Foundations of Afrocentric Studies: Personalities and Positions

No single scholarly publication moved or shifted the perspectival center of gravity of my intellectual development than the way Prof. Molefi Kete Asante's "Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge" did, radically transforming my worldview and nudging me to question the very foundation of everything I had previously studied from elementary school to the university.

Nonetheless, this classic Afrocentric text would merely introduce me to an unknown multiverse of rigorous lucubration on the epistemology of theorizing where the exegetical, cultural and philosophical locus of the agential center of the African world is none other than its own privileged positionality, Africa itself, with hegemonic Europe assuming a peripheral coordinate of epistemological niche shaped by the interior logic of its own suit of collective experiences, philosophies, ideological imperatives, etc., and where Africa constitutes its own internal critique or logic of self-awareness, of self-conscientization. To wit, Africa emblematizes its own mirror of self-critique and self-representation. Let's be clear at this juncture: Europe does not enjoy any prerogatives or privileges of epistemological antecedence here as, according to its own trusted classical historians, Herodotus among them, Europe is a progeny of classical Africa whether the point of reference is philosophy, science, mathematics, cosmology, architecture, sculpture, religion, pedagogy, or culture. Thus, Afrocentricity doesn't pander to the paternalistic logistics or emotional dictates of "the white gaze," a phrase one easily identifies with Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Literary theorist Henry Louis Gates, Jr. owes his 1989 American Book Award-winning book "The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism" to Afrocentric theory, and his critical blurb for the academic text "The Afrocentric Idea" no doubt spoke to his intellectual indebtedness to Prof. Asante.

Further, following my painstaking perusal of the afore-cited text "Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, "I was confronted with three major outstanding queries: How did Prof. Asante come to this rich theory, this great idea of Afrocentricity? Why was the Afrocentric idea not formulated into a fully developed theory until he took on this seminal challenge in 1980? And who were and are those thoughtful personalities whose arsenal of deep and insightful intellectual, philosophical and cultural positions helped to advance this idea in the academy and throughout the world? Educated guesses and answers trickled in now and then but not until I acquired a fuller picture from his latest publication, "Foundations of Afrocentric Studies."

Prof. Asante counts Hamdy Ercaibh, a respected and knowledgeable Egyptian sage, among the pillars of Afrocentric intellectual and epistemic traditions, a man he rightfully calls "one of the foundation stones in the Afrocentric building." Prof. Asante then dilates on the foundational indispensability of Ercaibh to Asa Hilliard and Yosef Ben Jochannan by way of Ercaibh's impartation of critical knowledge of the cultural and civilizational blackness of Ancient Egypt to them, but, unlike others, though, Prof. Asante doesn't shy away from openly acknowledging an intellectual debt to Ercaibh, one of the men beyond Cheikh Anta Diop who had exposed him to the Africanity of classical Egypt, that's Kemet. To tell the truth, this is my first encounter with Ercaibh despite my eclectic and expansive reading.

And yet Prof. Asante, the formidable theorist Cornel West once called "a seminal thinker" and "a living legend," doesn't usurp or appropriate for himself the covetous seat of Afrocentric theorizing and its successful institutional propagation and entrenchment in the academy and throughout the world. Prof. Asante thus cites others whose contributions to the Afrocentric project can't be glossed over, names that include notable thinkers such as Christel Temple, Katherine Bankole-Bedina, Maulana Karenga, Alton Hornsby, and Carter G. Woodson, in addition to those mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.

For anyone who has previously read "Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge," "Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change," "The Afrocentric Idea (expanded version)," "Afrocentricity," "As I Run Toward Africa," and "The Painful Demise of Eurocentrism," which I think some may or may not have done, I deeply regret to say your knowledge of the historiography and epistemology of Afrocentric theorizing and of some of its leading proponents will forever remain incomplete until you extend the critical, engaging vista of your intellectual horizon to "Foundations of Afrocentric Studies." I recommend this book because it's geared toward the general public and educators who want to gain a broader understanding of Afrocentricity and of the allied contributions of some of the major men and women to the theory. Given the relative absence of the kind of high-flown academese that discourages serious engagement with a curious reading palate, the language of the text is accessible and readers will certainly appreciate the material presented for its digestible ease. Prof. Asante doesn't disappoint on this score. Copies of the book are available for purchase at www.umojabooks.com

Prof. Molefi Kete Asante obtained his PhD at UCLA at 26, becoming a full professor at 30. Recognized as "One of America's 100 Leading Thinkers," Prof. Asante has at least 700 publications to his credit, of which 106 are books, books used all over the world, making him the most published African American scholar in the world. An institution builder as well as a scholar known all over the world, Prof. Asante, a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and a former founding editor of the "Journal of Black Studies," has supervised or directed over 140 doctoral dissertations, created the world's first PhD program in African American Studies, founded an international think tank The Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies (MKAI), and is a holder of honorary doctorates. Prof. Asante's impact on the American Academy and the world of academia is undeniable. Most importantly, he remains an influential presence in the American Academy.

   Comments0