Caribbean: Rastafari

The Earth Most Strangest Man / Author: Mortimo Planno

This section contains research on the Rastafari in Jamaica. Rastafarianism is much more than the music of Bob Marley or the enjoyment of the perceived effects of cannabis. It is a deeply spiritual social and political movement, complex and largely misunderstood by non-adherents.

“Late in the summer of 1969, while visiting anthropology students in Jamaica, I tried to find Mortimo Planno, a Rastafarian who I had briefly met on an earlier field trip to the island…Planno proposed I write a book about Rastafari. This was a time when little published material existed about that movement and its followers. Although flattered, I turned this intriguing suggestion aside saying, quite truthfully, that my knowledge of the subject was superficial but that a book about Rastafari authored by a knowledgeable Rastafarian would make much more sense and would be a much more worthwhile contribution. So, ‘Brother Kumi, you write the book, you’re absolutely the right person’. He thought a moment and replied, ‘How do you write a book?’ A day later, after being given a school notebook containing many blank, blue-lined pages, he asked, ‘How do I know when it’s finished?’ Easy, came the glib answer, ‘When all the pages are filled!’ And, as memory holds, Mortimo Planno handed me The Earth Most Strangest Man: The Rastafarian all filled one hundred hand-written pages, just three weeks later”. (excerpt from the introduction)

Below you will find two versions of the book in PDF format:

PDF:

EarthMostStrangestMan_Transcribed

The Earth Most Strangest Man-Original