posted
C.A.I.D.S. is the reason why ancient African history has only been studied by Afrocentric researchers. The letters C.A.I.D.S. mean Culturally Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. C.A.I.D.S. has caused much destruction in the African American community, it is the psychological equivalent to the A.I.D.S. virus.
The C.A.I.D.S. virus is caused primarily by placing the pursuit of European culture and values over the traditional culture and values of Afro American and African people. This lack of race pride, knowledge of one's past leads to feelings of racial inferiority. Due to C.A.I.D.S. many African Americans are ignorant of their past, and thusly lack the human values necessary to protect African American culture from self destruction.
The African American middle class after the 1920's has avoided identification with Afrocentricism, cultural nationalism or race consciousness. Harold Cruse has pointed out that "The [Southern] black middle class as it was constituted (even in the north) was not committed to any serious sponsorship of promising artists or any involvement in the 'politics of culture'". [ii]
The Church , long an expression of African American independence has also failed to combat the destructive effects of C.A.I.D.S., because its middle class materialist orientation. [iii] The capitulation of the Black Church and the African American middle class to Eurocentric values has not brought them assimilation or integration into the American mainstream , but no true African-American cultural identity , based on African history and African traditions. [iv]
This is especially true of African American academics. Granted,today we have more African American professors then ever before. Yet, these academics produce few if any research articles, or even serve as editors of mainstream intellectual journals. The most glaring evidence of the devastating effects of C.A.I.D.S., is that except for the Afrocentric scholars who self publish , since the demise of the journal Black World, in the 1970's African Americans do not have a journal which expresses the intellectual ideas, and culture of the African in America.
The failure of the African American academics /intellectuals to publish their own journal suggest that either they have nothing to say, are afraid to express their own opinions without the approval of the department heads at the Universities where they teach, or they simply feel inferior to whites because of their contraction of the C.A.I.D.S. virus. The failure of African American intellectuals to publish their work in mainstream publications also highlight the inability of African Americans to be fully integrated into American academia. Due to Eurocentricism , even those African American "scholars " recognized as competent researchers can only hope to associate with the American Academic Establishment, not assimilate into it.
Afrocentricism is the ultimate remedy for the diseases associated with C.A.I.D.S. , such as alleged racial inferiority and racism that destroy the spirit of African Americans, and especially the self confidence one needs to compete in the United States face the challenge of LIFE and WIN! Asante, has noted that "Afrocentricity resonates with the African-American community because it is fundamental to sanity. It is the fastest growing intellectual and practical idea in the community because of its validity when tested against other experiences". [v]
W.E.B. DuBois, in The Souls of Black Folks, has categorize three principle responses of African Americans to the maladies associated with the C.A.I.D.S. especially white racism. They are l) revolt and revenge, 2) submission to the will of the racist, and 3) a determined effort for self esteem [vi].
According DuBois, the first response of African-Americans to racism can be categorize as the slave insurrections led by Gabriel in Virginia in 1800, Vesey in Carolina in 1822, and Nat Turner also in Virginia around 1831. After slavery this period is best typified by the Black Nationalist Movement of the 1960's, which began with the martyrdom of Malcolm X and the rise of militant organizations in African-American communities such as the Black Panthers, SNCC and the Republic of New Africa. These movements, like the slave rebellions a hundred years earlier were brutally suppressed and destroyed by local state and national police agencies.
The second form of response made by African American to white racism is typified by the African American middle class , Black Church and violent African American gangs. The gangs show their affliction with C.A.I.D.S. through their preoccupation with acquiring material gain, wealth/money (the cornerstones of Eurocentricism the free enterprise economic system with little concern about what happens to their fellow man in the process of acquiring material gain. As a result although many African American gangs will have very positive pro Black "literature", i.e., by laws and history that they teach members of gang to justify their existence as a "positive" force in the community;but in reality , members of these gangs sell drugs and murder one another simply for the love of money. This only increases the riches of peopling living outside their communities, and support the Eurocentric myths that African people can not accomplish positive things without the guidance of Europeans, their culture and "science".
The third response to white racism was formerly the "Negro" Renaissance of the 1920's. Today this response to white supremacy founded upon objective scholarship is Afrocentricism. An Afrocentric view of history is especially needed to combat the debilitating effects of white supremacy. It was noted in the report of the Task Force on Minorities commissioned by the New York State Board of Education that:"African Americans, Asian Americans, Puerto Rican/ Latinos and Native Americans have all been victims of an intellectual and educational oppression that has characterized the culture and institutions of the United States and the European American World for Centuries.
