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: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2012]
|
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. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1703-289X |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.24.3.380 |