Afrocentricity, Race And Reason

For this week’s reading, we read the article “Racialized Discourses and Ethnic Epistemologies” by Gloria Ladson-Billings. The main purpose of this reading is to argue that “there are well-developed system of knowledge, or epistemologies, that stand in contrast to the dominant Euro-American epistemology.” (Denzin and Lincoln P. 399) The author started out the article by arguing the importance of national and racial consciousness. Author Billings pointed out that the Europeans view that the individual’s mind is the origin of knowledge and presence. On the other hand, the African word “Ubuntu” means “I am because we are.” This shows that the African thinks that the idea of humanity is very important and everyone should be treated fairly no matter what racial and ethnic background they are from. These two ideas came out in the mid to late 1960’s, the two different point of views clear choice between hegemony and liberation. Comparing these two various perspectives shows that this is a critical case.

Africa’s Discovery of Europe, written by David Northrup and much as its name implies, is a monograph detailing Sub-Saharan Africa, starting from 1450 to 1850. This broad timespread starts just before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and ends just beyond the Industrial Revolution. Originally published in 2002, Northrup intended for readers to see Europe from a different perspective; from the lense of African people. The title, Africa’s Discovery of Europe, is interesting within itself. In many cases, majority of people believe it was Europe that opened up the world and conquered the Americas and discovered all this new land, and a sliver of that is true, so many countries surrounding Europe were already major, active players in the modernizing world already. In this case, as Europe was discovering Africa, Africa was also discovering Europe. It switches the mind of the reader from a Eurocentric role to an African one. Northrup discusses how contact was not one-sided, and depicts accurate descriptions of African interactions amongst other Africans and Europeans. Northrup shows the reader that African people were discovering Europe very actively, not passively; African people physically go to European countries and have first-hand experiences with European people and lifestyles.

For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout

But in reality, the entrenchment of eurocentric culture and exploitation around the world will make such a cultural and economic separation impossible. The idea of a prosperous, ideologically separate black space is in many ways a wet dream, a dream necessary for the growth and identity of the African-American

Throughout the semester the language, literacy, and liberation of Africa have been explored in multiple aspects. However, another topic that seems practically unavoidable when discussing these things, is the struggle and violence experienced in the process of colonization and liberation. Throughout history, africans had to endure a lot of anguish, both mental and physical. But, while sitting in class and taking in the videos, and discussions, I came to a startling realization: the global fight for “black” people is more than a simple guns and knives battle, it is a mental battleground.

The African diaspora has to do with the forced mass dispersion of African persons during the transatlantic slave trade. As a result, different black cultures emerge in different locations across the globe. At the same time, even though there is a physical separation, there still exists a shared identity due to an awareness of common origin, (Africa) as well as a common experience of marginalization in their respective locations. Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic, published just a year before Louisiana explains this result of the African diaspora:

The reconstruction of African Diaspora has been a constant clash through the historical outline as rewriting and uncovering the veracity has been challenging.

History “…is contained in every facet in life…” with a direct relationship between money, power, rulership, and domination, (Wilson). But what happens, when history is distorted through an immortal instrument that is metamorphosed in the lens of one speaker? The understanding of human races become nothing of importance, allowing those writing the past to stay on top of a racial hierarchy. Three racially distinctive authors, Amos Wilson, Rodolfo Acuña, and Edward Said, come together in their writings, The Falsification of African Consciousness, Occupied America, and Orientalism, respectively, emphasizing the importance of how those writing books develop cultures; to open the eyes of people, so they don’t allow the distortion of who they are. All three authors do this by vocalizing multiple times differently to a point where it is understood by the reader, allowing them to get clarity in the mechanics of the world, and allowing them to choose with the continuation of this way.

Race is about how you use your nationality to represent yourself to the world. Social class is an aspect that gets many people confused when they associate this with other aspects and one that can change the way you live. Each aspect has a relation to one another that can be seen as positive or negative, also the relationships between the identities form the human. These elements of race, class and their affiliations with other aspects can help identify a person’s

“The idea of “race” represents one of the most dangerous myths of our time, and one of the most tragic.” In the last half on the nineteenth century anthropologist defined four “major groups” of people for purely convenience purposes. Due to how the four groups were divided this created a new term “race” this has gone far beyond its four letters. For such German/Nazi philosophers, anthropologist, and scientist their conception of race can be viewed far different than others. Given the Germans knowledge and force, they have annihilated mass population due to religious beliefs and racial discrimination.

In this paper, I will describe and justify the values of Afrocentrism by giving my point of view on cultural hegemony to eventually analyze my artifact. The topic of racism and police brutality is a widely universal issue that can be addressed through my own experiences in life. In my experiences through sport, I have been able to have first-person access and exposure to cultural differences having a direct reflection on my central argument which will be stated in my analysis/social-political conclusion section.

“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.

As a learning experience, Lemelle 's Pan-Africanism for Beginners provides a strong broad base of knowledge. Instead of concentrating on the specifics of Pan-Africanism, this book covers a broad range of aspects, from the Diaspora to Garveyism to the Harlem Renaissance. Because there are so many people and movements associated with Pan-Africanism, it is nearly impossible to go into detail about every important event in one book. Even so, Lemelle does a good job at providing enough detail on each topic, while still conveying how complex Pan-Africanism is. By including many facets of Pan-Africanism, Lemelle is able to spark an interest in the reader so that they can continue onto more specific research. For instance, when Lemelle explained the Conference of

The intended purpose of this study was to find a relationship between African self-consciousness and psychological well-being. Precisely, to observe if the African self-consciousness of African descent college students had an effect on their psychological well-being. Results of this study indicated that there is a positive correlation between African self-consciousness and psychological well-being. These findings were consistent with Baldwin (1985) who found that African self-consciousness was a prominent factor in determining differences in psychological functioning, aspects of psychological well-being, and behavior in Black college students. It was also consistent with the finding of Baldwin & Bell (1985) who found that healthy Black personality

Afrocentrism or Afrocentricity is a cultural ideology or worldview that focuses on the history of the African Diaspora, based on the idea that people of African descent should re-assert a sense of ?agency? in order to achieve self-realization. ?Agency? refers to the capacity of individuals to think independently and to make their own free choices. ?The Black King? (Eddie ? what period of time does the film focus on? You should mention that here somewhere ? see next line, put the year after the ?circa? meaning around that time) focuses focuses on the conflicts of African Americans in a small southern community (circa 1932 ) within the context of the oppression exerted over them by the dominant white community. The film covertly introduces Afrocentricity dogma through its storyline of the oppressive living conditions of the blacks, situations that are the catalyst for finding redemption in Mother Africa, which in turns prompts a ?Back to Africa Movement? among the people.