"Roots and Culture"

"Roots and Culture"


The frequently used hendiadys, 'Roots and Culture', is a fundamental concept in Rastafari. Essentially, it promotes the awareness of one's cultural and spiritual heritage - a theme that can be relevant to every individual, whatever his or her background.

It is often said, If you don't know where you're coming from, you won't know where you're going. For Black Africans exiled for generations in the Caribbean, the rediscovery of an ancient and noble heritage has enabled a re-evaluation of their own identity, and encouraged them to break the shackles of the slave mentality and aspire to the heights of a glorious African past.

The Rastafarian dream of repatriation is closely linked to the rediscovery of one's roots. Traditionally, repatriation was seen in very literal terms of travelling back to Africa, to the homeland of Black ancestors who were forcefully removed during the years of the slave trade.

However, as Rastafarian practice becomes increasingly diverse, this geographically limited concept has necessarily grown to accommodate the aspirations of non Africans, who frequently interpret 'repatriation' in metaphorical or specifically spiritual terms, as the urge to leave behind the snare of temptation and negative feeling ('Babylon') in an effort to return to a purer and cleaner state of mind ('Zion').

Today, anthropologists tell us that Africa was the true cradle of humankind. This seems to evoke a very deep emotional response in many people, even in those who are not of recent African descent. It is easy to dismiss this feeling as a projection of a romanticised ideal of the primordial earthly paradise. But such a widespread resurgence of interest in all things African may suggest some lingering consciousness of a universal African aboriginal identity of humankind.

As the roots of a plant anchor it in the ground and give it stability, the knowledge of one's cultural and spiritual heritage gives a sure foundation on which to build one's sense of identity. It may also engender deep feelings of appreciation, admiration and respect for those who have gone before and helped to shape our modern world. Thus it may reverse the current trend of dismissing our ancestors as simple minded folk who believed in magic and miracles and the sacredness of things, so that perhaps ultimately we can learn from them important and refreshing lessons for our secular age.

The prevailing assumption in the west that progress demands us to turn our backs on the past and look instead to the future has caused tradition, myth and ritual to be forgotten. Such ancient relics appear to have no relation to our present existence. We often speak of them being 'stuck in the past'. But the Rastafarian concept of roots and culture is based on a much more dynamic and flexible understanding of 'tradition' as living, constantly evolving, adaptive and adoptive, the collective experience of communities accumulated by successive generations since time immemorial.

If we look to the past which is known, rather than to the future which is unknown, we are not prone to suffer from blindness of vision, and so we gain a true sense of perspective in time, seeing our own place in history. The future need not surprise us unawares, for it is not substantially different from the past: tomorrow contains elements of yesterday and today.

Thus the past is the key to the future, just as the awareness of cultural roots is the key to society's progress, and the acknowledgement of one's spiritual roots in God is the key to mystical union with the Most High.