Reggae is a popular musical form that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960's and soon came to be closely associated with the oppositional, Afrocentric Rastafarian movement. During the 1970's it achieved global popularity and is now produced in many locations around the world. In Montreal, reggae is produced by and for a cosmopolitan community; however, certain conceptions of the distinctiveness of this music as an effective intervention in social processes, derived from Rastafarian philosophy, are maintained by its performers. This thesis examines reggae song lyrics and elements of discourse about reggae music in relation to Rastafarian cultural practices, showing how the aesthetic conventions of the form involve a certain ritualization of musical activity that allows for the interpretation of aesthetic experience in terms of solidarity, resistance and historical progress.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.69634 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Macaulay, David E. (David Edward) |
| Contributors | Rousseau, Jerome (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001386554, proquestno: AAIMM91699, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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