African Studies

Unfortunately, many totalitarian governments of Hispanic descent found his ideas and literary inclinations rather alarming and dangerous to the community. As a result, José Martí was exiled from Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela. While exiled from these countries, he spent several years in New York. While there, he wrote for the New York Sun, taught school, and founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

“Ghana’s history is a metaphor for what occurred in the immediate aftermath of independence in Africa,” is a quote by Kofi Awoonor, Ghana’s leading literary figure and one of Africa’s most acclaimed authors. Three of his poems illustrate the hardships and trials that the Africans faced after their claim of independence from Britain. As said by Awoonor himself, “...high hopes were crushed by the greed, corruption, and lust for power…”. The author uses multiple literary devices as a way to emphasize the adversities they faced. Kofi Awoonor symbolizes the downfall of Ghana after independence through the use of theme, mood, and symbolism in his Three Poems.

There is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until information and ideas started to emerge, particularly, the African retention theories. This sparked an interest in the field of African culture and retention in African Americans. However, the study of African American culture truly emerged as a result of increased awareness in America, specifically through the publication and findings of scholarly research and cultural events like the Harlem Renaissance where all ethnicities were able to see this rich historical culture of African Americans.

In my research, to understand how we undertake the study of the African experience you have to start in the beginning of time which dates back hundreds of thousands years ago and go into one of the first civilizations known as ancient Egypt. Understanding where the people come from and where they are at today does not even cover a quarter of understanding the true African experience. To understand truly how to undertake the African experience you must understand the social structure, governance, ways of knowing, science and technology, movement and memory, and cultural meaning (The six conceptual categories). With these concepts you understand that in a cosmograph known

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” [pg.1] Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]

Now, there are several salient points that can be made about Symoné’s comments. Symoné’s concern with her inability to accurately trace her African roots is reminiscent of the Pan-Africanist point of view. In this interview, Raven is privileging the Pan- African point of view, deciding that her blackness cannot be validated unless she can show a clear connection to Africa. The Pan-Africanist point of view came about during the time of 18th century slave revolts and continued throughout the 19th century abolitionist movements and the rise of new antisystemic movements in the 1960s (Lao-Montes 311).

Prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001 most Americans knew very little to nothing about Muslims nor had an opinions towards them. The lack of knowledge quickly changed due to a combination of factors. Terrorist attacks against America have unfortunately persisted for years, the attacks of 9/11 were fundamentally different. Such attacks evoke a response and the response has evolved and transformed Americans attitude. Non-economic factors, such as prejudicial stereotypes, place a significant role in shaping intergroup relations and in influencing public attitudes. Negative treatment of Muslim Americans in the United States after 9/11 was not caused by the 9/11 attacks alone, but by pre existing social constructions that configured them as

Question one is what is the African diaspora? (Who should be considered in the African diaspora? How is this like the black Atlantic and how is it different?). Students should use the Colin Palmer piece to answer this question.

1.) In chapter 1, Black women slaves were defined as either a “jezebel” or “mammy”. In detail define the characteristics of a “jezebel” and “mammy”. Why were black women defined in these two extreme ways? By contrast, how were Southern white women characterized?

In simple terms, the Diaspora as a concept, describes groups of people who currently live or reside outside the original homelands. We will approach the Diaspora from the lenses of migration; that the migration of people through out of the African continent has different points of origin, different patterns and results in different identity formations. Yet, all of these patterns of dispersion and germination/ assimilation represent formations of the Diaspora. My paper will focus on the complexities of the question of whether or not Africans in the Diaspora should return to Africa. This will be focused through the lenses of the different phases in the Diaspora.

Consider how Africa’s geography has changed over time. What positive and negative effects would these changes have had on human populations on the continent? As their new homes changed they were able to adapt due to their innovative mindset. This can be attributed to the new found organization thanks to language. Allowing Africans to grow and expand throughout the entire continent. Other factors that can be attributed are the change in geography for some parts such as the Sahara drying out and swamps and lakes disappeared.

Does the weight of an arrow affect the speed and distance it travels? The heavier arrow leaves the bow later, but has more kinetic energy and momentum then the lighter arrow which leaves the bow earlier. The higher the mass the harder it is to accelerate. The force on the lighter, faster arrow will slow the arrow down at a faster rate than the heavier, slower arrows. The lighter arrow will almost always have a higher speed than the heavier arrow.

There are many similarities between mental disorders like anxiety and depression. Often times, many symptoms of one disorder stem off of having the other. For example, symptoms of anxiety can be brought on by depressive thoughts, such as thoughts about suicide, and visa versa. The differences, however, are far more prominent than the ways they are the same.

“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.

Walking down Duane Street in Downtown, Manhattan and passing by the African Burial Ground National Monument is one the greatest experiences possible. The street is very busy with enormous buildings and the busy street corner bodega. However, one you step inside the burial is like you entered another realm of hope and peace. This burial shows the great capacitates of the African Diaspora to touch onto even in one of the busiest streets in the world. It’s a monument which recalls all of the wonderful things that the African Diaspora brought to the West such as their faith, ideas, figures, symbols, etc. and in the middle the resemblance of the Black Atlantic with the names of those who buried there, although just their body characteristics because