presenters & sample schedule

Professor Barry Chevannes

Professor Barry Chevannes is a graduate of Boston College, the University of the West Indies and received his doctorate from Columbia University. His thesis at CU was on the Rastafari movement in Jamaica. And he is recognized as one of the leading scholars on Rastafari culture. He has written many books and is a distinguished professor of social anthropology at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He is also the current Chairman of the Institute of Jamaica, a cultural institution devoted to science, literature and art that also awards national honors.

Lecture Titles At The Conference:

  • 'The Origins and Emergence of Rastafari'
  • 'Rastafari and Other Caribbean World Views -  Santería and Vodon'

Barry Chevannes is the author of:

  • Rastafari: Roots and Ideology
  • Rastafari and Other African-Caribbean Worldviews
  • Learning to be a Man: Culture, socialization, and Gender Identity in Five Caribbean Communities
  • Betwixt and Between: Explorations in an African-Caribbean Mindscape
  • Rastafari and Other African-Caribbean Worldviews

Yasus Afari

Yasus Afari is one of Jamaica’s top dub poets, a musician and he is also an author. Afari has collaborated with record producer Garnet Silk, as well as other dub poets and singers: Maxi Priest, Everton Lender, General Degree and Tony Rebel.Yasus has also performed throughout Europe, the US and the Caribbean.

Lecture Titles At The Conference:

  • 'Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica’s Gift to the World'
  • 'The Livity and Spirituality of Rastafari'

Yasus Afari is the author of:

  • Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica’s Gift to the World.

His Music and Poetry include: 

  • Dancehall Baptism 1993
  • Gift of Vijjan: Yasus Afari and Friends 2000

Compilations

  • Riddim 2004
  • Gideon War 2001
  • Millennium Taxi 2000
  • Stalag 2000
  • Real authentic sampler, Vol. 3 1994
  • Dancehall Underground & Beyond 1994
  • Rooftop Skanking 1993

Performances:

Contact:

Barbara Blake Hannah

Barbara Blake Hannah is multitalented; she is an author, music journalist, filmmaker and public speaker with her own production company, Jamaica Media Productions. It should also be mentioned that in 1968, she became the first Black British TV presenter on Thames-TV's daily evening show, Today with Eamonn Andrews. Ms.Hannah is one of Jamaica’s most respected cultural historians and received an award from the Ethiopian royal family. Her latest film, The Road through the Blue Mountains, is a spiritual journey through the most beautiful natural locales of Jamaica. Hannah’s The New Creation is the first book about Rastafari written by a practicing member of the faith; Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Fable is a novel inspired by the life of Bob Marley.

Lecture Titles At The Conference:

  • 'From Makeda to Makeda: The Rastafari Empress Ethiopian Heritage '
  • 'Women in Rastafari'

Barbara Blake Hannah’s books:

  • The New Creation
  • Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Fable

Films:

  • The Road through the Blue Mountains 2007
  • Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Movie 2007
  • Race, Rhetoric, Rastafari 1982

Contact:

Rastafari Indigenous Village

We will also spend a day at the Rastafari Indigenous Village in Montego Bay where we will speak with elders, herbalists, healers and poets. The village showcases the Rastafari way of life – its culture, music, food, herbs and spices – and embodies the values of living in harmony. Our time there will introduce us to drumming and chanting, reasoning with the elders, an experiential presentation of the herbs, craft items and books, rasta products and food, a look at local farm produce grown on the property - yams, banana, plantains, oranges, pears.... whatever is in season, and general chilling.

Sample Schedule

8:00am: Optional yoga or meditation
10:30am to 1:00pm: Morning Plenary Sessions                
1:00pm: Lunch                 
2:30pm to 6:00pm: Afternoon Activities, Valley and cave walks, Beach trips, Optional boat ride     
7:00pm: Dinner                 
8.30pm: Evening Talks or Performances, Reggae concert, Yasus Afari Performance, Barbara Blake Hannah will show the film Rastafari by James Ewart

The Open Center will be offering an evening talk on:

Bob Marley: The Creation of a Voice

Garnette Cadogan

This talk will look behind the icon to explore the man and musician and, of course, his message. We’ll see afresh why his original, urgent voice was, and still is, so appealing and essential. With his music and biography as our guide, we will show how Bob Marley developed his voice and thereby became a voice for us all.

AN EVENING LECTURE
Friday, February 13, 7–9:30pm
09WSA27P
$15

Garnette Cadogan is a Jamaican-American music critic and writer who is currently at work on a book about Bob Marley. He has written for Transition, Vibe, the Caribbean Review of Books and other publications.

To register go to opencenter.org or call 212 219 2527