Babylon Burning: Reggae and Black Liberation
October 1, 2026
Christian Noakes explores the deep connections between the Jamaican Black Power movement and the political roots of its renowned indigenous musical genre, reggae. From the history of capitalist oppression in Jamaica and the indelible influence of Guyanese revolutionary Walter Rodney, Noakes provides essential context for incendiary political radicalism within reggae. Musically innovative and lyrically radical, reggae, he writes, was "instilled with a sense of militant determination that was at once a reflection of the culture it came from and a source of defiant resilience in the face of rampant inequality."