The aim of Afrocentricism is to strengthen the cultural awareness of African people so they can have the self confidence to fight C.A.I.D.S. Afrocentricism is the ideational code African Americans can use to conceptualize the universe in which they live and interact. Culture can be defined as man's learned, accumulated social experience including man's art, belief, customs, knowledge, law and morals that are transmitted and shared by a social group. In general culture refers to a system of learned ideas, not what we do or make.
As a result, of C.A.I.D.S. if you are a AA professional social scientist and/or ‘Middle Class Negro’ you will avoid Afrocentrism and respecting Afrocentric researchers because you believe whites (even if you have no whites in your life) will respect you if you follow the traditional ‘Middle Class Negro’ position that white is right. And as a result, if a ‘Middle Class Negro’ earns a terminal degree s/he will not further the self-esteem of AAs because these researchers will avoid Afrocentrism.
The only cure for C.A.I.D.S is Afrocentrism.
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Your concern about support for the study ancient African history is not new. ‘ Middle class Negroes’ have never supported the study of ancient black history because they are ashamed of their history due to slavery. They are afraid that if they highlight our history whites will see them as ‘Black Radicals’ and prevent their acquisition of material gain. These people raise children who lack an identity and feel inferior to whites who they see as their superior. There are many AA professors of history, anthropology and etc., but the only ‘establishment’ AA researcher I know of ancient African history is Keita, the rest are studying slavery and poverty issues.
Afrocentric researchers recognize that whites love their history, and although they may not want AAs to know their history they respect Afrocentric researchers because they teach the truth. Afrocentric researchers don’t care if their research is not accepted by the (white) Academe. They use the latest research when they author Afrocentric text to confirm the ancient history of African and Black people.
Afrocentrism, as a mature social science was founded by Afro-Americans almost 200 years ago.
These men and women provided scholarship based on contemporary archaeological and historical research the African/Black origination of civilization throughout the world. These Afro-American scholars, mostly trained at Harvard University (one of the few Universities that admitted Blacks in the 19th Century) provide the scientific basis for Afrocantrism and the global role played by African people in civilizing the world.
Afrocentrism and the africalogical study of ancient Black civilizations was began by Afro-Americans.
Edward Blyden
The foundation of any mature science is its articulation in an authoritive text (Kuhn, 1996, 136). The africalogical textbooks published by Hopkins (1905), Perry (1893) and Williams (1883) provided the vocabulary themes for further afrocentric social science research.
The pedagogy for ancient africalogical research was well established by the end of the 19th century by African American researchers well versed in the classical languages and knowledge of Greek and Latin. Cornish and Russwurm (1827) in the Freedom Journal, were the first African Americans to discuss and explain the "Ancient Model" of history.
These afrocentric social scientists used the classics to prove that the Blacks founded civilization in Egypt, Ethiopia, Babylon and Ninevah. Cornish and Russwurm (1827) made it clear that archaeological research supported the classical, or "Ancient Model" of history.
Edward Blyden (1869) also used classical sources to discuss the ancient history of African people. In his work he not only discussed the evidence for Blacks in West Asia and Egypt, he also discussed the role of Blacks in ancient America (Blyden, 1869, 78).
By 1883, africalogical researchers began to publish book on African American history. G.W. Williams (1883) wrote the first textbook on African American history. In the History of the Negro Race in America, Dr. Williams provided the schema for all future africalogical history text.
Dr. Williams (1883) confirmed the classical traditions for Blacks founding civilization in both Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia) and West Asia. In addition, to confirming the "Ancient Model" of history, Dr. Williams (1883) also mentioned the presence of Blacks in Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula. Dr. Williams was trained at Howard.
A decade later R.L. Perry (1893) also presented evidence to confirm the classical traditions of Blacks founding Egypt, Greece and the Mesopotamian civilization. He also provided empirical evidence for the role of Blacks in Phoenicia, thus increasing the scope of the ASAH paradigms.
Pauline E. Hopkins (1905) added further articulation of the ASAH paradigms of the application of these paradigms in understanding the role of Blacks in West Asia and Africa. Hopkins (1905) provided further confirmation of the role of Blacks in Southeast Asia, and expanded the scope of africalogical research to China (1905).
This review of the 19th century africalogical social scientific research indicate confirmation of the "Ancient Model" for the early history of Blacks. We also see a movement away from self-published africalogical research, and publication of research, and the publication of research articles on afrocentric themes, to the publication of textbooks.
