasporan voice of Afro-optimism that has been variously suppressed and disregarded. In this context of metanarratives of Afropessimism, deemed “History” or what Marley [1989. One Bright Day. CD. Los Angeles: Virgin Records America, Inc] calls “His-tories,” Jamaica is offered as an important case study of how the immanence of white supremacy has been negotiated in a British ex-colony, known for African Resistance. My objective is that of foregrounding theoretical solutions proffered by Rastafari, displaying continuity rather than rupture, critical consensus rather erratic action, and culture rather than politics as a way of demonstrating self-affirmation and sovereignty. The SARS COVID-19 global pandemic “moment” becomes a backdrop to engage with this Black redemptive mission or Rastafari as ethos.