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“Molefi Asante and the Afrocentric Initiative MOLEFI ASANTE AND THE AFROCENTRIC INITIATIVE: MAPPING HIS INTELLECTUAL IMPACT Los Angeles Sentinel, 09-20-07, p. A-7 DR. MAULANA KARENGA It is always good to honor the honorable, globe and turning it over so that we see all the to praise the praiseworthy and to bear witness to possibilities of a world where Africa, for exam- the excellence and enduring quality of distin- ple, is subject not object” and then pursuing guished work wherever it is done or displayed. these possibilities. This in turn necessitates a So, when I received an invitation to give the radical and even revolutionary dismantling of keynote presentation at the “Retrospective on the European system of discourse and domi- the Achievements of Molefi Kete Asante at 65: nance. In a word, he states, "we must break- An Invitational Conference,” I prepared my pa- down in order to breakthrough." per; and Tiamoyo and I caught the appropriate He begins as a young professor at UCLA plane. And many of Asante’s colleagues and in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement, former students from Africa, Latin America, exploring the liberating possibilities in the con- Asia, Europe and North America did likewise. cept of nommo, the Dogon term for the word, as For it was not only a gathering to give praise, a creative, transformative and sacred power. It is but to present our work and reaffirm commit- for him a conceptual framework for discussing ment to the Afrocentric initiative which is the both the distinctiveness of the African way of foundation and framework for our intellectual speaking and its continuing centrality in African and practical projects. American life, in spite of the Holocaust of en- Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, the founding and slavement. This pointed toward his later trans- preeminent theorist of Afrocentricity is one of forming communications into a sub-field in the the most important and influential intellectuals discipline of Africana Studies and developing a at work today. A professor of African American shared vocabulary for both. Studies at Temple University, Asante's academic Secondly, Prof. Asante brought a new life record reflects a rich array of intellectual to Africana Studies with his theory and method- achievements and insights expressed in over 60 ology of Afrocentricity, enriching and expand- books, 26 book chapters, 100 plus scholarly arti- ing discourse and discussion and challenging cles, a huge number of commentaries, book re- established order conceptions of the mission and views and research entries, numerous awards, meaning of Africana Studies. He rejects the no- countless professional presentations and several tion of Black Studies as a mere collection of major projects he has conceived and carried out courses and insists on a rootedness, orientation within and for the field of communications and and methodology that make Africans the sub- the discipline of Africana Studies. Few scholars jects and agents of their own history. have had the kind of intellectual impact on dis- Asante, in crafting the conceptual founda- course in the academy as well as influence in the tions of Afrocentricity, focuses on five central larger society and on an international level as he concepts: (1) centeredness in one’s own culture; has had. The range and reach of his work is not (2) orientation towards the good of one’s people only evident in the million plus hits one gets in and humanity; (3) perspective as an Afrocentric internet searches around the categories Afrocen- way of understanding and approaching the world tricity and Afrocentric, but also in the way the from a centered and correctly oriented position; category Afrocentricity in its various forms ap- (4) victorious consciousness; and (5) agency, pears in the literature, lives, conversations and which is the capacity and will to act as self- projects of scholars, professionals and lay per- conscious agents of cultural and social change. sons alike on both the national and international To operationalize Afrocentricity, Asante level. built the first PH.D. program in African Ameri- Asante asserts that his work is "construct- can Studies and directed more than 120 doctor- ing, enabling and liberating." This requires a ates, including the first Japanese and Chinese “transformative turnabout,” i.e., “taking the graduates in this discipline, reaffirming the MOLEFI ASANTE AND THE AFROCENTRIC INITIATIVE: 2 MAPPING HIS INTELLECTUAL IMPACT Los Angeles Sentinel, 09-20-07, p. A-7 DR. MAULANA KARENGA world-encompassing character of his project and and discourse. Indeed, as Asante states, "the its value as a methodology and model for other Afrocentric school of thought becomes useful cultures and disciplines. Working to further for the expansion of dialog and widening of dis- strengthen and map out the terrain and central course, (which is) the proper function of educa- issues in the field, Prof. Asante has produced tion." several important texts in co-editorship: Hand- Finally, Prof. Asante's impact is also felt in book of Black Studies; Encyclopedia of Black the larger area of communal and social discourse Studies; and African Intellectual Heritage. He and practice. Reaching beyond the academy, the also founded the Journal of Black Studies, the concept of Afrocentricity set in motion educa- preeminent journal of the discipline. tional, social, political and human service pro- Thirdly, Asante also created an interna- jects of various kinds. These all testify to the tional school of Afrocentric thought, with schol- generative nature of his work. Asante also en- ars within the discipline and across discipline gages in a number of practical initiatives— lines. To provide space for regular enriching conducting educational tours to Egypt and West exchanges and presentation of new research, Dr. Africa, acting as curriculum consultant for nu- Asante and his wife, Ana Yenenga Asante, merous school districts and conducting work- founded the Annual Cheikh Anta Diop Interna- shops for teachers in Afrocentric philosophy, tional Conference dedicated to building on the methodology and curriculum building. More- work of the Imhotepian Senegalese scholar, over, he works with numerous national and in- Cheikh Anta Diop. Indeed, Asante accepts ternational organizations including the African Diop's conception of ancient Egypt as an essen- Union. tial “source for intellectual and philosophical Afrocentricity, he concludes, not only pre- ideas" and vital to the renewal and forward ad- cedes and makes possible intellectual emancipa- vance of African culture. tion, but also points towards human emancipa- Fourthly, Asante's work gave new intellec- tion in the fullest and most flourishing sense of tual life to the academy, provoking harsh and the word. Without this cultural centeredness, he even hysterical counter criticism by Eurocentric says, “we exist in a borrowed space,” a space scholars. But it also encouraged an overdue and which falsifies our history and fossilizes our sorely-needed self-interrogation by the academy thought and practice in a Eurocentric frame- in terms of its self-congratulatory narrative work. But in our own cultural space, we are able known as curriculum, and its Eurocentric ways to contribute meaningfully and masterfully in of understanding and approaching Africans and our own terms to the multicultural unfolding and the world. And it also inspired and cultivated flowering of humanity and human history in col- cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialog laboration with the other peoples of the world. Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Black Studies, California State University-Long Beach, Chair of The Organiza- tion Us, Creator of Kwanzaa, and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, [www.Us- Organization.org and www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org]. .
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