It was in these books that the paradigms associated with the "Ancient Model" and ASAH were confirmed, and given reliability by empirical research. It was these texts which provided the pedagogic vehicles for the perpetuation of the africalogical normal social science.
The afrocentric textbooks of Hopkins (1905), Perry (1893) and Williams (1883) proved the reliability and validity of the ASAH paradigms. The discussion in these text of contemporary scientific research findings proving the existence of ancient civilizations in Egypt, Nubia-Sudan (Kush), Mesopotamia, Palestine and North Africa lent congruency to the classical literature which pointed to the existence of these civilizations and these African origins ( i.e., the children of Ham= Khem =Kush?).
The authors of the africalogical textbooks reported the latest archaeological and anthropological findings. The archaeological findings reported in these textbooks added precision to their analysis of the classical and Old Testament literature. This along with the discovery of artifacts on the ancient sites depicting Black\African people proved that the classical and Old Testament literature, as opposed to the "Aryan Model", objectively identified the Black\African role in ancient history. And finally, these textbooks confirmed that any examination of references in the classical literature to Blacks in Egypt, Kush, Mesopotamia and Greece\Crete exhibited constancy to the evidence recovered from archaeological excavations in the Middle East and the Aegean. They in turn disconfirmed the "Aryan Model", which proved to be a falsification of the authentic history of Blacks in early times.
The creation of africalogical textbooks provided us with a number of facts revealing the nature of the afrocentric ancient history paradigms. They include a discussion of:
1) the artifacts depicting Blacks found at ancient sites
recovered through archaeological excavation;
2) the confirmation of the validity of the classical and Old
Testament references to Blacks as founders of civilization in Africa and Asia;
3) the presence of isolated pockets of Blacks existing outside Africa; and
4) that the contemporary Arab people in modern Egypt are not the descendants of the ancient Egyptians.
The early africalogical textbooks also outlined the africalogical themes research should endeavor to study. A result, of the data collected by the africalogical ancient history research pioneers led to the development of three facts by the end of the 19th century, which needed to be solved by the afrocentric paradigms: (1) What is the exact relationship of ancient Egypt, to Blacks in other parts of Africa;
(2) How and when did Blacks settle America, Asia and Europe;
(3) What are the contributions of the Blacks to the rise, and cultural expression ancient Black\African civilizations;
(4) Did Africans settle parts of America in ancient times.
As you can see the structure of Afrocentrism were made long before Boas and the beginning of the 20th Century.In fact , I would not be surprised if Boas learned what he talked about from the early Afrocentric researchers discussed in this post.
As you can see Afro-Americans have be writing about the Global history of ancient Black civilizations for almost 200 years. It was Afro-Americans who first mentioned the African civilizations of West Africa and the Black roots of Egypt. These Afro-Americans made Africa a historical part of the world.
Afro-American scholars not only highlighted African history they also discussed the African/Black civilizations developed by African people outside Africa over a hundred years before Bernal and Boas.
Your history of what you call "negrocentric" or Black Studies is all wrong. It was DuBois who founded Black/Negro Studies, especially Afro-American studies given his work on the slave trade and sociological and historical studies of Afro-Americans. He mentions in the World and Africa about the Jews and other Europeans who were attempting to take over the field. Hansberry There is no one who can deny the fact that Leo Hansberry founded African studies in the U.S., not the Jews.Hansberry was a professor at Howard University.
Moreover, Bernal did not initiate any second wave of "negro/Blackcentric" study for ancient Egyptian civilization. Credit for this social science push is none other than Chiek Diop, who makes it clear that he was influenced by DuBois.
DuBois
These scholars recognized that the people of Southeast Asia and Indo-China were dark skined, some darker than African and Afro-American people. But when they discussed Blacks in Asia they were talking about people of African descent.
In conclusion, Afrocentrism is a mature social science. A social science firmly rooted in the scholarship of Afro-American researchers lasting almost 200 years. Researchers like Marc Washington, Clyde Winters and Mike are continuing a tradition of scholarship began 20 decades ago. All these contemporary researchers is doing is confirming research , that has not been disconfirmed over the past 200 years.
Aluta continua.....The struggle continues.....
REFERENCES
Anselin, A. (1982). Le mythe d' Europe. Paris: Editions Anthropos.
Bernal, M. (1996, Spring). The Afrocentric interpretation of history: Bernal replies to Lefkowitz. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 86-95.
Bernal,M. (1987). Black Athena. New York: Free Association Press. Volume 1.
________. (1991). Black Athena. New York: Free Association Press. Volume 2.
Blyden, E.W. ( January, 1869). The Negro in ancient history.
