Thursday, May 14, 2009

Bob Marley: Charismatic Leader??




I put on some Bob Marley before I started reading (just to get in the mood) and by the time I had finished the first two chapters several questions about this musician came into mind. According to our reading, a charismatic leader is a often a key component to a movement's emergence and continued success. I began to wonder if people like Weber and Edmonds would consider Bob Marley as one of these charismatic leaders (and I understand that this will likely be addressed in the up-coming chapters, but there's no harm in talking about it now). My initial thought was that of course Bob Marley is a charismatic leader/figure in the Rastafarian faith. He's probably one of the most well known--if not THE most well known--figure of this group, and to get to that status you have to have the exceptional qualities (similar to divine qualities) that our reading discussed. But then I hit a brick wall as I thought about another characteristic of the charismatic leader: the idea that they are "innovators and agents of social change, not by making some technical adjustments or further systemizations of the prevailing ideas, but by espousing new ideas, making new demands, and creating new visions for potential followers". This made me stop because though Bob Marley is incredibly influential and important to the Rastafarian movement, he didn't create the ideas that make up their faith. He promotes them, perhaps to more people than anyone else in that faith, but they aren't his original ideas. This, however, did not sit well with. How could the arguably largest Rastafarian not be a "charismatic leader". After thinking some more I finally came up with an idea that I think would cast Bob Marley into the charismatic role: Though he did not originate the ideas/ideals that he speaks of in his music, he did create the music itself and was the main engine behind the spread of this genre of music, and thus through his creation of a music that speaks of Rastafarian faith, he in turn "espoused new ideas" and created "new visions for potential followers".

2 comments:

  1. this is a really interesting idea. i agree i think he is in some form a charismatic leader mostly because of his successful communication of these ideas through his music even if the ideas weren't originally his own. Another artist i thought of that fits this is Bob Dylan.

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  2. Yeah, I like where you are heading. And maybe in Jamaica he was mostly a follower of Rasta ideals, on the world stage he was the introducer and prophet (?). So he might simultaneously have two positions depending on audience..

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