ESSAYS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT CLASS, RHETORIC OF REGGAE MUSIC

SEE http://rhetoricofreggaer.blogspot.com/

There is s real shortage of academically oriented literature about reggae music and its various social, political, and religious manifestations. Many of the best resources are out of print, hard to find, or not held in most libraries. This was a real challenge for my students in Speech 214: The Rhetoric of Reggae Music when they went to write their term papers.

We decided to light a candle as opposed to just cursing the darkness, so we thought that students who were interested could post their papers in HTML in a DREAD LIBRARY so that others seeking information could benefit from the work they have already done.

Here is a selection of papers. I appreciate the extra work that these students did to get these papers web ready. They are offered as undergraduate essays. I have not checked the references nor engaged in active rewrites of these papers, because this is not intended to be a collection of refereed, publishable, scholarly articles, but a sample of what some students of reggae have been writing. However, I do suggest you study the references so that you can try and find and read these primary works on your own.

We understand that everyone may not agree with what is being said here, and encourage your comments and suggestions, but it is important to remember that there is no one true perspective on most of these issues. Reggae music, rastafarianism, and related topics are not singular fields -- there are many reggae musics, many brands of rastafarianism, and many different perspectives expressed by those involved.

There is no doubt that these essay have been written by American college students, not by experts or those with broad personal experience. However, they do represent their researched expertise and their personal experience. We hope you will read them with that in mind.

LOOK FOR NEW ESSAYS POSTED JANUARY 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Reggae as Music

Retention and Preservation of African Roots in Jamaican Folk Music, Carter R. Stowell

The Commercialization and Westernization of Rastafari and Reggae Music, Adam Elias

Drums and Bass Guitar: The Foundation of Reggae Music, Edward Havel

Drumming, the Backbone of African & Reggae Music, Jason Kahn

An Examination of Three Different Styles of Reggae And Their Possible Unique Rhetorical Messages, Mike Turk

American Rhythm and Blues Influence on Early Jamaican Musical Style, Brad Fredericks

History, Background and Today

The Painful Path of Music: Slavery and Suffering in Jamaica and their effects on Jamaican Music, Andy Tower

The Power and Influence of the Obeah Man and Folk Healing in Jamaican Culture, Cassandra Perrone

Neocolonialism in Jamaica: History, Practices, and Resistance, Dori Borelli

A Look Into Kingston, Andrew Weaderhorn

Rural Paradise or Concrete Jungle, Stefanie Folk

Slavery - Africa, Europe, and Jamaica, Melissa B. McLean

BLACK STRUGGLE IN COLONIZATION, Erik Flanagan

DO YOU REMEMBER THE DAYS OF SLAVERY? A Study of the Oppression of the Jamaican Working Class 1834-1942, Jake Grace

THE EFFECTS OF SLAVERY ON REGGAE MUSIC, Sarah Novick

Jamaica’s Troubled Past: ‘The Maroons’, Ted Finkenauer

WILL JAMAICA SELF-DESTRUCT? Peter von Maffei

Flight to Freedom: Arawaks & Maroons, Avery Laird

The Multifaceted Development of Jamaican Identity: Both Religious and Linguistic In Nature, Aileen Ozay

Origins of Reggae Music

Harmony and Howling — African and European Roots of Jamaican Music, Tim Marcus

Jazz and Blues Feedback to Jamaica, Alison Wadsworth

Reggae got Blues, Kyle Trzaskos

An Exploration Of The Dubbers, Deejays and Toasters Of The Late 1960s - 1980's in Jamaican Style Music, Heather Marie Saunders

Rastafarianism

What unites Rasta? Todd Alleger

Dem Bobo Dreads, Mark Porter Sperry

A Sociological Construct of Rastafarian Philosophies, Hilary Clark

Religion in Jamaica: Finding the Self through Finding God, Elizabeth Nelson

FUNDAMENTALS: THE RASTAFARIAN LIFESTYLE, Michael Katz

Nature in the Rastafarian Consciousness, Erin David

Trapped in a Dualistic Cycle, Emily Baldauf-Wagner

Rastafari Culture: the Extreme Ethiopian Rasta vs, the Mellow Dallas Rasta, William Grant

"I Light and I Salvation": The Rise and Impact of Rastafarianism in Jamaican Culture and Politics, Jeff Philie

The Evolution of New Rastafari, Georgie Greville

A History and Examination of Prophetical Figures in Modern Rastafarianism, Travis Piper

Haile Selassie: King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah, Joseph Cardillo

Natty Dreadlocks: A Study of the Youth Black Faith and the Bobo Dreads, Rebecca Eschert

The Mirroring Lives of a Jamaican and a Rastafarian, Rachel Imbrogno

Repatriation: Africa in the Horizon, Christine Graham

Mythical Pasts: Ethiopianism as a Revitalization Movement, Caitlin O’Neill

Ital cooking - necessity or religious fervor? John Pasmore

Holy Zion! A Study of Ethiopianism in Rastafarianism with a Focus on the Concept Of Ethiopia as Zion, Jennifer Skowera

Don’t Shoot the Sheriff: An overview of Rastafarians and the Legal System, Geoffrey Alex Domenico

Judiasm & Rastafarianism: A study of the Falashas, Edward Bardfield

The Connections Between Judaism and Rastafarianism, Adam Buchwald

Parallelisms and Differences: Rastafarianism and Judaism, Dani Dvorin

Connections Between Judaism and Rastafarianism, Evan Salzberg

Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey: A Key Component in the Creation of Reggae Music, Taylor Radke

Marcus Garvey’s Legend, its Influence, Accomplishments, and Effects on the Rastafarian Movement and Reggae Musicians, Meredith Parmett

