REX NETTLEFORD WAS ONE of the most revered figures in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the African diaspora. He wore many hats with many interests, and one was that of a cultural gatekeeper. Nettleford was mindful of the traffic of social and cultural anthropologists who ventured to Jamaica for their fieldwork and studies. Jamaica is becoming one of the 'over-researched' areas in the Caribbean, because it is attractive to study-abroad undergraduates as well as to serious graduate and senior scholars. Travel to Jamaica is easier than ever before, thanks to contemporary aviation routes. Finally, Jamaicans are accustomed to foreigners, and monolingual Americans welcome the fact that the official language of the country is English. Although he might have had some reservations from time to time, I doubt that Nettleford excluded or denied anyone from pursuing the course of anthropological inquiry. After all, the success of anyone's research was determined by their own intellectual prowess, preparedness, compassion for others, and the ability to be sensitive to issues of class, colour, nationality, ethnicity and other forms of difference. However, I do believe that Nettleford was guided by his own role as a cultural gatekeeper as he carefully assessed those who made their way to his office during his over fifty years at the University of the West Indies (UWI), including twenty-nine years at the helm of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies. Whether they were making his acquaintance for the first time, bringing greetings from mutual friends and colleagues from abroad, or seeking his advice, Nettleford would ask, So what brought you here to Jamaica? Why Jamaica? What did you hope to find here? Will you contribute to this society or the African diaspora? He knew what could be achieved and supported, and recognised those who were successful. As a social critic, political activist, cultural producer and historian, Nettleford embraced the contributions that anthropology, as a method and as a perspective, played in the understanding and explaining of the multiplicities of Jamaican society, the culture and its people.Jamaican culture was Nettleford's arena, his wellspring, and the virtual core of all aspects of his long career. In his chapter, Melody of Europe, The Rhythm of Africa, Nettleford describes how the European (350 years of British colonial rule impacting government, education, law, property ownership, family and kinship) dominated over Africa's rhythm, although it was steady, haunting, quite audible and in many instances subtly interwoven.1 However, the rich cultural complex of language, diet, folklore, family patterns, marketing, medicine, magic, religion and grassroot economic organisations was maintained by the masses of the people. It is an ongoing struggle to value and advocate for the African rhythm. Nettleford was a champion of that cause of bringing the melody of Europe in harmony with the African rhythm. With an arsenal of research methods, honed in the spirit of the eclectic nature of anthropology, Nettleford applied this multi-method theory of cultivating a valued Jamaican identity in his work as an educator, political advisor, cultural producer, administrator and social analyst.Nettleford's blending of theories and anthropological methods began when he returned to Jamaica in 1959 after completing his studies at Oxford. He joined the UWI research team led by Jamaican anthropologist M. G. Smith and historian F. R. Augier that produced the landmark study on Rastafari.2 Referring back to this report ten years later, Nettleford looks to anthropologists such as the American George Eaton Simpson, whose research on revivalist cults in West Kingston3 laid the foundation for that study, and British anthropologist Raymond Firth whose work on millennium movements was also influential. Nettleford quotes Firth's assertion that Jamaican Rastafari are creative attempts of the people to reform their own institutions, to meet new demands or to withstand new pressures. …