In brief, Rastafarians believe that Africans in the West were stolen from Africa by Europeans, were sold and settled in the Americas, and that their destiny is to return to Africa from this exile. They believe that Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia, was the promised Messiah of Biblical prophecies. His overthrow and death, as well as the fact that Africans in the Americas came predominantly from West Africa (not East Africa), are of little relevance in the belief structure of the group, which holds to its faith in the emperor's rescue of Africans held in captivity. Hope, aspiration and reality aside, this dream has spawned poetry, music and paintings and inspired religious-based Africanist groups outside the continent.  
In the African diaspora consciousness, precise physical location and direct historic lines of connection are not themselves of much relevance, and this is because the construction of the myths of belonging and demonstrable historic connections run along different paths. This suggests not only that the birth, development and  
continuation of consciousness of belonging to the African diaspora are replete with contradictions, gaps, overlaps and so forth, but also that they constitute a dynamic process of being that is highly creative, as Cohen (op. cit.) suggested.