Everywhere Is War: Peace and Violence in the Life and Songs of Bob Marley
This paper examines two prevalent representations of Bob Marley in popular culture: Marley as a revolutionary and Marley as an icon of peace. It contends that although his legacy is often reduced to an essential meaning such as peace promoter or an advocate of violence, a closer look at his life and...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2012]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2012, Volume: 24, Issue: 3, Pages: 380-392 |
| Further subjects: | B
Rastafari
B Violence B emancipation theology B Peace B Bob Marley B Reggae music B Haile Selassie |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This paper examines two prevalent representations of Bob Marley in popular culture: Marley as a revolutionary and Marley as an icon of peace. It contends that although his legacy is often reduced to an essential meaning such as peace promoter or an advocate of violence, a closer look at his life and lyrics suggests that Marley's views of peace and violence were more complex. I problematize these binary readings by contextualizing Bob Marley using his religious faith in Rastafari, his sociopolitical background, and Caribbean liberation theology. I suggest that for Marley peace meant freedom and the presence of universal equal rights and justice. I argue that there is enough ambiguity in the songs, and relevant context, to suggest that a metaphorical reading of violence is only one possible way to understand these songs and propose that another possible reading is that he did not necessarily rule out violence as a viable option for attaining peace. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.24.3.380 |
