1964, from Rastafarian (q.v.) + -ism. Rastafarism is attested from 1955.
Entries linking to rastafarianism
Rastafarian n.
"member of the Rastafarian sect," 1955 (Rastafarite is found from 1953), from Rastafari, Jamaican religion built around writings of Marcus Garvey and the belief that Haile Selassie (1892-1975), emperor of Ethiopia, was God. From Ras Tafari, Selassie's title from 1916 to his accession in 1936, from Amharic ras "chief, head" (from Arabic ra's) + tafari "to be feared." As an adjective from 1960.
-ism
word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.