The fourth SOSACRU Summer Institute took place in Jamaica from 21st – 29th July. Students from the USA joined with local students to ground with the Rastafari family on the island – from Montego Bay to Kingston to Buff Bay.
The faculty for this year’s Institute included Ras Sekou Tafari, Ras Kaimoh, Mama Wolete, Ras Jahlani Niaah, Sister Coleen, Ras Robbie and Ras Dominik.
Funding for the Institute was provided by Johns Hopkins University through the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Center for Africana Studies, Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration and Colonialism, and the Center for Social Concern.
Students began their journey by full-taking in the lighting of the Fire Key at the Pitfour Nyahbinghi Center in honor of the 132nd Earthstrong (birthday) of Emperor Haile Selassie I.
Witnessing the Nyahbinghi Ises is always a rewarding introduction to the SOSACRU Summer Institute!
School of Vision
Moving to Kingston, the Summer Institute then drove into the Blue Mountains to visit the School of Vision. This was the second visit of the Institute to the School. It is always a worthwhile journey – physically and iritically!
After the steep climb to the top of the mountain, I and I were greeted with ital food. Then Priest Dermot Fagan reasoned with I and I on the current travails of the world, including the war in Israel / Palestine. Afterwards, students visited the tabernacle, and then the gift shop. Faculty and students enjoyed the commanding view of Kingston that the School of Vision provides.
Student Life
What is student life like during the Summer Institute? Well, there is plenty of reasoning and learning as students and faculty stay in a multi-apartment living complex at the University of West Indies (UWI) which allows for informal interactions.
“Each one teach one” with Mama Wolete, over dinner.
Here, Ras Kaimoh explains some of the iconography that students saw at the School of Vision the day before. In the background, lunch is being collectively prepared.
If they wish, students can follow elders reasoning on war and peace, truth and rights: here is Ras Kaimoh (left) and Ras Sekou Tafari (right). But there’s time for relaxation too. Down-time is programmed into the flow of the Institute, including sea and river swimming sessions (more below!)
From Marley to Marcus
The theme of this year’s Summer Institute was “from Marcus to Marley”. Marcus Mosiah Garvey is a very important figure in the Rastafari movement. Rastafari take from Garvey his ideas of Black pride, self-determination, and Pan-Africanism. Students visited the burial site of Garvey in Hero’s Park, Kingston, and there, Ras Sekou Tafari, a renowned expert on Garveyism, gave a lecture to students on the life of this towering figure.
A couple of days later, the Summer Institute touched down at the Bob Marley Museum on Hope Road, the site of the infamous shooting dramatized in the recent hit film, One Love. For Rastafari, the connective tissue between the political message of Marcus and the musical message of Marley is the “wise mind” of Emperor Haile Selassie I. At the museum, Ras Sekou, Ras Miguel Lorne, and Sister Karissa reasoned on the ways in which these connections animate black self-determination in the 21st century.
Master percussionist Bongo Herman graced the lecture with his skill.
Ras Sekou Tafari presented the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Wise Mind of H.I.M. Emperor Haile Sellassie I – a book of curated quotes and excerpts from the speeches of the Emperor.
Mama Fiyah Rastafari Indigenous Village / Buff Bay Beach
Across the Blue Mountains, up to Buff Bay, to visit a notable matriarch of the movement – Mama Fiyah. Her Rastafari Indigenous Village lies just across the road from the sea, and features a restaurant, a tabernacle, and more. Mama Fiyah, herself born into a Rastafari family, and her son, Ras Pele, reasoned to the group on the history of the village and its significance.
After visiting the tabernacle, hailing up Papa Fiyah, and enjoying a plentiful ital lunch, students went to a local river to enjoy the water and relax after a long trip.