Methodist Quarterly Review, 71-93.
Blyden, E.W. (1887). Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
_____________. (1890). The African Problem and the method for
its solution. Washington, D.C.: Gibson Brothers.
_______________.(1905). West Africa before Europe. London:
C.M. Phillips.
Clegg, L.H. (1975). Who were the first Americans? The Black
Scholar, 7(1), 32-41.
Coleman, B.E. (1971). A history of Swahili, The Black Scholar,
2 (6), 13-25.
Cornish, S. & Russwurm, J.B. (1827). European colonies in America, Freedom Journal, 1.
Carruthers, J. (1977). Writing for Eternity, black book bulletin,
5 (2), 32-35.
Carruthers, J. (1980). Reflections on the history of afrocentric
worldview, black book bulletin, 7(1), 4-13, 25.
Delany, M.R. (1978). The origin of races and color. Baltimore, M.D.: Black Classic Press.
Diop,C.A. (1974). The African Origin of Civilization. (ed. & Trans) by Mercer Cook, Westport:Lawrence Hill & Company.
_________.(1977). Parente genetique de l'Egyptien Pharaonique et
des Languaes Negro-Africaines. Dakar: IFAN ,Les Nouvelles
Editions Africaines.
__________.(1978) The Cultural Unity of Black Africa. Chicago: Third World Press.
__________. (1981). A Methodology for the study of migration.
UNESCO (Ed.), African Ethnonyms and Toponyms, (pp.87-110).
Paris: UNESCO.
___________.(1986). "Formation of the Berber Branch". In Libya
Antiqua. (ed.) by Unesco,(Paris: UNESCO) pp.69-73.
____________.(1987). Precolonial Black Africa. (trans. ) by
Harold Salemson, Westport: Lawrence Hill & Company.
____________.(1988). Nouvelles recherches sur l'Egyptien ancient
et les langues Negro-Africaines Modernes. Paris: Presence
Africaine.
_____________(1991). Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology. (trans.) by Yaa-Lengi Meema Ngemi and (ed.) by
H.J. Salemson and Marjoliiw de Jager, Westport:Lawrence
Hill and Company.
Douglas, F. (1966). The claims of the Negro ethnologically considered. In H. Brotz (Ed.), Negro social and political
thought (pp. 226-244). New York: Basic Books, Inc., Pub.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1924). The Gift of Black Folks. Boston.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1970). The Negro. New York: Oxford University
Press.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1965). The world and Africa. New York :
International Publishers Co., Inc.
Ferris, W.H. (1913). The African abroad. 2 vols. New Haven,CT
:Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor.
Garvey, M. (1966). Who and What is a Negro. In H. Brotz (Ed.), Negro social and political thought (pp. 560-562).New York: Basic Books, Inc. Publishers.
Graves, Robert. (1980). The Greek Myths. Middlesex:Peguin Books
Ltd. 2 volumes.
Hansberry, L.H. (1981). Africa and Africans: As seen by classical
writers (Vol. 2). Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press.
Hopkins, P.E. (1905). A Primer of Facts pertaining to the early greatness of the african race and the possibility of restoration by its descendants-with epilogue. Cambridge: P.E. Hopkins & Com.
Hume, D. (1875). Essays: Moral political and literary. T.H. Green
and T.H. Grose. 2 Vols. London.
Jackson, J. (1974). Introduction to African civilization.
Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press.
James, G.M. (1954). Stolen legacy. New York: Philosophical Library.
Kuhn, T.S. (1996). The structure of scientific revolution.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lacouperie, Terrien de. (1891). The black heads of Babylonia and ancient China, The Babylonian and Oriental Record, 5 (11), 233-246.
Lawrence, H.G. (1962). African explorers of the New World,
The Crisis, 321-332.
Merton, R.K. (1957). Social theory aand social structure.
Glencoe, Ill. : The Free Press.
Moitt,B. (1989). "Chiekh Anta Diop and the African Diaspora:
Historical Continuity and Socio-Cultural Symbolism".
Presence Africaine, no. 149-150:347-360.
Parker,G.W. (1917) . "The African Origin of Grecian Civilization
".Journal of Negro History, 2(3):334-344.
___________. (1981). The Children of the Sun. Baltimore,Md.:
Black Classic Press.
Perry, R.L. (1893). The Cushite. Brooklyn: The Literary Union.
Rawlinson, George. (1928).The History of Herodutus. New York
: Tudor.
Schomburg, A.A. (March, 1925).The Negro digs up his past.