Garveyism and Rastafarianism: a closer look, Gabe Vastola

Marcus Mosiah Garvey "A Defiant Symbol of Black Nationalism," Jill Heather Winnick

"Marcus Garvey Words Come to Pass": A black revolutionary's teachings live on through rastafarianism and reggae music, Christopher Jeans

Marcus Mosiah Garvey: The Man, his Movement and his Poetry, C. E. Jordan Gremp

Social Change - Rhetorical Dimensions of Reggae Music

Music as a Medium of Discontent: a comparative approach to blues, jazz, reggae, and hip-hop, Bari Lehrman

Reggae As Social Change: The Spread of Rastafarianism, D. Chad Spiker

Oppression and Resistance in Jamaican Reggae and Afro-Brazilian Music - A Comparative Study of Race in Music and Culture, Michael R. Dávila

The Roots of Babylon, David Buttermilk

Nuclear Weapons and Reggae: A Clash of Rhetoric, Sumeet Sharma

Reggae Confrontation: Reggae’s ImpactOn Indigenous Cultures, Carl Skeris

"The Human Breath is a Dangerous Weapon" A Look at the Economic Conditions of Jamaica and the Lyrics of Reggae Music and Poetry, Katy Kilian

Babylon: Our Continuing Struggle, Julie Seger

Ras Political: The Emergence of the Political Rastafarian through Ras Samuel L Brown, John Tarver Bailey

Indigenous Resistance, Melissa Bardfield

Images of Roots, Rock, Reggae, Jason Bonanno

Rastafarian Symbolism in the Visual Arts, Alan Bagshaw

Word, Sound and Power - Language and its Use

Jamaican Patois, Colleen Sullivan

Jamaican Patois and the Power of Language in Reggae Music, Stacey Herbold

The History and Sociolinguistic development of the Jamaican Dialect, Erin Trainor

Children’s Literature in Jamaica, Robert Morier

The Harder They Come - The Rhetoric of Reggae in Artful Cinema for the World, Michael Long

Sound, Rhythm and Power: Legends of Dub Poetry, Ally Brennan

Patois: the language of Jamaica, Paxton Belcher-Timme

Mutabaruka and LKJ –Dub Poetry at its Best. Mollie Bell

Creolization: an Analysis of Jamaican Language, Jim Casey

The Historical and Culture Aspects of Jamaican Patois, Ruby Madden

Jamaican Patois: A Semantic Approach and A Dissection of Patois versus “Standard Englis," Stephanie Noordewier

(Mutabaruka) Dis Essay, Jonathan Rubell

Robert Marley

Lovers and Children of the Natural Mystic: The Story of Bob Marley, Women and their Children, Meredith Dixon

Buffalo Soldier-Dreadlock Rasta? The Buffalo Soldier of the West and the Elimination of the Native American Race, Matthew Mullin

Peter Tosh

Cinematic Interpretation of "Stepping Razor Red X": the Peter Tosh Story, Lesley Vollmer

MARK OF THE X: PETER TOSH & MALCOLM X, Mykcal Marshall

(You Gotta Walk and) Don’t Look Back, Matthew Seid  

Peter Tosh and Nelson Mandela: Fighting from Opposite Corners ... The Prize - Equal Rights, Jeffrey Coyne

Peter Tosh - A man of the past, living in the present, walking in the future, James Wyld

The Life of Saint Peter [Tosh], John Levy

"Decent, Upright, Honorary, Citizens"A Comparison Between Peter Tosh and Malcolm X, Jeffrey M. Harder

Women, Reggae and Rastafari

"To Be Someone, To Belong": The Black Womyn's Experience in Rastafari, Helen Morgan

Women's Fashions in Jamaican Dancehalls, Susan D'Elia

Jamaican Women: Politics, Economics, Roles, and Religions, Thalia S. Stone

The Woman Who Fathered Me: A Caribbean Woman's Role in the Family, Molly Driscoll

Rasta Girls: The Barriers Jamaican Society has placed on Women and the Artist that are Breaking Them, Juliet Critsimilios

Dub Music

Dub Revolution - The Story of Jamaican Dub Reggae and Its Legacy, John Bush

KING TUBBY’S REIGN, Andrea Seddon

Dancehall Reggae

The Sound System: Contributions to Jamaican Music and the Montreal Dancehall Scene, John Constantinides

THE CHANGE OF MESSAGES IN DANCEHALL, Ben Thielen

Rude Boy Music in Comparison with Gangster Rap, Kevin McElwee

Hip-Hop and Reggae: the Common Links of Politics and Music, Scott Carlis

Women's Fashions in Jamaican Dancehalls, Susan D'Elia

Reggae’s Impact on Hip-Hop, Jamie Ann Board

Reggae International

Reggae Español: Jamaican Music in Spanish-speaking Countries, Brian Nemetz

John Brown’s Body: An American Reggae Band Digging Roots in Farm Country, Steven Pettrone

REGGAE AND ZYDECO, Sara Shappell

Reggae Giants

Black Uhuru, Sandra Farah

Buju Banton: Unchained Spirit, Adam Ullian

Marcia Griffiths: Reggae Queen? Jamie O'Brien

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS, Sarah Badger

Steel Pulse, Biography and Sociopolitical Messages, Elliott Sangara

Damian Marley : Following in his Fathers Footsteps, Zachary Cihocki

Alborosie: The Italian Rasta Pirate, Greg Swank

STUDIO ONE: The Legendary Sound of Reggae Music, Andrew Wiesner

RASTAMAN VIBRATION: Israel Vibration, Jason Levy

A Tribute to "The Crown Prince of Reggae", Dennis Brown, Mark McGarry

The Rise of Reggae and the influence of Toots and the Maytals, Matthew Sherman