For our 250th show on Galaxy Radio we have not one but two special international guests that have been mainstays of the Afrocentric Movement for decades.
Dr Maulana Karenga calls Afrocentricity, “Clearly one of the most important developments in Black Studies… (and a) major conceptual framework.” (1) Karenga Continues:
“As an intellectual category, Afrocentricity is relatively new, emerging in the late 70’s and finding its most definitive treatment then in a work by Molefi Asante titled Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change and published in 1980. With this initial work Asante introduced Afrocentricity as the indispensable perspective of the Black Studies project and initiated a wide-ranging discourse which had both academic and social implications and consequences.” (2)
As indicated above, Afrocentricity was a major development in the fight for Self-determination for Black Studies in the academy but it also spread far beyond that – into the public discourse, at heart of what became known as the ‘Culture Wars’ in 1990s USA, particularly around issues like history and education.
Not surprisingly, the European establishment arrayed its forces against the movement, even enlisting the help of selected Afrikans such as Henry Louis Gates, Cornel West, Anthony Appiah and Paul Gilroy to help with the endeavour. (3)
But the movement amassed an irresistible legion of warrior scholars (influenced by key antecedents like Cheikh Anta Diop, George G.M. James, Chancellor Williams and John G Jackson) which drove forward the ‘Black books revolution’ that peaked in the 1990s: Marimba Ani, Mwalimu Baruti, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Anthony T Browder, Jacob Carruthers,, John Henrik Clarke, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, Asa Hilliard, Leonard Jeffries, Kobi Kambon, Maulana Karenga, C. Tsehloane Keto, Tony Martin, Wade Nobles, Runoko Rashidi, Amon Saba Saakana, James Small and Amos Wilson to name a few.
In an essay called Afrocentricity and the Critical Question of African Agency, Dr Ama Mazama, one of the current mainstays of the Afrocentric Movement has written a cogent summary of why Afrocentricity is such a necessary imperative and it worth quoting at length. In the section titled The Afrocentric Methodology for Liberation: The Exercise of African Agency, she writes:
“It is out of great concern for African disenfranchisement and marginalization in the intellectual arena, as well as other spheres of life, that Molefi Asante developed the theory of action and liberation known as Afrocentricity, which he explained most recently as seeking to “obliterate the mental, physical, cultural and economic dislocation of African people by thrusting Africans as centered, healthy human beings in the context of African thought.” The purpose is to “escape from the anomie of fringeness.” Asante believes that it is only in the process of reassuming in a most conscious manner our sense of historical and cultural agency that we, Africans, can hope to put an end to our invisibility, debilitation and powerlessness. Asante’s rhetoric of liberation, through which he attempts to create and reclaim space for African people, therefore stresses the African as actor and victor. In fact, “the Afrocentric idea is unthinkable without African agency,” explains Asante who defines agency as “an attitude toward action originating in African experiences”. More specifically, “An agent, in our terms, must mean a human being who is capable of acting independently in his or her own best interest. Agency itself is the ability to provide the psychological and cultural resources necessary for the advancement of human freedom “. The Afrocentric African is acting, not acted upon, for she is no longer satisfied to be “the dark toy/ in someone else’s carnival/ or in someone else field/ the obsolete scarecrow” (Césaire, 1957; my translation). Instead, she stands strong and tall in her own center.
Agency is the activating principle that allows our center to be a true home, that is, a source of nurturing existential paradigms. Africanity is not to be confused with Afrocentricity. Being born in Africa, living in Africa, does not make one Afrocentric, as explained by Asante himself: “Only those who are consciously African, given to appreciating the need to resist annihilation culturally, politically, and economically, can claim to be adequately in the arena of Afrocentricity”. Again, one may be culturally exiled although living in Africa. This happens, for example, when one practices alien traditions, such as worshipping foreign gods, or defending and promoting alien concepts.
The source of agency, as defined Afrocentrically, is consciousness. Agency must be understood as an expression and a manifestation of consciousness. As such, it has particular attributes. For example, it is quantifiable: “What we can argue about in any intellectual discourse is the degree to which Africans are weak or strong agents, but there should be no question that agency exists”. The relative strength or weakness of one’s agency is directly correlated to the development of one’s consciousness. According to Asante, indeed, consciousness develops through time, as one’s awareness increases. Five phases are identified by Molefi Asante: skin recognition, environmental recognition, personality awareness, interest-concern, and Afrocentric awareness. While skin recognition represents the lowest form of consciousness, each subsequent phase is marked by enhanced consciousness and therefore increased agency.