Thompson, Jr. A.A. (1975). Pre-Columbian [African] presence
in the Western Hemisphere,Negro History Bulletin, 38 (7), 452-456.
Williams, G.W. (1869). History of the Negro Race in America. New York: G.P. Putnam.
Wimby, D. (1980). The Greco-Roman Tradition concerning Ethiopia and Egypt, black books bulletin, 7(1), 14-19, 25.
Winters, C.A. (1977). The influence of the Mande scripts on ancient American writing systems", Bulletin l'de IFAN, T39, serie B, no. 2 (1977), pp.941-967.
Winters, C.A. (1979). Manding Scripts in the New World", Journal of African Civilizations, l(1), 80-97.
Winters,C.A. (December 1981/ January 1982). Mexico's Black Heritage. The Black Collegian, 76-84.
Winters, C.A. (1983a). "The Ancient Manding Script". In Blacks
in Science:Ancient and Modern. (ed.) by Ivan van Sertima, (New Brunswick: Transaction Books) pp.208-215.
__________. (1983b). "Les Fondateurs de la Grece venaient d'Afrique en passant par la Crete". Afrique Histoire (Dakar), no.8:13-18.
_________. (1983c) "Famous Black Greeks Important in the development of Greek Culture". Return to the Source,2(1):8.
________.(1983d). "Blacks in Ancient China, Part 1, The Founders
of Xia and Shang", Journal of Black Studies 1 (2), 8-13.
________. (1984a). "Blacks in Europe before the Europeans".
Return to the Source, 3(1):26-33.
Winters, C.A. (1984b). Blacks in Ancient America, Colorlines, 3(2), 27-28.
Winters, C.A. (1984c). Africans found first American Civilization , African Monitor, l , pp.16-18.
_________.(1985a). "The Indus Valley Writing and related
Scripts of the 3rd Millennium BC". India Past and
Present, 2(1):13-19.
__________. (1985b). "The Proto-Culture of the Dravidians,
Manding and Sumerians". Tamil Civilization,3(1):1-9.
__________. (1985c). "The Far Eastern Origin of the Tamils",
Journal of Tamil Studies , no.27, pp.65-92.
__________.(1986). The Migration Routes of the Proto-Mande.
The Mankind Quarterly,27 (1), 77-96.
_________.(1986b). Dravidian Settlements in Ancient Polynesia.
India Past and Present, 3 (2), 225-241.
__________. (1988). "Common African and Dravidian Place Name
Elements". South Asian Anthropologist, 9(1):33-36.
__________. (1989a). "Tamil, Sumerian, Manding and the Genetic
Model". International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics,18(1):98-127.
__________. (1989b). "Review of Dr. Asko Parpola's 'The Coming of the Aryans'",International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 18(2):98-127.
__________. (1990). "The Dravido-Harappan Colonization of Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal, 34(1/2):120-144.
___________. (1991). "The Proto-Sahara". The Dravidian Encyclopaedia, (Trivandrum: International School of Dravidian Linguistics) pp.553-556. Volume l.
----------.(1994). Afrocentrism: A valid frame of reference, Journal of Black Studies, 25 (2), 170-190.
_________.(1994b). The Dravidian and African laguages, International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 23 (1), 34-52.
________.2007. Afrocentrism Myth or Science.www.lulu.com Here
Woodson, C.G. & Wesley, C.H. (1972). The Negro in Our History. Washington, D.C. Associated Publisher.
.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
W.E.B. DuBois, in The Souls of Black Folks, has categorize three principle responses of African Americans to the maladies associated with the C.A.I.D.S. especially white racism. They are l) revolt and revenge, 2) submission to the will of the racist, and 3) a determined effort for self esteem [vi]. It would appear that most Afro-American established scholars have chosen to submit to the will of the racists. As result, we find that several researchers have made a name for themselves in attacking Afrocentrism. They are Clarence Walker, Wilson J. Moses and John McWhorter.
The most popular critic of Afrocentrism is Clarence E. Walker. Clarence Walker is a professor at the University of California-Davis.
quote: Clarence E. Walker "Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings" Jan 2009
"An Imagined Past,"Labor History Symposium , Labor History,Vol.48, No.2 May 2007, 209-47.
"The Effects of Brown : Personal and Historical Reflections On American Racial Atavism," Journal of Southern History, 2004,Vol.LXX. No.2.
