A first of its kind at the Institute of Jamaica, the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB), hosted a lecture which, in essence reflected on the island’s connection to Ethiopia through the Rastafari movement 

The lecture, held in partnership with the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) and the Ethiopia Honorary Consulate in Kingston, was delivered by Dr. David Aarons, Jamaican ethnomusicologist and lecturer at the University of North Carolina on June 23. 

The public lecture, titled “Africa Is Our Home”: Reggae Music and Rastafari Repatriates in Ethiopia, shed light on the topic of the Rastafari Repatriation Movement in Ethiopia which has been ongoing since the 1960s. “Rastafari have been fleeing the West to live in their Promised Land, Ethiopia. However, this repatriation movement has experienced numerous challenges related to land ownership and access to citizenship in Ethiopia,” Dr. Aarons said.

The lecture highlighted research conducted in Ethiopia by Dr. Aarons with Rastafari repatriates. Dr. Aarons emphasized how Rastafari have used reggae music to chronicle their exodus out of Babylon while highlighting the joys of living in Zion. He argued that, by singing songs about belonging and by collaborating with Ethiopian musicians to develop a reggae scene in Addis Ababa, repatriated Rastafari reggae musicians have served as ambassadors for the repatriated community in Ethiopia. He pointed out that the work of these musicians has facilitated greater visibility and audibility for all repatriates in a land that does not fully understand their need to belong.

This signature event gave technocrats from the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport; Honorary Consulates; members of the academic community; cultural enthusiasts; members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Rastafari community along with students and teachers from the Haile Selassie Secondary School, which was named in honour of the late Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, a culturally rich Jamaica-Ethiopia experience stemming from the captivating sounds of Nyabinghi drumming from the Akwaaba Drummers.

Priest Abba Samuel Woldehawariat Tedela of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church opened the event with a prayer in the Amharic language, which set the tone for the midday proceedings. Mr. Leslie Harrow, Executive Director of the Institute of Jamaica who represented The Honourable Olivia Grange, OJ, CD, GCSE, MP, Minster of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport; Mrs. Yodit Hylton, Ethiopian Honorary Consul in Kingston; and Mrs. Nicole Patrick Shaw, Deputy Director of the Institute of Jamaica, brought greetings. 

Mr. Harrow on behalf of Minister Grange stated that, “the first group of Rastafari brethren made the ‘trod’ home, starting with Jamaica’s first Government-sponsored Mission to Africa in 1961 to investigate the possibility of repatriation, and the second Mission to Africa, which was by Emperor Haile Selassie for several weeks in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. With such a rich historical legacy in mind, the government of Jamaica led by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has always remained proactive over the years in support of reggae music and inclusively upholding the rights of the Rastafari community.”

The Honorary Consulate of Ethiopia, Mrs. Yodit Hylton applauded Dr. Aaron for the ground-breaking study of the Rastafari Repatriation to Ethiopia and the emergence of the collaborative work between Rastafari and Ethiopian musicians in Addis Ababa.  She highlighted the early contribution of Mr. Dennis Anthony Thomas aka “King Kong” and his Ethiopian wife in creating a reggae scene in Addis Ababa. 

She also referenced her own exposure to reggae music and the Rastafari community in Shasemane, which exposed her to some of the issues faced by the Rastafari community in Ethiopia as it related to land and citizenship issues. 

The Honorary Consul further highlighted the work done by Ethiopian government and herself to address the issues faced by the Rastafari community. Specifically, she mentioned the grant of residency status given to children and adults from the Jamaica/Caribbean born and/or living in Ethiopia. While acknowledging that the residency status did not fulfill the request for citizenship in Ethiopia by the Rastafarian community, Mrs. Hylton explained the historical context for strictly limiting Ethiopian citizenship to persons born of an Ethiopian mother or both parents being Ethiopian. This, she explained, was an effort by the Ethiopian people and government to protect Ethiopia from European colonizers in earlier centuries. She emphasized that the Ethiopian Constitution was not made restrictive to exclude Rastafari or any other diasporic group. 

The Honorary Consul supported the main thesis of Dr. Aaron’s study, which is that there needs to be greater collaboration between the musicians in Jamaica and Ethiopia. The guests at the event were treated to a cultural experience involving an Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony and Defo Dabo. The Honorary Consul in demonstrating the Coffee Ceremony to the guests, explained the significance of the traditions surrounding the ceremony, which in essence, was the coming together of friends and family around a clay coffee pot (Jebena Buna) for an intimate conversation and to taste Yergachefe coffee, in the closing of the event. 

The lecture reinforced Jamaica’s strong historical and cultural connection with Ethiopia as Jamaicans continue to identify themselves with the “Promised Land”.