In addition to being quantifiable, consciousness can also be typified. According to Molefi Asante, there are two types of consciousness, consciousness of victory and consciousness of oppression. Both types correspond to the levels of development identified above. Consciousness of victory represents the highest level, and consciousness of oppression a much lower one. In fact, only the first one qualifies as Afrocentric consciousness, for only a consciousness of victory is capable of being “stimulating in a progressive sense”. Asante thus continues “No Afrocentric person can ever have merely a consciousness of oppression, pain, and suffering. The present and the future must be lived victoriously. To be conscious of how difficult the European has made one’s life is to be conscious at a very elemental level.”
Another significant attribute of agency is that, while agency is a given, basic human feature, it can be exercised or given up. Asante talks about those Africans who “had denied, lost, or given away agency in order to become different from our historical selves.” The price for not exercising one’s agency is mental and psychological bondage, even accompanied at times with physical bondage: “When the Afrocentrist says that it is necessary to discover one’s location, it is always in reference to whether or not the person is in a centered or marginal place with regards to his or her culture. An oppressed person is dis-located when she operates from a standpoint, that is, location that is centered in the experiences of the oppressor”.
Consciousness being the source of agency, what determines consciousness (that is, Afrocentric consciousness) itself is our relationship with Africa. This relationship develops along a vertical and horizontal axis. In its vertical dimension, consciousness emanates from the quality of one’s relationship with one’s ancestors. Afrocentricity requires a “commitment” to an African “cultural base”, and ancestral veneration is undeniably a most important pillar of the African cultural base.
The person who fails to develop and maintain a relationship with their ancestors is most dislocated and bound to engage in destructive behaviours as they “will attack mothers and fathers, disparage the very traditions that gave them hope in times of hopelessness, and trivialize their own nobility. The person’s images, symbols, lifestyles, and manners are contradictory and thereby destructive to personal and collective growth and development. Unable to call upon the power of the ancestors, because one does not know them; without an ideology of heritage, because one does not respect one’s own prophets; the person is like an ant trying to move a large piece of garbage only to find that it will not move”.
This focus on the ancestors as the originators of consciousness is demanded by African culture itself. It is the ancestors who are primarily responsible for the welfare and the thriving of the community, by bestowing protection and guidance to the living. They ensure the flourishing of the community by blessing it with fertility. They are also the zealous moral guardians of the social order upon which the society rests. It is not exaggerated to state that the purpose of African life is to become an ancestor, since such a high status is reserved to those who have lived an ethical life, that is, abided by the community’s norms and traditions, thus effectively contributing to its continued and enhanced existence. In the African cultural context, one’s ability, personally and collectively exercised, to maintain harmony, peace and balance in life is largely predicated upon one’s relationship with the ancestors. This is why consciousness of self as an African necessarily entails, according to Afrocentricity, an active and respectful relationship with the ancestors. This is then also why ancestral veneration is posited as the ultimate source of Afrocentric consciousness, which translates into agency. Thus, Afrocentric consciousness is, in the end, a function of our relationship with our ancestors.
In its horizontal dimension, one’s relationship with Africa includes the embrace of the Pan-African community as one’s community since, in the African context, existence is conceived as first and foremost a social experience. The exercise of agency, as an assertion of African existence, is therefore also primarily a social phenomenon with intended benefits not just for the person exercising agency but for the whole community. In a political sense, collective consciousness and agency are linked to a commitment to Pan-Africanism. The latter, Asante observes, “is a political perspective and a political ideology as well as a social theory. The one does not negate the other. Actually when we speak of the political dimensions of the concept we are also talking about how Africans see themselves as social units” (emphasis added). As we engage in the transformation of our consciousness, as a collective rather than an individual affair, ‘we seek to break out of our isolation and distance and come closer to our African brothers and sisters.” (4)
One of the recent development in the Afrocentric Movement is the establishment of Afrocentricity International. Dr Mazama has described it thus:
“Afrocentricity International supports the economic, cultural and educational elevation of African people in an effort to create cultural consciousness. Its method is Afrocentric and Pan African, participating at the national and international levels in the creation of an advanced cadre of individuals whose aim is to bring into existence an African renaissance. Its members are committed to do all that they can to encourage the rise of African consciousness and the creation of the United States of Africa in order to give back to Africa its greatness and sacredness. The motto of the organization is “Unity is our Aim, Victory is our Destiny!” May each one in the world be free from oppression and free to exist on their own terms for if a few try to oppress the majority, and try to suppress it, insanity and violence are bound to be present in the world. Afrocentrists, in the spirit of Maat, seek peace, harmony, justice, order, balance and truth.” (5)
As well as numerous chapters across the USA AI can also be found in Azania, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Martinique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK (https://dyabukam.com/index.php/en/afrocentricity-en/ai-chapters).
