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'''Afrocentrism''' is a perspective or [[worldview]] that focuses on [[Africa]] and purported African contributions to world civilization and history in much the same way [[Eurocentrism]] focuses on Europe and the purported contributions of [[Europe]]ans. Afrocentrism tends to involve a [[revisionist history]] that recasts [[world history]] from a traditionally [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] paradigm to an African one, with an emphasis on [[Blacks|black]] civilizations predating those of ancient Rome and Greece, such the [[Meroe|Meroitic]] civilizations of [[Nubia]] and early dynastic [[Egypt]], and on the contributions of people of black African descent throughout history. In its more radical form, Afrocentrism is often associated with the notion of [[black supremacy]]. |
'''Afrocentrism''' is a perspective or [[worldview]] that focuses on [[Africa]] and purported African contributions to world civilization and history in much the same way [[Eurocentrism]] focuses on Europe and the purported contributions of [[Europe]]ans. Afrocentrism tends to involve a [[revisionist history]] that recasts [[world history]] from a traditionally [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] paradigm to an African one, with an emphasis on [[Blacks|black]] civilizations predating those of ancient Rome and Greece, such the [[Meroe|Meroitic]] civilizations of [[Nubia]] and early dynastic [[Egypt]], and on the contributions of people of black African descent throughout history. In its more radical form, Afrocentrism is often associated with the notion of [[black supremacy]]. |
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Revision as of 01:30, 10 February 2005
Template:TotallyDisputed Afrocentrism is a perspective or worldview that focuses on Africa and purported African contributions to world civilization and history in much the same way Eurocentrism focuses on Europe and the purported contributions of Europeans. Afrocentrism tends to involve a revisionist history that recasts world history from a traditionally Eurocentric paradigm to an African one, with an emphasis on black civilizations predating those of ancient Rome and Greece, such the Meroitic civilizations of Nubia and early dynastic Egypt, and on the contributions of people of black African descent throughout history. In its more radical form, Afrocentrism is often associated with the notion of black supremacy.
Historical Afrocentrism
Afrocentric history traces and emphasizes important contributions of blacks, beginning with the high civilizations of Africa, particularly Egypt and Kush. It also focuses on black, or Tamil, southern India before the Persian incursions; on the Moorish domination of the Iberian peninsula during the Middle Ages— particularly the dominant Senagelese empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai; and on the descendants of African peoples throughout the world in Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and the Americas.
This Afrocentric view of history generally is considered revisionist, because it diverges paradigmatically from the dominant, incumbent Eurocentric historical view of the powerful West and radically challenges certain race-based presumptions that for centuries formed the foundation of that view. Arguably, the study of history is as much an interpretive process as it is an investigative one, and over time, Eurocentric scholars have much rejected much of the blatant racism that has warped traditional history. There remain, however, significant and fundamental differences of opinion between the Afrocentric and the Eurocentric approach.
Great empires and their impact
Until the mid-1300, approximately two thirds of the world's gold were produced in Western Africa. Trade in gold (as well as salt and slaves) through the Sahara desert provided a crucial economic lifeline for the great empires along the Niger river delta. Another key gold producer and trader was the Central African kingdom of Zimbabwe. While Western Europe was truggling to recover from the Black Death and the One Hundred Years' War, large kingodoms in black Western Africa thrived and flourished, etsablishing advanced civilization known throughout the Muslim and Christian worlds.
Traders of various nationalities flocked to the capitals of these empires, while Muslism and Christian scholars travelled great lengths to observe the monumental works of art and the universities of Timbuktu, Djenné, and Gao. The rule of African kings such as Gahan's Mansa Musa and Songhay's Sunni Ali stretched for hundreds of miles, enfrocing their reign through a system of patronage with local chieftains, centralized taxation (especially of the trade routes), and of course, the threat of military force. An organized justice system was also established, with the king's-appointed judges administring laws and handing out verdicts.
During the 1500s, new large centralized states, such as Benin and Oyo, arose southwards, west of the Niger delta along the Gulf of Guinea. Other states were consolidated further south, in the lower Congo River region of Katanga. Unlike the vast empires of the Niger delta, the material basis for such Bantu-speaking states as Luba and Lunda largely consisted of cattle and metal. In the fertile lake regions of Eastern Africa, smaller kingdoms such as Ruanda, Buganda, as well as several other states, also arose. Many more smaller kingdms and city-states also thrived throughout the continent in the era prior to the advent of Gunpowder.
