Scaffolding of resistance II

48″ x 36″ x 1.5″ acrylic on canvas.

Available at Galerie Stein. To inquire, contact Pete Stein: peter@galeriestein.com +01 604-866-6050.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about structures of oppression and how the scaffolding of resistance movements builds over time. There’s endless inspiration in what I teach, like my current course: ‘Slavery and Global Ethics.’ The story I want to share is, in essence, an example of this scaffold building.

So, you know Bob Marley—Jamaican reggae legend and Rasta. The Rastafari movement “traces its roots back to both the Jamaica tradition of Maroon resistance and the influence of Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) with his vision of African redemption.” (Minority Rights n.d.)

You might know about the Jamaican Maroons—people who escaped enslavement and fought for their freedom against British colonial authorities (ca.17th-18th Centuries). They built their own sovereign communities in the mountains of Jamaica. Interestingly, some argue that ‘Maroon‘ has become an ethnicity, and part of the Rasta identity as such. One scholar refers to this historical lineage as the “Slave-Maroon-Rastafari continuum.”