Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Rastafari - Boboshanti

I would imagine that there exist differences in these Rastafarian called the Boboshanti. This is mainly because of them being the most spiritually committed Rastafarian. Of course there would be similarities as well because they are still indeed Rastafarian. The various differences as well as similarities noted now with the Boboshanti Rastafarian are mixed with what was in the book as well as what was discussed in class. First thing I noticed that all Rastafarian shared were the colors of Ethiopia. This tie back to Ethiopia, and Africa on a larger scale, is very dominant in the Rastafarian religion whether or not it is Boboshanti. What was different with the Boboshanti was that their colors were flipped in comparison to the other Rastafarian - red on top versus green on top.
This particular portrayal of Rastafarianism by the Boboshanti was very different that what I was understanding from the book as well as the Bob Marley videos. It seemed that Rastafarians would be very laid back so as to be as far out and away from the system as possible. The Boboshanti though on the other hand are very hard working people with regards to spirituality. This more or less is close to the "normal" ideal of being hard working and dedicated. Another thing that I noticed that was different with the Boboshanti was their English. The idea portrayed in the book and confirmed with the interview clip with Bob Marley made me to believe that their English would be very hard to understand because it was Patois with a Rastafarian twist. However the English of the Boboshanti was easier to understand and not much of the lingo I expected was used.
I guess that with a religion there would be many different interpretations of it but that they would still be similar in ways. This is shown with the Boboshanti part of Rastafarianism - they still are Rastafarian but of a different kind because some of the views differ and clash. I think what I'm trying to say is that religion or Rastafarianism is like a sport and the Boboshanti are one of the many teams of that sport. Of course then there would be differences between the Boboshanti and other Rastafarian just like how various sports team within the same sport are different from one another. With the Boboshanti it was basically a different point of view of the Rastafarian religion brought to our attention.

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