(1) Maulana Karenga (2002) Introduction To Black Studies (Third Edition). University of Sankore Press. p. 45
(2) Ibid.
(3) Henry Louis Gates Jr. (20/07/92) Black Demagogues and Pseudo-Scholars. http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/gates22.htm; John Henrik Clarke(1992) A Dissenting View. http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/henrik22.htm; Molefi Kete Asante (11/05/09) A Quick Reading of Rhetorical Jingoism: Anthony Appiah and his Fallacies. http://www.asante.net/articles/11/a-quick-reading-of-rhetorical-jingoism-anthony-appiah-and-his-fallacies/; Molefi Kete Asante (01/05/00) Against Race by Paul Gilroy (Harvard University Press, 2000). http://www.asante.net/articles/32/afrocentricity/
(4) Dr. Ama Mazama, Per-aat (27/06/14) Afrocentricity and the Critical Question of African Agency. https://dyabukam.com/index.php/en/knowledge/philosophy/item/136-afrocentricity-and-the-critical-question-of-african-agency
(5) Dr. Ama Mazama, Per-aat (01/09/14) The Mission of Afrocentricity International. https://dyabukam.com/index.php/en/afrocentricity-en/mission
we ask the question:
Why do we need Afrocentricity?
1) Why was Afrocentricity established?
2) How can we apply it in our everyday lives?
3) Can you be Afrikan and non-Afrocentric?
4) Where can you find out more about Afrocentricity International?
Our very special guests:
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante: is Professor and Chair, Department of African American Studies at Temple University. Considered by his peers to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars, Asante has published 77 books, In the Fall of 1984 Dr. Asante became chair of the African American Studies Program at Temple University where he created the first Ph.D. Program in African American Studies in 1987. He has directed more than 140 Ph.D. dissertations. He has written more than 550 articles and essays for journals, books and magazines and is the founder of the theory of Afrocentricity. Dr. Asante holds more than 100 awards for scholarship and teaching including the Fulbright, honorary doctorates from three universities, and is a guest professor at Zhejiang University and Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa. In 1995 he was made a traditional king, Nana Okru Asante Peasah, Kyidomhene of Tafo, Akyem, Ghana. In 2012 he was given the title of Wanadoo of Gao in the court of the Amiru Hassimi Maiga of Songhoy. Dr. Asante has been or is presently a consultant for a dozen school districts. He was the Chair of the United States Commission for FESMAN III for three years. Asante was elected in September, 2009, by the Council of African Intellectuals as the Chair for the Diaspora Intellectuals in support of the United States of Africa. Dr. Molefi Asante believes it is not enough to know; one must act to humanize the world.
Dr. Ama Mazama: is Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Programs of the Department of Africa American Studies at Temple University. Afrocentric paradigm, her areas of expertise are: African religion, African American culture, Caribbean culture and literature, African American education, Curricula infusion of African content, Language and power.
She is the Managing Editor of the Journal of Black Studies. Her publications appear in journals in three continents. Well known as an educational consultant for the infusion of African content in American schools Mazama has written several books for teachers in addition to her major scholarly works in Afrocentric philosophy and theory. Two co-edited encyclopedias, the Encyclopedia of Black Studies and the Encyclopedia of African Religion, earned praise for their pioneering work from the National Council of Black Studies. Her scholarly works critique domination and hegemonic philosophies, reveal the cultural, linguistic, and religious bases of Caribbean culture, especially Vodu, and examine cultural and critical methods of establishing an ethic of justice and equity. Among her numerous publications are: The Afrocentric Paradigm, and has co-edited with Molefi Asante: Barack Obama: Political Frontiers and Racial Agency; Encyclopedia of African Religion and Encyclopedia of Black Studies.
Bro. Jegna: is an experienced community historian, organiser and co-ordinator of the Afrocentricity International UK Chapter.