ラスタファリ運動は、1930年代のジャマイカで生まれ、世界中に広がりを見せる社会宗教運動です。世界に100万人近い支持者が存在し、宗教や思想活動だけでなく、その精神は文化や美術にも息づいています。本書では世界的な広がりを見せていながら、あまり正しく理解されているとはいえないラスタファリ運動を、歴史、中心となる原理、慣習と合わせ、平易に解説します。
   

• A timely introduction to a rapidly growing religious movement
• Covers all aspects of the movement - its history, practice, and its global spread
• Discusses gender issues within Rastafari
• Examines its influence on cultural and artistic production in the Caribbean and beyond

  
From its obscure beginnings in Jamaica in the early 1930s, Rastafari has grown into an international socio-religious movement. It is estimated that 700,000 to 1 million people worldwide have embraced Rastafari, and adherents of the movement can be found in most of the major population centres and many outposts of the world. 
  
Rastafari: A Very Short Introduction provides an account of this widespread but often poorly understood movement. Ennis B. Edmonds looks at the essential history of Rastafari, including its principles and practices and its internal character and configuration. He examines its global spread, and its far-reaching influence on cultural and artistic production in the Caribbean and beyond.