Rastafarianism Characteristics

To call all movements that do not fit other religious categories New Religious Movements would be inaccurate and misrepresentative. New Religious Movements is a term that was created to group religious communities together that did not fall under the category of established religions. Although this term was created with the intention of not having negative connotations attached to it, it does have problems. An analysis will be made on NRM and its faults. In order to analyse these problems the term NRM as well as its characteristics will be reviewed through using the example of Rastafarianism in South Africa. Rastafarianism is a movement that originates from Jamaica and has since spread globally. An analysis will be made on the characteristics of

The characteristic underline a NRM usually has a leader that has the power to sway his followers into any direction (Barker 2014, 241). In other words the leader of the movement is charismatic, often power driven and authoritative (Barker 2014, 241). Within Rastafarianism there are two notable leaders, Halie Selassie and Marcus Garvey (Chawane 2012, 165; Simpson 1985, 286). Marcus garvey was a black nationalist who spread ideals of black pride, self-reliance and self-respect (Chawane 2012, 166). Marcus Garvey prophesied the coming of a leader that would be the liberator of black people and in 1930 after the coronation of Halie Selassie as king of Ethiopia, Rastafarians believe this prophecy came true (Chawane 2014, 217). Although Haile Selassie did not start the movement himself he was given the title by Rastafarians as God reincarnate (Chawane 2012, 165). Although these are leaders within the movement it is important to note that they did not hold characteristics of autonomy which is seen as an attribute of leaders/founders of NRMs. This characteristic therefore shows the faults within NRMs and categorizing movements as NRMs because of these umbrella