FARIKA BERHANE
                                   
                        HER STORY
         

   BORN NORMA FAY HAMILTON IN KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 1938, IYATA FARIKA BERHANE FORWARDED TO THE LIGHT OF RASTAFARI IN LATE 1960'S. MARKED BY THE POLITICAL TURMOIL WHICH ACCOMPANIED THE BANNING OF HISTORIAN AND ACTIVIST WALTER RODNEY, THIS WAS A CRUCIAL JUNCTURE IN THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT. WELL BEFORE BOB MARLEY AND OTHERS BEGAN TO POPULARIZE THE CULTURE, SHE WAS AMONG THE FIRST MIDDLE CLASS UNIVERSITY-EDUCATED JAMAICANS TO EMBRACE THE RASTA VISION AT ITS ROOT.
CHANTING ISES OVER THE HILLS AND VALLEYS FROM THE CONCRETE JUNGLES OF KINGSTON TO THE COCKPIT COUNTRY OF TRELAWNEY, SISTER FARIKA HAS TROD A PATH THAT WINDS DEEP INTO AFRICAN ROOTS OF RASTAFARI. RAISED IN A FAMILY OF GARVEYITES, SHE MAINTAINED A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH AMY JACQUES GARVEY, THE FIRST WIFE OF MARCUS GARVEY, FROM HER CHILDHOOD DAYS.
THESE AFRICAN INFLUENCES OF HER YOUTH WERE LATER BROADENED IN 1966 WHEN SHE COVERED THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN JAMAICA WHILE WORKING AS A FREELANCE JOURNALIST FOR THE JAMAICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (JIS). IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT SHE TRAVELED WITH MEMBERS OF THE GHANIAN TEAM TO THE MAROON SITE OF ACCOMPONG, AN EVENT WHICH REVIVED CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF THE KAMORANTI STORIES WHICH HER GRANDMOTHER ONCE TOLD HER. SOON AFTERWARDS THIS TRIP INSPIRED HER TO SEARCH OUT HER OWN MAROON ROOTS.
WHILE AT JIS SHE WAS DRAWN TO THE NASCENT ABENG MOVEMENT WHICH FORMED SHORTLY AFTER THE RODNEY AFFAIR. RALLYING TO ITS POPULIST CALL, SHE STARTED A LITERACY PROGRAM FOR KINGSTON'S SANITATION WORKERS. THIS COINCIDED WITH HER RATSAFARI AWAKENING AND BROUGHT HER INTO CONTACT WITH FIGURES LIKE RAS HISTORIAN AND THE ELDERS OF NYABINGHI HOUSE.
THROUGHOUT THE 1970'S SHE WORKED BOTH WITH JIS AND AS A PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER OF THE PAN AFRICAN SECRETARIAT IN JAMAICA. IN 1974 FARIKA WAS DETAILED BY THE SECRETARIAT TO ATTEND THE SXTH PAN AFRICAN CONGRESS IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA. THERE SHE STRENGTHENED HER ROLE AS A CONDUIT BETWEEN AFRICA AND THE DIASPORA. SINCE THIS TIME SHE HAS FUNCTIONED AS AN INTERNATIONAL EMMISSARY OF THE RASTAFRAI MOVEMENT, SERVING AS AN ADVOCATE FOR THE DAUGHTERS OF QUEEN OMEGA THEOCRACY AND THE ACCOMPONG MAROONS OF JAMAICA. AFTER WORKING IN CALIFORNIA THROUGH MUCH OF THE 1980'S, FARIKA LAISONED WITH THE RASTAFARI COMMUNITY OF WASHINGTON D.C. AND THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TO BRING SPECIAL DELEGATION OF NYABINGHI ELDERS TO THE UNITED STAES IN 1988.
FOR HER CONTINUING WORKS WE ALL GIVE THANKS!
IYATA FARKIA BERHANE IS THE MOTHER OF FOUR CHILDREN, ASHAY ,SAHAI, MARKOS-GARVEY AND MIKKEL.

LINER NOTES BY: JAKES HOMIAK
                                  SMITHSONIAN ISTITUTION
                                  WASHINGTON D.C. 20560
                                   16 DECEMBER 1992