An Afrocentric Manifesto

Molefi Kete Asante's Afrocentric philosophy has become one of the most persistent influences in the social sciences and humanities over the past three decades. It strives to create new forms of discourse about Africa and the African Diaspora, impact on education through expanding curricula to be more inclusive, change the language of social institutions to reflect a more holistic universe, and revitalize conversations in Africa, Europe, and America, about an African renaissance based on commitment to fundamental ideas of agency, centeredness, and cultural location.

In An Afrocentric Manifesto, Molefi Kete Asante examines and explores the cultural perspective closest to the existential reality of African people in order to present an innovative interpretation on the modern issues confronting contemporary society.

Thus, this book engages the major critiques of Afrocentricity, defends the necessity for African people to view themselves as agents instead of as objects on the fringes of Europe, and proposes a more democratic framework for human relationships.

An Afrocentric Manifesto completes Asante's quartet on Afrocentric theory. It is at the cutting edge of this new paradigm with implications for all disciplines and fields of study. It will be essential reading for urban studies, philosophy, African and African American Studies, social work, sociology, political science, and communication.

1 Introduction 1

2 Ama Mazama and Paradigmatic Discourse 9

3 Afrocentricity: Notes on a Disciplinary Position 31

4 In Search of an Afrocentric Historiography 55

5 Kemetic Bases: The Africanness of Ancient Egypt 68

6 The Afrocentric Idea in Education 78

7 Sustaining a Relationship to Black Studies 93

8 Afrocentricity and History 105

9 The Black Nationalist Question 122

10 Race, Brutality, and Hegemony 132

11 Blackness as an Ethical Trope: Toward a Post-Western Manifesto 153

References 167

Index 174

“An Afrocentric Manifesto is the most comprehensive response to those critics that charge Afrocentricity is a closed system. Building on the work of Cruse, Nkrumah and Karenga, Asante defines Afrocentricity as a paradigmatic intellectual perspective linking research to ethical praxis.”

Charles P. Henry, University of California, Berkeley

“In An Afrocentric Manifesto, Molefi Kete Asante has accomplished something quite extraordinary in addressing a wide range of issues shaping current discourse on Afrocentricity and related themes.”

Mekada Graham, University of Oklahoma

Molefi Kete Asante is Professor of African American Studies at Temple University. Molefi Kete Asante's Afrocentric philosophy has become one of the most persistent influences in the social sciences and humanities over the past three decades. It strives to create new forms of discourse about Africa and the African Diaspora, impact on education through expanding curricula to be more inclusive, change the language of social institutions to reflect a more holistic universe, and revitalize conversations in Africa, Europe, and America, about an African renaissance based on commitment to fundamental ideas of agency, centeredness, and cultural location.

In An Afrocentric Manifesto, Molefi Kete Asante examines and explores the cultural perspective closest to the existential reality of African people in order to present an innovative interpretation on the modern issues confronting contemporary society.

Thus, this book engages the major critiques of Afrocentricity, defends the necessity for African people to view themselves as agents instead of as objects on the fringes of Europe, and proposes a more democratic framework for human relationships.

An Afrocentric Manifesto completes Asante's quartet on Afrocentric theory. It is at the cutting edge of this new paradigm with implications for all disciplines and fields of study. It will be essential reading for urban studies, philosophy, African and African American Studies, social work, sociology, political science, and communication.