Many African historians argue that the role played by these developments remains a highly understated topic in Western academia, and the study of history, specifically. Several factors have been cited to account for this discrepancy, racism and Eurocentrism being foremost. Another explanation centers on the continentally-inward expansion of African civilization, in contrast to the Mediterranean, Islamic, and later European colonial empires. Afrocentric historians, therefore, place an especial emphasis over the role of and impact brought by these African civilizations, particularly during the time period in which, arguably, African empires surpassed that of Europe and the Middle East.
Criticism of Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is often viewed with skepticism or even contempt by many, including descendants of African people educated in, and accustomed to, a traditionally Eurocentric historical framework. The dramatic paradigmatic shift from a view of world history centered around European accomplishments, and arguably, deeply racist assumptions about other peoples and cultures to one which emphasizes the black beginnings of humankind, had resulted in significant attitudinal shifts both in Western culture and beyond.
Multiculturalists, on the other hand, tend to welcome historical Afrocentrism due largely to it re-emphasis on the history and culture of a continent long-neglected, and poses significant challenges to a Eurocentric view of world history. One which, they argue, has devalued and appropriated, or simply ignored achievements by Africans. Moreover, they seek to avoid a reductionism whereby various and varied African cultures are viewed as a monolithic whole, as product of a single "black race." They also oppose the notion that any one culture is superior to another, a premise disputed by the so-called "radical" strain of Afrocentrism.
Some critics assert that Afrocentrism largely consists of myth presented as history, and that it is a projection of modern racial and geographical categories onto ancient cultures in which they did not exist. One such argument maintains that 'Europe' and 'Africa' were not, in fact, oppositional entities to the Greek or Egyptian civilizations encircling the Mediterranean. Moreover, the concept of race as a biological category has overwhelmingly fallen out of favor among most serious researchers since the mid-20th Century. Within academic circles, Africans are rarely viewed as a distinct and monolithic people or race, but as a number of diverse cultures entailing complex and varied genetic histories.
On the other hand, Afrocentrists contend that race as a social and political construct still exists and has importance because of the "whitewashing" of history. They charge that important achievements by blacks have been appropriated or distorted by whites, who for centuries claimed that blacks had no history or culture of any value and had made no contributions of note to world civilization.
The debates over Afrocentrism often involve disputes over the factual verifiability of certain claims, especially the issue as to the extent of contributions by African civilizations towards the establishment of non-African ones. Some scholars, such as Mary Lefkowitz in her Not out of Africa, have argued against what she terms has been the exaggurated and myth-based nature of Afrocentric historical studies. By contrast, historians such as Martin Bernal in his Black Athena, have spoken against the strictly European origin of classical civilization, which he terms the Silent Aryan Model. Controversially, Bernal's works have illustrated what he titles as the Ancient Model, a theory maintaining that Afroasiatic and Semitic civilizations were pivotal to the origin and rise of the classic ones.
List of notable Afrocentric historians
External Links
References
- Bernal, Martin. Black Athena: the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization (Free Association Books, London, 1987).
- Lefkowitz, Mary R. Not out of Africa: how Afrocentrism became an excuse to teach myth as history (BasicBooks, NY, c1996).
- Henderson, Errol Anthony. Afrocentrism and world politics: towards a new paradigm (Praeger, Westport, Conn., 1995).
- Terry Kershaw, "Afrocentrism and the Afrocentric method." Western Journal of Black Studies, 1992, 16(3), pp. 160-168.
- Howe, Stephen. Afrocentrism: mythical pasts and imagined homes (Verso, London, 1998).
- Moses, Wilson Jeremiah. Afrotopia: the roots of African American popular history (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
- Asante, Molefi Kete. Kemet, Afrocentricity, and knowledge (Africa World Press, 1990).
- Sniderman, Paul M. and Piazza, Thomas. Black pride and black prejudice (Princeton University Press, 2002).
- Magida, Arthur J. Prophet of rage a life of Louis Farrakhan and his nation (BasicBooks, NY, 1996).
- Spivey, Donald. Fire from the soul: a history of the African-American struggle (Carolina Academic Press, 2003).
- Binder, Amy J. Contentious curricula : Afrocentrism and creationism in American public schools (Princeton University Press, 2002).
- Henke, Holger and Reno, Fred (eds.). Modern political culture in the Caribbean (University of the West Indies Press, 2003).
- Bailey, Randall C (ed.). Yet with a steady beat: contemporary U.S. Afrocentric biblical interpretation (Society of Biblical Literature, 2003).
- Lewis, Martin W. The myth of continents: a critique of metageography (University of California Press, 1997).