L'Impossible Retour French Translation of We Can't Go Home Again (2004)
We Can't Go Home Again An Argument About Afrocentrism. (2001)Times Literary Supplement Book of the year 2001
There are no Afro-American professors who teach Ancient or Classical History, so-the media found AAs who taught Afro-American history to attack Afrocentrism. Walker is best known for his work : We Can't Go Home Again An Argument About Afrocentrism. In this book he argues that Afrocentrism is in opposition to the black historical tradition, he wrote “Afrocentrism then stands in opposition to the black historical tradition I have called “contributionism”, which was opposed to racism and primimised not on biological conceptions of race but on a universal idea of humankind”(pg.81).
But this is false as outlined above the Afro-American history tradition founded by W.E.B. DuBois, discussed above, did not restrict the discussion of Black history to the slave period and its aftermath. Moreover DuBois, history text was titled The Negro, a title that betrays the ludicris statements of Walker about the “black history tradition”.
Walker knows nothing about African history and he claims the Egyptians and Ethiopians were probably white, and Afrocetrists were teaching a history that never existed. But like the other critics of Afrocentrism he presents no counter arguments falsifying the paradigms of Afrocentric history.
Walker admits that his ideas about history are based where he grew up. Walker wrote “Growing up in a racially mixed environment…had a profound impact on how I think about the world….I was never attracted to black nationalism in any of its separatist or racially essentialist forms” (pg.xxxiv). We Can’t Go Home Again, does not really advance any arguments against Afrocentrism that are original and based on research. He uses secondary sources to criticize Afrocentric research without pointing out why we should reject Afrocentrism.
.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wilson J. Moses, teaches in the Department of History, at Pennsylvania State University. Moses’ PhD is in American Civilization.
quote:
The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925, 1978; repr., Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-19-520639-5 Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and Literary Manipulations of a Religious Myth, 1982; Revised edition: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 1993, ISBN 978-0-271-00933-9 Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-19-505096-7 The Wings of Ethiopia, Iowa State Univ. Press, 1990, ISBN 978-0-8138-0019-6 Afrotopia: Roots of African-American Popular History, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-521-47941-7 (or hardback: ISBN 978-0-521-47408-5) Creative Conflict in African American Thought, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-521-53537-3 (or hardback: ISBN 978-0-521-82826-0) “‘The Ever Present Now:’ Frederick Douglass’ Pragmatic Constitutionalism” Journal of African American History, Winter 2013-14.
Review Essay, Up From History: The Life of Booker T. Washington. By Robert J. Norrell. in The Alabama Review, January 2010, pp. 62-71.
“W. E. B. Du Bois on “Africa and Pan-Africanism” in Shamoon Zamir, ed., Cambridge Companion to W. E. B. Du Bois. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Benjamin Franklin, “Prophet of the Gilded Age: Protestant Ethic and Conspicuous Consumption,” in Carla Mulford, ed., Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Franklin. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Edited with introduction, Black Folk Then and Now, by W. E. B. Du Bois. Oxford University Press, 2007
“Alexander Crummell and the Belief in African Superiority,” in Theodore Louis Trost, “editor”; The African Diaspora and the Study of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
His most well known book is Afrotopia: The Roots of American Popular History, purportedly explains the research traditions of the Afrocentric scholars via the demerits of Martin Bernal’s Black Athena. As a result, he fails to realistically discuss the contentious discourses surrounding the ancient Afrocentric historical memory and detail the methods and paradigms associated with this pedagogy.
There are three problems with the Moses’ Afrotopia. These problems include:
1) the failure to discuss the research of Afrocentric scholars critically;
2) they present the Afrocentric study of ancient history as a recent development ; and
3) the major reason proffered for their attacks on Afrocentrism is that the “academy” rejects the discipline.
Moses fails to proffer and outline the major Afrocentric ancient history text. Afrocentric scholars make hundreds of detailed archaeological, historical and linguistic claims, which have not been systematically refuted or discussed in Afrotopia . The fact that Moses ignore the historical research of the Afrocentric scholars make their works narrow and unrepresentative of the ancient Afrocentric history discipline. In general, Moses has dismissed Afrocentrism due to alledged external factors such as “race thinking”, “personal prejudices”, “social and political pressures” and “ideology” rather than disconfirmation of Afrocentric hypotheses.
Moses in Afrotopia argues that Afrocentrism should be rejected because:
1) it was founded by white scholars to vindicate enslaved blacks ;
2) it is an ideology of culturally improvised, illiterate urban Afro-American males;
3) it is not recognized as historically valid by “establishment” historians so it should be rejected solely on his basis (p.225).
These arguments by Moses are presented without any citations and counter evidence.
