Lessons from Rastafari and Reggae: Teaching Pro-Blackness and Black Joy in Social Studies Classrooms

• In Event: Theorizing Social Studies Education from Below: Civic Knowledge, Praxis, and Possibility from Los de Abajo

Abstract

Objective
This paper draws on the cultural and philosophical principles of Rastafari and reggae music to propose additional ways educators can center Pro-Blackness and Black joy in social studies classrooms. It contributes to the growing body of scholarship that challenges Eurocentric curricula and advocates for more affirming, culturally grounded pedagogies that celebrate Black life beyond narratives of trauma and oppression.

Perspectives and Techniques

Rastafari and Reggae
Rastafari is both a spiritual and social practice. Though I do not identify as a Rastafarian, their practices have informed my identity and my pedagogy. Growing up as a first-generation Canadian-Jamaican, I now see the many ways that Rastafari informed my family’s Pro-Blackness stance. Originating in Jamaica in the 1930s, Rastafarians celebrate Africa as the motherland and are followers of Haile Selassie, an Ethiopian Emperor (Grace-Williams, 2016). A large number of reggae artists identify as Rastafarian, including the legendary Bob Marley.
Resultantly, reggae songs often incorporate Afro-centric and Pro-Black messages (Grace-Williams, 2016). Reggae with these kinds of messages is often referred to as “conscious” music. By the 1960s, reggae had become a means by which Rastafari could share their ideas and principles, often making explicit connections to Africa (Davidson, 2022). Growing up in a Jamaican household in Ontario, Canada, where reggae music was played almost daily, I heard messages that affirmed my racial idenity, even though my schooling experience was often void of these affirming messages. Drawing inspiration from Rasquachismo, a concept that champions making the most with the least while asserting dignity and defiance, Rastafari similarly models how pride in one’s cultural identity can serve as resistance to dominant narratives (Grace-Wiliams, 2016; Ybarra-Frausto ,1991). As such, Rastafari principles challenge the deficit ways Blackness is taught and referred to in the curriculum (Grace-Wiliams, 2016).

Pro-Black Narratives and Black Joy
Stewart (2021) shared that Black “joy foregrounds a flourishing relation of the self to the self” (p. 9). Black joy is specific to how Black people respond and relate to each other. Black agency is at the center of Black joy (Duncan et al., 2023, p. 246). As such, researchers and educators have noted that inclusion of Black joy in social studies curriculum must go beyond sharing stories and examples of Black celebration to also include the approaches and frameworks used to teach social studies (Duncan et al., 2023; Stewart, 2021; Grace-Williams, 2022).

Scholarly Significance
Ultimately, this paper explores how Rastafari principles and reggae music can be used as a framework to teach Black joy and Pro-Black narratives in social studies classrooms (Williams, 2002). Pro-Blackness narratives in classrooms offer liberatory and joyous experiences for Black children (Williams, 2022). Ultimately, this paper echoes scholarship (Duncan et al, 2023; Grace-Williams, 2022) which positions Black joy in social studies classrooms as essential in fostering affirming and empowering spaces for Black students. This paper joins broader conversations about how transnational and culturally grounded practices reveal the everyday civic and social movements communities use to navigate systemic inequities.

Author

• Tianna Dowie-Chin, University of Georgia