Moses makes it clear in Afrotopia, that he has no real clue about Afrocentrism. In his opinion Afrocentrism was developed during the 1930’s by the Jewish American scholar Melville Herskovits (pp.11-12). This view is wrong. It is clear that Afro-American scholars such as Frederick Douglas and Alexander Crummell, not Euro-Americans, first wrote Afrocentric history.
Moses, boldly explains that Afrocentrism is based on Egyptocentrism and represents Afro-American vindicationist sentiment. He describes Afrocentrism as “ a historiography of decline based on the idea that the African race had fallen from its past greatness”(p.16). Having made this claim he never presents any historical evidence to refute the paradigms of ancient Afrocentric history. Moreover, he fails to explain how scholars like W.E.B. DuBois and George Wells Parker made it clear in their writings that Blacks probably founded civilization in Greece and China in addition to Egypt is based on the latest historical and anthropological evidence available to these authors during there day. This is important, because if the researches of these scholars was fraudulent Moses and his cohorts should be able to present opposing evidence which disconfirms the researches of DuBois, Parker and the other Afrocentric scholars? But alas, there is no evidence presented to disconfirm the research of Afrocentrists.
posted
Most white scholars feel that due to the alleged intellectual inferiority of Africans and Afro-Americans they are unsuited to write ancient history, international affairs, or archaeology. This may result from several factors especially racial bias and social position.
These factors are important ,because of the fact that formerly persons writing ancient history themes usually came from well to do or middle-class families that could provide them with the capital to undertake research activities abroad. This belief has ghettoized many African American scholars like Walker and Moses to write only about slavery, the slave trade and/or the cycle of poverty typified by life in the urban centers of the United States. The basic function of the works of Walker and Moses is to silence heterodox voices without any argument or hypothesis testing. Science relies on observation and hypothesis testing, not rational thought alone. Using logic singly to deny the Afrocentric ancient historical memory is unacceptable because an authors personality, tradition, values and habitual methods of thinking can taint the expectations of historians.
My major complaint, is that these books fail to add any critical analysis of the goals of the Afrocentric curriculum and pedagogical methods. The critics of the ancient Afrocentric field make hasty rejections of the ancient Afrocentric history enterprise. They declare, without any citation to the evidence, that the ancient Afrocentric curriculum lacks canonical, methodological and theoretical traditions that represent the normal routines of scholarly life.
Unfortunately, Walker in We Can’t Go Home, and Moses in Afrotopia, fail to focus on the Afrocentric history literary canon. This neglect to confront Afrocentric historical claims founded on the rigorous nature of Afrocentric scholarship, makes their contribution to this debate another entry in the contest between elitism and a curriculum developed and supported by scholars outside Euro-male dominated “academy establishment” by a member of the status quo, rather than an objective review of Afrocentrism.
Consequently, the arguments they present in support of their rejection of Afrocentrism are based on the method of authority, rather than actual historical and anthropological evidence rejecting the varied Afrocentric historical hypothesis. This failure to confront the mounds of evidence, which support the African origin of Grecian, Egyptian, Sumerian and the Indus Valley civilizations ,is a sad commentary on Afrotopia and Afrocentrism. These books cannot provide the reader with any reliable debate on the paradigms encompassing the Afrocentric ancient historical memory.
Walker and Moses are unashamed to admit that their books were written to defend the modern research university from dissenting voices to “establishment” claims of American intellectuals. The real objective of these books is not a search for a “true” vision of history, or a review of the evidence presented by Afrocentrists supporting their historical claims, they want to maintain the view that history should only be written from a Eurocentric perspective.
Moses reaffirms the establishment view that history should be written by “professional historians” who have professional credentials of “expert knowledge” and affiliation with white universities (pp.225-233). In his opinion Afrocentrism is mainly an ideology of lower class urban Afro-American youth, especially males.
The Walker, Moses and other critics of Afrocentrism present no evidence in support of their critique of this discipline. This lack of evidence invalidates their theory.
You cannot prove true things to be true, but something that is false can be proven to be false. The failure of Moses and Walker to present “empirical validation” in support of their rejection of Afrocentrism makes their claims pure fiction.
posted
Since C.A.I.D.S. is a psychological disorder, I would parallel it's propagation as a generational dysfunction disorder that is cyclic in nature, meaning;
1. Is is the direct result of extreme oppression 2. The symptoms are a superset of Stockholm Syndrome 3. Ultimately, those oppressed have the potential to become the aggressors
WHAT IS P.T.S.S.(Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome) ?
P.T.S.S. is a theory that explains the etiology of many of the adaptive survival behaviors in African American communities throughout the United States and the Diaspora. It is a condition that exists as a consequence of multigenerational oppression of Africans and their descendants resulting from centuries of chattel slavery. A form of slavery which was predicated on the belief that African Americans were inherently/genetically inferior to whites. This was then followed by institutionalized racism which continues to perpetuate injury. Thus, resulting in M.A.P.:
- M: Multigenerational trauma together with continued oppression;
- A: Absence of opportunity to heal or access the benefits available in the society; leads to
- P: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.
KEY PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR REFLECTIVE OF P.T.S.S.
Vacant Esteem Insufficient development of primary esteem, along with feelings of hopelessness, depression and a general self destructive outlook. Sub-symptoms often externalized self destructively as;
* Drug & Alcohol Dependence * Extreme embrace of Oppressor culture * Extreme Anti-Social behavior I.E., Incest, Homosexuality, Over-sex womanising, Dysfunctional family relationships.
Marked Propensity for Anger and Violence
Extreme feelings of suspicion perceived negative motivations of others. Violence against self, property and others, including the members of one’s own group, i.e. friends, relatives, or acquaintances.
Racist Socialization and (internalized racism) Learned Helplessness, literacy deprivation, distorted self-concept, antipathy or aversion for the following:
-The members of ones own identified cultural/ethnic group, -The mores and customs associated ones own identified cultural/ethnic heritage, -The physical characteristics of ones own identified cultural/ethnic group.
The systematic dehumanization of African slaves was the initial trauma, and generations of their descendents have borne the scars of P.T.S.S. Since that time, Americans of all ethnic backgrounds have been inculcated and immersed in a fabricated (but effective) system of race “hierarchy,” where light-skin privilege still dramatically affects the likelihood of succeeding in American society.
Dr. Winters, I believe that what we as African Americans are experiencing now from American/European oppressors is their adoption of their previous European oppressors (former white Serfs, slaves, Slavs) due to their cyclic Stockholm Syndrome symptoms. In this is in fact true, then the likelihood of free African Americans once again becoming stuck in this cycle become very real. Therefore, the symptoms of P.T.S.S. may very well be responsible for the above-mentioned C.A.I.D.S. symptom where the oppressed rejects their own cultural beliefs to embrace those of the oppressor.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
| IP: Logged |
posted
PTSS may contribute to CAIDS but today there are many rich AAs who chose CAIDS as a way to avoid being reponsible. My sons often argue about the white man stoping us from making businesses. But my younger son reminds my oldest son that every time we see a football game we are looking at around 60 millionaires, and he says why don't we put any pressure on them to form businesses.
As a result, some people avoid recognizing their culture , not just due to PTSS , they succumb to CAIDS because they want to place the burden on Europeans to up lift AAs, instead of doing for self.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Your younger son is brilliant and has hit the nail on the head. The new black paradigm is to get rid of the old way of thinking and start a new inflection point of holding ourselves accountable by openly and aggressively "white-listing" apathetic Negroes. Stop being overly impressed by their net worth and refocus on their net contributions. Those with the highest contribution receive the greatest support while those listed with the lowest get chastised and shamed.
Abandon and ban/boycott the NAACP Image Award and replace with the UBIA (United Black Improvement Assoc) award for Most Contributing Black award.
All those NFL & NBA players have spent their entire lives being mentored and led by whites teachers, coaches, trainers and fans. That is all they see in support. Other blacks support them externally, but it is whites who make or break their careers.
Blacks need to either support them, not because of their athletic ability, but like Mohammed Ali, based on what they do with their lives outside of sports.
After 400 years of failed attempts by black to educate/enlighten whites, it's a waste of energy and initiative to continue this path to force whites to change. In fact, the change isn't required in whites, but blacks themselves.
It's past time to stop supporting blacks who have made wealth and turn their backs on their own. It's time to identify these blacks for their lack of responsibility and to create media outlets that shame them and ask the majority to stop their support of their activities. When you ask Floyd Mayweather, P Diddy, or Dre what they have done with their millions to help their own, all they can say is they give out a few thousand dollars worth of free turkeys on Thanksgiving, or a few thousands worth of scholarships. This is a shame because collectively they hold ample revenues to build and run tens of black colleges and universities. To fund dozens of black technology firms to employ tens of thousands of blacks. To initiate, manage and run independent black political parties and think tanks.
As long as blacks keep allowing those who succeed to not be held accountable, nothing will change, Like Michael Jackson told us long ago, It's time to start making changes in the man in the mirror, and time for him to change his ways.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic