'Griotic' Methodology: African Historiography, Identity Politics And

Home , African historiography, Bilali Document, Chancellor Williams, Griot, I Am an African, Lott Cary

Towards A ‘Griotic’ Methodology: African Historiography, Identity Politics and

Educational Implications

Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of

Philosophy

in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

Abu Jaraad Toure, M.A.

Graduate Program in Education and Human Ecology

The Ohio State University

2011

Dissertation Committee:

Dr. Antoinette Errante, Advisor

Dr. Leslie Alexander

Dr. Ousman Kobo

Abu J. Toure

2011

Abstract

This study assesses the historical and educational implications of a ‘griotic’ methodology that was employed by free African Americans in the antebellum

North. This griotic methodology involved a textual production of history by and for African Americans that was derived from a West African oral/performance basis of history. The study therefore examines how a distinctive approach of history production developed among free African Americans from the late 1700s through the

1830s as they appropriated, engaged and/or countered prevailing European American discourses. Most important to the study is how these early intellectuals sought to vindicate, historicize and liberate themselves through re-presenting the idea of

‘Africa’ as the metaphorical source and destiny of their race. Educational implications of this griotic methodology are subsequently highlighted in the study as it is applied as pedagogy in a post-secondary classroom to empower African African students.

In order to establish an endogenous prism through which to examine this distinctive African American methodology, this study integrates a number of qualitative and historiographical components: an intellectual autobiography of the author who is an African American male educator; oral histories of African and African American history professors; and assessments of recent African American scholarship that focus on early African identity politics in the Americas. From these analyses, the author delineates and employs a ‘griotic’ framework that involves a dialogue between the

present and past, to chart how a West African oral/performance basis of history ascended into the textual productions of Olaudah Equiano, John Marrant, Peter

Williams Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson, David Walker and Maria Stewart. The historical usage of this ‘griotic’ methodology is then emphasized within these works as a liberatory praxis by which early free Africans empowered their identity politics. As this African American approach is specifically examined as an framework for historical production and education, the final component of the study consequently involves the application of griotic methodology as pedagogy within a post-secondary humanities course. The griotic methodology’s applicability is ultimately assessed with respect to how it prompts African American educational agency in, and/or ownership of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to students’ experiences as constructed by race, ethnicity, religion, and/or gender. In final assessment of griotic methodology as pedagogy, seven principles and practices are offered for educators in post-secondary classrooms to promote a sense of educational agency among African American students in such a way that students’ views of themselves and others are expanded and/or challenged.

iii

Dedication

This dissertation is dedicated to my innercircle, inclusive of: my wife, Chiquita

Renee Toure; and my children, Asha Imaniye Toure, Attiyya Ife Toure, Ajallah Iman

Toure, and Amina Idris Toure. May we continue to climb the ‘Mountain of God’(Al-

Tuur) together.

Acknowledgements

First, and foremost, I acknowledge almighty God (Allah) the creator and sustainer of the heavens and the earth (Alhamdulillah!). It is only by way of our submission to God’s will that we are truly successful. I must also acknowledge all the ancestors from whom we have descended and all those who are yet to be born! For the living are only a manifestation of the circle or ongoing cycle of life.

I thank my help-mate, companion, friend, children’s mother, part-time editor and wife, Chiquita R. Toure for her intellect, support, feedback, encouragement and commitment. I thank my children, Asha, Attiyya, Ajallah, and Amina for serving as my motivation to be the best father that I can be spiritually, intellectually and physical

I thank my parents, A. “Terry” and Arlene Winn Thompson for providing the solid foundation for my ongoing journey in this process of life. I also thank them for instilling in me the multitude of ethics, morals and principles that I have drawn from throughout my life. Job well done!

I must also acknowledge Dr. Antoinette Errante for her on-going support and encouragement throughout the years. Thank you for assisting me in finding my space within the college of education. Additionally, I thank committee members, Dr.

Leslie Alexander and Dr. Ousman Kobo. Dr. Alexander, your expertise of the antebellum free African communinity has expanded my intellectual horizons with respect to the intersections between Africanity, Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism.

Brother/Professor Ousman Kobo, I thank you for your expertise in African methodology which is essential to my griotic methodology. Moreover, I thank you for your consistent and constructive encouragement, fellowship, comraderie and hospitality. I also thank Dr. Walter Rucker, who was instrumental in inspiring me to getting me back on the intellectual track full-time. I wish him well in his future professional and personal endeavors.

I also would like to acknowledge important individuals who significantly contributed to my intellectual autobiography. They include Ms. Ann Jones (third grade teacher),the late Dr. Mary-Anne Williams, Dr. Michael O. West, Dr. William Martin, Dr. Merle

Bowen, Dr. Erwin Epstein, and Dr. Beverly Gordon. I thank you all!

Vita

November 26, 1969………………... Born, Canton, Ohio

December 1992 ……………………. B.S., Social Studies Education, The Ohio State University.

May 1995……………………………M.A., African Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1993-1994…………………………...Graduate College Fellow University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1994 ………………………………….Foreign Language and Areas Studies Fellow University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1994-1995……………………………Graduate Teaching Assistant University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1995-Present …………………………High School Social Studies Teacher Columbus City Schools.

1996-Present………………………….Adjunct Instructor of Humanities Columbus State Community College

Publications

“Stefania Capone’s Searching for Africa in Brazil: Power and Tradition in Candomble.” (Book Review) Journal of Religion in Africa, 41, (2011)131-133.

Fields of Study

Major Field: Education (Cultural and Social Foundations)

Minor Fields: Africana Studies

vii

Table of Contents

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………ii

Dedication………………………………………………………………….iv

Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………...v

Vita ………………………………………………………………………..vii

List of Figures ………………………………………………………………x

Introduction …………………………………………………………………1

Research questions………………………………………………………….10

Literature Review…………………………………………………………...13

Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………..18

Methodology………………………………………………………………..22

Chapter Outline……………………………………………………………..27

Limitations of Study………………………………………………………..29

Chapter 1: Discerning a ‘griotic’ methodology.……..…………………....31

Chapter 2: Griotically assessing historiography on African Diaspora..…..74

Chapter 3: Charting griotic methodology through oral/performance based agencies and the ‘African’ autobiography .……………..…………141

Chapter 4: Foundations of griotic methodology within free African textual performances ……….……………………………………………………...179

John Marrant’s ‘griotic’ historicization of African Masonry……………...183

viii

Griotic oration of Peter Williams Jr.,……………………………………...190

William Hamilton and the ‘griotic’ making of history……………………197

The emergence of the ACS and Jacob Oson’s Search for Truth………….207

The ‘griotic’ culmination of David Walker’s Appeal……………………..219

The historical dynamism of a griotte’, Mrs. Maria W. Stewart…………...231

Chapter 5: Griotic methodology as pedagogy………………………...... 247

Conclusion ……………………………….……………………………….329

References ………………………………………………………………..334

Appendix A: Intellectual Autobiography…………………………………353

Appendix B: Realms of Consciousness of an African American male

in African studies ………………………………………………………...383

Appendix C: Consent form for Professors ……………………………….384

Appendix D: Consultation/Oral History Questions ………………...…....387

Appendix E: Consent form for students ………………………………….388

Appendix F: Course Syllabus…………………………………………….391

List of Figures

Figure 1. Towards a griotic methodology ………………………………………..73

Figure 2. Classroom seating arrangement ……………………………………...266

Figure 3. Student identities / goals ……………………………………………..277

Introduction

“We are the vessels of speech, we are the repositories which harbor secrets many centuries old… we are the memory of making, by the spoken word we bring to life the deeds and exploits of kings for younger generations.” 1

From time immemorial,2 the griot and his female counterpart, the griotte’, have used oral history/traditions to shape the heritage and identity politics of numerous West

African societies. Known by a multitude of ethnic specific terms including (d)jeli

(Bamana), jali (Mandinka), gesere (Soninke), jesere (Songhay), marbo (Fulbe), bendere

(Mossi), genene (Dogon), marok’i (Hausa), and enad (Tuareg),3 these ‘artisans of oral history’ are born into a hereditary order, or caste, whose profession consists of the preservation and selective transmission of historical knowledge. One of the most characteristic and audible manifestations of the griot/griotte’ encompasses his/her commemoration, ‘praise singing’ and/or servicing of kings and nobles, and more recently, contemporary African presidents, prime ministers and diplomats via their verbal artistry (in exchange for the elite’s patronage, of course). Beyond this however, the griot/griotte uses his/her mastery of oral history/traditions to historicize African societies and thereby provide social cohesion and political order.

1 Niani (2004) 2 Hale (1997) and Hale (1998) suggests the griot’s origins may be connected to one of the earliest city- states to rise in West Africa. This being Jenne’-Jeno, which was founded in 250 B.C (noted below). Though I am focusing specifically on West African griots, there are striking similarities between West African griots and the South African imbongi; see Kaschula (1999). Beyond this, there are even greater parallels between the West African griot and the “Vizier Ptahotep” of ancient Kemet (Egypt); see Hilliard (1995). 3 Hale (1997); Hale ( 1998); Jansen (2000) 1

The term ‘griot’ is commonly viewed as having French, Spanish or Portuguese origin. However, there are striking similarities between this general, or ‘generic’ term and the ethnic based references for the profession throughout West Africa as noted above. The fact that these ethnic based references predate European intrusion into West

Africa, therefore suggests that ‘griot’ was linguistically derived from an African source.4 Moreover, the underlying social function of the griot’s vocation which permeates West African societies especially along the Niger River, indicates a common origin - perhaps dating back to the founding of Jenne’-Jano in 250BC . The griot’s craft was subsequently diffused throughout West Africa via the successive rise of the mighty empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhay. 5 This apparent fluidity and dynamism of the term ‘griot/griotte’ and his/her functionality is, in many ways, emblematic of the distinctive prism from which the griot/griotte’ envisions and re-presents history within his/her given society. This principally involves an oral based framework whereby history is viewed as a unity or interplay between the realms of the past and present, in order to impact the future. From this view, the re-presentations of history by the

4 Hale (1997) and Hale (1998), states that the first documented use of ‘griot’ was in the 14th century by Ibn Battuta. He further examines the theories of griot being a French, Portuguese and/or Spanish derived term. He ultimate concludes it is probably originated in Africa and was appropriated by Europeans and then re-appropriated by Africans, suggesting the high level of interaction between Europeans and Africans . For an expanded view of caste groups throughout West Africa see, Tamari (1995). 5 According to Hale (1997) the griot tradition is richest within the Mande region of Mali, Gambia, and Senegal where the tradition was diffused via Mali and Songhai. He asserts the Fulbe griot tradition predated this as it was diffused from Ghana. 2

griot/griotte’ involves a pronounced volatility and resilience that is based on dialogue with and/or accommodation to his/her ever changing identity politics.6

Consequently, the specific duties of this griot/griotte’s profession may intersect with those of a historian, genealogist, spokesperson, praise singer, master of ceremonies, advisor, diplomat, politician, counselor, advisor, negotiator, healer, musician, teachers, poets, exhorters, and town criers – all dependent on a changing historical context. It should be further noted that although the profession of the griot/griotte’ is endemic throughout West Africa, the griot/griotte’s realms of knowledge and practices are not uniform among and between cultural groups.

Moreover, some griot/griotte’ operate across cultural communities and have even formed their own ‘ethnicity.’7 And still yet, there are some West African cultures which have no griot/griotte’ caste at all.8 The underlying feature of the griot/griotte’ throughout the societies in which they exist however is that they view historical knowledge as sacred; are highly selective in what, how and to whom knowledge is

6 For insights into this distinctive epistemology of oral history see, Phillips (2005); Magaziner (2007); Freierman (1993) ; Brizuela-Garcia(2006); MacGaffey (2005); Schmidt (2007); Shokpeka (2005); Roberts (1990); Klein (1989); Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993); Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996, 1980); Hale (1998); Lamarie-Ortiz, (1979); Panzacchi (1994). 7 Here my use of ‘ethnicity’ is referring to how griots may ideologically propagate a collective identity across other cultural communities that is based specficially on their profession. The fact that such a collective identity is further promoted through endogamous marriage thus establishes a griot ‘ethnicity’ that is dynamic and fluid as griots are consciously manipulating identity politics to maintain cultural agency. See; Lamarie-Ortiz (1979); Hale (1997); Hale (1998) 8 Ibid. 3

transmitted; and, by using their verbal artistry to ‘reimagine the past,’ they provide a historical basis for cooperation and/or consolidation of their communities.9

Though referring to griots as a caste may in fact distort their functional role within their given societies, they are often considered to be one of a number of other artisan based groups that include weavers, blacksmiths, and carvers, to name a few.

This explains why scholarship often references griots/griottes as ‘word smiths’ or

‘artisans of the word.’10 Unlike other artisan or craft-based groups however, griots/griots view themselves and are viewed by others as ‘living by song/speech’ rather than ‘living by work.’11 Considering oral history/traditions are the bases of their livelihoods, griots engage in an endogenous hoarding of knowledge, which is further consolidated through endogamous marital relationships. For a price, commoners can receive the verbal services of the griot/griottes which is always grounded in ‘historical wisdom.’ However, the griot’s transmission of knowledge to the public/lower classes will always be within the framework of a collective historical, political and cultural context in which selective references are given to specific (noble/elite) families to which the griot’s caste is bound. 12 This context by which history is reproduced accordingly empowers griots/griottes as ‘guardians of cultural knowledge’ who are ultimately in service to the elite’s contemporary political order. These endogenous and

9 Jansen (2000); Hale (1998) 10 Hale (1997); Hale (1998) 11 Panzachi (1994 ); Tamari (1995) 12 Jansen (2000) 4

selective dynamics along with the symbiotic relationship between the griot and the elite throughout West Africa have consequently produced conflicting feelings directed toward the griot/griotte’ including reverence and contempt. Accordingly, the griot/griotte’s role as the embodiment of historical knowledge for his/her group is respected as the source of ‘tradition’ throughout West Africa. At the same time, the fact that there is a cultural obligation to materially patronize the griot/griotte’ for his/her cultural and historical services, often generates a sense of disdain for the ‘caste.’13

Despite this ambivalence, the longstanding resiliency of the griot’s oral framework of history that was prevalent throughout West African societies demands reconsideration. For even though the griot ‘hoarded’ and selectively transmitted historical knowledge, his/her widespread functionality reveals a distinctive epistemological approach that involves unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past to shape the future. It stands to reason that the early West Africans who were displaced from their continental homeland throughout the Americas, may or may not have been part of a griot/griotte’ caste. Nevertheless, these Africans who were physically cut off from their cultural heritage and subjected to European American hegemony, could only draw from this distinctive oral prism of history in an attempt to historicize, vindicate

13Despite the popularity and the embrace of the griot throughout the diaspora as a ‘repository of history,’ this ambivalence toward the griot may have been further compounded as a result of colonialism where s/he was viewed as a collaborator with the enemy, and throughout post-colonial Africa where they may be perceived as an undesirable caste, who are loud, boisterious exploiters of their cultural knowledge. Conrad and Frank (1995: 4-7) state that fear of griots was so pronounced throughout many societies that griots/griottes were buried in trees rather than the earth. These ambivalent feelings have become even more pronounced as the griot’s traditional role was further problematized during colonialism and via the capitalist world economy. 5

and liberate themselves. I am therefore proposing that such an approach to historical production ascended among these displaced Africans in America from the historical personality of the griot/griotte’, which I refer to here as griotic methodology. It is my hope that by doing so, the griot, who is fundamentally an agent, or informant of history and education, can be formalized. With this in mind, I will approach this study as a griot as I engage in interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past to assess the historical and educational usage of this griotic methodology.

From the 16th through 19th centuries, the trans-Atlantic slave trade ravaged the societies of West and West-Central Africa. African peoples across all social strata, caste, and vocation were consequently cut off from their cultural heritage, displaced throughout the Americas and subjected to European American hegemony. The peoples who were victimized by this onslaught were from a vast array of diverse and complex ethnic-cultural communities. However, one of the most prevalent and deeply embedded features that would constitute the substance of these displaced Africans’ collective memory was their distinctive view and functionality of history. This view, which was transmitted among and across many West African societies by the griot, and his female counterpart, the griotte’, involved an oral based framework whereby history was envisioned as a unity, interplay and/ or dialogue between the past and present in order to shape the future. As displaced Africans acculturated and/or engaged in cultural negotiation in response to their impending subjugation, this oral based prism served as

the foundational approach to history production that these Africans, who were becoming African Americans would employ in their quest to liberate themselves.14

The distinctive approach to African history by antebellum African Americans is therefore an essential component of the African American experience for a number of reasons. First, it reveals the intellectual complexities and sophistication of one of the most historically marginalized group within the United States. Second, it demonstrates how African Americans maintained agency in a historical consciousness that fueled their identity politics. And third, it reveals a distinctive framework whereby history was produced by and for the African American community. This study attempts to contribute to the history and contemporary usage of a specific African American approach to African historiography that I refer to as griotic methodology. This griotic methodology ascended from a West African oral basis of history and culminated into the textual productions of early African Americans. 15 Although they were displaced within a European American environment, ‘free Africans’ employed this approach specifically to historicize, vindicate and liberate themselves from European American

14 “African American” is used for the sake of intellectual convenience considering it is a late 20th century manifestation. However, the fact that this group appropriated and re-presented “Africa” in order to point out and/or challenge the contradictions between America’s revolutionary ideals and racialized enslavement/subjugation may at a level of theoretical praxis validate this identity for this group more than any other. As this study will explore the historical foundations of a 18th century epistemological approach, I will utilize ‘free African’ and ‘free black’ interchangeably to conceptualize this group within its historical time and space. 15 I use ‘ascended’ rather than ‘descended’ to convey how African Americans used this dynamic West African epistemological approach to strengthen or claim African agency in changing material conditions and European American discourses. As I will show in this study, early African Americans were ascending toward or becoming more ‘African,’ as they responded to European American hegemony. 7

hegemony. This study consequently examines how this griotic methodology was used by and for ‘free Africans’ from the late 1700s through the 1830s within the antebellum

North. I contend that by charting how free Africans employed this griotic methodology to empower themselves, there are pedagogical implications to prompt educational agency for African Americans in the post-secondary classroom.

By ‘griotic methodology,’ I am referring to an endogenous approach of history production that ascends within the African American experience. It has a West African oral and performance basis, and emerged in textual form among free Africans in the antebellum North who were conscious of their racial and historical displacement. Free

African intellectuals consequently utilized this oral framework to appropriate, engage and/or counter prevailing anti-African/European American discourses. The historical writings that were produced by way of the griotic methodology were most often tied to

‘Africa’ as the metaphorical source and destiny of their race.16 Accordingly, I use

‘griot’ because this approach to African history is emblematic of West African oral history, where history is envisioned as a cyclical, dynamic, and transformative dialogue between the past and present. Here, the griot’s production of historical knowledge is shaped by his/her awareness of present day dynamics which may include politics,

16 As will be illustrated below, this ‘Africa’ was a European American idea or invention that free Africans appropriated and re-configured to historicize, vindicate and liberate themselves. For scholarship which examines the ‘ invention’ or’ idea’ of Africa see Mudimbe (1994) and Mudimbe (1988). 8

economics, race, culture, ethnicity and spirituality.17 The griot’s production of history is therefore inseparable from his/her identity politics. As the first Africans were racially displaced and subjugated within European American environments as early as the 16th century, I contend that it was this griotic approach to history that was engaged by and for African Americans that fueled African American politico-cultural identities and corresponding liberatory strategies.18

Throughout the antebellum era of the U.S., oral griotic methodology among displaced African Americans ascended into a textual griotic methodology of African historiography as shown through the early productions of John Marrant, Peter Williams

Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson, David Walker and Maria W. Stewart to name a few. 19 This development is underscored as we consider the fact that these early textual productions were lectures, orations, sermons, appeals, and/or petitions that were produced for and contextualized by the antebellum African American community in the

North. These antebellum African Americans critically engaged prevailing European

17 For elaboration on griot and African conceptualization of history/time, see Kaschula (2001); Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993); Mbiti (1969: 22); Hale (1998); Laymarie-Ortiz (1979); and Panzacchi (1994). For insight into how a modern griot may reduce oral history to a textual production, see Niani (1995). 18 Throughout this era, African Americans identified themselves in the public realm as Colored, blacks, Ethiopians, free men of color, Americans, and free Africans. Many of these identities were used interchangeably at times and were connected to such political agendas as insurrection, abolition, emigration, suffrage, and citizenship rights – which at times, also intersected. All African American identity politics however stressed racial solidarity via liberatory /vindicationist approach to historiography. 19 Though this distinctive methodology would take on a more and more textual quality, it continued to serve as the underlying context by which the historiographical works of Henry Highland Garnet, William Wells Brown, Alexander Crummell, Martin R. Delany, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Anna Julia Cooper and Carter G. Woodson were produced. 9

American discourses of their day, including biblical and classical references, along with elements of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and essentialism to speak directly to the contradictions between U.S. ideals and the institution of slavery. Most important to this study however is the fact that these early intellectuals historicized and re-presented the idea of ‘Africa’ that had been othered by Euro-centric discourses as primitive, savage and ahistorical to vindicate their racial heritage and promote liberatory strategies. I maintain that by examining how African Americans employed this vindicationist/ liberatory approach to African historiography, critical historical and educational implications are revealed into the endogenous dynamics of African American experiences.

Research questions.

After a careful review of scholarship on the African American foundations of

African historiography, I noted some critical areas of concerns. First, the African

American contribution to African history or history writing in general, is a marginalized topic within a sub-area of American, or U.S. studies.20 Second, scholarly assessments of African American history writing employ a U.S. nation-state prism and disciplinary analysis in which transnational, cross cultural and interdisciplinary dynamics are often ignored. These examinations consequently project African American identity and historiography as responses and/or reactions to European American oppression within

20 See Hall (2009). 10

the U.S. 21 And third, scholarly assessments on African American historiography tend to reproduce contemporary paradigms rather than consider the historical, methodological and epistemological contextualization of African American experiences.22 This study consequently provides a historically contextualized investigation into the cross cultural and holistic (interdisciplinary) approach to African historiography employed by and for

African Americans in the antebellum North from the late 1700s through the 1830s.

This study will therefore contribute to our understanding of an African American approach that operated ‘from within’ African Americans’ historical experiences.

Further, this study will assist us in academically empowering African American students within the post-secondary classroom through modeling a framework that prompts students to claim ownership of, or agency in their educational experiences.

Accordingly, I propose to pursue this study by responding to the following primary questions:

1.) How did African Americans in the antebellum North utilize a ‘griotic’ methodology of African historiography?

2.) How did the griotic engagement of African historiography impact early African

American identity politics?

The secondary questions of the study delineate African Americans’ griotic methodology and provide focus to the primary question. They include:

21 See Sheppardson (1974) and Clarke (1980). 22 Hall (2009); Moses (1998); Ernest (2006). 11

3.) What were the essential features of the griotic methodology that African Americans used in the antebellum North?

4.) How did antebellum African American griotic methodology draw upon West

African oral history/traditions?

5.) How did significant historical events contextualize, prompt and/or impact antebellum African American griotic engagement of African historiography and identity politics?

6.) How was the antebellum African American griotic methodology distinct from prevailing European American approaches to historiography during this era?

7.) How did Black Nationalism and Pan Africanism intersect with the griotic engagement of African historiography and identity politics?

These questions highlight how griotic methodology served principally as a historically based vindicationist and liberatory praxis by and for African Americans. My concentration on the praxis factor consequently poses critical educational implications from the African American experience that impacts post-secondary educational policy by way of the final questions:

8.) How may griotic methodology be applied as pedagogy within the post-secondary classroom?

9.) How may griotic methodology as pedagogy within the post-secondary classroom prompt educational agency for African Americans?

By carefully responding to these questions, I hope to contribute to our understanding of griotic methodology in ways that respond more critically to changes in African and

African American epistemology across time and space. Indeed, there have been many approaches that have proven useful for educational policy that focus on African

Americans. However many of them lack crucial historical depth and the few that are grounded in history tend to ignore the shifting contours in African Americans’ social, economic, political, and spiritual conditions that emanated from within its community.

The literature review section that follows indicates the need for such an appraisal that is grounded in African American historical experiences.

Literature review

There are only a handful of scholarly works that deal specifically with the

African American production of African history. Of these, John Henrik Clarke’s

“African-American Historians and the Reclaiming of African History,” (1980), George

Shepperson, “The African-American Contribution to African Studies,” (1974), and

Wilson Jeremiah Moses’ Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular Culture

(1998) can be considered foundational studies. These works respectively view this production of African history as tied to a liberatory agenda by African Americans to vindicate, redefine and reclaim their racial heritage. The interdisciplinary and transnational dynamics of early African American historical production are therefore noted by these scholarly works. However, these studies fail to assess the distinctive

way of knowing and production of history that was shaped by the African American experience itself. This endogenous dynamic is also missing from Stephen G. Hall’s recent publication, A Faithful Account of the Race: African American Historical

Writing in the Nineteenth Century America (2009). Though Hall is thorough and systematic in his assessment of African American historiography, he assesses early

African American historical writing from the standpoint of its “professionalization” as defined by the Western historical academy. Futhermore, as John Ernest’s, Liberation

Historiography: African American Writers and the Challenge of History, 1794-1861

(2004) stresses the liberation element of early African American historical production by drawing his methodology from the paradigm of James Cone’s Black Theology of

Liberation, (1970) we find that his work, like those above, is fundamentally grounded in how early African American intellectuals appropriated, responded to and/or countered white oppression. None of these works examine the distinctive epistemology through which African Americans historicized an ‘Africa’ that was tied to identity politics. Yet, there are other significant works that helped shape the theoretical framework of my study by addressing African historiography, African epistemology, as well as African

American history and education in general.

A number of scholars have provided cultural and historically contextualized assessments involving the utilization of oral history and/or conceptualization of ‘time’ within African cosmology along with the roles of oral historians in Africa. These

include, but are not limited to John Phillips, Daniel Magaziner, Steven Freierman,

Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia’, Wyatt MacGaffey, Heike Schmidt, S.A. Shokpeka,

Richard Roberts , M. Klein, B. Jewsiewicki and V.Y. Mudimbe , John Mbiti, K.

Wiredu, Thomas Hale, I. Lamarie-Ortiz, and Cornelia Panzacchi.23 Recent contributions to Black Atlantic history that reveal distinct performance based manifestations of African historicity as early as the 17th century include those of

Michael Gomez , T.J. Obi Desch, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Peter Caron, Douglas

Chambers, Sylviane A. Diouf,Vincent Brown, Kenneth M. Bilby and Jerome Handler,

George Brandon, John Thornton, C.L.R. James, Sterling Stuckey and Walter Rucker.24

Furthermore, the recent studies of Leslie Alexander, Craig Steven Wilder and Patrick

Rael 25 provide critical assessments of the political, intellectual and/or cultural dynamics emerging among free blacks in the antebellum North as they responded to changing political contexts and therefore have been particularly useful to my study.

Educational discourses that have helped me develop my approach to griotic methodology span a myriad of theoretical paradigms inclusive of critical race theory,

23 The specific works of these scholars I am referring to are Phillips (2005); Magaziner (2007); Freierrman (1993) ; Brizuela-Garcia(2006); MacGaffey (2005); Schmidt (2007); Shokpeka (2005); Roberts (1990); Klein (1989); Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993); Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996, 1980); Hale (1998); Lamarie-Ortiz, (1979); and Panzacchi (1994). 24 The specific works of these scholars I am referring to are Gomez (1998); Desch (2002) and (2008); Hall (1992); Caron (1997); Chambers (2005); Diouf (1998); Brown (2008); Bilby and Handler (2004); Brandon (1993); James (1989), Stuckey (1987); Rucker (2001); and Thornton (1992). 25 See Alexander (2008); Wilder (2001); and Rael (2002). 15

post-colonial theory, Afro-centrism (African-centered theory)26 and Endarkened

Feminist Epistemology.27 Critical (race) theorists whose works resonate with this study include Paulo Freire, Gloria Ladson-Billings and William Tate, Penny Enslin and Mary

Tjiattas, John Ogbu, and Michael Apple.28 These scholars address how educational research, teacher training, and the development of curriculum and pedagogy within U.S. classrooms are based on an ‘official’ and/or ‘white’ cultural model that is designed to reproduce power relations between ‘dominate mainstream society’ (i.e. white, or majority) and others (i.e. non-white, or minority) in such a way that the dominate group’s cultural and intellectual ‘capital’ is reproduced. These works together are important to my research as they suggest how the theoretical and practical engagement of education throughout the U.S. marginalizes, objectifies and displaces African

Americans in particular. Furthermore, post-colonial scholars that speak to my griotic methodology include Jioanna Carjusaa and William G. Ruff 29 who both query Western education through an ‘indigenous’ prism to argue for reciprocity between teaching and

26 Afro-centrism and African-centered theory are used interchangeably within the introduction to demonstrate that they are synonymous. African-centeredism will be used throughout subsequent chapters because it more precisely describes a realm of griotic methodology that was used by free Africans in the antebellum North. 27 Scholars who represent these respective paradigms are cited throughout. The conceptualization of Endarkened Feminist Epistemology’ is used by Cynthia Dillard "to articulate how reality is known when based in the historical roots of Black feminist thought, embodying a distinguishable difference in cultural standpoint, located in the intersection/overlap of the culturally constructed socializations of race, gender and other identities and the historical and contemporary contexts of oppressions and resistance for African American women "; see Dillard (2000: 662). See also Dillard, et al (1990); and Dillard (2006). 28 See Freire (1970); Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995); Enslin and Tjiattas (2009); Ogbu (2008); and Apple (2000) and (1999). 29 See Carjusaa and Ruff (2010). 16

learning. Additionally, Vonzell Agosto, Antwi Akom and H. Giroux respectively have produced intriguing works30 that pose innovative pedagogical implications in service to the notion of learner voice and/or agency. Still, none of these works specifically speak to the particulars of African American educational research and pedagogy in the historical and epistemological manner that my griotic methodology seeks to assess and apply.

The recent contributions of Black feminist thought and Endarkened Feminist

Epistemology have indeed provided a more distinctive African American vantage point to educational research and pedagogy development. These works include but are not limited to the scholarship of Patricia Collins, bell hooks, Michelle Bauer, Ladson-

Billings, Cynthia Tyson, and Cynthia Dillard which apply a critical African American feminist lens to assess the subjectivities,31 complexities and/or intersections of race, class and gender as historical, political and social constructs within African Americans’ experiences. Some of the more recent works argue for a sense of spirituality or

“endarkenment” to be embedded within scholarly prisms that examine African

Americans’ educational experiences.32 Moreover, they offer insightful considerations for African American research to be geared toward the promotion of: organic, or experiential analyses; dialogue between researcher and researched to access knowledge

30 See Agosto (2008); Akom (2009); and Giroux (1997). 31 See Collins (1990); hooks (1994); Bauer (2000); Ladson-Billings (1994); Tyson (1998); and Dillard (2000) and (2003). 32 Here I am referring specifically to the works of Tyson (1998) and Dillard (2000); Dillard, et al (1990); and Dillard (2006). This will be defined below under within my section, ‘Theoretical framework.’ 17

claims; empathy with the researched; research as responsibility; and social justice or empowerment for the researched.33 After reviewing all these above historical and educational works, I realized that there is a need to apply and assess African American history, historiography and educational research from the basis of an African American research method that is developed by and for African Americans. The section that follows therefore explains the theoretical prism in which my approach operates.

Theoretical framework

As I am operating as a griot, my theoretical framework for this study has been informed through selective appropriating elements of Endarkened Feminist

Epistemology, African-centered theory (Afro-centrism) and critical race theory.34

According to Cynthia Dillard, Endarkened Feminist Epistemology articulates, "how reality is known when based in the historical roots of Black feminist thought, embodying a distinguishable difference in cultural standpoint, located in the intersection/overlap of the culturally constructed socializations of race, gender and other identities and the historical and contemporary contexts of oppressions and resistance for

African American women."35 This particular prism stresses the necessity of considering the historical distinctiveness and complexities of African American ways of

33 Dillard (2003) 34 For Endarkened Feminist Epistemology, see Dillard (2000); Dillard, et al (1990); and Dillard (2006). Afro-centric works I am referring to include Asante (1988); Akoto (1992); Ani (1994);Hillard (1989 ) and (1996); Karenga (1980); Murrell (2002); Madhubuti and Madhubuti (1991); Shuja (1992),Schiele (1994); Nobles (1980). For, Critical Race Theory, see Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995 ); Delgado and Stefancic (2001). 35 Dillard (2000: 662) 18

knowing– specifically within the context of European American hegemony. As noted above, Endarkened Feminist Epistemology further offers specific insights geared toward the promotion of organic research in which the researcher empathizes with the researched and gears assessments toward the promotion of social justice. In addition to these theoretical considerations, my framework draws from the African-centered paradigm specifically as it elucidates significant transnational, interdisciplinary, and experiential dynamics that are unique to African and African American experiences.

Beyond the surface views of Afro-centrism being a component of multi-culturalism or a new Black Nationalist theory, the African-centered framework I am employing centers

Africans and African Americans in a “distinct set of cosmological, ontological, epistemological and axiological attributes” rooted in the philosophical traditions of

Africa.36 Specifically, this involves a view that is distinct from and oppositional to

Euro-centricity; a view of reality being structured interdependently; all elements of the universe being spiritual; affective ways of knowing, and a holistic and/or collectivist view of human beings. 37

Molefi Asante’s Afrocentricity (1988) asserts African-centered theory was pioneered through the historiographical texts of African and African American scholars such as George G.M. James, Chancellor Williams, Leo Hansberry, Cheikh Anta Diop and Theophile Obenga. Yet, Wilson Jeremiah Moses’ Afrotopia (1998) correctly traces

36 Schiele (1994). 37 Ibid. See also Asante (1988); Baldwin (1986); Diop (1978); Mbiti (1969); Nobles (1980). 19

Afro-centrism to the foundational historiographical works of antebellum African

American that are to be explored in this study. My griotic theoretical framework for therefore resonates with African-centered theory because it is constructed on the basis of a distinctive African American approach that ascends from Africa. It also involves a

West African view of history and/or time and a collectivist identification of African people on the continent and throughout the diaspora (i.e. Pan-Africanism).38

My study’s framework is also informed by a number of other important African- centered discourses that draw critical nuances toward African American educational policies. They include the scholarship of K. Addae, K.A. Akoto, Marimba Ani, Asa

Hilliard, Maulana Karenga, Peter Murrell, Haki Madhubuti and Safisha Madhubuti, Asa

Hillard, M.J. Shuja, Jerome Schiele, W.W. Nobles and Molefi Asante .39 Yet, within these African-centered discourses there is tendency to essentialize an African ethos as

‘universally’ applicable to the complexities of African and African American dynamics.

Moreover, Afro-centric theory fails to encapsulate the process by which African

Americans’ approach to African historiography deconstructed Euro-centric discourses via fluid, dynamic and transformative manipulations of history. This theoretical gap may be partially addressed by critical race theory.

According to Delgado and Stefancic, critical race theory stems from a movement of scholar/activists who are interested in “studying and transforming the

38 Schiele (1994) 39 See Asante (1988); Akoto (1992); Ani (1994);Hilliard (1989 ) and (1996); Karenga (1980); Murrell (2002); Madhubuti and Madhubuti (1991); Shuja (1992),Schiele (1994); Nobles (1980). 20

relationship between race, racism and power.”40 Moreover, critical theorists believe: 1.)

U.S. racism is normal, not aberrational; 2.) the ascendancy of ‘whiteness’ over color serves psychic and material purposes; 3.) race is a social construction; 4.) each race has its own origins and ever evolving history – i.e. differential racialization; 5.) race has intersectionality and should not be essentialized and; 6.) ‘minority’ racial status establishes an experiential ability to establish voice, or speak on matters of race and racism unknown to whites (i.e. storytelling, counterstorytelling, etc).41 Though the use of race as a theoretical lens was pioneered in the 20th century within W.E.B. Du Bois’

Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Carter G. Woodson’s The Miseducation of the Negro

(1933), critical race theory formally developed in the field of legal scholarship via works of Derrick Bell. Yet, critical race theory has become increasingly interdisciplinary and has informed the field of education through those leading theorists inclusive of Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic, William Tate, Gloria Ladson-Billings and

Rema Reynolds.

My griotic prism is congruent with critical race theorists as it asserts that race and racism is historically endemic in America and has given shape to the particularities and complexities of African Americans that must be acknowledged and examined.

Further, as I operate as a griot, I am acknowledging the organic bond of the researcher with the researched, along with a commitment to transform educational policy in order

40 Delgado and Stefancic (2001: 3-7). 41 Ibid. 21

to promote social justice. Critical race theory and African-centered theory are therefore merged within my theoretical framework as a griot which I shall use to chart how antebellum African American intellectuals employed their distinctive approach of historiography to deconstruct Euro-centric racial discourses and construct a history of

Africa that was tied to their vindication and liberation.

Methodology

I am interested in the griotic methodology of antebellum African Americans that involved the production of African history that was tied to a vindicationist/liberatory agenda. (i.e. identity politics). I assert that by assessing this historical African

American approach, I may draw critical pedagogical implications for the establishment of educational agency for African American students who generally experience a racial, cultural and/or gender based disconnection within the post-secondary classroom, often giving way to academic underachievement. This griotic methodology can indeed be useful as pedagogy because it acknowledges and encourages students’ experiential and intellectual subjectivities as important dynamics within the classroom. Furthermore, as these dynamics are used by students to establish meaning in curriculum, students’ are prompted to develop critical thinking skills as well as expand their views of self and others beyond the classroom. I am therefore approaching this study in a griotic fashion as described above. This specifically involves a West African way of knowing ‘history’

where there is unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past. 42 To implement such a griotic approach, my study’s research methodology accordingly utilizes qualitative and historiographical analyses.

The qualitative component of my griotic methodology is initiated through my intellectual autobiography (Appendix A) whereby I inventory and query significant racial, cultural, social, psychological, and gender role dynamics that have given shape to my ethos as an African American male researcher.43 This endeavor was critical for me to establish a conscientiousness and/or reflexive intellectual disposition prior to my engagement in qualitative research. 44 It is also important to note that my research approach involved ‘me doing who I am’ as an extension of the African American experience, from a qualitative, historical and epistemological standpoint.45 By this, I am referring to the fact that I am consciously engaging in the research of historical and educational processes that I am embedded within, and have shaped my intellectual disposition. In light of this, my intellectual autobiography enabled me to discern critical stages of historicity that I, as an African American male educator involved in African historiography have realized throughout my life. (Appendix B)

42 Mbiti (1969). This may also relate to the Akan concept in which one must ‘return to the past in order to move forward.’ 43 Pierre et al (2002). 44 This notion of reflexivity and ‘context of intimacy’are borrowed from Glesne (2006) and Errante (2001) respectively. 45 See Tillman (2006) for elaboration on these subjectivities that are distinctive to African American researchers. For an assessment of history of religion in West Africa that operates from this same ‘from within’ approach see, Babou (2007). See also Gordon (1990) for an argument in favor of an African American ‘epistemology’ for research. 23

In order to investigate and/or substantiate these stages further, I sought the expertise of specific African and African American professors who specialize in Africa and/or African American history, all of whom were major influences in my matriculation as a doctoral student specializing in African historiography and education.

I contacted these professors, secured their consent (Appendix C) and utilized the stages of historical consciousness I discerned from my intellectual autobiography to facilitate these professors’ oral histories. (Appendix D) I specifically focused on professors’ testimonies as they related to the issues of identity, educational philosophy, epistemology, and ethos. From these oral histories, I discerned seven realms of griotic methodology. These realms include: 1.) a West African view (epistemology) of history which involves unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the past and the present; 2.) a pronounced sense of black consciousness that emanates from intellectual, historical, cultural and/or racial displacement within American society; 3.) a commitment to Africa as the metaphorical source of one’s racial heritage and by extension, the source of human origins (African-centeredism); 4.) a Pan-Africanist/collectivist ethos whereby a collective memory along with an identification and commitment to African people and/or humanity is manifest. 5.) a sense of organic intellectualism in which scholarship is embedded within lived experiences, i.e. a merger between scholarship and activism;

6.) an interdisciplinarity in which African history and/or knowledge is produced by bridging and even transcending the academic disciplines; and 7.) critical

intellectualism/African historiography in which a simultaneous deconstruction of Euro- centric (anti-African) discourses and construction of vindicationist/contributionist

African-centered discourses occurs.46

In order to substantiate these realms of griotic methodology, I discerned their significance to leading African and African American scholarship that focused on the historical shaping of African identity politics throughout the diaspora. Accordingly, I assessed how these historiographical works exhibited the realms of griotic methodology as they constructed the historical experiences of African people. Furthermore, my assessment of the historical subjects within the narratives of these works revealed the existence of a non-textual, or oral based foundation through which an African historical consciousness fueled identity politics throughout the diaspora. I therefore acknowledged this griotic methodology as a distinctive approach to history that drove the identity politics of early displaced Africans in America as well as contemporary

African and African American scholars who specialize in Africana studies.47 With the establishment of this griotic methodology on qualitative and historiographical grounds,

I utilized my present view of this approach to historically trace how it developed among and culminated in the textual performances of free African intellectuals during the 18th and 19th centuries. The specific ‘textual performances’ which I concentrated on include the speeches, appeals, sermons, orations and addresses of John Marrant, Peter Williams

46 See Chapter One, “Discerning a griotic methodology.” 47 See Chapter Two, “Griotically assessing historiography on the African Diaspora.” 25

Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson, David Walker and Maria W. Stewart.48 My analyses of these public addresses demonstrated how ideas were historically transmitted in the process of history making by marginalized people, and therefore pose pedagogical implications for African American students within the post-secondary classroom.

The final component of my study involved my application of griotic methodology as an ‘agency based’ pedagogy within a post-secondary classroom setting.

This notion of ‘agency’ from an educational standpoint involves the process by which

African American students’ claim ownership of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their identity politics – specifically concerning the perceptions of themselves as students within the classroom and as lifelong learners. Though I was interested in how such pedagogy could prompt educational agency for African

Americans in particular, I was also concerned with how this way of teaching would impact all other students within a post-secondary classroom setting. This participant observation component of my study was therefore conducted over a period of 5 weeks for a total of 20 hours within a Humanities course I teach at a Midwestern urban community college. I applied my griotic methodology as pedagogy via a number of student -centered activities over three stages: initiation, cultivation and realization. The data I collected and analyzed during this participant observation was obtained from my

48 See Chapter Three, “Charting griotic methodology through oral, performance based agencies and the ‘African’ autobiography” and Chapter Four, “Foundations of griotic methodology within textual performances,” respectively. 26

observational notes, students’ textual productions within the class as well as audio recordings of teacher to student and student to student discourses. Ultimately, I assessed how the griotic methodology as employed by free Africans in the antebellum

North, provides seven critical pedagogical principles and/or practices that facilitate educational agency for African American students within and beyond the classroom.49

Chapter outline

Each chapter in this study represents the realization of a distinctive approach whereby early African Americans produced historical knowledge to vindicate and liberate themselves. In view of this, I not only assess the historical and educational usage of griotic methodology, but I also employ the West African griotic dictum of

‘unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past’ as my research and/or theoretical framework. Chapter one, “Discerning a griotic methodology,” defines my conceptual framework of ‘griotic methodology,’ then argues the case for such a distinctive approach to history that is exhibited among African and African American intellectuals. The study’s griotic methodology is consequently established as I examine my own intellectual autobiography along with the oral histories of four African and

African American professors who specialize in African and/or African American studies. As I gauge these qualitative factors with respect to contemporary scholarship on oral history/traditions, I discern seven realms of griotic methodology on which the

49 For a detailed methodology of griotic methodology as pedagogy, see chapter five. 27

rest of the study is based. Chapter two, “Griotically assessing historiography on the

African diaspora,” examines contemporary scholarship on the Black Atlantic that highlight African identity politics on the basis of the seven realms of griotic methodology. This provides a historiographical basis for my study as I specifically highlight the griotic distinctions that exist within contemporary African/African

American productions of African history. Chapter three, “Charting griotic methodology through oral/performance based agencies and the ‘African’ autobiography,” concentrates on how an oral based historicity ascended among displaced Africans in the

New World. Consequently, I trace how this distinctive historical consciousness promoted ‘African’ identification as active resistance against European American (anti-

African) hegemony. As I also chart how this historicity gave way to various ‘African’ liberatory endeavors/organizations, my study centers on how griotic methodology was significant to the shaping of these oral based agencies along with the ‘African’ autobiography in which Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (1789) is assessed.

Chapter four, “Foundations of griotic methodology within free African textual performances” highlights how free Africans appropriated, responded to and/or countered specific European American political, religious and intellectual discourses from their griotic standpoint via public addresses, orations, sermons, and appeals. I therefore assess the works of John Marrant, Peter Williams Jr., William Hamilton,

Jacob Oson, David Walker and Maria W. Stewart to demonstrate how these free

Africans drew from the griotic methodology to textually produce African history that was by and for African Americans. Through my assessment of these works, I specifically demonstrate how the culmination of the griotic methodology was realized in such a manner that the identity politics of Africans themselves were synonymous with vindication and liberation. Chapter Five, “Applying griotic methodology as pedagogy,” offers an overview of how I applied griotic methodology as an agency based pedagogy within my post-secondary classroom. I ultimately offer an analysis of the pedagogy and delineate seven principles/practices of how griotic methodology may prompt African American students in particular, to claim ownership of curriculum in such a manner that they are empowered through expanding and/or challenging their identity politics.

Limitations of study

This study seeks to make an important contribution to the history of and contemporary usage of a distinctive approach to African historiography that was by and for African Americans. My aim throughout this study is therefore to realize an endogenous paradigm to study African American experiences that moves beyond mere responses to racial oppression. Though the bulk of the study examines how antebellum

African Americans’ engaged African historiography to vindicate/liberate themselves, I have consequently provided principles/practices for pedagogy from the historical usage

of griotic methodology that may empower African American students within the 21st century classroom. Yet, there are some limitations of this study that I must note.

First, this study is tied to the subjective framework of an African American male educator. As noted above, I have integrated my intellectual autobiography and the oral histories of African and African American professors (who are extensions of my autobiography) with historiographical works to discern my ‘griotic’ methodology. In theory, this is representative of an endogenous, or ‘from within’ approach that my study aims to examine. However, there may be a tendency throughout the study to essentialize African American experiential and intellectual dynamics. In light of this, I must underscore that the African American experience is significantly diverse and complex especially with respect to intellectualism and/or knowledge production. I am merely offering a ‘from within’ vantage point to assess African American history making. Furthermore, though my assessment of griotic methodology attempts to consider the historical consciousnesses of antebellum African Americans, I ultimately yield to the contention that “a historical actor’s intentions or consciousness can never really be known.” 50 At the same time, however I hope that my assessment of this

‘distinctive’ African American approach demonstrates how inquiry into alternative cultural epistemologies is necessary to historiographically and educationally empower all displaced and/or marginalized people.

50 Howell and Prevenier (2001: 80, 97). 30

Chapter 1: Discerning a ‘griotic’ methodology.

As we approach the centennial of Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Association for the

Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH),51 scholarship devoted to the historical and educational experiences of African Americans remain marginalized within academe. This dilemma is tied to a number of factors that speak to the notion of

Western intellectual hegemony. Because all disciplines are conceived on the basis of

Western / Euro-centric compartmentalized notions of knowledge, African American studies is structured as an interdisciplinary or specialized sub area of study within mainstream American or U.S. studies. Scholars who contribute to African American studies are therefore usually rooted in such conventional Western disciplines as history, anthropology, sociology, political science, etc., and consequently employ paradigms and theoretical approaches which portray African Americans as ‘other’ or as in-active agents within their own experiences.52

This study seeks to counter the intellectual othering and marginalization of

African American studies through assessing a distinctive African American approach to

African historiography that was employed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As this involved a production of history by and for early African Americans, these antebellum free Africans simultaneously promoted intellectual and political agency within a

51 ASALH was originally called the Association for the study of Negro Life and History and founded by Dr. Woodson in 1915. 52 This is a basic premise of Afro-centric scholars inclusive of Asante (1988); Asante (1987); Hilliard (1997); and Schiele (1994). 31

European American environment. I refer to this distinctive approach as griotic methodology because it constitutes more than an appropriation or response to European

American mainstream discourses. Rather this griotic methodology ascends from a West

African framework of oral history that is tied to identity politics. This distinctive

African way of producing history involves a view where there is a cyclical exchange or unity between the past and present juxtaposed to Western conceptualization of history being linear and unidirectional.53 In light of this, African identity politics, historical consciousness and knowledge production are merged. Such continental African identities as Ibo, Akan, Bamana, Yoruba, and others would therefore involve the promotion of specific cultural and political vantage points of historical consciousness / history making.

Recent scholarly works inclusive of Michael Gomez and Sterling Stuckey chart the existence of continental African identities throughout the Americas. 54 It is therefore my contention that a West African framework of oral history that is tied to identity politics remained intact throughout the diaspora. Though the ascension of these local, and/or ‘ethnic' continental identities merged into a collective ‘African’ identification in response to white European American hegemony, the free African textual productions of African historiography overtly revealed this West African framework throughout the national and early antebellum eras. A number of recent works assess these African

53 For elaboration on this distinctive African epistemology, cosmology, philosophy, and/or religious worldview, see Wiredu (1980); Wiredu (1996); and Mbiti (1969). 54 See Gomez (1998) and Stuckey (1987) respectively. 32

American foundations of historiography however they fail to consider this unique way of knowing and/or production of history that remained intact among African American history writers.55 Still, the history production by and for antebellum African Americans reveals an interplay between the past and present, as their view of history was tied to identity politics. Accordingly, my study’s engagement of griotic methodology is multilayered. My principal aim is to assess the historical griotic methodology that antebellum African Americans employed in their engagement of African historiography. But my historical assessment of this distinctive epistemological approach is, like the griotic production of history, in service to the contemporary context (i.e. unity, dialogue, or interplay between present and past).

This study contends that the acknowledgement and assessment of this griotic methodology within African American historical production reveals critical nuances within African American experiences that are inaccessible via conventional Western approaches. The promotion of a griotic methodology may therefore re-establish African

American studies from being subjected to othering and marginalized within academe to being an endogenous discipline in which the experiences of African Americans are centered in and assessed from the epistemological vantage point of that experience.

Accordingly, African American studies can serve as a vanguard field for researchers to deconstruct Euro-centric intellectual hegemony across the disciplines. By tracing

55 Here, I am referring specifically to the works of Ernest (2004); Moses (1998); and Hall (2009). 33

African American epistemology to its African roots (even implicitly), we may be able to help educators interested in constructing agency based, and historically grounded pedagogy for the 21st century post-secondary classroom.

The West and Central African ethnic/cultural origins of African Americans are well documented in Michael Gomez’s Exchanging Our Country’s Marks (1998) as he provides demographic analyses of Africans displaced throughout the Americans during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is therefore highly likely that this involuntary dispersal of Africans throughout the antebellum U.S. included actual members of indigenous African griot castes,56 who in subtle ways, allowed what I call griotic methodology to permeate the African American approach to the production of history.

Yet, to assess griotic retentions in the Americas using demographic analyses alone endorses an anthropological view of an undynamic and essentialized ‘ethnographic present.’ 57 This approach denies the resiliency and agency that is historically exhibited by continental and diasporic Africans as they engaged changing circumstances. The emphasis of this study’s griotic methodology is an attempt to highlight a distinctive approach that draws from a West African oral and/or experiential basis of historicity. I use ‘griot’ as an emblematic reference to this epistemology which involves a dynamic

56 Within various indigenous ‘ethnic’/ linguistic groups of West Africa, there are inherited socio-political, cultural and religious statuses that individuals are born into. These ‘castes’ determine one’s occupation, prestige, and position within the respective society. See Kobo (2011); Lamarie-Ortiz (1979); Hale (1998); Niani (1995). 57 See the critique of the anthropological fields treatment of African ethnicities offered by Cinnamon (2006). 34

production of historical knowledge that was tied to African American identity politics.

Central to this study is how African Americans utilized this griotic methodology to ultimately assimilate and claim agency in the idea of ‘Africa’ thereby laying the foundations for what contemporary scholars refer to as African historiography. Though the initial framework and/or conceptualization of Africa may have been a Western idea58 the griotic methodology to Africa historiography employed by early African

Americans may help to deconstruct Western intellectual hegemony that had been assumed to pervade African American intellectual production. In the same vein as these early African American agents of African historiography, this study has the challenge of using Western conceptual tools to examine and ‘liberate’ the study of African American history production from Western intellectual hegemony. This study proceeds by considering key insights from contemporary scholarship on the indigenous African epistemology of history/time and on African oral history/tradition toward meeting this challenge. I integrate the theoretical insights that I elucidate from this scholarship with critical nuances that I gained from the qualitative study of my intellectual autobiography59 (being an African American male educator) and the oral histories of

African and African American professors of African history. These components enable me to provide an organic and/or experiential basis to my work. My study’s research methodology is therefore designed to provide a ‘from within’ prism to examine the

58 For elaboration on the notion of the Western idea or invention of Africa, see Mudimbe (1988); and Mudimbe (1994). 59 See appendix A. 35

foundations of African American griotic methodology to African historiography that I aim to assess. Though the primary aim of my study is to discern and assess this foundational griotic approach to African historiography employed by free Africans in the antebellum North, the critical nuances of this griotic methodology are ultimately applied as an ‘agency based’ pedagogy designed to empower African American students who may be experiencing academic displacement and/or underachievement in the post-secondary classroom.

African epistemology, oral history and griotic methodology

To attempt to access an African epistemology, we are first reminded that

‘Africa’ along with ‘epistemology’ are both ideas, or inventions which tend to reinforce a Western intellectual hegemony on the production of knowledge in and of itself. 60 At the same time however, Edward Said’s “Orientalism” and Wyatt MacGaffey’s notion of

“dyadic opposition” provide critical vantage points as they contend that the West intellectually imagines itself in its constructions of the non-Western and/or African

‘other.’ 61 The fact remains then that these ‘othered’ constructs are designed by and for the benefit of the West. Still, the appropriation, centering and re-presentation of such

Western ‘othered’ constructions can aid in the process of deconstructing, decolonizing, and provincializingWestern intellectual hegemony.62 I therefore appropriate the

60 See Mudimbe (1996); and Mudimbe (1998). 61 Said (1979); MacGaffey (2005: 195) . 62 For elaboration on these processes, see Smith (1999); Schmidt (2007); and Chakrabarty (2000). 36

Western demarcation of ‘African epistemology’ to history and/or time in accordance with this agenda that will aid in the framing of my study.

Within the context of West Africa, history and/or time is envisioned as a cyclical, dynamic, and transformative dialogue between the past and present. This is juxtaposed to Western conceptualizations of history in which the past, present and future are demarcated into separate entities that are linear and unidirectional.63

Moreover, according to John Mbiti’s classic study, African Religions and Philosophy, history and/or time within African cosmology is always centered on and contextualized by the ‘now’ of the individual and community which is the most vivid moment that is projected onto the past. The present and past are therefore unified, or converged within this epistemology.64 Further, because historical knowledge in Africa is orally and experientially produced, it is complex and intricately connected to holistic human dynamics that involve politics, economics, culture, religion, and philosophy. Oral based productions of history are therefore fully engaged with other social intelligences that are experienced and manipulated. Though this epistemology of history contextualizes the reality of West African communities in general, it is the griot who is the embodiment, or personification through which this production of historical knowledge occurs.

The griot or griotte, is a member of an inherited caste within an African community who is raised in the scientific art of transmitting the holistic, cosmological,

63 See Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993). 64 See Mbiti (1969: 22); Wiredu (1996); and Wiredu (1980). 37

and experiential knowledge of the community in which s/he resides.65 It is important to stress here that this African view of knowledge production is holistic and distinct from the Western disciplinary approaches to knowledge which are compartmentalized and conceived as distinct and independent from each other. In other words, within the

African context, all realms of knowledge are intersecting, dynamic, integrated, and synthesized in which there is no separation or incompatibility between politics, religion, history, economics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, art, science, etc.66 The griot / griotte therefore personifies the integrated roles of spiritual guide, historian, artist, musician, political advisor, educator, healer, psychological, sociologist, and philosopher as s/he disseminates African knowledge from a holistic standpoint.67 Moreover, the griot/griotte’s historical narratives are contextualized by ever changing cultural and social-political contexts, as they are designed to impact or service the material reality of the community s/he is a part.68 Specifically, the griot’s knowledge that is (re)produced from one generation to the next is always experientially and selectively tied to and/or centered in the community of which the griot/griotte is a part. According to African

History Prof. “K.O.” who provided his oral history for this study, the griot’s transmission of historical knowledge “… has to be relevant for the society in order for it to survive… if .. not …it is discarded. Knowledge is produced for the sake of…

65 Griot / Griotte are the male/female components of this caste, respectively; Hale (1998). 66 Mbiti (1969). 67 For elaboration on these dynamics ,see Hale (1998); Lamarie-Ortiz (1979); and Panzacchi (1994). 68 See Kaschula (1999); Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993). 38

servicing a community or a society.”69 It is from this West African framework, that griotic methodology ascends. With these important distinctions in mind, I now turn to contemporary discourses on African methodologies of oral history and oral traditions to offer further insights for my study.

Oral history and/or oral tradition are Western conceptualizations which have generated critical debates throughout academe concerning their meaning, validity, interpretation and significance to the reconstruction of Africa’s past.70 Whether the methodology involved concerns oral histories (interviews), oral traditions (‘collective memory’ passed from one generation to next), or oral data (anything transmitted orally), the defining factors which characterize these methodologies include unity or interplay between the present and the past, experiential subjectivity, fluidity, and dynamism.71

Not only do these methodologies provide access to historical data from an experiential standpoint, they also provide insight into peoples’ collective ethics, values, and morals that directly impact their view of the present realm. This present view in turn provides a framework to query political, cultural, and psycho-social dynamics that give shape to oral history. For instance, Richard Roberts, “Reversible Social Processes, Historical

Memory and the Production of History” highlights the dynamics of “normative biases” within elements of oral testimonies of history. Specifically, the informants’ testimony

69 KO (2011: #481-491) . It should also be noted that the griots’ transmission of history generally references the elite or nobles of his community; Hale (1998). 70 See Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993); and Cohen (1989). 71 Klein (1989: 209); Cohen, et. al (2001) 39

constructs a “remembered economy” in accordance with their respective contemporary ideologies and agendas.72 The moment, context, and what Luise White, et al call the

“politics of collection of oral testimony, focused on the scholar-informant relationship” must also be considered as informants may tell researchers what they want them to know rather than what happened, especially when research may be equated with colonialism.73M. Klein’s “Studying Those Who Would Rather Forget” points out such dynamics as “selectivity” and “silence” with respect to the transmission of oral traditions which are important points to query.74 Accordingly, this scholarship on oral history/tradition concerning such complexities, subjectivities and transformative dynamism involved in oral and experiential productions of history offers critical nuances to this study of griotic methodology. Such considerations can be used to critique Western views that exclusively privilege textual sources within history production.

Still, the insights posed by the above scholarship on African oral methodologies do not necessarily provide a means to transcend Western intellectual hegemony. In fact, the demarcation and assessments of oral tradition, oral history, and oral data via

Western analytical models, may necessitate the need for oral traditions to be

72 Roberts (1990: 346). 73 White et al. (2001: 4). For elaboration on how research is equated with colonialism by indigenous peoples see Smith (1999). 74 Klein (1989). 40

‘undefined’ in order to access African experiential historicity unabated.75 Conversely, these scholarly assessments of African oral methodologies do succeed in problematizing, decentering, deconstructing and provincializing Euro-centric productions of African history.76 The most critical component posed by scholarly discourses on African oral methodologies for this study remains how oral histories offer a framework to query African agency and/or voice in the production of African history.

What I describe as griotic methodology therefore draws from the insights discussed from the above scholarship on African epistemology and oral traditions.

Specifically, it’s grounded in a West African oral based framework where history is viewed as an interplay and/or unity between the present and the past. Further, the insights from the discourses on oral traditions in particular, offer this study a theoretical lens which necessitates and contextualizes the qualitative components that proceed. I also hope that by framing the discussion within what I consider a ‘from within’ approach, that my research will be adequately contextualized.77 This approach will indeed offer my research an organic/experiential based ‘African’ world view and thus help me flesh out my own contemporary subjectivities.

75 Cohen (1989). 76 Schmidt (2007); Chakrabarty (2000). 77 See Babou (2007) for an example of a ‘from within’ approach on a specific history of religion in West African. 41

Griotically exploring contemporary epistemological subjectivities

No matter who the researcher is, they all walk in with their own epistemological baggage. At the very best, what, what we need to do is to lay those out…., so I guess, what I want to do is to try to make a space for the VOICES of folks I’m researching, to be heard.78

In line with the above observation by G.B., professor of African American education and history, I state upfront that I am an African American male researcher who is interested principally in an unique approach by which antebellum African

Americans used African historiography to empower themselves. I view this African

American tradition as a foundational approach of which I am a part. Yet, I do not wish to skew, silence or speak for the free African intellectuals of the antebellum North, as they utilized African historiography to establish intellectual and political agency.79 With this in mind, I find it necessary to query the literary and experiential dynamics that have given shape to my ethos through an intellectual autobiography in order to consider the subjectivities that will ultimately gauge my research. This intellectual ‘inventory’ is therefore an attempt to disclose my own epistemological ‘baggage’ rather than parlaying them behind notions of ‘objectivity.’

As I inventory and query significant literary, educational/organizational and experiential dynamics that I conceive to be significant to the shaping of my ethos as an

African American male researcher, (appendix A) I realize that this intellectual

78 G.B. (2011: 413-417). 79 White et al. (2001: 3-4). 42

autobiography discloses many of the dynamics associated with the griot that are discussed above. As noted with respect to the dynamics of a unity or interplay between the past and present, I am selectively interpreting, analyzing and/or reducing the historical intellectual and experiential dynamics that occurred over the course of my life based on my present ideological framework, specifically as an African American male researcher interested in African history. A multitude of complex and intersecting nuances that impacted my ethos are consequently elucidated including race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, religion/spirituality,socio-economic status, education, and political ideology. It therefore becomes evident that I must maintain a conscientiousness and/or reflexivity of these dynamics in the construction of and implementation of my griotic based qualitative and historiographical research. This is important because I want to avoid essentializing and/or projecting my own intellectual autobiography onto my assessments.80 At the same time, I am operating from an African-centered orientation in that I view myself as part of a collective cultural heritage. 81 I therefore view these critical dynamics as important variables to the shaping of historical and contemporary African and African Americans experiences that demand inquiry.

Rather than attempting to assess the critical nuances that give shape to my ethos independently or even interdependently, I thematically approach these variables as they give meaning to certain realms of African American consciousness that I’ve

80 On this point, refer to Tillman (2006); Errante (2001); and Glesne (2006). 81 See Asante (1988); Asante (1987); Hilliard (1997). 43

experienced. I therefore delineate seven realms of consciousness from my intellectual autobiography that I deem significant to the construction of my griotic research methodology. They include: 1.) ‘blackness’ as ‘other’; 2.) humanization/affirmation of blackness; 3.) black collectivism/solidarity; 4.) literary black consciousness; 5.) Afro- centric awareness; 6.) Africanist orientation; and 7.) organic African American intellectualism. (Appendix B) Though my intellectual autobiography suggests that I matriculated through these seven realms chronologically in a hierarchical manner, I concede upfront that these realms are not comprehensive of African American consciousness and are not realized by all African Americans. I also draw from the scholarship of John Mbiti and Kwesi Wiredu concerning the peculiarities of African epistemology to further contend that these realms are not compartmentalized, linear or hierarchically arranged throughout African American experiences across time and space.82 Conversely, I contend that these realms are dynamic, fluid and/or intersecting configurations that are emblematic of significant African American ideologies.

In order to expand upon the insights that I have discerned from my intellectual autobiography, I sought the expertise of African and African Americans professors of

African history and African American studies. My informants were chosen principally on the basis of their expertise in the field of African history or African American studies and their accessibility in that they were all professors whom I had either taken courses

82 Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996); and Wiredu (1980). 44

with or had worked under as a graduate research associate. Overall, I contacted a total of six professors, however I was able to secure the consent (Appendix C) of only four professors due to the inability to arrange a mutually convenient time to conduct the consultations/oral histories. My objective for these oral histories was to query the peculiar nuances between African and African American production of African history and identity politics from an experiential standpoint that was beyond my own subjectivities. Further, the convergences in the testimonies of the professors’ lived experiences and professional engagements relative to African and African American history would serve as a guiding framework for my examination of griotic methodology. The realms of consciousness that I delineated from my intellectual autobiography therefore served as a prism to construct specific questions (Appendix D) that I posed to the respective professors to facilitate their consultations/oral histories. It should be noted that though I spent significant time and energy analyzing the realms of consciousness in order to delineate specific lead in questions, I did not present these questions as a mere script. Rather, I posed the questions to prompt and/or facilitate professors’ self-narratives from the standpoint of their respective ethos. I subsequently placed much effort on keeping oral histories centered on the professors’ perceived significance of their intellectual and experiential dynamics that shaped them as history

professors; how their profession as history professors impacted their identities; and to ultimately, highlight distinctions involved in the way they produced history.83

The oral histories/consultations were all digitally tape recorded in person or via phone and lasted from 50-90 minutes in length. The four history professors included:

“K.O.,” an African male professor of African history from West Africa, now at a major university in the Midwest; “M.O.,” an African American male professor of African history and sociology at a major university on the east coast; “A.L.,” an African

American female professor of African American history at a university in the Midwest; and “G.B.” another African American female professor of History of Education and

African American studies at an university in the Midwest. After facilitating each oral history/interview, I transcribed them - making note of pauses, silences and emphasized words. At one level, the information I extracted from the oral histories revealed great heterogeneity, complexity, and individuality with respect to African/African American identity politics and productions of African history. However, there were critical nuances where the African and African American professors’ oral histories converged to reveal striking homogeneity towards a distinctive griotic methodology to African history.

83 For insight into these notions of reflexivity and contexts within oral testimonies, see Glesne (2006) and Errante’ (2001). 46

Blackness, Africanity and otherness.

Upfront, all these professors’ identify “blackness” as the most important component of their identities. It should be noted that this “blackness” is equated with

“African,” “African-ness,” or being of African descendent in which there is a global identification with black and/or African people throughout the world.84 Conversely, the term “African American” is not universally embraced due to the perception that the identities of American and African have historically been incongruent;85 that it limits the collective identification to a national rather than international identification; and the view that the identity is ambiguous.86 Though these professors made references to gender, class, religious and/or ideological identification throughout their testimonies, their racial identification always served as the master identity, as shown in G.B.’s testimony, “(the) most important aspect of my identity, is my, AFRICANESS. The first thing ANYBODY can see. Then my WOMANNESS, that’s the second thing anybody can see. So that is my IDENTITY.”87 I must note however that the conceptualizations of these professors’ Africanity are not monolithic. K.O.’s statements illustrate this notion as he stresses a blackness/Africanity based on the notion of color, but also, expounds on how this identity emanates from birth and ideology.88 M.W. shares these sentiments as he expresses that there were “multiple forms of blackness” and that his

84A.L. (2011: 6-9); K.O. (2011:2); M.W. (2011: 4-5); G.B. (2011: 2-3). 85 A.L. 11-12. 86 K.O. 213-222. 87 G.B. 2-3. Capitalization is used to show professor’s emphasis. 88 K.O. 7-22. 47

self-perception of blackness matriculates from a U.S./African American-centered identity to one that “was kind of based on a kind of radical politics…that, to be black

(is) to also embrace a kind of (global) anti-imperialist position.”89 A.L. asserts that her sense of blackness is essentially a sense of being part of a distinct, or different but

“equally” human group that establishes an innate bond with others as she states, “when you see another black person passing by you have a GUT LEVEL feeling, like …

THAT’S ME.”90 The most problematized sense of blackness however is offered by

G.B., who states she was always “blanketed” in blackness which started with the artistic and literary genres that emanated from Harlem, NY during the 1950s and 1960s.91

Simultaneously, G.B.’s sense of blackness is troubled as she was forced to contend with color prejudices (colorism) within her own family and intra-racial classism from lower class blacks.92 In short, these professors’ oral histories all affirm blackness as the most important component of their identities that is shaped via racialized experiences even though the manifestations of blackness are complex, heterogeneous and always problematized.

Affirmative, oppositional and collectivist dynamics of blackness (Africanity)

The fundamental element expressed by professors which problematizes their black consciousness, or Africanity is the fact that it is evolves out of a dichotomous

89 M.W. 131-132. 90 A.L. 80-81. 91 G.B. 162-4, 69-71. 92 Ibid. 32-39, 107-109. 48

reciprocity between affirmative and oppositional dynamics. This resonates with what

Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois coined “double consciousness,” or the Negro’s “gift of second sight” within America in which s/he “ever feels his two-ness.”93 Yet unlike, Du Bois’ view that such a consciousness exhibits, “two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,” 94 these professors’ testimonies reveals an evolution of black consciousness that is ultimately geared toward the process of humanization via blackness/Africanity. Accordingly, all professors’ identify the earliest manifestations of blackness as being an affirmative and normative foundational component of their lives. As K.O. and M.W. were born into and raised in all black and/or African environments, their worldview was racially centered on and homogenous to themselves. This was so much so that M.W. asserts he had “no clear racial identity.” 95 At the same time however, M.W.’s testimony reveals that even though he may have been unconscious of his blackness, it was the center of his life because everyone he socialized with in school and the community was black. M.W.’s sense of blackness therefore had no oppositional components in this context. Rather it was accepted and “taken for granted.”96 Likewise, A.L. and G.B., who both grew up in predominantly white environments, stress how their earliest experiences involved affirmative and normative notions of blackness. They both note certain nuances they

93 DuBois (1903) 94 Ibid. 95 M.W. 80. 96 Ibid. 80-84. 49

experienced with respect to racial and cultural differentness, however this differentness was not stigmatized. This is shown through G.B.’s testimony of being exposed to a broad spectrum of black achievement via books, art, and music which she states

“blanketed” her in racial and cultural affirmation.97 Rather than being immersed into black cultural art forms such as this, AL’s earliest sense of blackness involved her parents addressing skin color and hair texture as just differences which had no real meaning because she was “just as good as anybody else.”98 Both of these testimonies represent a sense of blackness within parents whom made concerted efforts to normalize or humanize the racial identity of their children: one through immersion into black literary and artistic expressions; and the other through discarding any and all racial markers as being indicative of one’s self/human worth.

With overt manifestations of white hegemony, these professors’ affirmative yet normative sense of blackness evolved into a politicized and oppositional based identity.

This is most evident in the oral testimonies of K.O. and M.W. As stated by K.O. “I discovered my African identity when I came to the United States…because it was in the

United States that the issue of color … slapped me right in the face.”99 This is similar to

M.W.’s testimony which reveals the U.S. experience as, “necessarily a racialized experience,” in which he, like all African Americans, would catch “hell” from white

97 G.B. 69-72, 92-95. 98 A.L. 52-64. 99 K.O. 34-36. 50

folks. 100 Though G.B. states that this transition in her sense of blackness occurred when a white friend was called “nigger lover” for walking her home from school,101 this oppositional context of being black took on a greater significance as she was taken to the South by her grandparents and witnessed Jim Crow/racially segregated housing patterns.102 These overt dynamics of white hegemony which othered, displaced and marginalized black people therefore fueled a politicization of an otherwise ambiguous, affirmative and normative state of being. The merging of these dynamics, according to

M.W.’s succinct contention, thus established blackness to be a “…transformative and revolutionizing process..(that).. both destroys and constructs, like any revolution does….( it’s) at once a NEGATION of whiteness and an AFFIRMATION of blackness, of African-ness!”103

Another interesting point of convergence between these professors’ oral histories is the fact that their sense of black awareness that was driven by an oppositional dichotomy between black affirmation and white negation, gradually evolved into a transcontinental collectivist ethos. All professors’ sense of blackness thus exhibit what could be referred to racialized/black-centered Pan-Africanism.104 Each professor expressed certain instances in which they felt othered or displaced on an individual basis within the U.S. Yet, there was the realization by each professor that

100 M.W. 94-97, 293-4. 101 G.B. 17-23. 102 Ibid. 20-30. 103 M.W. 107-110. 104 For a critical appraisal of this paradigm see, Lamelle (1994). 51

this otherness was ultimately due to their racial group membership that involved global implications. This is evident through M.W.’s equations of blackness with “radical anti- imperialist approach” and global “Black Nationalism,”105 G.B.’s ongoing self- proclaimed “Africanness” and interests in the racial politics of the African continent,106

K.O.’s identification with “African Americans, continental Africans and those in the diaspora,” 107 and A.L. dismissing the identity of “African American” in favor of being

“of African descent” or “black.”108 These professors’ sense of blackness is therefore realized as a U.S. based historical, political and psycho-sociological construct that is projected on all continental and diasporic Africans who are oppressed by white and/or

Euro-centric hegemony

Black consciousness and African historiography

Though all of these professors’ who contributed their oral histories to this study acquired a Ph.D. in History or Education, their principal interest was in the interdisciplinary experiences of African and African American studies. In light of this, these professors expressed how the academic engagement of African and African

American experience represented an organic endeavor that resonated with their lived experiences of being black in America. Of interest here is that all professors’ oral histories elucidated how the curriculum that they were taught throughout their primary

105 M.W. 132-134, 205-209. 106 G.B. 2, 6-8. 192-199. 107 K.O. 46-48. 108 A.L. 6-11. 52

and secondary educational experiences was entirely Euro-centric and not reflective of black historical and cultural realities. History, in particular was the least liked subject area of all professors due to the white historical hegemony that was propagated. For

K.O., who received schooling in West Africa, “history” was especially disheartening as he asserts, “It’s a HELL of a history that I don’t even want to talk about. It’s a history about who discovered what. It’s the history of…it’s a history that …(is) very painful, it’s emotional, it’s a history that GLORIFIED the slave trade!” 109 This sentiment is shared by A.L. as she states, “I really kind of HATED history in high school…I think it was later that I realized it was because.. there was nothing in what we were being taught that I felt like that SPOKE to ME.”110 It wasn’t until most professors’ were exposed to

African and/or African American content from an African-centered perspective during their undergraduate experiences that a number of transformations occurred. First, education/academics in general took on a new relevance that directly spoke to their experience and identities (i.e. organic connection was made to educational experiences).

Second, they realized that mainstream curriculum was projecting an othering, distortion and/or omission of African/black history. This recognition of the historical displacement of African/black history was often personalized by these professors. This is revealed as A.L. states “I felt like EVERYONE who had ever taught me had

109 K.O. 283-285. 110 A.L. 90-92. 53

purposely and consciously LIED to me!”111 G.B., who grew up with more pronounced dualism than all other professors stated on this accord “I think once I got to graduate school, I began to realize what, what was truly missing IN my education. I mean, to see

Ron Karenga, to see Malcolm X, to read Muhammad Speaks, …. that was one thing.

..but it was never in a course… everything that they were talking about (concerning black people)… was … cultural deviancy, culturally deficit!”112 The realization of the

Euro-centric version of African history was especially poignant to K.O.’s sense of blackness, as he attended City College in New York and the instructor presented evidence that the historical origins of “Egypt is African.” Here K.O. states, “…that blew my mind completely…how can ancient Egypt be African? Egypt has always been

European… how can Egypt be African?” This acknowledgement of Egypt’s African origins resonated with everything K.O. had (not) been taught about Africa while growing up in Ghana, so he continued to investigate the matter. He continues, “.we read a book…(by) Malauna Karenga, … and I read that book and I was SHOCKED, I said, oh wow, so this is the case, I’ve been LIED to all along. I felt I had been

INDOCTRINATED with a different type of history.”113 These early experiences consequently prompted professors to realize how their education was historically, culturally, and ideologically based. The fact that all used such terms as feeling “lied” to,

“shocked,” and “indoctrinated” reveals an pronounced feeling among these professors

111 Ibid. 127-128. 112 G.B. 279-291. 113 K.O. 328-339. 54

that what had been and was being taught to them under the banner of education was a personal affront beyond academics. It was viewed as an attack on their personal, historical and cultural integrity. These experiences would ultimately drive these professors’ matriculation in academe, specifically within the realms of African and

African American studies. Their intellectual pursuits within this arena provided the vantage point to reconcile the omissions and “lies” that were now being delineated as the source of the personal, historical and cultural displacement they viewed as being perpetuated via academe.

These African and African American professors’ involvement in academic discourses is by and large driven by a quest to “undo the lies” that dehumanize and defame black people, from an intellectual and personal standpoint. Moreover, these professors’ engagement of African and African American experience is in essence a quest for agency within their own identities. Of interest is the manner in which these professors explained how they all started in a variety of different disciplines. But as they became increasingly aware of the fact that the perspectives and contributions of

African and/or African Americans were being omitted or marginalized in their respective disciplines, they felt a personal and professional responsibility to pursue

African and/or African American studies. Here, K.O. states how he started out in international relations then ended up in African history “by default” as he realized

Africa was the essential component that was being either omitted or distorted within

scholarship on international relations. 114 Though A.L. had early interests in archeology, she took an African American course during her sophomore year. She states it is this course that pointed out all the historical “lies” that needed to be undone in which she subsequently devoted herself to African American history. 115 G.B., who initially pursued the fields of literature and education, found the history of African American education as her life’s calling in that it was the critical arena which she observed being totally omitted within mainstream discourse.116 And, M.W., who started out in political science, concentrated his scholarly attention toward developing an expertise in Southern

African and African American history because it was the academic arena that spoke directly to his own experiences.117 For all these professors, a pronounced incongruence became increasingly evident between their lived experiences as black people in the U.S. and scholarly discourses of their initially chosen fields - all of which marginalized or omitted the contributions and perspectives of African people. It is this incongruence that prompted professors to ultimately engage in African and African American studies.

The major point of contention here is that all professors’ ended up pursuing history or history of education to counter the scholarly omission and/or marginalization they believed was plaguing the scholarship on the African and African American experience, not vice versa. The professors’ engagement in the discipline of history therefore

114 K.O. 115 A.L. 116 G.B. 117 M.W. 56

embodied an experiential, political and intellectual agenda to ‘undo the lies’ that dehumanized and defamed black people. Further, professors’ testimonies reveal that history is not an end unto itself. Rather, it is viewed as a means to the ends of vindicating African and African Americans via scholarly discourse and consequently claim agency in their own identities as African people. M.W., more so than others, articulates the rationale for this as he quoted Malcolm X, “who said that of all disciplines, history is best qualified to reward our research.”118 History, from the standpoint of these professors, therefore transcends the 19th century Western foundations of history that are based on the notion of ‘objectivity.’119 Rather, these professors’ engagement of history is viewed as organically connected to their respective identity politics (blackness) which are shaped by their (racial) experiences within the

U.S. The production of African history by these professors is thus perceived as an extension of their identity.

As shown here, these professors’ identity politics establish the context for their engagement of history. The professors’ historical production accordingly serves as agency in acknowledging the African and African American past to impact it intellectually and materially in the present. In the same manner as the griot’s dialogue or interplay between the past and the present, the professors’ engagement in the discipline of history is at the same time contextualized by their identity politics and

118 M.W. 139-140. 119 For a thorough treatment of the issues regarding historical objectivity, see Novick (1988). 57

designed to impact the identity politics of African people trans-continentally. Due to this organic connection between the experiential and intellectual, I note important distinctions in these professors’ oral testimonies regarding the production of African history. I must again stress that these particulars are manifestations of the consciousness of ‘blackness,’ or Africanity as noted above. The overarching distinction is that the engagement of African and/or African American history by these professors necessarily involves what scholars today refer to as historiography. Consequently, these professors’ testimonies regarding the production of African history elucidate two pronounced components, which I will condense here as deconstruction and construction. Because all professors’ operate within academe where they perceive the experiences of people of African descent as marginalized, distorted, defamed and/or omitted via mainstream scholarly discourse, there is a pronounced necessity to critique what M.W. refers to as the “intellectual violence” done to African history in order to begin researching and writing it.120 A.L., G.B. and K.O. further stress this sentiment as they respectively state intellectuals must “undo…the telling of lies,” move beyond

“deviance” and “deficit theories,” and transcend Euro-centric accounts of African history that are purely ideological based.121 These critical nuances speak to what I contend to be African historiographical (de)construction/critical intellectualism. This involves a critical two stage process whereby these scholars critique, dissect, and

120 M.W. 214-219. 121 A.L. 183; G.B. 297-8; K.O. 434-436. 58

analyze prevailing Euro-centric historical discourses on Africa from an African- centered standpoint. These scholars then counter, reconfigure and/or transcended these prevailing discourses to construct or historicize an African past that is liberated from

Euro-centric intellectual hegemony.122

Still, professors’ are not interested in as A.L. states “critiquing, or deconstructing for the purpose of deconstructing or critiquing.” There is a concerted effort to write history with the purpose of “telling the story of what REALLY

HAPPENED!”123 Yet, this notion of “what really happened,” or truth telling is complicated as these professors’ produce an African history that reveals ‘voice’ and/or demonstrates African agency. On this note, K.O. states “in our attempt to decolonize,

African history, we also went as far as.. ignoring, the way Africans themselves, understood, and tried to deal with some of the contradiction that have come into their lives, as a result of European domination.”124 M.W. further stresses the notion of

African agency as he contends history writing on Africa should emanate from the

“AFRICAN EXPERIENCE. …which …should guide and direct what we do, in our work …(as) intellectuals, and teachers.” 125 This notion of African voice and agency within the writing of African and African American history is therefore revealed to have a dual purpose. Not only is this history produced to reveal the agency and voice of

122 This significantly resonates with the works of Ernest (2004); Brizuela-Garcia (2006); and MacGaffey (2005). 123 A.L. 187-189. 124 K.O. 380-382. 125 M.W. 275-277. 59

Africans within their own experiences, but also, so that the production of this African historical experience itself should be written endogenously, or ‘from within’ that experience. It is this dynamic with respect to the African and African American production of African history that is critical to this study’s griotic methodology.

Organic intellectualism and African historiography

All professors provide testimony that reveals an organic bond and merger between their professional and personal lives. In short, professors’ assert an

“Africaness” or “blackness” that is experientially tied to their production of history. Put another way, it is the lived experiences of these professors’ that produces a peculiar ethos that is perceived as being congruent to and an element of the history they are researching and writing. This is the fundamental epistemological distinction that professors note between African and African American production of African history and non-African production of African history. For A.L., the production of African

American history is necessarily “sensitive, and emotional, and personal … in ways that the telling of other kinds of history are not.126” Though empathy by non-Africans history writers is deemed as “going a long way in historical production,” M.W. asserts the “crucial and fundamental” element is the experiential component that Africans bring to their production of African history.127 Further, these professors contend that the writing of the African and African American historical experience by African and

126 A.L. 282-283. 127 M.W. 272-278. 60

African American historians embodies an endogenous ideology, or ethos that is tied to that experience. A most intriguing concept that A.L. notes here is how African

Americans bring a sense of “historical memory” to their engagement of African

American history. She states, this is the knowledge “about black history, and culture and black community, that they (African Americans) …may not even be consciously aware (of)… in their…cultural lives.”128 In essence, this suggests the notion of a sense of endogenous based authenticity that African American professors bring to their production of African history. M.W. however denies any notion of innate, biological or essential African distinctions, and stresses that the uniqueness of African epistemology is that it is experientially, culturally and/or historically derived.129

Because these professors’ stress the necessity of a production of African history that is experientially grounded within the African experience, this African history writing has tendencies that transcend mainstream Western approaches of historical production in a number of ways. One significant quality that these professors note, is the conceptualizing and writing of African history from a trans-national approach. This directly relates to the professors’ identity politics, all of which as noted above, refer to themselves as being of African descent, black or African in the sense that the dynamics of one’s cultural/racial identity transcends the political boundaries of the U.S. Yet, this notion is problematized by the oral histories of M.W. and K.O. in particular. M.W.

128 A.L. 129 M.W. 309-310. 61

states that the African production of African history is necessarily an assertion that

Africa is part of a larger human story. K.O. echoes this sentiment as he contends that

Africa should be examine from an inclusive standpoint which reveals how Africa was involved in a global exchange of ideas that is characteristic of all continents. This global based, inclusionary point of contention expressed by K.O. and M.W. however should not be taken too far that it may skew or serve as the validation of African history. In fact, M.W. explicitly criticizes contributions to African historiography that promote accomodationist portrayals of Africa as he asserts, “INCLUSIONARY, you know this sort of (thing like) AFRICANS WERE THERE TOO … that TURNED ME

OFF….(like) a book called blacks in the Roman Empire, … that asserts the idea,.. that the Romans…. unlike later ….Europeans were not adversed to .. blackness and … that they counted black people in….. I found that rather offensive and demeaning. ..black people don’t need to be counted in by white folks.”130 In short, M.W. was sharing his contention that African history written from the standpoint of how African people were viewed by and/or accepted by others was capitulating to Euro-centric discourses on

African history. The main point he stresses here is that Africa’s unique contributions to itself and to the world must be acknowledged in the writing of history. The production of African history however should take place demonstrating African agency in which history is written from the standpoint of Africans themselves, as “Africa’s history can

130 M.W. 190-202. 62

stand on its own.” 131 K.O. states this even more plainly as he asserts, “African history has to be understood in its own specific context. But at the same time, that context, did not exist out of a vacuum, because Africans have always interacted with, with the rest of the world.”132

It should be noted that the dynamic of gender was only noted within oral histories of professors when I specifically inquired about how it problematized or sensitized professors to the complexities of researching and writing about the African experience. For the most part, all professors embody a pronounced collectivist ethos with respect to African identity politics and the production of African history for the benefit of the global African community. G.B.’s oral history in particular, demonstrates an essentialist embodiment of an African collectivist ethos. She does not explicitly distinguish any gender dynamics involved in her production of African centered knowledge. However G.B. does suggest how the gender component of her Africanity is exhibited in a praxis of “mothering” African American students, which she contends, drives her objective to promote African American-centered studies as a discipline that is specifically catered to African American students. She further distinguishes her praxis of “mothering” as embodying the element of compassion along with “caring, nurturing and loving” African American students as her “own.” As G.B. claims African

American students as her own, she is asserting an endogenous disposition and

131 M.W. 185-190. 132 K.O. 420-423. 63

commitment to serve them. G.B.’s praxis of mothering is also identified as a distinguishing quality from non-African Americans who are involved in African

American research on African Americans. Here, G.B. contends non-African American scholars may be committed to African American research, but because they do not view, or “love” African Americans “as their own,” they deny the necessary element of

African American agency in their research of the African American experience.133

With respect to the gendered production of African historical knowledge, A.L. sheds further insight concerning how being an African American woman sensitizes her to the historical experiences of African women. She elucidates how this gendered dynamic may at times “enhance” the understanding of the complexity of racism by elucidating the intersections between racial and sexual exploitation of African women during slavery. In other contexts however, A.L. reveals how gender may problematize understandings of African American experiences in such instances as African American men being in positions to oppress African American women.134 In short, A.L.’s oral history regarding the production of African history, like that of G.B., establishes the notion of an organic, or endogenous bond to the historical and/or intellectual lives of

African American women in particular. Their involvement within the research and writing of African American experiences purports the necessity of querying the agency of African Americans in all its complexities.

133 G.B. 450-474. 134 A.L. 373-374. 64

From the standpoint of male professors, K.O. provides a most nuanced insight concerning the complexities and/or multiple layers between gender and African voice within historical production, as he references the dynamics within continental African households. Accordingly, K.O. states that the cultural and political structure of African society may require males to serve as the voice of the community. Yet, this African male voice, is in actuality only a representative voice, because there is always

“consultation” and “compromise” on all decisions between the male and female within the African household. K.O. identifies this female influence on the culturally acknowledged male voice as the “silent voice” which he states to be a “very active voice in the African (internal) context.”135 This endogenous insight further complicates the dynamics of gender with respect to the intersections between African identity politics and historical production. Moreover, such critical insights as offered by K.O., underscores the unique epistemology that African professors bring to their engagement of African history.

Beyond these gendered dynamics, there are a number of other epistemological distinctions that professors’ note they have observed as impacting both their identity politics along with their production of African history. A principal element includes the element of an unique collective historical memory possessed among those of African descent. This involves the conscious as well as unconscious ways of knowing and ways

135 K.O. 135-138. 65

of being among Africa’s descendants. There is the shared contention here among all professors that this peculiarity is experientially derived by being subjected to racial marginalization and displacement. Though professors contend that the African experience throughout the world is not by any means monolithic, there are fundamental commonalities giving way to overt manifestations that can be identified. A.L. delineates key examples emanating from the collective memory of African Americans such as ‘call and response’ and ‘fictive kin.’ 136 Other key elements offered by K.O. and M.W. respectively include the element of spirituality and/or , “a kind of rhythm,” to life which is inflected in African music throughout the globe. 137 What seems to be the fundamental component of these experiential distinctions that are embodied in the

African collective memory, is that they all involve agency based quests for human dignity, affirmation, vindication and liberation. As all of these components are deemed as ascending from the continent of Africa to the Americas, such elements are valuable to this query of the foundations of the griotic methodology by which African Americans engaged African history within the late 18th through early 19th centuries.

An African epistemology?

In final analyses of professors’ oral histories, all the above nuances between

African and African Americans identity politics and their productions of African history culminate in a fundamental epistemological element. This element involves African

136 A.L. 219-319. 137 M.W. 375-385. 66

identity politics and historical production specifically being agency driven as well as service oriented. By ‘agency driven,’ I am referring to African and African American professors’ politicized identification and intellectual production that is derived from their realization that Africanity is marginalized within European American hegemony.

It therefore involves a concerted effort among these African intellectuals to actively resist intellectual marginalization through deconstructing Euro-centric discourses and constructing Africanity via an African-centered experiential disposition. Furthermore, the African and African American professors’ service element is explicitly expressed to be the ultimate mission of professors’ engagement of African history and is ubiquitously exhibited throughout all oral testimonies concerning their identity politics associated with ‘blackness’. As K.O. asserts, the “core of the (African) production of

African history” is that it “adds” to or is “useful” for the empowerment of the African society that has been subjugated by European hegemony.138 In short, the service element involved in the African production of African history is that it is specifically designed to counter the intellectual and racial marginality of Africa/ns.

The distinction of this African epistemology to African historiography from mainstream Western historical production is raised by K.O. who states that in the West, knowledge may be produced to make scholarly contributions to the respective discipline of the scholar, or simply “for knowledge sake.”139 Conversely, these African professors’

138 K.O. 495-501. 139 K.O. 491-494. 67

oral histories reveal that identifying with and being of the African experience, establishes an organic bond to, “ produce a history about who BLACK PEOPLE (really) are….. where .. we come from,…where have we been,… what is our capacity,.. what are we capable (of)…(and) .. to set the record straight!”140 G.B. follows this vein as she states her objective is to fill the void in all the research out there that’s “not … about the lived experience and the way in which African Americans see the world on a daily basis.”141 G.B. further states that she strives to ultimately counter the “deficit/deviancy theories in all of its manifestations,” and provide agency and voice to African

Americans within their educational experiences.142 M.W. shares this sentiment involving the agency of African history on a more global level as he states, “the history of African people is about the struggle for affirmation, it’s a struggle for ..dignity….a struggle across the continent and among those of African descent outside of the continent.”143 Still, it is K.O.’s sentiments which reveal the most hybridity and complexities associated with being an African engaged in the production of African history. He accordingly references the epistemology of the West African griot who production of African history is always within the changing context of the community of which he/s is a part. Here K.O. contends, the griots “produce and reproduce this

(experiential) history” in such a manner that “certain historical… engagements” that are

140 A.L. 422-426. 141 G.B. 408-413. 142 Ibid. 143 M.W. 381-390. 68

deemed insignificant to the community are deemphasized. K.O. stresses that the griot’s historical narrative therefore consists of “knowledge .. (being) produced for the sake of..

SERVICING a community or a society.” K.O. further asserts this dynamic to be the

“core” factor that African scholars contribute to the production of African history, that goes beyond ideology, methodology and paradigm.144 Based on K.O.’s own experiences and intellectual engagements of African history, he aims to provide a narrative that challenges Euro-centric views of African history. His stated mission is therefore directed toward dismantling the compartmentalization of African history which either “dismisses Africa as ahistorical” or portrays “Africa as unique,” but instead “to look at Africa in the very complex web of human interactions.”145

In sum, all professors’ oral histories involved a dynamic interplay between experiential and scholarly endeavors. Like the West African griot, whose historical narrative is at the same time contextualized by and in service to his/her community, these professors’ are producing an African history ‘from within’ the African/African

American experience that will empower descendants of Africa. Because the professors’ identity politics (blackness/Africanity) and production of ‘African’ historical knowledge are fundamentally tied to constructs that are derived within the context of Euro- centric/white hegemony, the professors’ are employing an agency based praxis that can be considered vindicationist or liberatory historiography. This approach to African

144 K.O. 488-501. 145 Ibid. 553-554. 69

historiography possesses significant tendencies that ascend from the griot’s framework of oral history. The focus of this study however is centered on the foundations of this endogenous production of African history that takes place by African people for the benefit of African people. Again, the fact that all professors’ identities and intellectual endeavors are tied to ‘Africa-centered’ discourses is indeed significant. Moreover, the fact that the professors perceive the treatment of ‘Africa’ within Western academe as historically marginalized and compartmentalized also cannot be overstated. Still, the professors’ embrace of ‘Africa’ is not at all an acceptance of marginality or compartmentalization. For herein lies a strong resonance between the disposition of professors’ engagement of African historiography and the notion of “dyadic opposition,” in which the West imagines itself in its constructions of the African

“other.”146 Accordingly, these professors’ assert that by re-positioning the construct of

Africa from ‘other’ to one that is defined from within the African experience, they have realized a historiographical tool by which to deconstruct Western intellectual hegemony and empower themselves via African identity politics.

As we integrate the scholarly discourses on the role of the griot, the African methodology of oral traditions/histories, and the testimonies of these African and

African American professors’ regarding the production of African history, we are provided with critical nuances that contribute to the ‘griotic’ methodology that this

146 I borrowed this concept from MacGaffey (2005: 195) . 70

study seeks to assess. I therefore assert that this ‘griotic’ methodology embodies the following realms: 1.) a West African view (epistemology) of history which involves unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the past and the present; 2.) a pronounced sense of black consciousness that emanates from intellectual, historical, cultural and/or racial displacement within American society; 3.) a commitment to Africa as the metaphorical source of one’s racial heritage and by extension, the source of human origins (African-centeredism); 4.) a Pan-Africanist / collectivist ethos whereby a collective memory along with an identification and commitment to African people and/or humanity is manifest. 5.) a sense of organic intellectualism in which scholarship is embedded in lived experiences, i.e. a merger between scholarship and activism; 6.) an interdisciplinarity in which African history and/or knowledge is produced by bridging and even transcending the academic disciplines; and 7.) critical intellectualism/African historiography in which a simultaneous deconstruction of Euro-centric (anti-African) discourses and construction of vindicationist/contributionist African-centered discourses occurs. It is important to note here however that these realms of this griotic methodology are not static, compartmentalized or arranged in a linear fashion. Rather the griotic methodology is conceptualized as a processual continuum through which realms two through seven ascend from and are made coherent via realm one, the

African epistemology in which there is unity, interplay or dialogue between the present and the past. (See figure 1 below) It is from this framework that I will examine the

approach to African historiography employed by and for antebellum African Americans as the medium used to vindicate and liberate themselves.

In closing, I have integrated and assessed historiographical and qualitative elements in my attempt to approach discern a griotic methodology. From this process, I have delineated seven key elements involved in the contemporary production of African history by African and African American scholars. The fact that recent scholarly contributions to the historiography on the Black Atlantic, dealing with African identity politics in particular, embody many of these above elements may further substantiate this study’s conceptualization of griotic methodology. An assessment of some of these contemporary works is therefore necessary to gauge vantage points to African agency, voice and historicity that are realized and/or missing relative to this study’s griotic methodology. By analyzing griotic methodology in this manner, I aim to demonstrate how it serves as a ‘from within’ prism for scholars to assess African historical experiences, and how it constitutes a distinctive epistemology by which African peoples construct identity politics in the past and present. Once the viability of this griotic methodology is established via my analyses of scholarly works on the Black Atlantic, this study will chart how the distinctive approach historically ascended among antebellum African Americans as they produced African history to vindicate/liberate themselves. Ultimately, my goal is to elucidate a distinctive African American epistemology (griotic methodology) which highlights African agency and voice within

the production of African history by and for African people. It is hoped that revealing such foundational dynamics from the standpoint of contemporary history production will consequently pose critical educational implications for African Americans who often experience cultural and educational marginalization in the 21st century post- secondary classroom.

2 black consciousness 3 7 Africa Critical centered- historio- ism graphy

1 African Epistemology

6 4 Inter Pan- disciplin- Africanism arity 5 Orgainic Intellectual- ism

*Realm 1 (African Epistemology) is the core of griotic methdology. Realms 2-3 emanate from realm 1, in which they intersect and fuel each other.

Figure I. – Griotic Methodology – Diagram

Chapter 2: Griotically assessing historiography on the African diaspora.

The discipline of African history emerged during the 1950s and 1960s amidst the struggles for decolonization and nationalism, in which various anthropological frameworks were employed to historicize the African past. It was during this period that the African Studies Association was founded in 1957 to “bring together people with a scholarly and professional interest in Africa.”147 By 1968 however conflicts over identity politics and the production of African knowledge surfaced and resulted in the materialization of the African Heritage Studies Association. This organization proclaimed its mission was to “decolonize” African studies from white hegemony and represent the field as an arena of knowledge production that was for and by African and/or black people on the continent and diaspora.148 By the 1990s, the ‘insider- outsider’ polemics over the meaning of Africa’s history had resulted into debates involving ‘authenticity’ and ‘objectivity.’ The empirical framework that was used to assess Africa’s realities was consequently challenged by African Africanists in particular. These scholars considered the modernist and positivist notions of

‘objectivity,’ ‘progress,’ and ‘scientific inquiry’ to be inadequate for the interpretation of African realities because of the Western analytical lens that was projected onto the

African past. Yet, more and more endogenous African methodologies such as oral

147 “African Studies Association,” http://www.africanstudies.org/p/cm/ld/fid=8, February 26, 2011. 148 Clark (1976). 74

history have emerged to reveal the limitations of Western approaches. Unfortunately, a

Western intellectual hegemony continues to plague to field of African History.

Contemporary paradigms such as African-centeredism, Black Atlantic studies,

Africana studies, Black Nationalist and Pan-African studies provide avenues to critique conventional Western prisms that marginalize the experiences of African people. The historiographical assessments on identity politics throughout the African Diaspora that emanate from these paradigms further provide important queries for the conceptualization of Africa itself.149 Still, the fact that Western analytical tools are used in these assessments of African phenomena, establishes a production of historical knowledge on Africa that remains tied to Western epistemology. The above paradigms along with the historiography on Africa that emanate from these respective prisms therefore do not transcend Western intellectual hegemony and are limited in assessing

African experiences from the standpoint of African historicity (historical consciousness).

The foundational scholarship on African identity politics that are tied to Western intellectual and political hegemony are represented by the pivotal works of Melville J.

Herskovits’ The Myth of the Negro Past (1941) and E. Franklin Frazier’s The Negro in the United States (1949). These works reveal how Western intellectual and political

149 Though some of these works will be the subject of my discussion regarding griotic methodology within Black Atlantic historiography below, a significant few include, Alexander (2008); Chambers (2005); Gomez, (1998); Bilby and Handler (2004); Brandon (1993); Brown, (2008); Diouf, (1998); and Obi. (2008). 75

dichotomies are projected on identity politics of ‘Negro’ historical actors. Herskovits’ study contends that Negro identity was derived on the basis of continental African ethnic retentions. The Negro was accordingly viewed as alien and unassimilatable to mainstream European (Anglo) American culture. Frazier, on the other hand, argued that the Negro’s identity was derived via assimilation to European (Anglo) American culture and was therefore totally devoid of any continental based Africanity. This dichotomy between the African Negro vs. American (Anglo) Negro was indeed representative of contemporary political debates of the time involving segregation and integration. Because neither of these works were centered on the Negro’s (African) historical consciousness, or historicity that gave shape to his/her identity politics, both projected an ‘othering’ on Negro identity from a Euro-centric/Western intellectual and political framework.

With the proliferation of the above paradigms and scholarship on African identity politics, Herskovits’ Africanist approach to African American origins has been both substantiated and complicated via discourses that chart the trajectory of specific ethnic retentions of continental Africanisms throughout the Atlantic world. The assessments of Africanity however continue to reflect Western theoretical conceptualizations and corresponding political agendas that are often dichotomized. For instance, there are a number of scholarly works that assert the continental derived

African ethnic retentions among enslaved populations fostered ‘self-defeatist’

tendencies, inhibited interethnic collectivism and discouraged open resistance to slavery and white hegemony.150 At the same time, there are studies that chart how the African retentions and/or affirmations among enslaved and free Africans in antebellum America were key factors that gave shape to an ‘African’ collective ethos, nationalist response and/or resistance to white Anglo/European hegemony.151 The discourses among the above two groups are therefore reflective of contemporary ideological dichotomies among scholars rather than accessing the identity politics exhibited among displaced

Africans under review. Beyond these dichotomized views, all studies employ a Western analytical prism that essentialize African identity politics in accordance with the anthropological notion of the “ethnographic present.” Within this framework, African ethnicities/identities are projected and assessed as clearly demarcated, static and frozen entities which are representative of Western based artificial groupings that are superimposed on African peoples rather than the historically fluid, dynamic and at times, ambiguous manifestations that constituted the identity politics of Africa/ns. 152

There are a number of recent historiographical works that speak to this fundamental flaw in the scholarly assessment of indigenous African people. Within

Daniel Magaziner’s, “Removing the Blinders and Adjusting the View,” we find the

“Mende” being distinguished by scholars on the basis of five distinctive characteristics.

These characteristics however had no endogenous ‘validity’, considering Magaziner

150 See Mullin (1974); Mullin (1994); Dunn (1972); and Raboteau (1978). 151 See, for example Gomez (1998); Stuckey (1987); Wilder (2001); and Alexander (2008). 152 See Cinnamon (2006) and Ogot (2001), for insight into this notion. 77

asserts that “Mende” was not an identity by which these individuals “knew themselves or identified themselves.” 153 Jean and John Camaroff’s Of Revelation and Revolution provides further insight into how a fluid and amorphous grouping of southern Africans were reified into a ‘fixed’ tribal category. This grouping, the “Tswana,” was constructed in service to apartheid via Bantu education. The Camaroffs offer the specifics of how this groups’ “consciousness was colonized” as missionaries reduced and re-presented the groups’ oral cultural traditions linguistically through redefining specific indigenous concepts as well as incorporating English “loan words” into the

Tswana’s vocabulary.154 Beyond these, Bethwell Ogot’s “Construction of Luo Identity” illustrates how Western scholarship utilizes mythic ‘ethnic’ models in their assessments of African people. Accordingly, Ogot critiques how social anthropologists reduced and redefined the fluid ideological system of the “Luo” in accordance with an essentialized kingship model that was derived from the scholarly misinterpretation of the “Nuer” indigenous group.155 In sum, all these assessments reveal how Western intellectual essentialisms have totally skewed the interpretation and analyses of African identity politics; and this is the best case scenario. With respect to the worst case scenario, these assessments demonstrate how an intellectual “tribalization” occurred – which when indoctrinated by African people, have produced divisive and even deadly outcomes.

153 Magaziner (2007:169 ftnt 4). 154 Camaroff and Camaroff (1991: 218-219). 155 Ogot (2001: 41). 78

This can be shown through the ethnic politicization, or ‘tribalism’ that plagues various areas of the continent today.

Michael Gomez’s Exchanging Our Country Marks provides an informed discussion of the nuances and complexities of indigenous African “ethnicities” prior to

Atlantic slavery that must be considered in scholarly analyses. He asserts that there were continental based African ‘ethnicities’ prior to colonialism however these and other identity politics were formed and facilitated by large centralized states that were engaged in extensive commercial, religious, linguistic and cultural exchanges.156 The complexity and changing historical and political contexts throughout Africa therefore reveals a pronounced elastic, fluid, dynamic and sometimes, ambiguous quality with respect to African ‘ethnic’ identity. In fact, as noted in Ogot’s study above, many ethnicities were based on ideological orientations that were resiliently responding to and/or acculturating changing historical circumstances.157

As respective West and Central African ‘ethnicities’ were racially displaced throughout the Americas, European American cultural hegemony established the context in which African inter-ethnic acculturations were intensified. Gomez points out that this inter-ethnic acculturation occurred on multiple layers inclusive of what he refers to as a “culture of volition,” or inner culture in which a conscious cultural negotiation occurred among enslaved Africans to make sense out of their changing

156Gomez (1998: 7). 157 Ogot (2001) reveals how the Luo were in fact an ideologically propagated group in East Africa. 79

reality. He further identifies that an external acculturation also materialized into a

“culture of coercion” that included the mannerisms exhibited in the presence of white, or European American enslavers/colonial masters.158 However, Gomez is not clear in the relationship between the internal “culture of volition” and the external “culture of coercion” which this study asserts to be inseparable and/or converged. In fact, this study contends that the culture of volition involved the inter-ethnic acculturation from which the culture of coercion was derived. From this standpoint, both cultural realms represent levels of agency in which Africans themselves drew from a distinctive historical consciousness to fuel identity politics in response to their changing circumstances. Scholarly discourses that assess Africanisms throughout the diaspora as frozen, static or codified manifestations which were either resisting or acquiescing to white cultural hegemony are therefore neglecting the ambiguity, fluidity and dynamism of African identity politics. The African inter-ethnic acculturations that occurred throughout the Americas may have constituted active resistance as well as acquiescence to European American domination depending on the historical context. Moreover, as will be noted below, African responses to white hegemony that may be perceived as acquiescence may in fact involve African agency in resistance, when taking into consideration the distinctive epistemology of African people with regards to history.

This study queries these critical nuances concerning the complexities of African identity

158 See “Introduction” within Gomez (1998). 80

politics, to reveal how assessments on African identity politics must avoid reducing the experiential historicity of African people via contemporary Western conventions.

One of the most fundamental dilemmas for scholarship on African identity politics and African historiography in general, is how to access African voice and/or agency in these historically constructed conventions. Handel Kashope Wright’s

“Editorial: Notes on the (Im)possibility of Articulating Continental African identity”159 queries a “bewildering array of ideological and disciplinary positions” that has plagued the field of African studies concerning identity politics and voice, which generally fall into categories in relation to Western discourses. Wright identifies these as oppositional, assimilationist, duality and specificity. Wright then proposes that his approach is fundamentally interested in deconstructing Western discourse.160 My study concurs with Wright in this manner, as I reference V.Y. Mudimbe’s premise that the idea of Africa itself is a Western construct that is assessed by Western scholarship for

Western audiences.161 I consequently draw from the works of Linda Smith, Heike

Schmidt, Dipesh Charkrabarty and Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia to critically approach

Western conceptual assessments of Africa and its history to not only deconstruct but to provincialize, endogenize and even ‘Africanize’ Western discourses on African

159 Wright (2002). 160 Ibid. 5. 161 Mudimbe (1988). 81

experiences.162 Moving toward these ends, Ogot’s work on “The Construction of Luo

Identity and History,”163 in particular, reveals how the Western engagement of Africa’s oral traditions forces an acknowledgement of the need for interdisciplinary queries in order to construct a more coherent African historical narrative. Considering Africa’s oral traditions involve a dissemination of holistic, interdisciplinary knowledge via interplay between the present and the past, they are mediums which reveal the distinctive African epistemology revealed above. The nuances gained from scholarship on oral traditions thus provides a griotic analytical lens to tap into the lived historicity of Africans themselves. Accordingly, the dynamism, fluidity and contextuality involved in oral traditions provide a framework in which assessments on African identity politics and historiography are shifted from “institutional to social” and “facts to process” to best access the African historicity from which these dynamics emanate.164

There are a number of contributions to the historiography on the African diaspora that help acknowledge this study’s griotic methodology as they speak to the fluidity of African identity politics and agency throughout the Americas. They include

Vincent Brown’s The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic

Slavery (2008), Sylvian Diouf’s Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the

162 See Smith (1999); Schmidt (2007); Chakrabarty (2000); Brizuela-Garcia (2006). I have chosen to substitute endogenize for indigenize,which I believe more definitively describes my approach which seeks to examine African experiences, ‘from within’ that experience. See Babou (1995) and Gordon (1990). 163 Ogot (2001). 164 Ibid. 46-9. 82

Americas (1998), and Douglas B. Chambers, Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in

Virginia (2005). These specific works are informative to my griotic methodology because they are representative of recent scholarship that focuses on the identity transformations that occurred among the first generations of Africans that were displaced by the Atlantic slave trade. Moreover, these analyses further challenge the anthropological notion of the ‘ethnographic present’ by charting the trajectory of

African identity, or processes of African acculturation that Africans engaged in throughout the diaspora. Accordingly, these works acknowledge the role of African agency in African identity politics. The fact that these analyses view manifestations of

African identity through a Western analytical lens may skew interpretations of African agency. However, they reveal the existence of a distinctive African epistemological framework that moves us toward the acknowledgment of what this study contends to be griotic methodology.

My study will move forward by assessing the above historiographical works with respect to the elements of griotic methodology as elucidated above. I am focusing specifically on how scholars’ assess African identity politics throughout the African continent and diaspora within their works, which I contend to be an external manifestation of African historicity. My review of these historiographical works is therefore multilayered as it is an assessment of the scholars’ epistemological and paradigmatic framework, and how this prism may or may not access African historicity,

and/or agency that gave way to identity politics in the studies’ historical subjects. My aim is to acknowledge the contributions these works bring to the field, and to point out the distinctive elements that I contend emanate from what I conceive to be griotic methodology. These respective elements of the griotic methodology will be pointed out within all works under review in that all scholars project contemporary paradigms and even identity politics on historical studies, in accordance with my griotic dictum, ‘unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the present and the past.’ This griotic ‘interplay’ however occurs on the basis of Western conceptualizations and disciplinary demarcations in which the production of history is compartmentalized and fragmented.

The case will ultimately be made that had scholars employed a griotic methodology grounded in an West African epistemology of time/history to historically assess African identity politics, a greater insight into African voice and agency could have been realized directly challenging Mudimbe’s notion of Africa being (perpetually) connected to Western intellectual hegemony. This study’s griotic methodology therefore seeks to acknowledge the underlying view by which Africans chose to conceptualize what

Gomez asserts to be ‘culture of volition,’ even though what one may observe as external or outward culture is always reduced, fragmented and contextualized by the ‘culture of coercion.’165 It is my hope that by gauging these historiographical works with respect

165 Gomez (1998). 84

to my study’s prism, I am seeking to validate the griotic methodology as a distinctive epistemological framework by which African historical experiences can be understood.

I shall proceed by assessing the above works via the seven realms of griotic methodology as shown in diagram form (Figure 1) above, being: 1.) a West African view (epistemology) of history which involves unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the past and the present; 2.) a pronounced sense of black consciousness that emanates from intellectual, historical, cultural and/or racial displacement within American society; 3.) a commitment to Africa as the metaphorical source of one’s racial heritage and by extension, the source of human origins (African-centeredism); 4.) a Pan-

Africanist / collectivist ethos whereby a collective memory along with an identification and commitment to African people and/or humanity is manifest. 5.) a sense of organic intellectualism in which scholarship is embedded in lived experiences, i.e. a merger between scholarship and activism; 6.) an interdisciplinarity in which African history and/or knowledge is produced by bridging and even transcending the academic disciplines; and 7.) critical intellectualism/African historiography in which a simultaneous deconstruction of Euro-centric (anti-African) discourses and construction of vindicationist/contributionist African-centered discourses occurs. As noted above, realms two through six emanate from realm one, African epistemology, and are part of a fluid and dynamic continuum in which they often merge with and/or reciprocate each another. In light of this, I assess the implications of the above scholarship with respect

to three general arenas that emphasize the intersections between these griotic realms to offer a more fluid analysis. Moreover, because we are in the West and engaging implications of African identity politics, I will begin with realm seven then move counter clockwise, ultimately to realm one which permeates the entire methodology.

Griotic Realms 7, 6, & 5: critical African historiography, interdisciplinarity and organic intellectualism.

In the present conjunction…it is.. (impossible) ..to … write a history of Africa.. without, first, having to undertake…a critique of the intellectual violence …that has been done to the African past.166

The above statement made by M.W. elucidates how the scholarship on Africa must always contend with Western intellectual hegemony which others the experiences of African people. The scholarly works on the African diaspora that I am griotically reviewing confirm this premise because they are all critically historiographical (realm

7). By this, I am referring to the fact that they all intrinsically involve a deconstruction or ‘provincialization’ of conventional Western/European–centered prisms that have marginalized the experiences of African people.167 One particular element of scholarship on the African diaspora/Black Atlantic that resonates with this factor, involves constructing a narrative through a transnational prism that is centered on the experiences of African people as they are displaced throughout the Atlantic world. This

166 M.W. (2011: 214-220). 167 See Schmidt (2007) and Chakrabarty (2000) for insight on this notion of ‘provincialization’ of Europe via African scholarship. 86

is juxtaposed to conventional historical approaches that demarcate and/or reduce the historical experiences of African people within analyses that employ the nation-state as a prism. In order to facilitate the transnational component of Black Atlantic scholarship, an interdisciplinarity is most often utilized in order to demonstrate African agency holistically in context of their historical experiences. These two elements are thus merged in a sense of organic intellectualism that emerges from scholars’ embeddedness within his/her study. Accordingly, the scholars’ ethos embraces and/or empathizes with the perspectives of the identity politics of the historical agents that are under review. In this manner, an endogenous, of ‘from within’ assessment on African identity politics on the continent and diaspora occurs. As scholarship exhibit these critical dynamics, major implications toward this study’s griotic methodology are posed specifically regarding the level of scholarly production of knowledge and the delineation of African agency from an experience where the African is centered.

Sylviane A. Diouf’s Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the

Americas (1998) possesses key vantage points toward my griotic methodology with respect to these intersecting realms of critical historiography, interdisciplinarity, and organic intellectualism. From a historiographical standpoint, Diouf poses three significant contributions that expand our understanding of African identity politics beyond conventional Western prisms. These include her scholarly treatment of African and Muslim as a converged identity within the West African context; her transnational

assessment of African Muslim ‘communality’ that is the principal distinguishing factor among Africans on the continent and those enslaved throughout the Atlantic world; and her pronounced African Muslim historicity which she utilizes as a frame of reference to assess how such consciousness gives way to peculiar identity politics in the face of

European white Christian hegemony. As strongly suggested by this latter quality, it is evident that Diouf’s work involves organic intellectualism, as she draws from her own

African Islamic orientation and projects a ‘from within’ perspective to highlight the agency of African Muslims in Africa and throughout the Americas during the era of

Atlantic slavery. This is revealed throughout her work as Diouf references Al-Qur’an,

Hadith and numerous Western sources to establish her African Muslim context by which to substantiate the Islamic religiosity of West Africans. Further, it is evident that

Diouf writes from a sense of personal experience in which she seeks to claim African

Muslim agency in African and American historiography. This agenda to fill a historiographical void is explicitly revealed in her introduction, “An Understudied

Presence and Legacy,” as she asserts, “For three hundred and fifty years, Muslim men, women and children, victims of the general insecurity that the Atlantic Slave trade and the politico-religious conflicts in West Africa fostered, were sold in the New World…. they came as Muslims and lived as Muslims…in a hostile (European American)

Christian environment. Yet many historians and writers have not acknowledged their presence, much less their success at upholding their religion.”168

In congruence with her own cultural and religious ethos, Diouf initiates her study by acknowledging how the historiography of Africa and Islam have been compartmentalized and treated as separate entities in scholarship. She strives to deconstruct this historiographical demarcation by arguing that Al-Islam in West Africa was historically viewed as an “indigenous African” religion by West Africans themselves and therefore constitute inseparable histories. Diouf further supports this convergence between Islam and West Africa by distinguishing West African Islam from the “jihadist” Islam that was spread in North Africa. She contends that Islam in sub-

Saharan Africa, was diffused by “indigenous traders, clerics and rulers…(in a) mostly peaceful and unobtrusive manner.”169 Diouf then acknowledges Al-Qur’an as the force that provided the means of communication, trade and diplomacy among West Africans.

And, as noted above, she provides Qur’anic references throughout her study to

Islamically frame the dynamics of African Muslims throughout the continent and the diaspora. In sum, Diouf draws from an endogenous African Muslim frame of reference to project Islam as a dynamic agency that was merged with, accommodated and/or well tolerated by “indigenous” African cultures. She asserts this factor contributed to a pronounced complexity among African Muslim ranging from the “devout, the sincere,

168 Diouf (1988:1). 169 Ibid. 89

the casual believers, the fundamentalist, the lightly touched and the mystics.”170 Diouf frames this fluidity between Al-Islam and West Africa through referencing Surah 2:15,

“Wherever you turn, there is Allah’s face.” Accordingly, this is an attempt to provide

Islamic authenticity to the “Sufi” orientation that she contends dominated West Africa from the 15th century on.

Diouf goes on to suggests that Sufism and continental African culture established a congruent foundational relationship as they both stressed a personal relationship of the believer with the divine/Allah, along with such elements of religiosity as possession, or ‘trance,’ amulets, divination, congregational prayers, and immobilization of animals.171 Diouf thus contends that Africa and Islam merged in an ambiguous, fluid, dynamic and processual manner. From this organic/experiential standpoint then, Diouf seeks to transcend a Western framework in which religion, ethnicity, and even culture are often assessed as clearly demarcated phenomena.

Moreover, though Diouf seems to be concerned with validating such cultural dynamism and complexity on the basis of Islamic Sufism, the emphasis on such dynamism, acculturation and ambiguity speaks more so to the African methodology of oral tradition from which the griotic methodology is derived. This further involves how

Islam would take on an distinctive West African character that promoted Black

Consciousness, Africanity and Pan-Africanism as will be discussed below.

170 Ibid. 4-5. 171 Ibid. 90

Also significant to this study’s realms of griotic methodology involving critical intellectualism/African historiography, interdisciplinarity and organic intellectualism is the fact that Diouf engages French, Portuguese and English historical sources through her African Muslim framework to construct a historical narrative of African Muslim experiences specifically within the context of Atlantic slavery. She begins her analyses on the African continent and charts how the politico-religious wars throughout West

Africa resulted in the disintegration of the Islamic empires of Futa Toro and Futa Jallon.

She then establishes a correlation between these processes and the dispersal of enslaved

African Muslims throughout the Americas.172 Though Diouf delineates references from slave owner documents, the works of Allan Austin173 and Paul Lovejoy, 174 along with notable auto/biographical works which focus principally on individual enslaved

Muslims throughout the Americas, 175 she stresses the existence of a widespread African

Muslim communality that distinguished itself throughout the diaspora. In order to establish this communality, she highlights such factors as Arabic literacy among the enslaved, Arabic/Islamic African names, and rituals practiced among the enslaved associated with the “pillars of Islam.” Of interest here is how Diouf notes it was often these specific qualities that led to the rise of African Muslims within the slave hierarchy, along with their active agency in perpetuating enslavement over other

172 Ibid. 22-31, 46-7. 173 Austin (1984). 174 Lovejoy (1994). 175Individual African Muslims Diouf focuses on include Ben Ali, Abu Bakar al-Siddiq, Salih Bilali, Ibrahim Abdulrahman, and Job-ben Solomon. 91

Africans. Diouf’s explanation for this emanates from her early discussion on African

Muslims’ historical views of slavery.176 Through Diouf’s organic intellectualism, or embeddedness within the West African Muslim framework, we are further provided insight into how “African Muslims” were driven by their “faith” to orchestrate revolts against slavery and returns to Africa, and finally, how they established a legacy that acculturated with other African religious practices throughout the diaspora. This griotic element involving a distinctive African epistemology whereby there is a view of unity or interplay between the present and the past will be further elaborated under realm one below. But here, the fact remains that Diouf utilizes her own experiential views of

African Islam to synthesize Qur’anic references, African Sufi traditions, and a wealth of

Western scholarship on Africa and the Atlantic world to establish an endogenous

African Muslim study. This is emblematic of my griotic methodology that is synonymous with the dynamics of oral traditions above. In sum, the element of Diouf’s griotic methodology are revealed as she seeks to counter the historiographical marginalization of African Muslims within America, by employing a unique African

Muslim ethos in her historical assessment of African Muslim displacement within white

/ Christian hegemony. Diouf consequently constructs a liberatory narrative of African

Muslims that in many ways, transcends Western discourses altogether as she asserts that

176 Diouf (1988: 8-15). 92

although African Muslims were enslaved throughout the America’s they were able to maintain their principal statuses as “servants of Allah.”

Vincent Brown’s The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of

Atlantic Slavery demonstrates significant griotic nuances in this critical historiographical contribution to Black Atlantic discourse. Though his work examines the universal nature/omnipresence of death through a trans-national lens focusing on the

Atlantic world in general and British colonial Jamaica in particular, he offers insight into how such an environment in which death was so pervasive impacted African agency in their respective identity politics. Upfront, this perspective is designed to promote a critical reappraisal of how the history of the New World has been constructed. As Brown focuses on the “history of death, power and slavery in British colonial Jamaica” he is suggesting a new perspective on the history of the present.”177

From a critical historiographical standpoint, Brown’s positioning of Jamaica in this history of Anglo-America challenges three conventional components of American historiography in general. These three components that explicitly identify Brown’s study aims include: 1.) countering narratives of American progress that focus mainly on what Europeans and their descendants have done; 2.) transcending national historiography which, “ reduces imperial and colonial history to the prehistory of the nation-state (and) conveniently excludes the British Caribbean from the histories of

177 Brown (2008: 258) 93

North America”; and 3.) deconstructing the popular perception of Anglo-America as representing the ideals of progress, liberty, justice and civil rights by documenting

“slavery’s ghastly brutality.” 178

In line with these historiographical objectives, Brown employs an interdisciplinary approach as he draws from demographics, cultural and social history to construct a narrative that speaks to the impact and significance of death. With regard to

African identity politics, he charts the magnitude of death during the era of Atlantic slavery ascending from a West African context via slave wars, caravans, and slave forts, through the death infested middle passage, onto the enslavement experience within

Jamaica. Because the African experience during this era exhibited a pronounced ubiquity of death within all these realms, Brown contends that Africans had to find ways to contend with ongoing dislocation, alienation and commodification. And, because ‘death’ (and/or the dead) constituted the one constant within the African’s experience within the Atlantic world, Brown argues that it became a conceptual tool that Africans were able to utilize to maintain agency in identity politics in the face of pervasive European hegemony. Specifically, Brown contends that Africans conscientiously conceived death/the dead as a form of resistance to the world of slavery, which consequently prompted a sense of autonomy in their lives and means toward social personhood.

178 Ibid. 259. 94

To illustrate this notion of African agency in identity politics via death/the dead,

Brown references a distinctive ideological disposition of the enslaved regarding the dead constituting living entities, unique burial practices/last rites, the practice of Obeah, and the pronounced belief in transmigration of the soul among the enslaved Africans.

Of central importance to this study’s griotic methodology is Brown’s elucidation of an

West African cosmological understanding of death/the dead that constituted the core framework by which displaced Africans in Jamaica would constantly re-present their lives in such a tenuous environment. Moreover, Brown’s text highlights how it was an underlying African orientation toward death among the African and creolized slaves that established a distinctive African agency in the Christian Protestantism that began to flourish among the enslaved throughout the early 19th century, as shown in the Baptist

War.179 By charting the trajectory of an African ideological engagement of death/the dead, Brown is suggesting a distinctive African historicity, or epistemological approach by which enslaved Africans themselves (de)constructed death.

Also of significance to the griotic realm of critical African historiography is

Brown’s merger between his interdisciplinarity and organic intellectualism as his work constitutes a “materialist history of the supernatural imagination.” Brown’s principal shortcoming here however is the fact that he reduces his imagination into a materialist history from assessments of Western scholarly analyses of various dynamics of Atlantic

179 Ibid. 225-6. 95

slavery. With the notable exception of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (1789), his resources do not include the voices of the Africans who are the subjects of his work.

Considering he is seeking to delineate a specific African historicity with respect to the dead/death, an ‘insiders’ perspective could have been quite revealing. Even if Brown had incorporated oral histories from specific areas in West Africa as well as from

Jamaica concerning spirituality, death, Obeah, burial rituals, etc., a greater sense of

African historicity could have been afforded to Brown’s meta-disciplinary approach.

Rather, Brown pulls from Western demographics, social and cultural historical studies and projects his own metaphysical, symbolic and/or spiritual understandings of how

Africans manipulated psychologically manipulated death / the dead to impact political and social realms of the living.

Still, in a quite intriguing manner, Brown assesses the historical interactions among and between Africans as well as Europeans in this environment through what he acknowledges as “mortuary politics.” Brown defines this as “death’s cosmic significance that determined what it meant to be and stop being human,” in which he assesses the profound metaphysical sources that shaped “concerted actions.”180 This dynamic is perhaps the most intriguing component within Brown’s study because he deconstructs secularist notions of identity being static, codified and/or frozen entities within historical time and space. Conversely, Brown offers an innovative insight into

180 Ibid. 5. 96

his historical examination of African and European identity by focusing on the relationship between ideological orientations and actions, i.e. ‘people are what they do.’

Brown is therefore avoiding the anthropological essentialisms often projected onto historical personalities and adheres to Ogot’s suggestion, which also contributes to my griotic methodology of moving analyses from “facts to processes.”181

Brown’s work possesses the griotic elements of critical African historiography as well as interdisciplinarity by which African identity politics are acknowledged.

However, it is the most intriguing element of Brown’s work, being “mortuary politics,” that undermines insight into the dynamics of African historicity by which death/the dead were conceptually manipulated.182 In other words, Brown is not entirely successful in shifting the focus of his historical assessment away from how Africans responded to and/or reacted to European hegemony. This is because the prism for his study is a context of death that was historically precipitated by European enslavement.

Brown accordingly utilizes an ambiguous and immaterial conceptualization of death/the dead that he constructs from his own imagination and projects it as the principal ideological core that gave shape to historical Africans identity politics. In sum,

Brown’s conceptualization of death/the dead is ultimately conceived in a Western compartmentalized fashion, that is then superimposed as the sum total of African historicity, rather than being a fluid, dynamic, and ambiguous element that ascends

181 Ogot (2001). 182 Brown (2008: 5). 97

from African historicity. The consideration of a holistic African epistemology within which death is only a component, is consequently neglected by Brown.183 We are left then, with a projection of Brown’s historical imagination on his subjects. In other words, immaterial notions of the African past are reduced through Brown’s intellectual subjectivity (scholarly/political discourse). Though Brown projects his own symbolism, imagination, and spirituality of African agency in identity politics via death/the dead, his materialist analysis ultimately considers what Gomez considers the Africans’

“culture of coercion.” Unfortunately, Brown does not offer insight into these Africans’

“culture of volition.”184 Had Brown grounded himself in this study’s griotic methodology involving a more holistic African epistemological context of lived experiences, his own ethos and framework for assessing African identity politics would have been expanded beyond such a materialist analysis of death/the dead.

Against the backdrop of the 1732 death of Ambrose Madison, grandfather of

President, James Madison, Douglas Chamber’s Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in

Virginia (2005) constructs a historical narrative that assesses the trajectory of Igbo

Africans’ social memory (historicity) as they were displaced within the Americas.

Chamber’s study is initialized by querying the “thread” of evidence that was used to convict the enslaved Africans for poisoning the Madison patriarch. This ‘charter event’ is significant because it represents the first known conviction of slaves poisoning their

183 For this African cosmological view see Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996); and Wiredu (1980). 184 Gomez (1998). 98

master. But rather than evaluating the justice of the conviction, Chamber utilizes the element of “poison” as a window to access the dynamic cosmological world of the

African born slaves. From a griotic standpoint Chamber’s work subsequently deconstructs and/or “provincializes” Western accounts as being reductionist and compartmentalized, and demonstrates an alternative historical/cultural ethos through which African and American historiography may be constructed.

Early on, Chambers acknowledges Western accounts of history in general as being produced by historians who write from the standpoint of “partial knowledge.” 185

Chambers also asserts that the limited intellectual prism of Western scholarship provides an even further fragmented view of the African American presence. He contends this is because of the European-centered nature of Western scholarship which others and/or marginalizes the experiences of African Americans by including only those whose lives intersect with or approximate the lives of whites. Chamber’s study is therefore designed to transcend this European-centered tendency by constructing an analytical lens that embraces and assesses the African presence in Virginia from the standpoint of Africans of the “Igbo” orientation. It is from this vantage point that

Chambers delves into the European-centered account of the trial for the alleged murder of Ambrose Madison, in which “poison” was identified as the principal evidence that was used by the courts to convict the accused slaves. Rather than examining whether

185 Chambers (2005: 3). 99

this element of poison constitutes grounds for the conviction, Chambers considers it as a means to access a distinct African cosmology beyond Western perceived reality. From

Chambers’ griotic lens, “the significance of poison to the enslaved Africans” reveals how it is a manifestation of African identity politics. Chambers is therefore

(de)constructing American and African historiography through centering the historical narrative on their most “invisible” agents; the African-born slaves in America.

Chambers thus possesses a pronounced griotic element involving a transnational lens that deconstructs Euro-centic analyses of this charter event in America history. In essence, he is acknowledging the references to “poison” as a “thread” that has become unwoven from an experiential African cosmological quilt. As he queries this “thread,” he consequently explores the trajectory of African identity politics from which the poison was materialized. In doing so, Chambers reconstructs the entire meaning of this charter event which enslaved Africans are being convicted for the murder of Ambrose

Madison in 1732.

In an attempt to expand his acknowledged partiality as an historian, Chambers engages a wide variety of primary sources including data on enslaved Africans disembarkment from Bight of Biafra (Igbo), census of Madison’s Family Slaves 1720-

1850, Virginia Tithtables, data on plantations near Montpelier, records showing

Madison family slaves who were hired out and/or dispersed throughout Virginia, an

1850 U.S. Slave Schedule, and genealogical studies. From these sources, Chambers

100

weaves the threads of evidence together to establish the existence of a distinctive

African born slave community from the Bight of Biafra that was present throughout

Virginian plantations. Chambers then assesses the written records, oral histories and the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano to reveal how the ‘Igbo’ orientation was historically and socially constructed. Of much significance here is the fact that Chambers provide evidence from Olaudah Equiano, along with accounts from early explorers and missionary that the people from the Biafra region were “fiercely localistic” and only embraced the “collective identity” of Igbo when they were displaced throughout their respective diasporas on the continent and abroad. 186

Chambers further provides evidence that the Igbo identity itself may have been unknown to continental Africans until the “Biafran” Africans came into contact with

European forces.187 However, by piecing together the above sources along with anthropological, philosophical, religious and historical accounts on the Igbo, with the depictions of Igbo culture offered by Equiano, Chambers delineates an Igbo identity that was appropriated by Biafrans as they pulled from their unique historicity specifically in response to European hegemony. It is this appropriated/acculturated identity that Chambers asserts was propagated from Biafra to Virginia as a result of the

Atlantic slave trade and in essence produced an Igbo ‘sub-diaspora within a subdiaspora’.

186 Chambers (2005). 187 Ibid. 22-24. 101

In this manner, Chambers employs a transnational prism beyond the typical

Western nation-state lens. In the mode of Diouf and Brown, Chambers traces the trajectory of African identity politics in a griotic manner that is congruent with Ogot’s conceptualization of moving analyses from “facts to process.”188 Indeed, Chambers implies Igbo may have been a European typology imposed on African people. But he also speaks to Gomez’s “culture of volition” 189 by illustrating how this Igbo identity was appropriated by various continental Africans in an effort to promote a collective historical consciousness in the face of European hegemony.190 Consequently,

Chambers charts this process of acculturation and/or African agency in identity politics as the “first Igbo” emerged from Biafra and were dispersed throughout Virginia, to eventual become ‘Guinean’ then ‘African.’

The griotic realm of interdisciplinarity is also prominent in Chambers’ work as he constructs the social memory, or historicity of Igbo African identity politics through

Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative,191 along with anthropological studies, ethnographies, oral histories on West Africa, missionary’s accounts, historical treatments on Obeah, and the Ibibio dictionary. By merging these sources, Chambers constructs the Igbo African identity politics that ascended from West Africa on throughout Virginia. It is from his organic intellectualism however that he provides a

188 Ogot (2001). 189 Gomez (1998). 190 This notion of ‘Ibo’ invention is further explored by the works of Northup (2000) and Byrd (2006). 191See Equiano (1789). 102

lens to consider how Igbo Africans socially constructed their world from their own

African ethos. In other words, Chambers utilizes this vast array of sources to deconstruct European-centered accounts that render African born slaves within the

Americas invisible, and projects an African voice via Western scholarship that traces the dynamism of American social history from African origins. It is from this angle that

Chambers’ work reveals a more holistic assessment of African identity politics than

Brown’s “mortuary politics” considering he pulls from a myriad of the sources above, even though both possess the griotic elements elucidated above.

Griotic Realms 4, 3, & 2 – Pan-Africanism, African-centeredism and black consciousness,

….any black person, regardless of their place of birth…their national origin, is an African. The continent of Africa is identified as the continent of black people.192

….blackness…is ..at once a NEGATION of whiteness and an AFFIRMATION of blackness, of African-ness. .. ..(and) the embrace of blackness and the embrace of a kind of radical politics (go) hand in hand.193

The griotic realms identified above as black consciousness, Africanity, and Pan-

Africanism intersect but are not mutually inclusive. Yet, in line with the quotes above, this griotic methodology contextualizes them in such a manner that they converge, reciprocate and supplement each other in a fluid and dynamic manner. Black consciousness involves an awareness, or realization of racial distinction and/or

192K.O. (2011: 9-10). 193M.W. (2011: 107-110, 121-2). 103

displacement within/by white European American hegemony.194 Africanity involves an identification with the continent of Africa being the source of one’s identity and/or the starting point of one’s human experience.195 And, Pan-Africanism involves the collective identification with those who share a common heritage in Africa, are racially displaced by white hegemony, and a concerted effort to liberate these black/African people on the continent and diaspora in the broader context of humanity.196

Though these realms are compartmentalized for the sake of this study, they, like all realms of griotic methodology, intersect and/or merged in accordance with a Pan-

Africanist revolutionary dictum ‘black people are Africans, Africans are black people, and to be black and African necessitates a struggle for global liberation!’197 Of much significance to these realms is the process through which local African ‘ethnicities’ acculturated toward a more collective ‘African’ identity in the face of displacement and dislocation within European American hegemony. As will be shown in the historiographical reviews below, these identities can in fact be any combination of ethnic/cultural/linguistic (i.e. Ibo), religious (i.e. Muslim) racial (i.e. black) and/or political (i.e. African) identification, as long as they involve a propagation of collective solidarity geared toward liberation. In accordance with the griotic methodology, these realms further possess a multilayered dynamism involving the historiographical

194 This is probably best articulated by Biko (2002). 195 This is most influenced by Alexander (2008). 196 I thank M.W. (2011) for this conceptualization of Pan-Africanism. 197 Though this statement was expressed by M.W. (2011) and K.O. (2011), the first time I came across it in such a succinct manner was via Ture (2003). 104

approach of the scholar as well as the epistemological considerations of the historical

African personalities under study. Though the scholarship under review illustrate many of these griotic dynamics, they also reveal how the scholars’ production of African history has been tempered by their adherence to a Western analytical prism.

This intersection between the realms of black consciousness, Africanity and

Pan-Africanism are expressed early on by Diouf who states, “the history of Africa, in all its complexity, cannot be disassociated from the history of the people of African descent in the New World.”198 Diouf is accordingly asserting that the historical experiences of

African descendants throughout the Americas are part of Africa’s history. Ironically, it is from this “history of the people of African descent in the New World,” that ‘Africa’ as a unified entity was first historicized. By this, I am specifically referring to the fact that the history of the African continent being viewed from a collective standpoint (Pan-

Africanism) and source of heritage (African-centeredism) was first conceived by displaced Africans in the Americas. Considering Diouf is a scholar from Senegal, who was educated in France and now resides in New York, she, like Africans displaced throughout the Americas, experiences a sense of historical displacement. She therefore writes to make a scholarly contribution to what she identifies in her introduction as “An

Understudied Presence and Legacy.” Moreover, she is acknowledging that her area of expertise is marginalized within/by Western scholarship. The embedded nature of her

198 Diouf (1998: 19). 105

study elucidates a distinctive African Muslim tone to her narrative which consequently compounds Diouf’s sense of marginalization and displacement within this scholarly pursuit– i.e. being African, Muslim and female within a Western, Anglo/Christian and male-centered academy. As such, the griotic realm of black consciousness which connotes an awareness of displacement and dislocation by European/white and in this case, ‘Christian’ intellectual hegemony, permeates Diouf’s study as she centers “the story of African Muslims in the Americas” in her African Muslim framework.199

Diouf begins her assessment of enslaved African Muslims in the Americas on the African continent, where she asserts, Al-Islam spread first among traders and rulers, then ultimately to the African masses who embraced various levels of the faith. Here,

Diouf’s contends that Al-Islam embodied a sense of Pan-Africanism because it was viewed as an “indigenous religion.” In other words, Diouf asserts that an African

Muslim collectivity emerged that bridged distinct customs, languages and cultures such as Mandinka, Fulani, Tukulor, Wolof, Berbeci and others.200 Diouf also notes this Pan-

Africanist element of African Islam was especially inherent within Sufi orders which fostered more coherence and consolidation among ‘believers’ than those united by

‘ethnicity.’ Still, the principal agencies that Diouf identifies as promoting a sense of

‘African Muslim’ distinction throughout the “oral continent” are Arabic literacy along with the pronounced “cosmopolitanism and trade expertise.” Conversely, the

199 Ibid. 4. 200 Ibid. 20. 106

pronounced Sufi ambiguity, complexity and diversity among African Muslims that fostered Pan-African tendencies, would also fuel a series of “jihads” over Islamic

“orthodoxy” within and between groups. To these ends, Diouf displays the politico- religious rifts among and between African Muslims which contributed to a context involving the dislocation of the Jolof empire, wars in Futa Tora, Bundu, Kayor, Guta

Jallon, the Northwest part of the Gold Coast, northern Dahomey and central Sudan.201

Although she stresses how Europeans were actively engaged in the Atlantic slave trade during this era, Diouf does not shy away from acknowledging African Muslim populations throughout West Africa becoming agents in as well as victims of the

Atlantic Slave Trade. And yet, Diouf contends that as African Muslims were displaced in the Americas, they drew from their religiosity and historicity to remain “servants of

Allah,” in the face of white European Christian hegemony.

Diouf goes on to offer a discussion of how African Muslim literacy, rituals, organizational structure and adherence to the “pillars of Islam” distinguished this group throughout the diaspora. Though she references the individual auto/biographies of Ben

Ali, Abu Bakar al-Siddiq, Salih Bilali, Ibrahim Abdulrahman, Job-ben Solomon to substantiate her assessments, she frames the entire analysis from the standpoint of her own Sufi oriented/African Muslim religiosity and historicity (discussed below under realm one). This factor is of critical significance to the griotic methodology because it

201 Ibid. 1. 107

establishes an endogenous frame of reference to assert how African Muslims claimed cultural, political and religious agency within this oppressive environment. As such,

Diouf acknowledges the European and Christian hegemony which offended African

Muslims’ religious sensibilities. However, the emphasis is placed on the African

Muslims’ “culture of volition” in which their faith was deepened as they continued to operate from the standpoint of their distinctive religious and historical ethos.

Diouf further contends that though ethnic divisions were significant, Islam ultimately provided a sense of collective refuge (Islamic Pan-Africanism) within

European Christian hegemony.202 Concerning Gomez’s “culture of coercion,” Diouf states African Muslim identity adapted and seemed to acculturate European/Christian mannerisms. The African Muslim’s inner culture, or “culture of volition” however involved the same dynamism, fluidity, and ambiguity that ascended from the oral based framework that permeated West Africa. Diouf consequently offers documentation to reveal specific retentions throughout the diaspora such as African Muslim names and/or their English equivalents, Arabic inscribed amulets, or “griss griss,” dietary restrictions, and clothes that were modified to approximate African Muslim attire. Such cultural/religious continuities are specifically noted by Diouf as being highly diffused and/or wide spread among enslaved populations located in such places as Maryland,

202 Ibid. 71. 108

Cuba, Trinidad, Rio, Mississippi, St. Dominique, Brazil, Jamaica, Carolina Sea Islands and Bahia.203

Diouf further highlights the literacy factor of African Muslims as serving a pivotal role in their identity politics throughout the diaspora, in the much the same way that it distinguished them throughout West Africa. At this juncture, Diouf stresses that this literacy in Arabic, along with the perceptions of European American Christians, enabled African Muslims to realize a sense of ‘upward mobility’ within slave societies throughout the Americas. She accordingly argues that this was due to European

American views of African Muslims as “Arab” or “Moor,” and therefore a ‘higher

Negro grade.’ African Muslims were thus afforded the opportunity to ‘rise’ within slave societies and become house servants, drivers or skilled slaves. Diouf further rationalizes this African Muslim ‘matriculation’ within American slave societies as based on the fact that African Muslims’ were formerly leaders, teachers and slave owners themselves while in Africa. Diouf then takes the liberty to suggest that non-

Muslim Africans may have even been more willing to subordinate themselves to an

African Muslim authority rather than to European Christians. She explains this factor through asserting that the customs of African Muslims would have been much more familiar and/or less alienating to all non-Muslim Africans than those of European

Americans.204 Diouf stresses however that African Muslims’ ‘upward mobility’ within

203 Ibid. 66, 79, 132. 204 Ibid. 100-2. 109

American slave societies was an external form of acquiescence, or only on the level of their “culture of coercion.” She further stresses that African Muslims’ sense of historicity and religiosity were never compromised. The fact remains however that

Diouf is projecting her own historicity and religiosity onto the ‘culture of coercion’ and

‘culture of volition’ of these historical African Muslims who were displaced in the

Americas. By doing so, Diouf is demonstrating a pronounced embeddedness and/or organic bond with her historical subjects, which speaks specifically to this study’s griotic methodology.

The griotic realms of black consciousness, Africanity and Pan-Africanism thus permeate Diouf’s production of African Muslim history. Furthermore, Diouf is demonstrating a critical African Muslim religiosity and historicity as she contributes to scholarship on the African Muslim presence and legacy in the Americas. It is from this vantage point that she is able to not only document evidence in support of an African

Muslim presence but also offers assessment of how “African Muslims” were driven by their “faith” to orchestrate revolts against slavery and returns to Africa, and finally, how they established a legacy that acculturated with other African religious practices throughout the diaspora. This essay will further discern the griotic element of African epistemology that is ubiquitous within Diouf’s work below, as we now turn to Vincent

Brown’s The Reaper’s Garden.

110

Beyond the elements of critical African historiography, interdisciplinarity, and organic intellectualism, Brown’s work offers a more elusive view of the griotic realms of black consciousness, Africanity and Pan-Africanism. His study speaks to the dynamics of black consciousness via racialized displacement within British Colonial

Jamaica. But Brown contends the principal agency that gives shape to African identity politics to be the ideological view of death/the dead that emanates from the African experience. This is shown throughout Brown’s examinations of the ubiquity of death through the West African context as he specifically concentrates on the mortality rates of African peoples due to slave wars, caravans, slave marketplaces, and slave forts.

Even though these dynamics may have been driven by an external European hegemony,

Brown’s focus on these intra-African agencies in the slave trade seem to suggest an endogenous basis for these African views toward death rather than them being a byproduct of European hegemony. Furthermore, Brown provides a vantage point here into Gomez’s affirmative “culture of volition” by which black consciousness initially emerged among Africans. With this in mind, Brown contends that once Africans were captured on the continent by other Africans, an intra-African acculturation/socialization ensued among the capturees to improve conditions. Brown projects this intra-African struggle for “social personhood” in contrast to commodification, which nuances a sense of black consciousness that is not a mere realization of racial displacement by white

111

hegemony.205 This factor was strongly asserted via the oral history of M.W. who stated,

“there are multiple forms of blackness,” which transcend mere responses to white hegemony. 206 And yet, these forms of blackness may all involve a sense of political decentering, dislocation and/or displacement in general.

Furthermore, Brown’s paradigm also utilizes an African ascendant approach in accordance with this study’s griotic methodology in that he establishes his ‘death- centered’ prism on the African continent and traces its trajectory throughout the diaspora. What he does not do however is query the meaning of death from an African epistemological standpoint. Still, Brown’s study is unique in that he charts the magnitude and impact of death/the dead from African origins and demonstrates how

African agency in identity politics responded to, acculturated and reciprocally impacted white conceptualizations of death. In sum, Brown’s Africanity is fluid, processual and dynamic in the study in such a manner that a resilient view of African agency in death/the dead is exhibited. This element is important as African identity politics in essence take on added distinctions from these peculiar experiences within the Atlantic world in general, and British Colonial Jamaica in particular. Unfortunately, African agency is reduced and codified by Brown’s prism of “mortuary politics,” which again reveals the organic subjectivity/intellectualism by Brown, but one that neglects a more holistic African epistemological framework.

205 Brown (2008:32). 206 M.W. (2011: 129-130). 112

The strongest element of these three griotic realms demonstrated by Brown is the element of Pan-Africanism. Though Brown imagines and projects his own demarcation of death/the dead on the historical experiences of Africans in British

Colonial Jamaica, he stresses how Africans conscientiously manipulated the conceptualizations of death/the dead via “mortuary politics” to facilitate a meaningful social and political identity. The Pan-Africanist dynamic is therefore stressed by Brown here because he contends it was a shared African conceptualization of death/the dead that established collective solidarity among Africans and creoles. As Brown contends the principal constant of enslavement was “dislocation, alienation and death”, death/the dead became the principal constructs manipulated by Africans in attempt to psychically, socially and politically improve their conditions. Brown therefore explains that Pan-

Africanist collectivism was consequently materialized in instances of the Africans’ treatment of death, burial rites, as well as the ritualistic chants, music, dance – all of which shaped identity politics.207 Still, Brown’s emphasis on the magnitude and ubiquity of death through demographic analyses does not do justice to the individual experiences of the Africans under review. The Africans which underwent this experience had no way of gauging this experience through the ‘Black Atlantic’ prism that Brown employs. The global magnitude of “mortuary politics” on which Brown constructs his study therefore would have not made any sense to individual Africans

207 Ibid. 29, 39, 62. 113

within this historical context. Considering Brown’s book is emblematic of the ubiquity of death/the dead itself through a Black Atlantic paradigm, it skews any African specificity with respect to their conceptual manipulation of death/the dead. The evidence that Brown includes to demonstrate the collectivity that emerged in response to how enslaved Africans engaged the dead/death via funerals, spiritual inquests, dancing, drumming, burial rituals and so on, reveals a pronounced Pan-African component. However, this component is Brown’s griotic projection on the historical

African personalities. It is safe to say, that had Africans been able to conceptualize the global magnitude of what was occurring, the Pan-African initiatives that Brown exhibits would have indeed been there to bring such death/the dead to life via destroying white hegemony.

Black consciousness, in the sense of being marginalized, displaced and provincialized is the primary motivation of Chambers’ work, Murder at Montpelier.

This is revealed in the manner that he constructs the historical narrative of “Igbo

Africans” in America from the standpoint of being intellectually marginalized as well as in the manner in which his historical subjects maintain agency in their respective identity politics. As noted above, Chambers’ black consciousness is revealed as he states that African born slaves in America constitute the most invisible subjects of

African and American historiography. His aim is therefore to acknowledge their presence and reconstruct the Igbo African social memory by which such manifestations

114

of identity politics were realized; in this case, being the 1732 poisoning of Ambrose

Madison. Though at another level, Chambers also demonstrates a sense of black consciousness exhibited by his historical subjects who appropriated the identity of Igbo

Africans to claim agency in their identity politics as they engaged European hegemony.

Considering the evidence that Chambers cites from above that suggests that the Igbo identity had not materialized until continental Africans encountered Europeans, this study contends that “Igbo ” itself represents a stage of black consciousness.

Accordingly, continental Africans realized a need to acknowledge and propagate a politicized identity which was connected to a collective endogenous vantage point. This conscientiousness of displacement and need to propagate a more collective rather than local identity in the face of white cultural hegemony is further displayed by Chambers as he explains how Igbo Africans ascended into a “Guinean,” and then into an

“African” community throughout Virginia. Each of these identities re-present a conscious attempt by displaced Africans to maintain politico-cultural agency in their lives in the face of European planter society. From a griotic standpoint, this is certainly a manifestation of black consciousness. Of further significance is the fact that

Chambers merges this element of black consciousness in his historical treatment of Igbo

Africans with pronounced elements of African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism.

In short, Chambers’ assessment moves from the general to the particular to the regional. He starts out in Virginia with the “charter event” in which the Africans were

115

charged and convicted of poisoning Ambrose Madison. As he reviews the evidence in support of the existence of an Atlantic African community in Virginia, he then

“provincializes” his study by delving into West African Igbo hinterland and tracing how a specific group from this region ascended into these Africans in Virginia.

Accordingly, Chambers notes the diffusion and ambiguity that was characteristic throughout West Africa, but highlights the civilizations of Nri-Awka and Isuama as the geographical origin of his narrative. As he details the cosmology, political and social ideology, commercial relations, social dynamics, significance of poison, iron production, staple yams and fufu, scarification, and the “volatile mix of gerontocracy and meritocracy, of fatalism and localism, Obia, and juju,” Chambers consequently asserts that it was from the Nri civilization that the “first Igbo” ascended. Chambers contends that in the early 1700s, the decline of the Nri civilization and the rise of Bonny as a slave port occurred on the Calabar coast. As a result of this, displaced “Igbo” became victims of the Atlantic slave trade and were transported to Virginia.208

Considering Chambers’ work delineates the Nri ethos as the basis for the collective

Igbo identity that was transferred to Virginia, he stresses that an “Atlantic African” ethos rather than an American creolization was manifest among the first enslaved

Africans.

208 Chambers (2005: 189) 116

With respect to this study’s griotic methodology, Chambers’ unique treatment of

Igbo identity significantly resonates with the view of Pan-Africanism offered above.

Specifically, he contends that “Igbo” was a social-political construct that prompted a collective identification among those West Africans who were displaced from their homeland within the Bight of Biafra - regardless of their actual local origins. Chambers also elucidates a Pan-Africanist acculturation of Igbo identity in Virginia that emerged from the cultural negotiations among and between displaced Akan, Mande, Malagasky and Yoruba.209 Chambers then goes on to chart the trajectory of an African-centered /

Pan-Africanist acculturation that would consequently occur being: “primary, or the

Ibo, “charter generation” from Bight of Biafra; secondary, or the “Guniean” (mid

1800s) creolizing generation; and tertiary, or the “African,” who by the late 18th and early 19th century, constituted the local born generation.210

It is important to note however, that through this African-centeredism and Pan-

Africanism approach, Chambers’ asserts that it was essentially an Igbo African historical memory by which these identity politics were reconstructed as these Africans were displaced throughout Virginia. In other words, an Igbo African historicity was drawn upon in order to claim African agency in the environment in which they were displaced. The Pan-Africanist conceptualization of the African diaspora is therefore a prominent element within Chambers’ analysis. Rather than viewing the Igbo Africans’

209 Ibid. 11. 210 Ibid. 17. 117

physical displacement in European hegemony as being an all-encompassing principality that necessitated a response via African identity politics, Chambers demonstrates a pronounced griotic historicity in which the continental based identity politics are drawn upon by Africans to maintain historical and political agency in the face of European hegemony. The African experience of racial displacement which gives way to black consciousness is therefore projected within the work as a relocation of Africans from the continent to their diaspora. Chambers refers to this as the “subdiaspora of a subdiaspora” in attempt to emphasize how Africans were actively claiming agency in their environment on the basis of their endogenous historicity.211 Hence, we have the elements of black consciousness, African centeredism and Pan-Africanism as vibrant and dynamic realms within Chambers’ work, at a much greater degree than Brown and

Diouf.

Griotic realm one: African epistemology within African historiography

(African) Knowledge has to be RELEVANT for the society in order for it to survive… GRIOTS … always reproduce history, in specific context…their audience, their broader spectrum of the order has to be taken into consideration. … there will not be any African knowledge in the sense of European knowledge… which (is) produced for the sake of knowledge.. (African) Knowledge is produced for the sake of, of SERVICING a community or a society.212

Like the center core of concentric circles, the first realm of this griotic methodology flows through all outer realms. (see figure 1 above) This realm, the

211 Ibid. 19. 212 K.O. (2011: 481-495) 118

African epistemology to history, involves two interrelated dynamics which are elucidated by K.O.’s statement above: unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the present and past; and service to the community from which s/he is a part. The former dynamic involves the assertion that African historical knowledge is always contextualized by or merged with the present. African historical knowledge is therefore embedded and endogenously produced by/for the community that it is designed to service.213 The historiographical works under study thus reveal this core realm of my griotic methodology in both the approach by which these scholars produce

African history as well as through the historical agency that is illustrated within the historical narrative that is responsible for African identity politics. Like all the above realms, this core realm is multilayered in that it involves the manner in which the scholars’ contemporary prisms impact the production of the historical narrative as well as how the historical narrative highlights African agency in identity politics.214

In line with her assertion that “Islam permeates every aspect of life,” Sylviane

Diouf constructs a historical narrative on African Muslims through an ethos that is derived from her own religiosity and historicity. In this manner, Diouf’s work exemplifies the griotic realm of African epistemology specifically involving unity or interplay between the present and the past. The most revealing elements of Diouf’s

213 Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996) 214 By ‘African agency in identity politics,’ I am referring to how African peoples manipulated, negotiated, propagated or acculturated an historical based/ideological view of themselves specifically to counter hegemony or empowering themselves. 119

African epistemology within her work include her early discussions of African

Muslims’ views of slavery, literacy, and warriorhood. It is here that Diouf employs a prism that is fundamentally shaped by her religiosity and historicity as a West African

(Sufi) Muslim. Though she references Al- Qur’an, Hadith and Western scholarly discourses to substantiate her framework, Diouf ultimately essentializes and projects her own African Muslim ethos onto her historical subjects’with the aim of acknowledging the presence and agency of African Muslims in general throughout the Black Atlantic.

Diouf’s embodiment of this giotic unity, interplay or dialogue between present and past contextualizes her entire work, especially within the manner she assesses the dynamics of Atlantic slavery through an African Muslim prism. Griotically, she projects her religiosity/historicity in order to first establish an endogenous framework to interpret African Muslim views on slavery. She accordingly queries the reasoning for

African Muslim participation in the Atlantic slave trade; how and why African Muslims would sell coreligionists; how and why African Muslims would collaborate in the

Americas as agents of European Christian hegemony; and whether or not revolts in the

Americas would be conceived as constituting “jihad.” It is her discussion of this final factor involving “jihad” which proves to be the most overt element of African epistemology to history as she evaluates the 1835 rebellion in Bahia. In congruence with Paul Lovejoy’s work,215 Diouf asserts that this revolt was strongly influenced by

215 Lovejoy (1996). 120

African Muslim tendencies as evidenced by the ubiquitous presence of Islamic cloths, rings, gris gris and documents in Arabic that were possessed by the insurgents. Of interest however, is the fact that Diouf employs her own endogenous yet essentialist prism to query this revolt on the basis of four criteria which she asserts, must be met for any revolt to constitute a jihad. Diouf identifies these criteria as being: Muslims must be oppressed to the point that they cannot follow their cult; they must be half the number of their oppressors; they must have the same weapons; and their territory must have been invaded. 216 Aside from Diouf using the jihad of Usman da Folio in Central

Sudan as a reference point, no references are provided to substantiate these criteria. It stands to reason that Diouf’s criteria for jihad are therefore based on her own religiosity and historicity. From an organic griotic standpoint then, she concludes that because only the first condition was met in Bahia, the rebellion was greatly influenced by

African Muslims tendencies, but did not constitute a jihad. In view of this, she further contends that enemies were defined on racial/cultural grounds rather than in religious terms.217 The problem with this analysis is that Diouf is projecting her African Muslim ethos onto historical African Muslims in the Americas in a stagnant and undynamic manner. She provides assessments of the dynamism, fluidity and accommodation that occur between Al-Islam and African culture in the African context, but then fails to account for how this dynamic continued to adapt and ascend. Diouf’s criteria may have

216 Diouf (1998:159). 217 Ibid. 121

been valid from the standpoint of the continental African Muslim context, but the displacement and dislocation that African Muslims experienced during Atlantic slavery was unprecedented and most likely warranted a total re-configuration of “jihadist” criteria. This is indeed a significant shortcoming of Diouf’s griotic methodology, which speaks to the second component of African epistemology involving the re-production of history to ‘service’ the community (to be discussed below).

The element of griotic unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the present and the past is again established as Diouf acknowledges and employs the Sufi orientation of

African Islam as an analytical lens by which African Muslims maintained their religiosity/ historicity while being enslaved in the Americas. Being that she establishes the Sufi order as an ambiguous, dynamic, and accommodating school of thought, she acknowledges a multitude of African Muslim practices throughout the Caribbean, South and North America including “gris gris” amulets, the tradition of the African Muslim

“marabout,” use and/or literacy in Arabic, Muslim garb, dietary restrictions, and

African Muslim practices/modifications of “pillars of Islam” in general. However, many of Diouf’s assertions that specific historical practices other than the “pillars of

Islam” were “African Muslim” tendencies are argued from Diouf’s griotic religiosity without any empirical reference to Al-Qur’an or Hadith. Diouf’s subjectivity becomes even more evident as she contends that African Muslims displaced under European

Catholicism in Brazil engaged in what she calls “pseudo-conversions.” Again, the only

122

evidence Diouf’s provides for African Muslims’ internal culture, or “culture of volition,” within the Brazilian context, is her own religious disposition. She does however attempt to substantiate this factor by referencing how Africans who were repatriated to Africa from Brazil in the late 19th century ‘reverted’ to their continental based African Muslim orientation.218

Diouf’s subjectivity and essentialism is further revealed as she argues for the existence of widespread convergence and/or syncretism between African Muslims and other religious orientations throughout the Black Atlantic. She substantiates this by referencing widespread Arabic/Islamic greetings, and specific Islamic rituals found in such practices as Obeah, Bahaian, Condomble, Haitian Voodoo, Cuban Santeria and

Yoruba communities. Despite such religious and cultural convergence, Diouf asserts that African Islam as a collective consciousness ceased to exist in the Americas as the importation of African Muslims dissipated. Moreover, she suggests that the African

Muslim tendencies that remained were consequently appropriated by other cultural/religious manifestations. Diouf further stresses that there was no link between the African Muslims who are her historical subjects and the more contemporary

American branches that emerged under the rubric of Islam, being Moorish Science

Temple and the Nation of Islam which she identifies as being totally unorthodox.219 It is here that Diouf’s griotic element of African epistemology becomes evident. Not only

218 Ibid. 177. 219 Ibid. 205-210. 123

is she writing to contribute to historiographical scholarship on the Black Atlantic in general and African Muslims in particular, she is seeking to authenticate and claim

West African Muslim orthodoxy (specifically Sufism) and agency in the very fabric of

Black Atlantic historicity and religiosity. The most revealing factor here is shown as

Diouf offers a comparison of West African Muslim intonations and the blues of the

American South to suggest an organic cultural retention.220 Undoubtedly, there is an common/organic bond, especially with respect to various musical genres among and between African people globally. But to assert it is because of the Islamic faith rather than Africanity, demonstrates an overt attempt by Diouf to claim agency for West

African Muslims in particular. Also, of interest to this griotic study is Diouf’s reference to the ring shout which is identified in Sterling Stuckey‘s Slave Culture as one of the most ubiquitous African cultural survivals throughout the Americas. Yet, Diouf goes beyond Stuckey’s assessment by linking this ritual specifically to African Muslim origins in which she asserts the “shout” ascended from the Islamic “shaw’t”, or circumambulation of the Kaaba in Mecca.221

In sum, Diouf provides a creative and intriguing assessment of the “African

Muslim” presence and legacy in the Americas. This text is unique in the sense that it provides an endogenous framework through which to further decipher information as significant to the African Muslim contribution to the Atlantic world. Accordingly,

220 Ibid. 194-198. 221 Ibid. 190. 124

Diouf’s work possesses a critical historiographical tone to deconstruct the compartmentalization that scholarship on Africa and Islam has been subjected to. She utilizes religious and secular academic texts across disciplines in such a manner that she attempts to empathize with the historical subjects under review. This ability to empathize with the historical subjects further emanates from Diouf’s organic intellectualism, or embedded approach. She therefore frames many of her assessments with “According to Islam,” from an African Muslim/Sufi - experiential standpoint rather than using explicit references from Al-Qur’an, Hadith or Islamic scholarship.

Because she is an African female Muslim scholar writing for a Western European audience, Diouf is producing scholarship from a marginalized position in which she is actively attempting to recenter and reclaim African Muslim agency in her historical narrative. Moreover, Diouf stresses an African-centeredness in her assessments of

African Muslims through the Atlantic world, rather than focusing on the ethnic variations among African Muslims that may or may not be evident. African Islam is thus projected by Diouf as an agency of Pan-Africanism, especially within the environments African Muslims were displaced and dislocated within. And most significantly, Diouf‘s work possesses the griotic element of African epistemology in which she is producing African Muslim history from her own contemporary understandings of African Islam in order to service or to claim historical and intellectual agency for her religious/cultural group. It is this factor however that becomes

125

problematic for Diouf especially as she assesses how and why decisions were made by historical African Muslims concerning jihad, adherence to the pillars of Islam, syncretism, slavery, etc. The fact that West African Islam is comprised of significant diversity, various religious perspectives (i.e. schools of thought) and a variety of interwoven cultural and religious rituals, establishes much ambiguity in which one can only speculate as to why decisions were made in the past with regard to religion, culture and/or politics. Still, Diouf’s scholarly contribution to the African Muslim presence and legacy in the Americas represents more than just knowledge for knowledge sake. Diouf is revealing a distinctive approach to African historiography that converges with her identity politics. She therefore exhibits what I am referring to as griotic methodology.

In a griotic manner upfront, Vincent Brown’s The Reaper’s Garden, establishes the context for his works by asserting, “Nyame mwu na maawu” (God does not die, so I cannot die) which is the “Akan adinkra symbolizing the continuing influence the dead has on the living.”222 Further query into the West African ethos from which this Akan adinkra emanates would have provided an endogenous trajectory for his assessment.

Yet, the conceptualization of death and mortuary politics is taken from a European framework, rather than from an African epistemology in which death may be conceived as a spiritual rebirth and transmigration of the soul. Though Brown references African burial practices, rituals, and spiritual inquests throughout his work, he assesses them via

222 Brown (2008: 5) 126

Western compartmentalization of death/the dead. Indeed, from the standpoint of griotic methodology, Brown exhibits a pronounced unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the present and the past. He essentializes his own contemporary imaginary and symbolic assessments of death/the dead on the continental Africans and those in British colonial Jamaica during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. He then constructs a historical narrative from this organic and interdisciplinary endeavor which is only a fragment of the Africans’ experiences that are under review. A wider investigation into

African cosmology or African epistemology in order to contextualize death/the dead is therefore required. Brown’s “death” centered view to African historical living, in which

Africans gained power, prestige and agency in identity politics through conceptually manipulating death, is an intriguing historiographical contribution. Yet, from a griotic, or West African epistemological standpoint, in which the present and the past are one, the living and the dead are also one.223

Beyond this study’s griotic unity, the element of service is exhibited albeit problematized by Brown. Within the epilogue, Brown explicitly expresses that he intends that his study services the 21st century perspectives with respect to “the way we think, write and read about the past.”224 Brown thus has constructed a historical narrative that focuses on death/the dead in British colonial Jamaica to be read as

223 Mbiti (1969). 224 Brown (2008: 258) 127

“representative of early America, rather than an anomalous.”225 As noted above,

Brown’s objective is to deconstruct the popular perceptions of the Anglo-American ideals of progress, liberty and freedom, and demonstrate how they coincided and contradicted the realities of ubiquitous death, disease, alienation and social dislocations via Atlantic Slavery. Brown thus seeks to “trouble the present” by providing his griotic lens to gauge, “twenty first century America’s gross material inequalities, burgeoning prison populations and the seeming constant warfare that provides billions to profiteers and steady work for morticians.”226 Brown’s griotic assessment of “mortuary politics” thus seeks to contribute to the historiography of Black Atlantic, specifically focusing on accessing an African historicity that gives way to African identity politics, in order to impact the present.

Above, I have assessed the nuances that Brown’s text possesses with respect to the griotic realms of critical African historiography, interdisciplinarity, organic intellectualism, black consciousness, African-centerdism, Pan-Africanism, and African epistemology. Certainly, Brown has effectively contributed to the scholarly discourses on African identity politics, in a critical and creative manner. Concerning Brown’s treatment of death/the dead in the Atlantic worlds being “generative as it was destructive,” he leans toward the first and core realm of my griotic methodology, being

African epistemology. Unfortunately, Brown reduces this African epistemology by

225 Ibid. 260. 226 Ibid. 128

being death-centered. Had Brown contextualized his study through a more holistic view of African epistemology and historicity of which death/the dead were mere components of a holistic cosmology, then African agency in identity politics would have been better revealed. Such concepts, though Western and compartmentalized including African metaphysics, philosophy, religion, spirituality, and ethos provide a more holistic understanding to gauge identity politics aside from Brown’s uni- dimensional, death-centered approach. Furthermore, as Brown imagines and/or recreates the historical imagination of his subjects and thereby reduces immaterial notions of the past to his own material subjectivity (i.e. scholarly/political discourse), he services the academy. However, on another level, such a text that demonstrates the importance of “mortuary politics” with respect to African identity politics may inadvertently prompt contemporary Africans throughout the continent and diaspora to re-assess the perceived agency they gain in living a death-centered life!

Chambers initiates his study in a griotic manner, like Brown above, by offering the Igbo Proverb “Ife Na-azo Naegbu, Ife na-egbu Egbu na-dzo Azo (What saves also kills, and what kills also saves).” Here, Chambers is asserting that from an African epistemological standpoint, any given element of culture can be viewed as having multiple purposes. Moreover, Chambers’ treatment of the “poison” that was used to convict the enslaved Africans can also be viewed as having significant implications for

African historiography. On one hand, Western accounts which only provide a narrative

129

of slaves who were tried and convicted for poisoning Ambrose Madison in 1732, historiographically ‘kills’ the presence and legacy of a deeply entrenched African based cultural ethos from which the “poison” may have materialized. On the other hand,

Chambers’ griotic approach involving the elements of critical African historiography, interdisciplinarity, organic intellectualism, black consciousness, African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism, queries and problematizes this element of “poison” to ‘save’ the

African historicity and agency in America that is omitted in American and African historical assessments.

Chambers further employs an African epistemology involving unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past as he constructs the historical narrative of African born slaves in America. He begins with the Western account of the “charter event” involving the poisoning at Montpelier, but then queries this poisoning through an

African-centered lens to acknowledge the existence of a unique social memory, historicity and/or agency that emanated from the enslaved. Chambers then assesses the data on the embarkment of Africans from the Bight of Biafra, arrival of enslaved

Africans into Virginia, and data on the Madison family slaves to establish that the majority of Montpelier slaves originated from the Bight of Biafra. He further engages a kaleidoscope of oral histories, anthropological accounts, ethnographies, studies on

Obiah/Dibea and Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative to construct an “Igbo

130

African” cosmological framework that he projects on the socio-historical past of West

Africa.

Above, I have stressed that Chambers asserts “Igbo” was not known by continental Africans until they encountered Europeans and were geographically dislocated. Consequently, this contention poses “Igbo” as a Western rather than African demarcation. Yet, Chambers’ griotic lens appropriates and (re)constructs Igbo as an identity through which a continental derived African agency in slaves’ identity politics was realized. Accordingly, Chambers offers his contemporary “Igbo” construction as a gauge to demarcate the “first Igbo” that were encountered by Europeans in 18th century

West Africa. Chambers further notes that the continental communities of the Bight of

Biafra were dynamic, ambiguous and highly diffused. This “first Igbo” community that is constructed by Chambers is therefore posed as a collective identification that involved a dynamic sense of cultural negotiation by Africans whom previously held local/village based identities. As these “Igbo” Africans were displaced by Atlantic slavery from their homeland within the Bight of Biafra to Virginia, their identities, which were originally ambiguous, fluid and highly diffused, took on a more politicized context. In sum, the Biafrans consciously appropriated the “Igbo” demarcation to foster a collective ethos, promote an African historicity, and counter European hegemony.

In order to demarcate these first Igbo historigraphically, Chambers draws from a wealth of contemporary oral and textual sources on Igbo culture, spirituality, cosmology

131

and history. Through this modern conceptualization of Igbo, Chambers assesses the structure of Igbo village level society, as well as various rituals, beliefs, and customs, which he states were both “universalistic” (general forms of public performance) and

“particularistic” (ever new).227 Chambers emphasizes the latter feature as being significant because he states that as the “universalistic” customs promoted a collective ethos among the slaves, the “particularistic” rituals allowed for individual resiliency and adaptability among the Igbo throughout West Africa and Virginia. In essence,

Chambers is griotically engaging in a dialogue between the present and past as he charts how such particularistic ambiguity, dynamism and fluidity among West African peoples ascended into “Igbo” and how they continued to proliferate and promote distinctive identity politics even though they were operating within a Western codified shell.

Beyond the component that involves the “universalistic” public displays of performance, Chambers’ notes certain features in which the Igbo drew from their social memory to promote a collectivist ethos beyond the plantation. This process of

‘Igboization’ constitutes an overt griotic element involving African epistemology, as the

Igbo responded to their displacement by propagating a generalized view of their continental based history. Such “Igbo” elements that Chambers explores as being significant in this process include the elements of exogamy, extended kinship, fictive kin, along with the materialist components of Igbo fencing, dugout canoes, cowry

227 Chambers (2005: 43) 132

shells, glass beads, engaging in “juba” music/dance, playing of the banjo (Igbo), using palm oil, and growing yams.228 Chambers asserts these features were manifestations of a generalized African ethos that was propagated by African born slaves to establish an open ended proliferation of Igbo identity politics throughout Virginia.

Within his treatment of the significance of poison in particular, Chambers also employs a distinctive griotic prism. This is shown as he positions the “poison” within an ambiguous African understanding of reality. Though he starts with the charter event then works backward, Chambers takes note of the colonial documents which included acts of legislation that acknowledged the existence of Africans’ use of poison. He then offers his assessment of American manifestations of Obeah to the Igbo “Dibia” – both of which involved a specialization of secret knowledge, wisdom and power that was derived from animals, plants and the supernatural. Of significance here is that Obeah and Dibia could both be employed in a dual capacity as noted in the Igbo proverb above involving poison as constituting the means of divining, medicine and/or healing arts.229

Consequently, Chambers asserts that it was this component of Igbo African cosmology out of which the ‘poison’ materialized. Hence, as Chambers established the necessity of an African griotic lens to reveal how such a poison may be viewed as a medium of death and destruction to one society, and the promotion of life, healing and power to

228 Ibid. 159-187. 229 Ibid. 64, 70-4. 133

another, he is acknowledging the necessity of employing an African lens in order to access the world of the enslaved.

In sum, Chambers utilizes a griotic lens to reconstruct the history of the Igbo.

He utilizes his contemporary configuration of this group as a gauge by which to chart a trajectory of ascending African identity politics from Biafra to Virginia. Certainly, the griotic methodology is key to Chambers’ work concerning how he: deconstructs the historicity of African born slaves in America; embeds himself with his historical subjects by drawing from a variety of sources across disciplines (realms 7, 6 and 5); constructs the historical narrative from a standpoint of being displaced and denied agency; employs an African-centered standpoint and demonstrates the Pan-Africanist dynamics within his historical subjects (realms 4, 3 and 2); and, most significantly how he uses a contemporary ‘Igbo African’ lens to examine 18th century, African born slaves’ historicity (realm 1). As Chambers is highlighting African agency in identity politics from Biafra to Virginia, he is consequently posing critical implications for

American and African historiography.

The griotic methodology of this study is a foundational approach utilized by

African Americans, or more concisely, Africans in the Americas, who merged their identity politics within their contributions to African and American historiography.

This approach is grounded in the African historicity that ascended from those Africans who were displaced by/within European American hegemony in consequence of

134

Atlantic slavery. Considering this griotic methodology involves a quest for African agency or liberation, it fundamentally consists of an endogenous production of African historical knowledge by/for African people. Though this dynamic ascended initially as a foundational approach to historiography employed by early Africans in the Americas, it continues to permeate the scholarly works of those involved in producing contemporary contributions to the historiography of the African diaspora/Black Atlantic. To this effect, I have highlighted the seven realms of griotic methodology as exhibited in the contemporary works of Diouf, Brown and Chambers. These works however should not be viewed as epitomizing the griotic methodology. Instead they are only representative or emblematic of this foundational approach. It should further be noted that there are a number of other recent works that exhibit this griotic methodology and therefore deserve to be noted.

Probably most emblematic of this study’s griotic methodology is the 1998 publication by Michael Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Ethnicities in the Colonial and Antebellum South. As the title explicitly states, Gomez’s text is centered on the processes by which the identity politics of continental based African ‘ethnicities’ were transformed as they were subject to racial hegemony in the Americas. As noted, he goes beyond superficial analyses of the

“culture of coercion” (external culture) to query the “culture of volition” (internal culture). In this manner, Gomez is promoting assessments which are African agency-

135

centered and acknowledge the unique historicity that Africans drew from order to respond to white cultural hegemony. Gomez’s work therefore embodies all realms of the griotic methodology as noted above, as he provides chapter length analyses of

Denmark Vesey’s African historicity, the cosmological background of Senegambia and the Bight of Benin, the ideological framework of African Muslims, Akan, and Ibo, as well as Africans who claimed agency within their identity politics through a Christian framework. Though Gomez’s text is compartmentalized, if taken as a whole, inclusive of his chapters on (African) time and space, the middle passage and seasoning, and his problematizing of ethnicity by classism, the work exhibits the seven realms of this study’s griotic methodology in a very cogent manner.

In addition to Gomez’s study, such texts including George Brandon’s Santeria from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories. (1993), Gwendolyn Midlo

Hall’s Africans in Colonial Louisiana (1992), and T. J. Desch Obi’s Fighting for

Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (2008) deserve notable mention with regards to this study’s griotic methodology. As implied in the titles of these texts, there is a unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the present and past exhibited by the historical subjects within these studies, as displaced Africans griotically drew from their continental based historicity to impact identity politics throughout the diaspora. Furthermore, these authors respectively utilize a multitude of oral, written, and demographic resources across the disciplines to construct a griotic

136

prism in order to access the distinctive epistemological approach that was employed by these displaced Africans. They therefore exhibit the elements of critical African historiography through which prevailing paradigms are transcended and/ or re- presented, as well as interdisciplinarity in which the authors attempt to construct a holistic lens across the disciplines through which to gauge African historicity.

Furthermore, these griotic dynamics always involve the authors’ embeddedness within their discourses in order to capture and provide a semblance of the historicity they are attempting to examine (organic intellectualism). The element of black consciousness is the critical component of the authors’ and historical subjects, in that it is their realization of marginalization and/or displacement within European/European American hegemony through which a codified identity may be realized (i.e. “Igbo”). Still, this is only with respect to what Gomez calls the external culture, or “culture of coercion.” As it pertains to the inner culture, or “culture of volition,” the sense of Africanity is not stagnant. It is a dynamic, fluid, processual, and an agency-based ideological framework. As shown through the above works, this framework appropriates and represents African identity politics in a manner that is responsive to the changing external conditions of European hegemony. The Pan-Africanist element is inseparable from these identity politics, in that any and all historicity that is utilized to claim a collective identification of African people is aimed at maintaining agency in one’s humanity or liberation. Finally, we are again at the African epistemology which permeates all levels

137

of the respective works in that all works involve a unity, dialogue and interplay between the present and the past and an agenda to ultimately service and claim agency for the historical subjects under review.

Beyond the above authors' methodologies, their historical narratives on the displacement of Africans throughout the African diaspora reveal a distinct non-textual or performance based foundation through which historicity is merged with identity politics. From Brown’s treatment of ‘mortuary politics’ among Africans in Jamaica to

Chambers’ assertions of Igbo to African creolization, and even Diouf’s acknowledgment of African Muslim tendencies throughout the Americas – all works reveal a strong oral based griotic methodology that continental Africans employed to actively respond to/or resist European American hegemony.

My emphasis on this oral based griotic methodology should not be viewed as an attempt to negate the literacy and/or textual productions of African peoples throughout the continent and diaspora. Such ‘literacy,’ or textual productions were in fact exhibited among African Muslims, as well as Akan, Igbo and many other West African peoples who used symbolic representations to intellectually and religiously mark their respective thoughts in time and space. Conversely, this ‘griotic’/oral framework represents the African epistemological prism by which the approach to any form of literacy, history, and religion was metaphorical, or symbolic in and of itself. In other words, any and all symbols, rituals, rites, and/or identity makers that were used by

138

displaced Africans in the Americas were constantly undergoing a transformation in a manner that was congruent with their changing historical circumstances. This griotic dynamic thus represents a unity, dialogue and interplay between the present and past, as all manifestations of African identity politics were fluid, processual and dynamic in accordance with the changing circumstances of displacement. Even when considering the works of Sylvianne Diouf, Alan Austen and Paul Lovejoy who acknowledge the use of Arabic script (literacy) among displaced Africans, we cannot deny that it was the oral, non-textual and performance based framework of Africans that contextualized and gave meaning to this script in accordance with their experiences in the Americas. This can be specifically shown in the manner that Arabic script was used by displaced

African Muslims and the marabout in particular, on amulets, “griss griss,” and within divination rituals in order for Africans to maintain cultural and/or religious agency within European American hegemony. The oral basis of griotic methodology therefore substantiated any and all material (textual and/or literate) manifestations of African identity politics that were exhibited throughout the diaspora.

This study’s delineation of a griotic methodology via the above work is in no way, shape or form, an attempt at reinventing the wheel. Rather the aim of this study is to acknowledge a distinctive epistemology that ascends specifically from the experiences of displaced Africans in the Americas. As noted above, the more in depth analyses offered by this study on Brown, Diouf and Chambers are only representative,

139

or emblematic of a multitude of other works which this study contends, reveal the griotic methodology. These works possess critical nuances toward griotic methodology as they demonstrate key distinctions in the endogenous production of African history by/for African people. It is hoped that the acknowledgement of such a griotic methodology to history may ultimately give way to the intellectual and material empowerment of contemporary African people. In order to delineate such a dynamic epistemological framework out of which these contemporary discourses ascend, I shall now chart the historical foundations of the griotic methodology as it developed from an oral based framework to the textual productions of African history by and for antebellum African Americans. It is from this foundational approach to African historiography that ‘free Africans’ would strive to historicize, vindicate and liberate themselves from white European American hegemony.

140

Chapter 3: Charting griotic methodology through oral/performance based

agencies and the ‘African’ autobiography

The perceived absence of a literary tradition throughout the African continent has projected the view that the people of Africa ascend from an oral based culture. 230

As Africans were displaced throughout the Americas as a result of the Atlantic slave trade, enslaved Africans in the U.S. were initially afforded some rudimentary instruction involving “religion with letters” by slave holders who viewed literacy as a tool to encourage compliance, subservience and economic efficiency. However, as early as the colonial era, literacy became the prime suspect for generating African ‘self- assertion’ and insurrections, and was therefore made illegal for enslaved Africans throughout the U.S. until after the Civil War.231 The masses of displaced Africans throughout the U.S. were therefore illiterate until the end of the 19th century. Due to this real and/or perceived lack of textual production by African people, Western scholarly analyses have tended to concentrate on non-textual, or oral manifestations of culture for clues into the foundation of African Americans’ historical experiences.232

Recent scholarly assessments on such oral manifestations of African culture have

230 This perceived absence of literacy in Africa is the basis for Hegel’s (1837) dictum that “Africa is no part of the historical world.” Obviously, this perspective neglects the value of such symbolic representations utilized as mediums to transmit ideas such as Adinkra pictographs. Moreover, such notable examples of African literacy included the use of Meroitic within the empire of Aksum, Arabic by the Moors, as well as the use of Arabic script used to transcribe Kiswahili in East Africa and Mandinka in West Africa. 231Carter Woodson (1919) states this “pendulum swing” regarding the policy of literacy among enslaved Africans was due to a shift in slavery being a “patriarchal” institution to a more “economic” institution as a result of the industrial revolution in addition to increasing slave insurrections. 232 Hall (2009: 4). 141

subsequently served to dispel the Euro-centric contentions that oral culture equates with a substandard or less developed level of human intelligence.233 Further, as scholars have incorporated oral history/oral traditions in their attempts to reconstruct the African past, they have been afforded valuable insights and nuances by which to deconstruct the view that the Western textual basis of historiography constitutes the mega-narrative of

African history.234

The problem that often remains for scholars as they assess the foundations of

African American experiences through oral traditions is that the non-textual and the textual productions of African history often remain compartmentalized, in which we only gain a view of one juxtaposed to the other. Still, most scholarly discourses neglect the fact that the literary tradition itself emerges from the oral tradition, and it is the oral tradition that continues to contextualize and make the literary tradition meaningful.235

With this critical premise in mind, this study asserts that the foundations of African

American textual historiography reveals an oral/performance basis and contextualization which I assert to be the griotic methodology. Though the aim of chapter two was to demonstrate how this griotic methodology permeates contemporary historiographical works, this study proceeds by assessing the historical development of

233 For studies of oral history, oral testimonies and oral traditions that illustrate the intellectual sophistication of African people see Ogot (2001); Kratz (2001); and Miescher (2001). All works further acknowledge the transformative and subjective nature of African voice as a means to knowledge and frame of authority. 234 For insight into how African oral history/ tradition may deconstruct Western historical analyses see Jewsiewicki, and Mudimbe, (1993); Cohen (1989); Ewald (1988: 199-224); and Brizuela-Garcia, (2006: 85-100). 235 See Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993). 142

the 18th and 19th century foundations of textual African historiography that was employed by free Africans in the antebellum North. The specific emphasis in this endeavor is to highlight the griotic, oral, and/or performance based contextualization from which these early historiographical works emerged. Because this unique approach to historiography was shaped by the changing historical dynamics that early displaced

Africans in America faced, it is important to first establish the historical context for the study.

Historical backdrop and ideological implications

From the 16th century on, the peoples of Africa were instituted into an unprecedented system of racialized slavery that was geared toward the development of the ‘Old’ and ‘New’ European worlds. By the 18th century, Great Britain had become the leading European nation involved in the Atlantic slave trade, and would directly be responsible for displacing the indigenous inhabitants of Senegambia, Sierra Leone,

Gold Coast, Bight of Biafra, Bight of Benin and West Central Africa throughout its colonial territories in the Caribbean and North America.236 It is important to note that the people from these specific areas throughout Western Africa were comprised of a diversity of complex, interwoven groupings ranging from local kin-based village structures to politico-cultural and/or religious empires. The one underlying feature of these highly diverse communities however was the fact that identity politics on the

236 Richardson (1989: 13). 143

African continent were ambiguous, dynamic, fluid and multilayered.237 As noted in chapter two, a delineation of African ethnicity, or ethnicization often occurred among the people of West and West-central Africa only as they became displaced from ancestral homelands and/or subjected to European hegemony. Though this displacement based ethnicization was initiated on the African continent, it further materialized into New World African identities such as Bambara,238 Ibo,239 Lucumi,240 and others. These identities were processual in that they involved an ongoing, conscious attempt among these people to maintain a semblance of cultural/religious agency even though they were being displaced by European American entities. Often,

European constructs that specified ‘tribal’ groupings or regions were appropriated by these displaced persons of Africa. However these constructs served only as a ‘shell’ within which ‘cultural negotiation’ occurred among/between African peoples. A distinctive historicity that developed from these processes was then employed as praxis by which Africans would actively resist European hegemony and maintain agency in their respective identity politics.

As a factor of European hegemony, the Africans who were displaced throughout the New World were subjected to intellectual, religious, and historiographical

237See Ogot (2001); and Gomez (1998). 238 Hall (1992) assesses the “Bambara” influence in French Colonial territory which seems to be a New World political identity with retentions from the Bamana of West Africa. See also Caron (1997), for further elaboration on the Bambara slaves of colonial Louisiana.. 239 As noted above, the works of Chambers (2005); Northup (2000); and Byrd, (2006) chart the ‘invention’ of this group. 240 Brandon (1993) provides an assessment of how a Yoruba cosmology was manifested in a ‘Lucumi’ African identity within the New World. 144

discourses which transmitted the ‘universality’ of Europe. Through this prism, ‘Africa’ and its descendants were othered, dehumanized and marginalized by prevailing discourses that portrayed Africa/ns as ahistorical,’ ‘illiterate,’ ‘primitive,’ ‘backward,’

‘pagan’, “heathen”, ‘cursed’ and ‘evil’.241 The religious component of European hegemony was perhaps the most powerful form of propaganda that was used by colonial authorities to promote the subjugation of Africa/ns as well as the natives of the

Americas. Accordingly, the continent of Africa and all its descendants were conceptualized through an European-centered ‘Christian’ lens which held Africans to be the progeny of Noah’s son, Ham. Because Ham “knew” his father’s nakedness, he was cursed to be the progenitor of those who would be the “drawers of water and hewers of wood.”242 Further, the ‘African woman,’ in particular was projected by religious authorities as being not of “Eve’s seed” and thus, not really human.243 This would also serve as a powerful biblical rationale for European hegemony. From these ‘prophetic references,’ a moralist, ‘civilizing mission’ was promoted by religious authorities that it

241 As exemplified through Ellis (1890), much of the field of anthropology developed through the misinterpretation of African culture. Though some of these assessments have been coined “pseudo-scientific,” many of the theories are still propagated, or ingrained via Western scholarship –i.e. “modernist approach.” This notion of cultural inferiority also had analogues in the assumptions that went along with the education and the creation of schools, for newly freed enslaved African Americans in the years following the Civil War. Review German philosopher Hegel’s statement regarding African intellectual inferiority quoted in Gilroy (1993). According to Lynch (1967:3) Social Darwinism was used in the latter part of the 19th century to reinforce the myth of African inferiority and rationale for European colonization of Africa. 242 The ‘curse of Ham’ was the dominant religious myth that was propagated to justify African enslavement throughout the 18th and 19th centuries; Johnson (2004). The “mark of Cain” was also used as biblical rationale for African subservience and enslavement. 243 From this context, Morgan (2004) states African women were perceived as evolving from lineages outside of humanity. Accordingly they were portrayed as possessing such extra-ordinary sexual and physical features as flinging their breasts over their back to nurse children while they were simultaneously engaged in agricultural work. 145

was ‘Divine Providence’ that Africans were enslaved by European American

Christendom in order to ‘save’ them from the ‘dark,’ ‘pagan,’ ‘heathen,’ and ‘savage’

Africa from which they had descended.244 Furthermore, the color ‘black’ took on the mystical characteristics of evil, death, inferiority, and negativity, and Africa represented its epitome within European hegemony. This religious rationale for anti-African subjugation established a foundation for the perception of African historical, intellectual, cultural and physiological inferiority that was established on the basis of

Western authoritative ‘scientific’ analyses of the day.245 From this standpoint, the idea of race was propagated by European authorities as an evolutionary stage of man. Being that the African was viewed as the lowest evolved, and possessed the most ‘primitive’ mental and moral aptitude, a rationale for the European enslavement/colonization of

Africa/ns was established. 246

Notwithstanding these prevailing discourses that were designed to promote

African subjugation within European hegemony, the distinct historicity of displaced

Africans continued to materialize through a variety of performance based agencies.

These agencies which specifically promoted ‘African’ consciousness and demonstrated

244 For further elaboration on how these ideals were fostered in the European psyche, see Bradley (1991: 36). 245 As shown in Ellis (1890), much of the field of anthropology developed through the misinterpretation of African culture.Though some of these assessments have been coined “pseudo-scientific,” many of the theories are still propagated, or ingrained via Western scholarship –i.e. “modernist approach.” This notion of cultural inferiority also had analogues in the assumptions that went along with the education and the creation of schools for newly freed blacks in the years following the Civil War. 246 See German philosopher Hegel’s statement regarding African intellectual inferiority quoted in Gilroy (1993:41). 146

resistance to European hegemony throughout the 18th century include such manifestations as folklore, conjuring, dance, the drum, ring shout, secret societies, medical practices, burial ceremonies, naming dynamics, Gullah culture in South

Carolina, “John Kunering,” “Parades of kings and governors,” planting techniques, hunting and fishing techniques, harvest celebrations, quilt making, establishment of

‘African huts’ in Americas, Bakongo cosmograms and other cultural/religious artifacts found throughout the South.247 Of further significance is the fact that these external manifestations of African historicity were exhibited by slaves who were African as well as American born. Accordingly, these ‘Africanisms’ served as a cultural bridge to impact identity politics among the enslaved as they engaged in collaborative efforts to actively resist and/or counter their displacement within European hegemony.248

Furthermore, such ‘Africanisms’ would be ubiquitous among the ‘elite’ free ‘Africans’ of the North – specifically New York City, due to the fact that there was steady influx of fugitive and migrant Africans arriving from the South.249 In short, the cultural basis of the African American masses throughout the antebellum U.S. was grounded in pronounced ‘African’ propagations that ascended from West Africa. These were not static or frozen African cultural retentions. Rather, I am contending displaced Africans employed a distinctive epistemology to actively assimilate, acculturate and propagate

247 See Stuckey (1987: 80-83). 248 Rucker (1999). 249 Alexander (2008) and Wilder (2001) both highlight such ‘Africanisms’ among the ‘free black’ population of the North. 147

dynamic and fluid mannerisms that were associated with Africanity. The engagement in these practices was therefore critical in maintaining African agency in identity politics as opposed to succumbing to a dominant ‘white’ European American cultural ethos.

Perhaps the most overt manifestations of identity politics that were grounded in

African historicity are shown through the early slave insurrections throughout America.

As evidenced by the many above ‘Africanisms’ that were employed in the New York

Slave Revolts in 1712 and 1741, the Stono Rebellion of 1739, The Haitian Revolution

(1791-1804), the conspiracies of Gabriel Prosser’s conspiracy (1800) and Denmark

Vesey (1822), and even Nat Turner’s revolt (1831), the displaced people of Africa drew identity politics from their ancestral historicity to either resist, appropriate, critique or transcend European discourses. This ‘African historicity’ was thus a distinctive epistemological framework that prompted Pan-African revolutionary identity politics.250

Beyond the multitude of performance based agencies that were manifestations of

African historicity, there are a number of politico-historical factors that problematized

European/Euro-North American hegemony during the late 18th/early 19th century. First, the U.S. Revolutionary War era brought to surface the contradiction between

Enlightenment ideals and human bondage. Despite the fact that the American

Revolution propagated the ideals of ‘equality,’ ‘liberty,’ and ‘natural rights,’ and even

250 Rucker (1999) contends that these Africanisms were synonymous with the foundations of Pan- Africanism. 148

blamed the British empire for capitalizing from the importation of slaves into the colonies, the newly independent U.S. did nothing to disrupt the institution of African enslavement. In fact, the Constitutional Convention held in 1787 passed legislation that protected the trafficking/importation of enslaved Africans from any interference for the next 20 years. Ironically, it was England, the leading European nation which imported slaves throughout its colonial territories that led the abolition of the traffic in slaves beginning in 1807. This was followed by President Thomas Jefferson who encouraged

Congress to pass a law forbidding slave trafficking in 1808. Still, the abolitionist sentiment that flowed throughout the North during this era would include a number of religious, intellectual and political platforms. It was within this early antebellum context that a free African community in the North distinguished itself by engaging these platforms to promote abolition.

As moral challenges and economic incentives to abolish slavery were increasingly promoted throughout the 18th century by religious and capitalist entities alike, Northern states in the U.S. gradually began outlawing the institution. An incremental series of laws were subsequently passed in these Northern territories that, in general, would first outlaw the importation of slaves into the colony/state and then establish laws in which children born to enslaved mothers after the passage of legislation, would become free at a specified age. Yet, a total eradication of the enslavement of Africans throughout the U.S. North did not occur until the passage of

149

the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865. Meanwhile abolitionist minded laws were passed throughout the North on the state level that progressively restricted specified aspects of the institution. This included a series of laws passed in:

Pennsylvania as early as 1780; in Delaware from 1776-1865; 251 in Connecticut from

1774-1848; in Massachusetts in 1783,252 in New Hampshire from 1783-1865, New

Jersey from 1804-1846,253 and New York, from 1799-1865.254 Still, these state level laws contained many loopholes and were ambiguously defined, and enslaved Africans could be brought into the territories from other states for specified periods. Free

Africans throughout the North therefore existed in racially insecure, precarious environments in which they could be re-enslaved via fugitive slave laws, reclassified as

“indentured servants,” resold into slavery for being unemployed, or “idle and poor” and subject to “black codes” that controlled every realm of their lives and denied them from suffrage or citizenship rights.255

Along with the exclusion of free Africans from civil society in the North, there was a gradual re-conceptualization of Northern slavery as being paternalistically benevolent in such a manner that slaves were ‘happy and content.’ Moreover, this

251 See Williams (1996: 171). 252 Letters and Documents Relating to Slavery in Massachusetts, MHS Colls. 5th Ser., III (1877: 401- 402). 253 See McManus (1973: 13). 254 Within New York, the New York Manumission Society established one of the earliest Free African Schools, and went on to aid the Free African intellectuals along with the African Societies in promoting the passage of “An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.” This act deemed all slaves born after July 4, 1799 to be free at the age of 28 for males and 25 for women; see McManus (1973) and Zilversmit (1967). 255 Ibid. 150

prevailing narrative was further revised in which the North eventually “disowned slavery.” Accordingly, revisionist discourses constructed the North’s past in such a manner, that by the 1850s New England was re-envisioned as a “triumphant narrative of free white labor…(with) a superior moral identity that could be contrasted ….(with) the

‘negroized’ South.” 256 These Northern discourses would certainly complicate and compound the material manifestations of white European American hegemony that free

Africans in the North would face.

While the vast majority of displaced Africans in the Americas remained in southern bondage, this northern free African community distinguished itself as a principal agency that prompted liberatory African identity politics in the public domain.

This group first emerged on the basis of self-help organizations and by 1817 had established a network of free African communities concentrated in New York, New

Haven, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore.257 Yet, this group was not without its many complexities throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The political manumissions that these free Africans realized subjected them to a barrage of material manifestations of white European-American hegemony within the public domain. These included: racial violence in which free Africans were subjected to lynchings and race riots; popular cultural/racist imagery which promoted negative portrayals of blacks (e.g. minstrel / coon shows); legal mandates which denied/limited black’s civil rights and promoted

256 As quoted in Melish (1998: 222-223). 257 Hall (2009). 151

fugitive slave laws; religious discourses as those noted above; scientific discourses that promoted the biological and intellectual inferiority of the black race; as well as a colonization movement led by the American Colonization Society that was established in 1816 and sought to re-settle free blacks in Africa in order to consolidate the institution of slavery in the U.S. (to be discussed below). These factors relegated free blacks in the antebellum North to a semi-free, racialized caste based group that was severely limited with respect to occupational status, as well as opportunities for social mobility and land ownership.258 Still, a Pan-African acculturation continued to be fostered among this specific group as fugitive and migrant blacks of the South made their way North; bringing with them such oral and/or performance based ‘Africanisms’ that were rooted in a distinctive historicity as noted above.

In addition to these factors, free Africans of the North were fueled by the growing abolitionist movement throughout the British empire, in which they consequently adopted the view that “Britain should exert itself to stop the (slave) trade, replace it by legitimate commerce and help to Christianize and civilize Africa.”259

These principal agents encouraged the establishment of the philanthropic settlement of

Sierra Leone in 1787, Britain’s abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the British

258 Rael (2002). 259See Lynch (1966). These specific Africans were freed by Lord Mansfield’s judicial decision in 1772. For further information see Equiano (1789/1967). Of interest is the fact that Britain’s industrialization and abolitionist movements had a direct causal relationship as shown by Williams (1994). 152

assertion of control over the colony in 1808.260 Another principal politico-historical event that was in fact a manifestation of African historicity was the Haitian revolution.

This revolutionary slave insurrection resulted in the first and only independent Black republic in the Western hemisphere.261 This constituted a direct challenge to white

European American hegemony throughout the Americas. In response, slave codes were strengthened throughout the European American colonies and the U.S. At the same time however, this ‘revolution’ fueled the historicity of displaced Africans – free and enslaved - with a sense of agency in world history, politics and in essence, humanity.262

The final politico-cultural dynamic involves the fact that by the beginning of the 19th century, enslaved Africans throughout the Anglo-world itself became self-reproducing and creole, or American born. Accordingly, African ‘ethnic’ based identity politics yielded to a more race based identity that was often affiliated with the entire continent of ‘Africa.’263 This ‘Africanization’ also involved the displaced peoples being more subject to prevalent religious, political and ‘scientific’ discourses which were in fact othering, vilifying and marginalizing the race on the basis of their African heritage.

Still, the distinctive historicity of these Africans would be the primary vehicle that would be used to appropriate, reconfigure, counter, and even transcend these discourses

260 The abolition of the slave trade did not come into effect entirely until the end of the 19th century; see Daget (1985). 261 See James (1989). 262 This was also a catalyst for Pan-Africanist consciousness. 263 As noted in earlier chapters, Chambers (2005: 15-17) discusses how the ethnic identity of Igbo was unknown until Africans came into contact with Europeans. As they were transported and dislocated from their homeland they were further creolized via three levels: Eboe; Guinea; African. 153

in a manner that both involved active resistance against European hegemony and maintenance of African agency in humanity.

In Slave Culture: National Theory and the Foundations of Black America,

Sterling Stuckey asserts that the institution of racialized slavery and oppression established definitive parameters within which Africanisms were consolidated and spread throughout the South. As fugitive and migrant blacks traveled north, these

Africanisms accompanied them to become the foundation of a national black culture.264

This explains the powerful legacy of such Africanisms revealed in New York, namely the African burial ground that operated from 1650-1795, as well as “burial rites, ritual space and public celebrations” that continued on into the 19th century.265 Beyond querying the notion of ‘retentions’ from an African continental standpoint, these oral and/or performance based manifestations, reveal a pronounced African historicity that was projected by African born and American born blacks to claim politico-cultural agency as a form of active resistance to a violently anti-African society. Further, these performance based manifestations reveal a prominent collectivist ethos that ascended from Africa. We may therefore conclude that West Africans “entered the Americas equipped with intellectual traditions and sociological models that facilitated a communitarian response to oppression.”266 To substantiate this point, it is important to

264 See Stuckey (1987). 265 Alexander (2008:4). For additional African influences on African American culture in New York City, see Wilder (2001). 266 Wilder (2001: 3). 154

note that secret societies of West Africa possessed inherent qualities that could be used to propagate a group ethos beyond ethnicity, generation or caste in the Americas.267

Considering that such societies ranging from “benevolent, burial and religious associations to political, martial, criminal and subversive societies” were ubiquitous throughout West Africa,268 the historicity of free Africans in the North naturally drew from this West African framework as the first organizations established in the Americas would be voluntary, mutual aid, and/or benevolent organizations including the African

Society of New York City (1784), Free African Society (1787), as well as the New

York African Society of Mutual Relief (1808).269 Services provided by these organizations included mutual aid, religious, cultural and social refuge, aid to fugitives, protection to widows and orphans, ‘rite of passage’ training for young boys, or training for ‘social’ manhood, recreation, parading, economic assistance, political support, housing, temperance, schooling, funeral arrangements and investment management.

And, though such organizations provided diverse and multilayered services, they all possessed an underlying collectivist ethos that ascended from West Africa. 270

These African ‘self-help’ organizations constituted the embodiment and proliferation of African historicity within the national and antebellum eras of America, as they led to the establishment and maintenance of the first African churches in

267 See, for example Thornton (1998) and Gomez (1998). 268 Wilder (2001:20). 269 Ibid. 20. 270 Ibid. 155

America. For instance, as associations such as Free African Society founded by

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones led to the establishment of Philadelphia’s first

Methodist churches, specific members that were associated with New York African

Society would go on to establish Manhattan’s Mother Zion Church.271 Moreover, subsidiary African voluntary organizations, as well as secret and fraternal orders emerged. One of the most significant organizations was Prince Hall’s African Lodge

(1776), which, like other orders, was devoted to specific elements of African civil, religious, cultural, political and social life throughout the antebellum North. Also of importance is the fact that membership within these religious, voluntary and fraternal organizations was often overlapping, and bound via the ubiquitous presence of West

Africanisms among the free African communities of the North.272 In sum, these organizations represent the ascension of an underlying Pan-African fabric that was continuously expanding, adapting and responding to changing circumstances. This is specifically shown through the conscientious use of ‘Africa’ in the names of free

African organizations, the appropriation of European American discourses, as well as in the resiliency of free Africans to address the needs of free, fugitive and enslaved

Africans throughout the national and antebellum eras. And, perhaps even more significant is the fact that the complex networks, subsidiaries and organizational

271 Wilder (2001:37) notes that the New York African society referred to itself as a “benevolent organization of free and enslaved black men” and first met in the early 1780s. 272 See Alexander (2008); Wilder (2001); Gomez (1998); and Thorton (1988) whom all assess evidence that reveals West Africanisms within the organizations of free African communities of the North. 156

platforms that emanated from these free African societies provided a sacred and social space within which the African community defined and empowered itself.

During the national and antebellum eras, the principal factor which consolidated the free African community in the North was its common aversion to African enslavement. A constant reminder of the precariousness of freedom in the North occurred as free Africans were forced to contend with fugitive slave laws as well as fugitive slaves themselves. This was compounded by the anti-African climate throughout the North in which free Africans were: disenfranchised from suffrage and civil right, and subjected to high rates of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, crime, and racial violence. Yet, one of the fundamental ways in which free Africans addressed these vices was through the attainment of education, and more specifically, literacy.

Perhaps due to European American views that othered Africa as illiterate and associated

English literacy within the U.S. as a prerequisite for Enlightenment, Christianity and civilization, free Africans acknowledged a relationship between literacy, power, and humanity.273 Freed and enslaved Africans in the U.S. would consequently view the attainment of literacy as a means of active resistance to European American hegemony

273 See Fisher (2009) for an historical overview of this relationship. See also Rury (1983) and (2005: 47), for how the education /literacy via white controlled Free African schools was utilized to promote ‘civilization’ through ‘Protestant rectitude’ and the values of mercantile capitalism. These ideals would have major impact in the liberatory praxis of free Africans. 157

and a “communal act” of empowerment, as one was obligated to share it. 274 This

‘literary tradition’ would thus merge with the identity politics of these displaced

Africans as they were influenced by the Enlightenment ideals of ‘independence,’

‘freedom,’ ‘liberty,’ ‘justice,’ and ‘equality.’

Considering prevailing discourses had portrayed the race’s ancestral homeland,

‘Africa’ as devoid of civilization, ‘ahistorical’ and ‘primitive,’ free Africans’ literacy coupled with their affiliation for Africa as the source of their identity, encouraged them to look for evidence to counter these notions. Through studying the ancient Graeco-

Roman writings of Herodotus, Pliney, Diodorus and others, free Africans found that

Africa’s past was once revered as the source of ancient civilization.275 The King James

Version of the Bible also proved to be a most important source of inspiration through which free Africans began to view themselves as key agents in a Providential Design involving Africa’s redemption. But what is of fundamental importance to this study is that a textual based tradition of African historiography ascended from an oral, and/or performance basis of African historicity to prompt liberatory identity politics.

As noted above, the epistemological framework that free Africans employed in response to European American hegemony was certainly derived from a distinctive

West African oral and performance basis. However, as free Africans attained literacy in

274 See Ibid. and Murrell (2002: 122) which reveal how freed and enslaved blacks engaged in the teaching and learning of literacy unbeknownst to slave owners who opposed education for blacks in general. 275 For similar assertions, see Keita (1994). 158

the English language and were indoctrinated with Anglo-Protestant virtues, they exhibited a fundamental paradox with respect to their identity politics. This involved their tendency to embrace European American ideals as the means by which they could liberate their race, even though these constructs were used throughout U.S. society to actively marginalize, displace and other Africa and its descendants. Accordingly, free

Africans who were imbued with these Euro-centric ideals generally viewed African

American folk culture as well as the continental cultures of West Africa to be unprogressive and in need of ‘civilization’ (as defined from an Anglo-Protestant framework).276 Yet, in actuality these free Africans’ were rooted in this ‘folk’ and/or

African culture, and would draw from it - either consciously or unconsciously- to formulate their distinctive approach to historicize, vindicate and liberate themselves.277

The apparent contradiction within free Africans’ griotic methodology could be viewed in alignment with Michael Gomez’s view of displaced Africans’ consciously exhibiting an external “culture of coercion” and an internal “culture of volition” or perhaps, W.E.B. Du Bois’ contention that African Americans experience a sense of

“double consciousness” or warring ideals within one “dark body.”278 It is this study’s view, however, that a West African oral and/or performance based framework fueled free African identity politics at a subconscious or inner cultural level. Though the free

Africans would generally demonstrate an aversion toward the ‘folk’ and continental

276 Adelake (1998) “UnAfrican Americans”. 277 See Stuckey (1987) on this point. 278 See Gomez (1998) and Du Bois (1903). 159

culture of the African masses, it was the orality, dynamism and fluidity that was deeply embedded within this ‘folk’ cultural framework that gave shape to their griotic methodology. This distinctive approach by free Africans consequently involved them appropriating and re-presenting Anglo-Protestant ideals, ultimately to ‘use the master’s tools to dismantle his house.’ In sum, the significance that must be stressed here involves how free African intellectuals used prevailing Anglo ideals rather than what ideals were used. And, even though prevailing Euro-centric discourses and hegemonic constructs were propagated by free Africans to the ‘uneducated’ masses, the communal and/or collectivist ethos derived from the West African/folk cultural framework of the masses was used to promote an identification with and consolidation of African people across all social strata. Furthermore, as this endogenous prism was employed, free

Africans’ were in fact claiming ownership and/or assimilating Euro-centric ideals in accordance with their cultural ethos, rather than vice versa. The fact that free African intellectuals were drawing from a truly distinctive approach rooted in their ancestral past would thus be revealed in the manner they manipulated these Euro-centric ideals to resiliently construct revolutionary ideological frameworks such as Ethiopianism, the black jeremiad and Babylonian traditions as well as Black Nationalism and/or Pan-

Africanism.

Some of the earliest individuals who engaged in this liberatory approach to

African historiography in the 18th century included James Forten, Paul Cuffe, and Peter

160

Williams Jr. These free Africans’ intellectual and organizational endeavors further embodied what Wilson Jeremiah Moses refers to as a “Classical Black Nationalism” and/or an emigrationist agenda through which Christianity, Commerce and Civilization was propagated as an ‘African’ racial, religious and political destiny that would bring about abolition and a Pan-African reunion.279 A prime example of this agenda in practice, is illustrated by Paul Cuffe of the Free African Society (1789), a Philadelphia based organization that set forth the notion of ‘free Africans’ of North America returning ( i.e. emigrationism) to Africa in order to escape the intolerable/inhumane circumstances of the U.S. Subsequently, Paul Cuffe, a black Quaker and ship owner, successfully took 38 free Africans to Sierra Leone at his own expense. His plan was to

Christianize and civilize Africa in order to promote other forms of commerce between

Africa and the U.S. that would undermine the slave trade. 280

Though this emigrationist agenda never attained a mass appeal, Cuffe’s endeavors represents a major thread in the thoughts of free Africans and also had important consequences which centered on the feasibility of white sponsorship of colonizing free blacks in Africa. Consequently, this idea was earnestly taken up in

America by a combination of humanitarians and slave holders. Humanitarians believed

279 See Moses (1996: 8-9, 12-13); Rael (2002: 211-213); and Wilder (2001: 80).

280 Lynch (1966) notes early African patriots in the Americas including Daniel Coker, Lott Cary and Jamaican born John B. Russworm whom all advocated the emigration of free Africans in America to Africa. See also Fanning (2007) who notes that there was much African American interest in emigrating to Haiti especially during the first few decades after its independence. 161

that such a colonization scheme in Africa would give Africans in the Americas genuine freedom as well as contribute to the civilization of Africa. Conversely, U.S. slave holders were interested in getting rid of the free African community in order to solidify the institution of slavery. These two incongruous elements founded the American

Colonization Society in 1816 and their joint efforts established the nation-state of

Liberia.281 The founding of the ACS, more than any other single organization would occupy a significant discord that would impact the identity and consciousness of historical actors with respect to the African continent. Though African identity continued to permeate African voluntary and mutual aid societies, a significant shift occurred with respect to how free Africans began identifying themselves in the public realm. Rather than identifying themselves overtly as ‘African,’ the term of choice by and large that came to dominate the discourse was ‘colored.’ This ‘colored’ identity re- presented this displaced people as an indigenous American population that was disenfranchised but entitled to the full benefits of American society. It must be stressed that this ‘colored’ identification was a public platform constructed in opposition to the

ACS’s ‘African.’ From this public vantage point, African identification was viewed as being in collusion of the ACS’s ‘civilizing mission’ in which European American

281 Lynch (1966: 6-9). Liberia and Sierra Leone, the “colony of freedom”, were to have tremendous significance within the thoughts, experiences and agendas of free Africans of the antebellum North. Considering these areas were products of European/Euro-North American humanitarians and slave owners, they were designed to promote European/Euro-American hegemony on the African continent. Free Africans from the U.S. would soon emerge within these areas and be instrumental in absorbing a number of independent indigenous states within the interior of Africa and also engage in consolidating the two areas’ unique cultural/language groups. (Americo-Liberian and Creole respectively). See Boahen (1985: 58). 162

hegemony would be spread on the African continent via evangelization. Meanwhile, the institution of slavery in the U.S. would be strengthened considering the free African element which fueled abolition would be removed. Of significance however is that this colored identity was substantiated through the same classical and biblical contentions of

Africa used by the free African intellectuals of the late 18th century to validate or vindicate their humanity. In short, it was because the ACS was viewed as promoting the removal of free Africans from the U.S. to Africa in order to consolidate the institution of slavery and white European American hegemony, that colored identification was utilized as an agency of resistance and self-determination. Thus, for the majority of those affiliated with the African societies including Prince Hall, John

Marrant, Peter Williams Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson, Maria Stewart, and David

Walker, African and/or colored were used interchangeably. Moreover, these identities were substantiated through a distinctive approach to African historiography that affirmed a global heritage and diasporic consciousness. Ultimately, African and colored identification were conceived by free blacks as creolized, or hybrid constructs that were geared toward self-determined humanization rather than an actual continental destination.282

The earliest textual productions of African historiography by free Africans in the

North exhibited a commitment to and/or appropriation of European American biblical

282 Wilder (2001: 76-88). 163

and classical discourses, moralism, Enlightenment ideals and other 18th century elements including universalism, and/or a global view of history in which nations were assessed in accordance with European notions of progress.283 However, as noted above, these ideals were re-configured and/or re-presented from an African-centered and communal based ethos (Pan-Africanism) that was designed to historicize, vindicate and liberate Africa/ns. Moreover, as Egypt’s history and racial heritage became topics of late 18th century European popular discourse via Constantine Francois Volney’s Travels in Syria and Egypt (1783) and The Ruins (1791) which referenced the blackness of the civilization, and Napoleon’s 1798 expedition through which a ‘white washing,’ or de-

Africanization of ancient Egypt was promoted, free African writing on Africa responded by claiming Egypt as part of their African heritage, on continental and racial grounds.284 For instance, within William Hamilton’s “An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade,” (1815) Egypt is claimed by and for Africa/ns, as Williams refers to

Egyptians as “honest, industrial, peaceable and well-disposed people,” and asserted that it was the “king’s shepherds” from that “wicked nation” who brought wickedness into

Africa. Additionally, the 1827 article, “The Mutability in Human Affairs” published in

Freedom’s Journal, which focused on the special relationship involving changes and instability that occurred among “Egypt, Ethiopian, Christianity and the African Race” further prompted the merger or re-presentation of biblical and classical views of the

283 Hall (2009: 18-19). 284 This would produce what Moses (1998) refers to as an “Afrocentric” agency within this discourse as early free Africans sought to re-contextualize ancient Egypt’s biblical connotations. 164

Ancient Egyptians. 285 These appropriation and re-presentation of European American discourses would be a significant component of early free African textual productions of African historiography. Yet, the distinctiveness of the griotic approach that free

Africans employed to engage these prevailing discourses would also give way to an innovative and resilient ideal that came to be known as Ethiopianism.

The ‘Ethiopianist’ ideal was not taken from the name of the actual political entity Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia). Instead, it originated from the historicity and religiosity of displaced Africans – both free and enslaved - in the New World.

Accordingly, the Graeco-Roman and biblical conceptualization of ‘Ethiopia’ was appropriated by these displaced peoples to reference the land inhabited by those with dark, or ‘burnt’ skin – i.e. their African continental and diasporic heritage.286

Ethiopianism is thus a politico-religious and racial construct used to identify the black peoples of Africa and their descendants globally (the intersections between Black

Nationalism, Pan-Negroism and Pan-Africanism). Though free Africans would propagate Ethiopianist sentiments from the standpoint of a distinctive epistemology that this study aims to delineate, the primary biblical scripture that served as its framework was Psalms 68:31, “Princes shall come out of Egypt and Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.”287 This reference was interpreted by free Africans to mean that they

285 Cited in Moses (1998: 51-3). 286 Moses (1978) states Ethiopianist tendencies were commonly known among antebellum free Africans in the U.S. 287 Chirenje (1987: 1-2). 165

were key agents of the black race, who had emerged out of bondage to aid in the liberation of the African world. Furthermore, this and other Ethiopianist/biblical references would consequently serve as a prophetic rationale for the black race’s subjugation and Providential redemption to come. A strong religious call for solidarity and resistance against oppression was therefore exemplified via the strong Ethiopianist tendencies that permeated free and enslaved African narratives, songs, folklores, the exhortations of conspiratorial enslaved African preachers, and especially within free

African textual engagement of African historiography during the national and antebellum eras of the U.S. 288

A key element that often intersected with Ethiopianism found within free

African textual productions is what came to be called the jeremiad. The jeremiad was a rhetorical device used to achieve social change, that came to Massachusetts from the

‘Old World’ in the 1600s. It specifically involved a ritualistic lamentation of the wrongs of society that acknowledged both a forthcoming devastation as well as optimistic redemption.289 As Africans in America were racially displaced and employed this device via their griotic ethos, a peculiar “black jeremiad” was realized that condemned white Christian America for its endorsement of slavery amidst calls for

288 For a description of the conspiratorial tradition see Harding (1969). Also, according to Moses (1978: 156-7), Ethiopianist tendencies were commonly known among Free Africans before the Civil War. 289 See Bercovitch. (1978). 166

social justice.290 The convergence between Ethiopianism and the black jeremiad via the griotic methodology of free Africans consequently resulted in a prophetic/apocalyptic view of an impending doom of America and simultaneous redemption of ‘Ethiopia’.(i.e. collective African world)

Of further significance is the fact that the identity politics of free Africans which materialized from these Ethiopianist/black jeremiad dynamics subsequently took on what came to be called Black Nationalism291 and Pan-Africanism. As Black

Nationalism concerns a political consciousness among those of African descent who have been displaced and disempowered within dominant white society, it specifically involved a collectivist agenda that promotes racial self-determination.292 Considering the discourses of free Africans during the 18th and 19th centuries conceptualized the idea of race in accordance with Western view of nation, their attempts to historicize the black/African race significantly intersected with the discourses of Black Nationalism.

In essence, free African sentiments were racially nationalistic with respect to defining and promoting political, educational and religious agendas - regardless of whether their ultimate agenda was to establish an autonomous nation or not.293 Kindred to this ideology and often synonymously exhibited within the griotic methodologies of African

290 Howard-Pitney (1993: 12) further contends that as displaced Africans claimed agency in the American jeremiad, it became something distinctly “Afro-America” due to its criticism of “Christian America” and call for social justice. 291Compare to definition offered by Wilder (2001: 156). 292 This is much broader than the definition of Moses (1996: 1-2) who defines Classical Black Nationalism as an ideology whose goal is to create an autonomous black nation state with definite geographical boundaries. 293 This intersects with the view of Black Nationalism offered by Rael (2002). 167

historiography is Pan-Africanism.294 As noted above, Pan-Africanism is defined as the promotion of a collective African heritage and destiny that is geared toward the process of global African liberation. In sum, Pan-Africanism is Black Nationalism with Africa at the center. The Ethiopianist and jeremiad sentiments that were merged via the griotic methodology thus established a potent religious element that fueled free Africans’ sense of Black Nationalism and/or Pan-Africanism.

Though being racially displaced by European American hegemony, free

Africans gained literacy in English, appropriated Anglo-Protestant virtues as well as the ideals of the 18th century European philosophers including William Robertson, Voltaire,

David Hume, Edward Gibbon, Montesquieu and others. The historical writings of free

Africans further exhibited European historical approaches involving universalism in which world history was assessed from the ancient past to the present drawing principally from biblical and classical sources, and strong Anglo notions of progress in which historical societies were viewed as evolving from simple to complex.295

However, the very core of griotic methodology that was used by free Africans to in essence, assimilate these ideals was a West African epistemology to history. As noted above, this involves a distinctive approach of and by free African intellectuals in which

294 See Lamelle (1994) for an insightful discussion of Pan-Africanism. 295 Moses (1998) contends free Africans engaged in ‘Afrocentric’ representations of biblical and classical discourses that established “historiographies of decline and progress.” Ernest (2004) contends this early period of free African textuality represents a gathering the (intellectual) fragments’ of a scattered people from European –American discourses. Finally, Hall (2009) and Rael (2002) assert free Africans contributed to, or “co-fabricated” humanist and universal ideals. However, this study focuses on an endogenous African epistemology which is overlooked by all these works. 168

there is a unity, dialogue and/or interplay between the realms of the present and the past. Subsequently, free Africans engaged and claimed agency in the above prevailing discourses from the standpoint of African identification to counter white hegemony and promote liberatory political agendas.

In sum, the textual productions of free Africans in the antebellum North shared many characteristics with prevailing European American historical discourses. Still, the griotic methodology to African historiography that was employed by free Africans in the antebellum North by which these discourses were engaged, ascended from a distinctive West African oral and/or performance basis. This factor is underscored by the fact that the textual productions of African history during the period under review were all constructed as orations, lectures, petitions, appeals and sermons to be orally presented to an audience. The oral delivery of such textual productions consequently resulted in a performance, or ‘theatre’ of history in which the audience became an active participant.296 Moreover, the concentration on the oration and performance of textual discourses among the free African intellectuals in the North must be viewed in context of white racist charges that those of African origin were of an inferior intellect to European Americans. The oral presentations of textual productions of history in a public arena by free Africans in the North thus answered this charge by demonstrating intellectual erudition.297 Some scholarship may downplay the emotional component

296 See Ernest (2004) as he elaborates on this notion of ‘theatre’ and ‘assemblies’ of history. 297 Ibid. 225. 169

within early African American oration and emphasize how oral presentations “followed the dictates of the reasonable (rational) understanding’ in that an “implicit white audience of judgment” was always present within the schemata of the free Africans.298

Yet, the fact that the following works were constructed by free African intellectuals for the benefit of the African community reveals an underlying inner cultural paradigm from which the meaning of the textual performances/public addresses were established.

This, like African oral traditions, would obviously involve a holistic interaction in which the aim was to re-create African historiography in such a manner as to impact a collective African-centered historicity and identity politics. Thus, it was the emotion based, oral component of the textual productions of historicity that established the context through which African historiography was received and made meaningful.

Griotic historicity and African autobiography

During the Revolutionary era, the fundamental contradiction throughout the

Anglo world that impacted the thoughts of free Africans was the institution of African enslavement. With such Enlightenment ideals propagated as life, liberty, and natural rights, it is significant that many of enslaved and free Africans participated in the

Revolutionary War as laborers, guides, sailors as well as soldiers.299 Because Great

Britain also offered freedom in exchange for African service against the patriots, there

298 Ibid. 299 See Foner (1976) and Lanning (2005). 170

was significant African presence among the loyalists. 300 The contribution of Africans in the Revolutionary War on both sides was therefore motivated ultimately out of allegiance to the principle of liberty and specifically to end human bondage. 301 At the end of the war, the institution of slavery remained intact within the U.S. and as abolitionist sentiments began to permeate Great Britain, a number of free Africans aligned themselves with England. Yet these free Africans as well as those who remained within the U.S. viewed themselves as representatives of the African collective which was still in bondage. 302 For those within the U.S., the principal motivating factors that impacted the thoughts of free Africans remained the contradictions between

Enlightenment ideals and the institution of slavery.

Free African intellectuals would consequently emerge to “shift” and/or “trouble” the prevailing discourses from the standpoint of their racially marginalized status within

European American hegemony.303 Through a surface level analysis, it may be contended that as these intellectuals engaged in this early form of critical intellectualism and/or African historiography, they were merely appropriating European American discourses.304 Beyond this view however, these free Africans were re-presenting these discourses to empower themselves through vindicationist/liberatory African identity

300 Ibid. 301 Quarles (1961: i). 302 See Lanning (2005). 303 See Ernest (2004: 52); and Hall (2009). 304 See Adelake, (1998), as he aligns American Black Nationalists Martin Delany, Alexander Crummel and Henry McNeal Turner as “unAfrican” agents of white European hegemony. 171

politics. This, in fact constitutes the griotic realm of African epistemological in which there is unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past to impact the future. In light of this, the production of African history is aimed at servicing and/or empowering the identity politics of Africans. For, as free Africans engaged prevailing discourses as racially and intellectually marginalized beings, they were demonstrating intellectual erudition as representatives of the race (Pan-Africanism). Moreover, as these intellectuals historicized a racially based African heritage in accordance with these prevailing discourses, they established historiographical traditions that came to be known respectively as contributionism and vindicationism.305 These factors together thus establish a significant autobiographical dynamic within free Africans’ approach to

African historiography that was tied to their distinctive religiosity, historicity and identity politics.

This intersection between the African autobiography and historiography via griotic methodology is especially revealed in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of

Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African.306 Published in London, England within the context of a growing abolitionist movement, this work constitutes the reduction of continental African oral historicity into a griotic textual production of

African history, specifically for an Anglo speaking audience. In a manner consistent

305 Patterson (1971) offers an analyses of the historiographical tradition that focuses specifically on how African Americans ‘contributed’ to the development of U.S. history while Drake (1991) highlights the tendencies within African American historical scholarship to ‘vindicate’ the race from omission, defamation and/or intellectual slaner. 306 Equiano (1789). 172

with the oral histories of continental Africans, Equiano’s Interesting Narrative is thus produced in first person, and was presented as a personalized account that is emblematic of the collective African’s experience during Atlantic slavery.

Within this text, the audience experiences the life of Equiano, which includes depictions of his trials and tribulations as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade that appeal to the emotion. Further, as Equiano describes his experiences, he also provides commentaries that speak to the broader significance of the humanity of African people and the inhumanity of the Atlantic slave trade. In this manner, Equiano’s Interesting

Narrative claims African agency in world history via his autobiography. This griotic element is further realized through Equiano’s resilient manipulation of a biblical based

Anglo-Protestantism through which he offers a personal account of how African identity politics were transformed via Atlantic slavery. In a manner that exemplifies the

West African epistemology of unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past, Equiano constructs/re-presents his continental “Eboe African” customs in alignment with Anglo Protestant biblical references that he equates with ancient

“Hebrewisms.” By doing this, Equiano is historicizing his own heritage and promoting a historiographical deconstruction of Anglo-Protestant views of continental Africans being “uncivilized” and “savage.” Furthermore, Equiano offers a ‘from within’ view of how such West African customs are congruent with the cultural and religious traditions that serve as the foundations of Anglo-Protestantism. This griotic merger

173

between biblical history and West African historicity is elucidated specifically as

Equiano provides detailed assessments of his ancestral customs such as their belief in one God, pastoralism, a government conducted by “chiefs or judges” along with the

“laws of retaliations,” and specific rituals involving circumcision and sacrifices.307

Equiano’s Interesting Narrative therefore seeks to humanize native “Eboe Africans” through historicizing their customs via an Anglo-protestant frame a reference. By establishing this sense of agency and humanity on biblical grounds, Equiano is thus asserting an innate disposition among the “Eboe” on historical and religious grounds to embrace and propagate Anglo-Protestantism and Anglo culture . With this in mind,

Equiano employs an Anglo Protestant lens to condemn the historical and contemporary atrocities of the slave trade and promote an abolitionist agenda.

One problematic aspect of Equiano’s autobiographical representation of African historiography is the contention that “Eboe” identity throughout the African diaspora from 1600-1850, was a New World invention rather than an African retention.308

Equiano’s “Eboe” may therefore be an autobiographical myth which is a mindful attempt at constructing a Black Atlantic African identity that is designed solely for the purposes of abolition on Protestant –biblical based grounds. From the standpoint of griotic methodology however, Equiano is appropriating Anglo-Protestant ideals to historicize the African experience and thereby establish a heritage through which

307 Ibid. 308 For example, see Chambers (2005) and Northup (2000). 174

displaced Africans could be vindicated on the basis of their West African customs. It must be further noted that Equiano’s embrace of “Eboe” is organically bound to his life experiences which are shaped by displacement within European hegemony. And, this dynamic of displacement projects an Anglo-Protestant view of Africanity on his own cultural origins and those of other West African peoples. This is revealed as Equiano describes how he was taken away from his village by other continental Africans, and the further he traveled, the less familiar the languages and customs were. Eventually,

Equiano states that he came upon people who were so alien that they “did not circumcise, and ate without washing their hands.”309 In this manner, Equiano is distinguishing the “Eboe” from other Africans based on an Anglo-Protestant prism, and in fact projecting his own Africanized Anglo-Protestant intellectual hegemony on

African peoples in general.

Overall, Equiano’s Interesting Narrative provides a detailed narrative of his capture, the cultural variations among African peoples, descriptions of African forms of slavery practiced on the continent, the horrors of Atlantic slavery, his spiritual journey into Christianity, his travel and commercial relationships abroad, and his experiences as a free man involved in an expedition to Sierra Leone and the abolition movement.

These autobiographical dynamics however are framed within a pronounced cyclical view of history that is teleologically based on the present circumstances as he assertsm

309 Ibid. 67. 175

“Let the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were once, like the

Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did nature make them inferior to their sons?

And should they too have been made slaves? Every rationale mind answers, NO.” 310

Equiano is therefore using his lived experience to produce a historical narrative that simultaneously extolls Anglo-Protestantism virtues, establishes “Eboe” agency in

Anglo-Protestant virtues and condemns European Anglo-Protestants for their engagement of African enslavement. Even though “Eboe” heritage is privileged within

Equiano’s account, his narrative propagates a Pan-Africanist and African-centered objective as he lays his argument out for abolition. He begins his Interesting Narrative with describing “Eboisms,” but ends with an exhortation to end African slavery by appealing to Anglo-Protestant sensibilities.

In sum, Equiano’s Interesting Narrative is in itself a reduction of an autobiographical oral history into a textual production that is specifically aimed at historicizing African peoples and denunciating the atrocities and immoral practices committed against African slaves - specifically through the griotic prism of an

Eboe/African Anglo-Protestant. This involves an selective appropriation of Anglo-

Protestantism to biblically historicize an “Eboe” identity. Furthermore, the manner in which Equiano narrates his experience specifically involves the griotic realm of organic intellectualism through which he demonstrates intellectual erudition as well as historical

310 Ibid. 43. 176

vindication. And, lastly, Equiano exhibits a pronounced sense of African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism in which his work is geared toward establishing a religious and cultural rationale for the abolition of the slave trade. All of these elements are thus merged via an oral based (holistic) contextualized textual production that involves unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the past and the present to impact the future.

The African epistemological tendency involving being contextualized by and in service to the audience is also revealed in Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, considering it is evident that he is writing this piece to appeal to the sensibilities of a white European

Anglo Protestant and capitalist audience. Ultimately, Equiano is therefore promoting a vindicationist perspective of African historiography via autobiography. However,

Equiano’s griotic methodology falls short of liberation from European hegemony. This is shown when Equiano makes his plea for abolition on moral, religious and commercial bases by suggesting that African chattel slavery be replaced with European colonialism.

Accordingly, Equiano asserts that abolition will enable African peoples to “insensibly adopt British fashion, manners and customs.. … and (legitimate) commercial intercourse with Africa (shall provide an) inexhaustible supply of wealth.”311 In the end, Equiano’s griotic methodology is aimed at promoting Pan-African identity politics through an Anglo-Protestantism that is spread throughout Africa via British imperialism.

311 Ibid. 250. 177

The biblical, Anglo-Protestantism of Equiano’s Interesting Narrative constitutes a theological “historicism” that is tied to an abolitionist agenda.312 This perceived convergence between the ‘sacred and the secular’ would constitute a distinguishing feature of the historiographical endeavors of free Africans throughout this period. But the mere appropriation of European biblical and historiographical discourses by free

Africans does not move beyond assessing the endeavors of free Africans from an Euro- centric viewpoint. From an oral based African epistemological standpoint, there is no compartmentalization between the sacred and the secular realms as demarcated in the

Western intellectual sphere.313 Therefore the griotic methodology as employed by free

Africans should be viewed from a standpoint in which such realms are unified. This is juxtaposed to the Western view which projects the realms of history, religion, and politics as independently demarcated entities. The distinctive approach of free African communities of the North during the national and antebellum era, thus utilized the

Anglo-Protestantism as a framework by which to historicize themselves in a manner that an African collective ethos was established. I now turn to public addresses of free

Africans in the antebellum North which reveal critical nuances that distinguish the griotic methodology through such textual productions, and/or performances as poetic works, speeches, orations, sermons, lectures and appeals.

312 See Moses (1993) as he distinguishes the various typologies of historicism engaged in by early antebellum African American intellectuals. 313 Mbiti (1969). 178

Chapter 4: Foundations of ‘griotic’ methodology within free African textual

performances

There are a number of writings by free Africans produced during the early antebellum era that resonate with the manner in which Equiano’s Interesting Narrative griotically employs an Anglo-Protestant framework in his treatment of African heritage.

This includes the poetic works of Phyllis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought From Africa

To America,” (1773) William Cowper’s “The Negro’s Complaint” (1788) and “Pity for

Poor Africans” (1788) as well as the prose works of Jupiter Hammon including “An

Address to Miss Phyllis Wheatley, Ethiopian Poetess” (1778) and “An Address to the

Negroes of the State of New York” (1786). Upon reviewing these works’ references to

Africa, or the biblical ‘Ethiopia,’ it is evident that they, like Equiano, view Anglo-

Protestantism Christianity as a medium by which African identity could be vindicated within European American hegemony. But unlike Equiano, whose historical treatment of continental “Eboisms” deconstructed prevailing views of Africa/ns, these works fail to provide a view which counters the historical and religious othering of Africa and its people. Instead, they focus on Africans’ aptitude for Christianization and stress a moralist approach to abolition. A prime case example is shown through Wheatley’s view within “On Being Brought From Africa to America,” of Negroes being “black as

Cain” who may be “refin’d” through Christianity.314 This is also the case as shown in

314 Wheatley (1773). 179

the writings of Jupiter Hammon who stressed African moralism, piety, obedience and obligation to the Christian slave master that was in accordance with Anglo-

Protestantism. Such works as these thus encouraged a self-negating moralism in support of abolition through which Africans’ could ultimately realize a ‘heavenly reward’ by maintaining their virtues in the face of violent anti-African oppression.315

The fact that the Constitutional Convention of 1787 forbade any law from interfering with the Atlantic slave trade until 1808 seems to have prompted a significant response among other free African writers including James Forten, Paul Cuffe and Peter

Salem. These individuals embraced Anglo-Protestantism in the same manner as

Wheatley, Hammon, and Cowper, but rather than promoting a moralist crusade through adherence to and promotion of Anglo-Protestantism, their writings on Africa encompassed the elements of Black Nationalism and Ethiopianism as discussed above.

These free Africans embraced a biblical framework in which African heritage, as well as racial solidarity and pride was promoted. But their historiographical productions were tied to an emigrationist platform where free Africans from the U.S. would return to their continental homeland in order to promote the evangelization of Africa and its indigenous peoples.316

Aside from propagating the Anglo-Protestant based agenda and/or duty of free

Africans to engage in emigration to and evangelization of Africa, the griotic

315 See the scholarly treatment of ‘moralism’ by Alexander (2008: 4) and Wilder (2001: 70-72). 316 Rael (2002: 211-213). This is how Moses (1996) defines “Classical Black Nationalism.” 180

methodology of Equiano’s Narrative which involved a biblical historicization of the

African past to actively condemn the institution of enslavement is found within the

1794 writings of A.M.E. Bishop Richard Allen and Absalom Jones’ “An Address to those who keep slaves and approve the practice.” Here, Allen and Jones merged the present with the past by equating the condition of Africans in the Americas with the ancient Israelites. At the same time however, they strongly propagated a moralist agenda to combat the evils of slavery as they asserted that those enslaved should, “let no rancor or ill-will lodge in your breasts” toward slave masters who have inflicted injustices on them. African Christian ministers assured their congregation that if they maintained this high degree of moralism, a biblical prophecy involving Ethiopianism and the black jeremiad would unfold for their people considering how “hateful slavery is in the sight of that God who hath destroyed kings and princes for their oppression of the poor slaves.” Ultimately, then a “heavenly reward” for Africans would be forthcoming in the material realm in accordance with the Ethiopian dictum, “Princes shall come out of Egypt and Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto God.”317

These sermons point out how free Africans employed biblical history to impact

African identity politics of the present. It was the Freemasons however who would offer one of the most comprehensive historiographical treatments of Africa’s past to empower the identity politics of Africans, specifically those within the Masonic order.

317 Alan and Jones (1794). 181

As founder of the African Lodge, Prince Hall (1735-1807) experienced wide spread non-acceptance within Masonry throughout the Anglo world on racial grounds.

Consequently Hall shared the sentiments of contemporaries Cuffe, Forten and Allen, as he issued one of the first statements among free Africans in support of emigration as early as 1787.318 Though this emigrationist agenda would eventually be abandoned,

Prince Hall consistently employed a griotic approach to African historiography in order to claim African agency in the religious and historical foundations of Christianity and

Masonry. As shown in Hall’s 1792 sermon “A Charge Delivered to the Brethren of the

African Lodge,” the African epistemological dynamic involving unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the past and present is revealed. This is shown as Prince Hall critiques the racial prejudice exhibited throughout the contemporary Masonic order by acknowledging the African forefathers who played a central part in the spread of

Christianity throughout Africa. He consequently notes Tertullian, Cyprian, Fulgentious and Augustine as representing the founding fathers of Christianity in Africa. Through this re-presentation of the Church’s history, Prince Hall exhibits pronounced Ethiopian tendencies, in which he stresses that African people in general and African Masons in

318 Paul Cuffe, James Forten, Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and others supported emigration during the 18th century. But it was founder of Black Masons, Prince Hall (1735-1807) who first offered a written petition in this regard, to the state of Massachusetts. This petition was presented during the midst of Shay’s Rebellion in 1787 as Hall supported the voluntary return of free Africans to Africa, “where we shall live among our equals and be more comfortable and happy than in our present situation”; See Foner and Brandon (1998: 39). 182

particular, are co-fabricators of the Christian faith and Masonic order.319 Still, it was the chaplain of the African Lodge, John Marrant, who three years earlier, had provided one of the most comprehensive historiographical works on African Christianity and Mason that truly embodied the griotic methodology.320

John Marrant’s griotic historicization of African Masonry.

As noted above, the institution of slavery was gradually being abolished throughout the U.S. North during the Revolutionary Era. Free Africans accordingly struggled to assert their human rights against the white Euro-American hegemonic caste structure that remained in place. Such was the case in Massachusetts which passed legislature in 1789 in which free Africans could be jailed, whipped or deported if they could not produce a letter of citizenship from one of the newly independent U.S. states in which they resided.321 It was within this context that John Marrant, a free African

Masonic Chaplain, constructed a textual production of African historiography that he delivered in 1789 as a sermon entitled, “You Stand on the Level with the Greatest Kings on Earth.” 322 Considering the anti-African climate in which the legitimacy of the

African Lodge was being challenged on racial grounds, Marrant’s sermon employs a griotic methodology of African historiography that exhibits the griotic realms of critical

African historiography, interdisciplinarity, organic intellectualism, black consciousness,

319 Ibid. 320 See Moses (1998: 50) and Hall (2009: 22-23) in this regard. 321 Foner and Branham (1998: 28-29) 322 Marrant (1789) delivered this piece to Prince Hall’s African Masonic Lodge in Boston, Massachusettes; see Moses (1998: 23, 49-50) 183

African-centeredism and Pan- Africanism; all grounded in a West African epistemology.

Marrant’s sermon employs this griotic methodology in such a manner that the identity politics of African Masonry forces a (de)construction and/or re-presentation

(i.e. Africanization) of the foundations and meaning of Masonry itself. Though Marrant operates from a Masonic prism, it is his African epistemology that ultimately shapes and merges historical and religious discourses into a vindicationist/liberatory ‘African

Mason’ narrative. This distinctive approach is further elucidated within Marrant’s sermon as he merges politics, religion, and history to construct a narrative of the

African past that specifically speaks to the contemporary identity politics of free

African Masons. Marrant thus employs a sense of unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past that queries the meaning of Masonry and condemns prevailing white Masonic views that are racially discriminatory. Accordingly, Marrant challenges the Euro-centric notions of Masonry on the basis of his racial heritage by strongly asserting that Masonry is the birthright of black people. Moreover, he transcends any white European American non-acknowledgement of black Masonic legitimacy by asserting that black claims of being a “free and accepted” Mason are authenticated on the bases of “the Grand Architect of the Universe (whom)… framed the heavens for beauty and delight for the beings.”323 This statement demonstrates this

323Marrant 29. 184

study’s griotic methodology as it involves a strong assertion of critical African historiography in which prevailing views of Masonry are transcended, a pronounced sense of inter-disciplinarity in which the sacred and secular discourses are bridged, a strong assertion of organic intellectualism emanating from Marrant’s historicity, and a black consciousness in which Marrant acknowledges and reacts against intellectual displacement.

These ‘griotic’ realms that are exhibited within Marrant’s work are all grounded in a distinctive West African cosmology and/or epistemology which involve an interconnectedness of nature creation with God.324 Certainly Marrant had embraced the

Anglo-Protestant ideal of Methodism along with Masonry. However, Marrant’s engagement of these European conventions reveals a unique prism in which he appropriated, reconfigured and re-presented these ideals in a dynamic, resilient and transcendant manner. Moreover, this ‘griotic’ approach that ascended from West Africa may have been employed by Marrant at a subconscious level. And yet, Marrant exhibits an overt sense of collective ‘African’ memory in the manner he manipulates these Euro-centric constructs to historicize, vindicate and liberate Africa/ns.

Accordingly Marrant ‘s sermon demonstrates how this distinctive African based epistemology transcends a Western ethos, as asserts that man is a “microcosm” of the cosmos, “containing whatever is found in the Creator…. in him is the spiritual and

324 For elaboration on African cosmology, see Wiredu (1996) and Mbiti (1969). 185

immaterial nature of God, the reasonableness of Angels, the sensitive power of brutes, the vegetative power of plants and the virtue of all the elements he holds converse with in both worlds.”325 From this distinctive framework, Marrant thus merges the sacred and the secular realms to establish a moralist call for the promotion of interracial cooperation and mutual acceptance as he states God condemns any “who despise their fellow man…as tho’ they are not the same species with them.”326

After propagating the Masonic birthright of black people, Marrant continues to draw from an African epistemology involving the unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past. As evident within the title of his sermon itself,

Marrant counters the prevailing view of Africa being without history, being uncivilized, and unlearned, by proclaiming, “ancient history will produce some Africans who were truly good, wise and learned men and as eloquent as any other nation.”327

Consequently, Marrant, like his contemporaries, manipulates Anglo-Protestant ideals to gauge the historical African contributions to Christianity and Masonry. The difference however lies within that manner that Marrant’s historiography constructs a narrative that highlights the African agency in Christianity and Masonry respectively, which in essence, vindicates African Mason identity politics.

In a resilient manner, Marrant historically substantiates the African foundations of Masonry by using biblical references and prevailing discourses of the day. Marrant

325 Marrant 30. 326 Ibid. 327 Ibid. 36. 186

subsequently traces the origins of Masonry to the “Garden of Eden” which he asserts is found in “Cush…(on the) Nile….which is the principal part of the African Ethiopia.”328

Marrant then engages the prevailing biblical views that references Cain, the first murderer, as being the cursed forefather of Africans. Though Marrant appropriates this anti-African view, he metaphorically queries contemporary Europeans as exemplifying

“modern Cains,” based on the atrocities they were presently inflicting on African people. Marrant then griotically returns to ancient biblical history to acknowledge that though Cain committed the first murder, it was he that started Masonry, as he “buil (t)d a city east of Eden …(and ) he afterwards taught his son the art of Masonry.”329 It is at this point that Marrant merges sacred and secular history as he traces Masonry from

Cain to Noah and his sons. Marrant then concentrates on Noah’s son, Ham who is identified with the continent of Africa and asserts the “art” was passed from Ham to

Cush then to Nimrod, who “founded the great city of Babylonian monarchy” and

“became the grand master of all the Masons” building “splendid cities in Shinar.”

Marrant then returns to “the second son of Ham” who carried Masonry into Egypt to build “the cities of Heliopolis – Thebes with a hundred gates – (and).. the statue of

Sphinx.”

Marrant continues his narrative with Abram who went into Egypt with the art of

Masonry on down to Solomon “a grand master” and Hiram “his deputy” who ..”finished

328 Ibid. 31. 329 Ibid. 187

the work of the temple of the living God.”330 It is from this African-centered biblical trajectory, that Marrant thus asserts that Masonry descended from God first, then to

Africa and spread all over the earth, “as far as China and India.” The distinctive element in Marrant’s sermon is that though his African historiography is constructed via

Anglo-Protestant views of the Bible, his historical narrative is much more African- centered than his contemporaries. This is illustrated in Marrant’s sermon in which he includes how “gentile” nations in Africa excelled in “architecture, science and the arts,” through notating Nebuchadnezzer over Babylon, Cyrus over the Medes and Persians,

Alexander over the Macedonians, Julius Caesar over Rome, as well as the grand temple built by Jupiter Hammon in “Libian Africa” which he asserts would be destroyed by

Christians. Though Marrant’s African-centeredism can be viewed as falling within

Patterson’s paradigm of “contributionism,”331 a closer reading of Marrant’s sermon reveals that he is doing more than just acknowledging an African contribution to the foundations of Masonry and Judea-Christianity. Conversely, Marrant is offering a re- presentation of Masonry and Christianity through an African lens in alignment with the realms of griotic methodology. Marrant is therefore not only establishing African agency in Masonry and Christianity, but is also prompting a re-configuration of these ideals which he asserts are more aligned with a true universal ethos. As he asserts a

“Mason” is a “microcosm” of God, he is establishing the fact that those who are not

330 Ibid. 32-33. 331 Patterson (1971) 188

exemplifying the highest ideals of the “Grand Architect” in the form of “brotherly love and mutual benefit” are in effect disgraceful in God’s sight.332

As Marrant brings his historiographical sermon to a close, he speaks directly to the material contradictions of his race that are not in alignment with the essence of his views on Masonry and Christianity. The griotic methodology that Marrant employs is therefore designed to service and claim agency in Masonry and Christianity for African people. Naturally, Marrant’s sermon deconstructs, appropriates, re-presents and at times transcends anti-African discourse with respect to Masonry and Christianity, as he operates from the standpoint of being a descendant of Africa that is racially displaced within European hegemony. Further, Marrant’s merger between the sacred and the secular and/or interdisciplinarity emanates from an organic intellectualism that projects a West African epistemology/cosmology where all the realms of knowledge inclusive of history, religion and politics are interdependent and complementary. Additionally,

Marrant’s sermon embodies a collectivist ethos as he promotes a sense of “brotherly love” and “mutual benefit” between those of African descent and/or the Masonic order throughout the world. Marrant’s sermon therefore seeks to liberate any and all Africans subjugated by European hegemony, through instilling a historiographical ethos that critiques their contemporary material condition as a temporary cycle of which “Jews down to the English nation” all experienced. 333 Through his historiographical

332 Marrant 32. 333 Ibid. 36. 189

assessment, Marrant further warned that it was slavery that ultimately devastated these nations. It is the historiographical approach of Marrant that consequently served as the source of empowerment for his contemporary African Masonic brethren to develop an ethos in which they are centered in world history, Masonry and Christianity. In short,

Marrant exemplifies the griotic methodology which involves an approach to African history that is tied to identity politics of Africans in general and African Masons in particular as he proclaimed, “You will find that you stand on the …level with the greatest kings on Earth.” The principal objective of African historiography to Marrant was thus to “look backward with pleasure, and forward with confidence.” 334

The griotic oration of Peter Williams Jr.

When the U.S. outlawed the trafficking/importation of enslaved Africans into the U.S. in 1808, free Africans throughout the North viewed this as a major symbolic victory (although total abolition would not be realized for years to come). It was within this context that one of the leaders of the free African community in New York City,

Peter Williams Jr. (1786-1840) employed the griotic methodology of African historiography to specifically impact African identity politics. 335 On the date the importation of enslaved Africans to the U.S. was made unlawful, January 1, 1808,

334 Ibid. 38. This statement epitomizes this study’s griotic methodology 335 Peter Williams Jr. was educated at the New York Free African School and tutored by Episcopalian clergy. He helped establish St. Philip’s African Church in 1819, Freedom’s Journal in 1827, along with various mutual aid and educational programs. While Williams was ordained as St. Philip’s first priest, his congregation included such free African leaders as Alexander Crummell and James McCune Smith; see Foner and Branham 1998: 66). See also Alexander (2008: 190 n67), for biographical sketch of Williams; and Alexander (2008) chapters 2, 3 and 4 and Wilder (2002) for political activism of Peter Williams Jr. 190

Williams presented an address entitled An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade;

Delivered in the African Church, in the City of New York. Like his predecessors,

Williams’ Oration, merged religiosity, historicity and identity politics within a historiographical narrative to interpret the meaning of abolition to displaced Africans within the U.S. He contextualizes this narrative by offering an African-centered view that queries the foundations of America’s early colonization and Enlightenment ideals as embodied by the Declaration of Independence. In this manner, Williams’ engagement of African historiography serves as a praxis by which African agency in world history is established to encourage liberatory identity politics.

As Williams addresses his New York audience as “Africans and descendants of

Africans” throughout the Oration, he is promoting a Pan-Africanist identification of displaced people within the U.S. to their continental homeland. Williams’ overt

Africanity here serves as an active resistance to and deconstruction of European intellectual hegemony in that prevailing discourses were actively omitting and/or projecting Africa as the ‘dark,’ ‘uncivilized’ and ‘savage’ other throughout American society. The attributes of organic intellectualism, black consciousness, pan-Africanism and African-centeredism are therefore merged as he acknowledges his group as a distinct and collective entity that have ascended out of a shared experience involving racialized slavery. Furthermore, within Williams’ griotic methodology, it is significant that he employs a pronounced element of ‘Divine Providence’ and/or religiosity in

191

which he acknowledges God’s presence in the historical affairs of “Africans and descendant of Africans.” In this manner, Williams’ Oration, like Marrant’s work, involves an (meta-) interdisciplinarity, as well as an African epistemology and/or cosmology in which religion, history, and politics are conceptualized as unified.336

Within the Oration, Williams historicizes ancient Africa in a manner that speaks to Wilson J. Moses’ “sentimental Afrocentrism.” 337 Accordingly, Williams engages the

Romantic view of the “noble savage” which from a Euro-centric prism projects Africa as other and un-civilized, to deconstruct the conceptualization of civilization .338

Williams consequently refers to an ‘Edenic’ view of Africa whose peoples embodied

“simplicity, innocence and contentment,” were “truthful…confident…and very receptive to “love, friendship and gratitude.”339 Here, ancient Africa is equated with a sense of morality, decency, and even a sense of civility that promoted natural rights within Williams’ discourse to demonstrate ‘civilization’ was not unique to Anglo-

Protestantism. Hence, Williams embraces the Euro-centric conceptualizations of civilization and “noble savage” which were certainly being used to other Africa/ns.

However, the distinctive griotic methodology he employs appropriates then gauges

336 Williams (1808: 67); Alexander (2008); Wilder (2002). See discussion above for how this paradox between Anglo-protestantism and African epistemology was merged in the griotic methodology of the free African intellectuals. 337 Moses (1998: 18-21) 338 According to encyclopediabrittanic.com, the noble savage is the “idealized concept of uncivilized man, who symbolizes the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization”; this being the dominant theme in the Romantic works of the 18th and 19th century and especially those of Jean Jacques Rousseau. This concept was consequently used by opponents and proponents of abolition and racial equality. 339 Williams 67; See also Alexander (2008); Wilder (2002). 192

these constructs in accordance with biblical and Enlightenment virtues to ultimately proclaim the inherent civility of the ‘nobel savage’ and/or ‘descendants of Africa’ and denounce the racial contradictions of American civilization.

Williams further deconstructs the view of European American ‘civility’ by referencing historical discourses on the colonization of the Americas. To elucidate how

Europeans contradicted their own Anglo-Protestant ideals, Williams explains how

“Columbus “violat(ed) the sacred injunctions of the gospel” by committing “flagrant violations of human rights” on the “harmless aborigines” whom he enslaved then forced to work in mines.340 What is interesting here is that Williams exhibits an Anglo-

Protestant bias in his narrative as he specifically critiques Spanish Catholicism for initiating a genocidal campaign against the natives along with the slave trade in the

Americas. This is most likely due to the context in which the Oration is given; being the commencement of abolition, which he views as spearheaded by the Anglo-

Protestants. Still, Williams doesn’t acquit Anglo-Protestants of their crimes against humanity as he stresses the ultimate contradiction of these ideals within the history of

America to be the enslavement of African people.

Moreover, Williams offers one of the earliest historiographical accounts that acknowledges African agency in Atlantic slavery from an African perspective as he details how continental Africans were tempted by “European finery” to grant Europeans

340 Williams 67. See also Alexander (2008) and Wilder (2002). 193

their “prisoners of war and convicts.”341 Conversely, he also acknowledges African agency in resistance to Atlantic slavery as he asserts many Africans were forcibly

“overpowered… (in which the) ablest warriors fell, and the wretched remnant (was) carried into slavery.”342 Williams personalizes the experience of African enslavement and captivity through lamenting for Africa, in which he tells audience to “hear now the shrieks of the women, the cries of the children, the shouts of the warriors, and the groans of the dying.”343 This element of griotic methodology represents Williams’ organic relationship to the historical narrative. Put another way, Williams is projecting his own historicity, or historical memory as a narrative to his audience in a manner that ascends from African oral traditions.

Williams is in fact operating as a griot in that his frame of reference for the

Oration involves a distinct approach in which African history is recreated based on his lived experience as a displaced African in America. By constructing such an organic narrative within which he is embedded, Williams appeals to the emotional disposition of his audience that encourages them to view themselves as the culmination and embodiment of this African experience within Atlantic slavery. The unity between the present and the past intersects with this organic intellectualism as Williams metaphorically projects and in a sense invites his audience into his historiographical narrative. Consequently, Williams suggests the historical “theme” that Africa’s

341 Ibid. 68. See also Wilder (2002 ) and Alexander (2008). 342 Williams. 69; Wilder (2002); Alexaner (2008). 343 Williams. 70; Wilder (2002); Alexander (2008). 194

descendants (his audience) are now experiencing is undergoing a change as evident with respect to the outlawing of the importation of African slaves throughout the U.S. and

British colonies. To encourage and strengthen the faith reserve of his audience,

Williams’ acknowledges God as being omniscient within the historical experiences of

African people along with specific abolitionists who assisted in this change of the

Africans’ historical “theme” such as John Woolman, Anthony Benezet, and William

Wilberforce.344

Williams’ further employs a griotic methodology to critique the U.S.’s

Revolutionary ideals from an African-centered perspective. This is illustrated as

Williams notes how the U.S. founding fathers declared U.S. independence on the basis of “equality,” “inalienable rights” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” while the “bleeding African lifted his fetters and proclaimed, “Am I not a man and a brother?’”345 The fact that Williams notes the veracity of these ideals was specifically challenged by the enslaved African, thus establishes African agency in the historical and contemporary promotion of these ideals. Williams’ religiosity however permeates this critical query of the political ideals within his Oration, in that he contends this

African agency to be a manifestation of ‘God’s Providence’ as he asserts, “(God’s) angel of humanity…(who) didst condescend to listen to the cries of ..Africa’s sons.” 346

Williams is therefore constructing African historiography through ‘sacred and secular’

344 Williams. 71. 345 Williams 71. See also Alexander (2008) and Wilder (2002) for his political activism in this regard. 346 Williams 70-71. 195

sources to raise a critical awareness of European ‘civilization’ and acknowledgment of

African agency in revolutionary ideals.

On a surface level, Williams’ Oration, is promoting a moralist approach in response to U.S. slavery and racism, in accordance with an Anglo-Protestant prism. He encourages his audience of “African descendants” toward this moralism by adhering to the laws of the land, forming “an invulnerable bulwark against malice,” and remaining

“unpolluted by the stains of ingratitude.” But as Williams references the ancestral presence by stating “the spirits of our departed ancestors shall smile with complacency on the change of our state; and posterity shall exult in the pleasing remembrance,” he is revealing an underlying African epistemology of religion and historicity, whereby the ancestors are ever present. 347 The convergence of African history, religiosity and identity politics is then manifested by Williams as he quotes the oft-read Ethiopianist

Psalms 68:31: “Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands.” And through Williams’ quote of this biblical reference, he is framing his griotic methodology to African history in order to instill within his audience the hope and faith that the descendants of Africa will certainly become full Americans and afforded the “natural rights” of God.

In sum, the griotic methodology of Williams’ Oration draws from an African epistemology in which the historical narrative is constructed in context and in service to the present. Considering Williams’ historiographical approach involves this unity,

347 Ibid.73. Compare this statement to views of Mbiti (1969) and Wiredu (1980/1996) 196

interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past, he ultimately promotes an

African heritage that affirms and vindicates African identity. Williams’ Oration thus embodies the elements of critical African historiography, interdisciplinarity, organic intellectualism, black consciousness, African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism which merge in a critique of and/or agency in the prevailing European American views of world history, Anglo-Protestant Christianity and ‘civilization,’ and Enlightenment.

Yet, something beyond an “Africanization” of world history and European American ideals is revealed.348 Williams’ griotic approach of African historiography is in essence promoting a “dissolution,” or deconstruction and re-presentation of European American ideals on a more universal, or all-inclusive plane.349

William Hamilton and the griotic making of African history.

In assessing the orations, sermons, petitions and appeals that were produced by early free African intellectuals, it becomes evident that they were conscientious of the manner in which their textual works would be performed. This was overtly revealed by an associate of Peter Williams Jr., William Hamilton (1773-1836),350 president and cofounder of the New York Society for Mutual Relief, as he made explicit references to how such ‘textual performances’ were public displays that were specifically aimed at countering the racist/anti-African views of American society. In light of this, the

348 For this notion of ‘Africanization’ of world history see Brizuela-Garcia (2006). 349 Ibid.; see also, Freierman (1993) in this regard. 350 See Alexander (2008) chapters 2-4; Rael (2002); and Wilder (2001) for biography and political activism of William Hamilton; For discussion of his historiographical works see Hall (2009); Ernest (2004); and for notable mention with regards to “Egyptocentrism”; Moses (1998). 197

textual performances produced by free African intellectuals not only involve these intellectuals engaging in the production of African history, but also how they themselves were vindicating and/or making African history through their intellectual praxes. Free African were therefore involved in the textual performance of African historiography as well as employing a mode of active discourse to empower African identity politics in resistance to white European American hegemony.

In regards to the vindicationist works produced by free Africans such as Peter

Williams Jr. and others, William Hamilton was one of the most prolific free African leaders during the Revolutionary era who established specified guidelines for textual performances. Within Hamilton’s 1809 work “Mutual Interest, Mutual Benefit, and

Mutual Relief,” he asserts “the oration, or primary work is not a run of eccentric vagaries, not now a sudden gust of passionate exclamation, and then as sudden calm and an inertness of expression, but a close adherence to the plane of the subject in hand, a warm and animating description of interesting scenes, together with an easy graceful style.”351 Hamilton goes on to state that the intended objective of all African textual performances is to “produce specimens like this, (to) put our enemies to blush.”352

Accordingly, Hamilton is encouraging a ‘rational’ engagement to prevailing racist views of Africa/ns that was “a close adherence to the plane of the subject.” But he also noted that textual performances should appeal to the emotion as they embody the

351 Hamilton (1809: 82-83). See also Hall (2009); Ernest (2004). 352 Hamilto (1809: 82-83). 198

qualities of being “a warm and animating description of interesting scenes, together with an easy graceful style.”353 From this standpoint, it is evident that William Hamilton is acknowledging a meta-disciplinarity and organic intellectualism that were involved in free African textual performances. This speaks to a ‘holistic’ frame of reference in which the human senses are agencies in the transmission of historicity, which is indeed representative of the West African framework of oral history.354 Moreover, the fact that

Hamilton also stressed how such textual performances serve as potent intellectual and historiographical agencies further exemplify this study’s griotic methodology which ascend from the epistemological context in which the past is unified with and in service to the present.

William Hamilton employed this griotic methodology himself in order to promote African agency in identity politics in antebellum New York. Perhaps to counter the disillusionment that began to set in among the free African community due to the ostensible abolition of the U.S. slave trade,355 Hamilton produced a textual performance of African historiography to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the abolition of the U.S. slave trade. This textual performance was entitled simply, O’ Africa and was delivered by Hamilton on January 2, 1815 in the Episcopal Asbury African Church on

353 Ibid., This view concurs with Ernest (2004: 226). 354 See Hale (1998). 355 Quarles (1969: 119), states that though 1809 was the high point of annual celebrations of the U.S abolition of the slave trade, it would be discontinued within three years as free Africans became disillusioned. See also Alexander (2008); Rael (2002); and Wilder (2001). 199

Elizabeth Street in New York.356 Like the works of Williams and Equiano, Hamilton’s oration involves a cyclical and millennial conceptualization of the past in which nations progressed from barbarism and civilization via Divine Providence. But Hamilton’s O

Africa also reveals innovative qualities that would transcend and/or reconfigure these

European Romantic ideals. First, through the title O' Africa, Hamilton is establishing an idealized, metaphorical emblem which represents the embodiment of the race throughout the world. And, even though he asserted in “Mutual Interest” that one must adhere to the “plane of the subject at hand,” he is evoking an emotional affirmation as well as an organic bond to an entity of which he views himself and his people a part of.

As noted above, this element ascends from the West African methodology of oral traditions where the transmission of historiography is tied to the holistic human experience and historicity of the griot whom is transmitting it. From this standpoint, the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual components of the griot are all unified to give shape to the historical narrative that is being presented via textual performance. As

Hamilton projects an African Eden, “thou first garden” in the fashion of Williams’

Oration, he incorporates “scientific” sources beyond the biblical and classical references to identify the geographical features of the African continent. He consequently references longitude and latitude, degrees on which the “sun’s rays fall obliquely,” as well as surrounding bodies of water and land masses” to assert that the

356 See Foner and Branham (1998: 91); Hall (2009); and Ernest (2004) for background information on this oration 200

African continent is in “the middle of the globe.” In an attempt to appeal to a ‘rational’ standpoint, Hamilton argues that Africa was the ideal place for the “original man” to descend. Hamilton goes on to integrate classical references to proclaim Africa can

“boast of her antiquity... of her philosophers, her artists, her statement, her generals; of her curiosities, her magnificent entities, her stupendous buildings, and of her once widespread commerce.”357 Hamilton then draws from an Ethiopianist notion of

Providence to argue how such a geographical location is significant to how history has descended and as “the seat of authority…..may ascend to the zenith of glory and aggrandizement.”358 Hamilton is therefore engaging in an interdisciplinary employment of history, geography, and theology to construct an African narrative that speaks to the glorious African past and prophetic destiny to come. Though this feature of the narrative may be perceived as a cyclical view of African history, a unified conceptualization of the present and past in accordance with African epistemology provides a better interpretation, considering Hamilton constructs the past from the standpoint of the present in order to impact the future.

Perhaps due to European popular discourse noted above which was querying the racial heritage of ancient Egypt, Hamilton moved beyond the Anglo-Protestant views of ancient African civilizations to engage in an “Egypto-centric”

357 Hamilton (1815: 92) 358 Ibid. 201

historiographical tradition.359 In view of this, Hamilton re-contextualized ancient

Egypt’s biblical connotations from being an ‘idolatrous’ empire and re-presented it as the source of ‘African’ heritage whose original inhabitants were ““honest, industrious, peaceable and well-disposed people.” Hamilton consequently contends that it was

“King’s shepherds” that “wicked nation” who “laid waste” to Egypt and made “slaves of some of the inhabitants.”360 This critical engagement of African historiography in which Egypt was claimed as the source the race’s heritage therefore represented a reconciliation of the biblical, classical and contemporary secular views. From this standpoint, Hamilton contends that the “wickedness” which eventually contaminates ancient Egyptian civilization, originates from foreign (white) sources.

Hamilton goes on to devote considerable text to detail the horrific atrocities

Europeans inflicted onto Africans via the slave trade. Employing a similar, though more forceful tone to Williams’ Oration, Hamilton contrasts the moral character of African peoples with those being “low, sly, wicked, cunning, peculiar to the European.”361

Hamilton substantiates this view of Europeans by referencing how various historical civilizations projected the devil as “white.” Hamilton then challenges his audience to consider the contemporary relevance of this factor as he asks them to “…view the history of the slave trade, and then answer the question, could they have choice of a

359 For this ‘tradition’ and other subdivisions of Afrocentrism, see Moses (1998: 50). 360 Hamilton (1815: 93). 361 Ibid. 95. 202

better (white) likeness to have drawn from.”362 In this way, Hamilton is deconstructing the European centered discourse in which color itself is codified. By suggesting global historical civilizations conceived colors in a symbolic manner that is distinct from U.S. society, he is forcing his audience to expand their ethos and identity politics beyond

European hegemony to a more global and African-centered historical context.

The anti-Spanish sentiment that Peter Williams Jr. exhibited is also expressed by

Hamilton as he condemns Spain and Portugal for the actions of Columbus and Cortez who exterminated the American aborigines. Hamilton uses this as precedent for the manner in which Spain and Portugal would then use the Africans’ “peaceful, simple and unsuspicious nature” against them, as they were enslaved. Yet, Hamilton is not as condemnatory as Williams toward Britain, probably due to the fact that they were

“atoning” for their atrocities through abolition.363 This element demonstrates an understanding of the peculiarities of European engagement with African peoples with respect to the levels of exploitation and involvement with the slave trade. Moreover,

Hamilton is offering a historiographical critique of the role of European civilization in world history as he follows up with a line of questioning that queries whether the

‘accomplishments’ of Columbus and Cortez were worth the atrocities of African enslavement. To appeal to his audience’s emotion, Hamilton evokes highly descriptive narratives involving an African woman and child being brutalized on a slave ship along

362 Ibid. 363 Ibid (1815: 94-95) 203

with the harshness of the “lash” which is inflicted on enslaved Africans on the plantations. He then concludes these narratives with a rhetorical question that he poses to his audience: “Now tell me my brethren, is there in God’s domain other and worse feigns than these?”364 By repeatedly questioning his audience in this manner, Hamilton is engaging in a distinct element of oral traditions that ascends from West Africa referred to as “call and response.”365 Moreover, by prompting his audience to “tell” him whether there were “worse feigns than these,” Hamilton is encouraging his audience to establish a sense of agency in the African historiographical narrative. Hamilton’s methodology therefore involves more than just a production of African historiography.

His textual performance is propagating an African historical consciousness through which he encourages his audience to identify with each other on the basis of a shared experience that specifically involved being racial displaced in the Americas.

In short, these components of Hamilton’s textual performance ascend from a distinct

West African epistemology of history, whereby the re-creation of history is done to service, or empower the community/audience.366

Hamilton’s work goes on to use ‘Africa’ emblematically for the racial collective that has been displaced throughout the Atlantic world, as he laments, “O Africa…what carnage hast though witnessed; thy flesh, thy bones, thy very vitals have been torn from

364 Ibid. (1815: 95) 365 See Stuckey (1987) who identifies this element as one of many ‘Africanisms’ that were engaged in by Africans while enslaved. 366 This was a main element of “African epistemology” offered in the oral history of K.O. (2011). 204

thee.”367 Hamilton’s textual performance then continues by detailing the horrific atrocities committed on Africans, which are incrementally told to further compound the emotional weight of African oppression. In a surprisingly manner however, Hamilton’s descriptive crescendo climaxes in the acknowledgement of a Providential Design, whereby he ultimately rejoices in that such “Friends of Humanity” as Wilberforce,

Benezet, and Clarkson “triumphed” over their enemies in the cause of abolition.368

Hamilton’ textual performance then abruptly ends by extolling Britain for its initiation of abolition, the U.S. for following suit and a chastisement of the “Danish nation” for merely providing lip service to the cause of abolition. Hamilton finally employs a black jeremiad in which he engages U.S. political discourse of the day, namely Thomas

Jefferson's Notes on Virginia to stress the fact that abolition must be made real or the

“prophecy of doom” would be forthcoming.369

Hamilton’s O’Africa is thus a potent historiographical work that exemplifies the griotic methodology that ascends from West African oral traditions. Indeed, Hamilton constructs a narrative that draws from knowledge across the disciplines including geography, classical history, biblical history, Jefferson’s notes, and even slave testimonies in order to establish an interactive narrative to impact African identity. This work therefore embodies the elements of African epistemological unity between the present and the past as well as being in service to the community. This latter component

367 Hamilton (1815: 94) 368 Ibid. 369 Ibid. 97. 205

is revealed especially in the manner that Hamilton constructed/presented the narrative as ‘open ended’ within which his audience is prompted to query their oppressed condition on historical grounds. In consideration of this factor, Hamilton’s objective is to promote a collective African historicity (Pan-Africanism) via African historiography.

Furthermore, Hamilton’s griotic methodology not only utilizes a variety of sources across the ‘disciplines,’ but at times transcends the disciplines in accordance with

Williams’ Oration. This is shown by the fact that Hamilton’s historicity, religiosity, and identity politics permeate the entire narrative. The fact that Hamilton, Williams, and Marrant, all engaged in orations that were in fact historiographical textual performances is indicative of the organic intellectualism that each of the intellectuals exhibited, as all constructed a history they themselves were a part of and were in fact presently making. In sum, these free African intellectuals were making African history as they were engaged in the production of African history. Lastly, the title O' Africa is a metaphorical lamentation of the displacement and subjugation of all African peoples by

European powers. The narrative griotically substantiates this title historiographically by detailing the great African past, the horrors inflicted on Africa and its people, and the hope and faith in the abolitionist movement. Moreover, the title establishes an ethos by which the oppressed descendants who have been scattered abroad are able to reclaim a heritage that asserts they were the original people within the “garden.” By way of these principal factors, Hamilton provides a critique of the European civilization/notions of

206

superiority as it is juxtaposed to the high moral disposition of African people. Hence, black consciousness with respect to an acknowledgement of being displaced by

European hegemony is also a driving component of the narrative. Additionally, ‘O

Africa’ prompts an African-centered ethos by which all the descendants of Africa are reminded that they are the sum total of this experience involving past greatness, slavery and abolition. And finally, the title itself propagates an identification of African people to embrace and empower themselves through this vindicationist/liberatory view of

Africa history. In this manner, the griotic methodology within Hamilton’s O’ Africa is specifically geared toward a Pan-Africanist agenda through which he produced African history to fuel active resistance against European American hegemony.

The emergence of the ACS and Jacob Oson’s Search For Truth

The establishment of American Colonization Society in 1816, with its platform to remove the free African population beyond the borders of the U.S. to reinforce the institution of slavery, greatly impacted the identity politics of free Africans in the antebellum North. One of the most significant effects was the naming controversy in which free Africans debated over which classification (African, Negro, colored, black, etc.) would best distinguish the race’s aspirations, juxtaposed to ACS’s views. In order to distinguish the free African identity politics from the ACS’s objective to colonize freedmen in Africa who would promote Anglo-Protestant ‘Christianity,’ ‘commerce’ and ‘civilization,’ more and more free Africans began to identify themselves as

207

‘colored’ in the public domain. However, within the textual performances of free

Africans during this period, this ‘colored’ designation was referred to as descending from ‘African,’ ‘Ethiopian,’ ‘sons and/or descendants of Africa,’ ‘sons of Ham’ and were often used interchangeably. Moreover, free African intellectuals remained committed to utilizing African historiography as the principle means by which to historicize and claim agency in their identity politics.370 Rather than just highlighting the accomplishments and past greatness of Africa in a compartmentalized manner however, there was a concerted effort by free Africans to demonstrate the contributions of African people to biblical and classical history. This contributionist agenda was specifically done to counter the claims of the ACS that the African continent was best suited for the displaced free Africans within American. As asserted by Stephen Hall, the ACS’s “existence and ideology forced a more transparent discussion by black intellectuals of the African role in the development of Western as well as World

Civilization” in order to substantiate views of the Africans’ rights to remain within

America. 371 Though there were some in the free African community who embraced and/or participated in ACS’s colonizing agenda (i.e. Paul Cuffe), the majority of the free African community organized anti-ACS assemblies to distinguish their emigration agendas from ACS colonization, promote abolition, and fight for civil rights and suffrage within the U.S. And, as historiographical works fueled their identity politics

370 This naming controversy is illustrated principally by Moses (1998); Ernest (2004); and to a lesser extent, Hall (2009). 371 Hall (2009: 28) 208

on the basis of an African contributionist standpoint to world history, this was only on the surface level, or “culture of coercion” that was demonstrated by free African intellectuals in the public sphere.372 Still, beyond this, free African intellectuals employed a distinctive griotic methodology inclusive of the seven spheres discerned above through which African historiography was textually performed in a manner that impacted the identity politics of their assemblies.

In 1817, black Philadelphians met at Mother Bethel African Methodist

Episcopal Church to denounce the aims of the ACS. Within four months of this eventful meeting, Jacob Oson,373 a Connecticut school teacher and self-described “descendent of

Africa” presented a treatise within his Search for Truth; or an Inquiry for the Origin of the African Nation to the free African communities in New Haven in March and in New

York. Like the textual performances of those above, Oson’s address strongly proclaimed Africanity despite the ACS’s agenda as he reconstructed the African past from biblical, classical and universal (world) historical sources to establish African agency in all humanity throughout all lands. With respect to the title of the address, it is evident that Oson’s work embodies this study’s griotic methodology in that African identity politics are substantiated by the historiographical narrative. The title itself clearly establishes a black consciousness within Oson’s address as he is acknowledging the physical and intellectual displacement of Africans within white European American

372 See Gomez (1998) for elaboration on “culture of coercion” and “culture of volition” among enslaved Africans. 373 Hall (2009: 29-33). 209

hegemony. The fact that Oson underscores “truth” within the title of his address establishes an agenda of correcting the prevailing views on Africa that have demonized, or dehumanized African descendants on the basis of their ancestral origins.

Consequently, Oson rejects prevailing anti-African views regarding Africans originating from “Cain” and the “Devil.”374 Oson further acknowledges the race’s

‘friends’ who view Africans as fundamentally “human, and that we have souls to be saved or to be lost.” 375 It is from this standpoint that Oson constructs a historical narrative that demonstrates African agency in biblical, classical and universal (world) historical discourses. Though Oson’s textual production has the agenda of promoting a vindicationist and contributionist historiography, the griotic methodology that he employs is designed to specifically empower African identity politics.

A pronounced unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past is demonstrated in Oson’s address as he utilizes African historiography to demonstrate the intersections between African origins, African descent and African identity. Like the oral histories of his continental African forefathers, Oson’s engagement of these dynamics is cyclical, in that it is Oson’s identity politics involving African physical and intellectual displacement that drives his engagement of African historiography. In other words, it is Oson’s embedded historicity, or organic intellectualism that frames his construction of African-centered biblical, world and classical history that in turn,

374 Oson (1817:1) 375 Ibid. 210

(re)claims a heritage for all ‘descendants of Africa.’ Thus, Oson’s methodology involves producing an African history that impacts identity in such a manner that

African agency in world and American history is realized as an active form of resistance against European-centered views.

Furthermore, as Oson’s textual production of African historiography details

African origins and descent, he asserts an African-centered narrative that embodies and propagates a Pan-African identification and collective ethos. This Pan-Africanist / collectivist dynamic within his textual performance is exhibited initially as Oson addresses his audience as “my people… my nation” and begins his oration by asking them to reflect on “whether our ancestors were such a vile ignorant race of beings as we, their descendants, are considered to be.”376 These elements are critical to the griotic methodology because as Oson posed these questions to “his nation,” he, like Hamilton and others above, is encouraging a distinctive African historicity that will prompt his audience to action.

Moreover, the fact that Oson identifies his audience through the term, ‘nation’ represents an appropriation of 19th century Western discourse where race was conceptualized in nationalistic terms.377 However, the distinguishing feature in Oson’s oration with respect to the use of nation is that he innovatively conceptualizes an

African nation that is established on the basis of continental origins and historical

376 Ibid. 377 See Rael (2002) for discussion of free black’ appropriation of European American ideals of nationalism that was re-presented as black nationalism. 211

experiences. This historical based, transcontinental African ‘nation across nations,’ truly embodies what is coined as Pan-Africanism, but probably was more in line with how

Patrick Rael’s defines 19th Black Nationalism in his Black Identity and Black Protest.

This specifically involves the promotion of group consciousness built on racial identity and pride; a desire to develop social and political institutions autonomous from those of whites; and the valorization of a distinct black (African) cultural heritage.378

In alignment with Rael’s view of “Black Nationalism,” Oson’s “African nation” embodies a collective racial identity and assertion of pride on the basis of the valorization of a distinct black heritage. Beyond this however, Oson’s valorization of the African past historicizes how the “African nation” contributed to Western civilization as well as how Western civilization is “indebted” to the African nation.

This sentiment further speaks to the notion that Oson’s “African nation” represents an autonomous civilization within its own right throughout the continent and diaspora.

And, regardless of the location a descendant of this African nation may be, Oson is contending that s/he is entitled to claim agency in his/her environment as a descendant of the African source of world history. This Black Nationalist/Pan-Africanist element of identity politics is thus, the ultimate objective of Oson’s work which must be viewed juxtaposed to the platform of ACS which was tied to European American hegemony.

378 Rael (2002: 210-211) 212

Oson’s Search for Truth further involves the realm of interdisciplinarity as he merges ‘sacred and profane’ sources to (de)construct African historiography. It is clear however, that Oson’s views the ultimate validation for his “truth” lying principally in the authority of the King James version of the Bible. In light of this, Oson biblically frames his textual performance by posing the question to his audience, “Who was our common father, and from whom we sprang?” Oson then “searches” the Bible to answer the question through quoting, Gen. 9:19, “And God made the world and all things therein, and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the earth.”379 This establishes a religious authority by which Oson is asserting the essential oneness of all humanity. Oson consequently engages prevailing biblical and secular views which contend Africans are cursed “sons of Ham” and such anti-African discourse that suggests the black race possesses inferior moral traits. 380 Oson dismisses these views through appealing to William Hamilton’s view of human rationality, and asserting that those who are “impartial” obviously know that all humanity “sprang from one common father and are united by consanguity.”381 Oson is therefore challenging the anti-African views which emanate from biblical and

‘scientific’ discourses that assess the history and people of Africa as being separate from the rest of humanity. Oson is further establishing the historical dynamic that all nations interacted and shared elements of ‘civilization’ throughout the world. Like,

379 Oson (1817: 1) 380 Ibid. 381 Ibid. 1-2. 213

Peter Williams Jr., Oson embraces the Anglo-Protestant view of civilization but griotically utilizes it as an agency to critique the contradictions of U.S. society and prevailing discourses on racial grounds.

Oson then centers his textual performance on the African continent to reveal its agency in biblical, classical and universal history. Upfront, Oson biblically asserts that

Africa has a divine significance as he proclaims, “Holy writ speaks more to our nation and land than any other land or people, except the Israelites, who wrote it.”382 Oson further substantiates this premise by identifying key biblical personalities and their involvement within the African continent, as he narrates how it was the father of the

Hebrews, Abram (Abraham), who originally came to Egypt and “taught them (Africans) the knowledge of astronomy and arithmetic.”383 Oson goes on to integrate secular works dealing with classical history to assert the contributionist notion “that Greece is indebted to Egypt for that science.”384 It becomes apparent here that Oson seeks to include Egypt as part of the “African nation” from which his race descended. However,

Oson does not adhere to what Moses’ Afrotopia refers to as “Egytocentrism.”385 Rather,

Oson emphasizes the black Africanity of Egypt, as he references “authors” who proclaim, “Nubia” as the “seat of learning and from which, probably, science

382 Ibid. 3. 383 Ibid. 2. 384 Ibid. 385 Moses (1998: 23-4) views this as the tendency to identity Egypt as being the source of black Africa and/or vindication of the African race. 214

sprung.”386 To reconcile the wicked biblical portrayal of Egypt as well as the contemporary conditions of African civilization, Oson employs a cyclical view of historiography, or what Moses asserts to be the “historiographies of rise and decline,”387 as he asserts, “I am aware that nations have their rise and fall, both in trade and science which goes from one nation to another.”388 Still, Oson’s appropriation and merger of biblical and classical references with respect to Egypt serves two important points.

First, Oson’s contention that “Abram” brought knowledge to Egypt, establishes a biblical context for the rise of Egyptian civilization. And second, Nubia, a distinctly black African civilization, is established as the source of Egypt’s science, which was ultimately passed on to the Western world. Oson’s historiographical narrative therefore reconciles the biblical view of Egypt being ‘wicked’ and re-constructs it as part of the

African nation from which “science sprung.” These important historiographical contentions reveal an important feature of the griotic methodology, in that Oson found it necessary to provide a narrative that spoke directly to the religiosity and racial heritage of his contemporary audience. In this manner, Oson’s production of African history and identity politics were engaged in a griotic interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past.

Oson’s textual performance then demonstrates agency of the ‘African nation’ within the history of Christianity. Accordingly, Oson demarcates Africans of Egyptian

386 Oson 2. 387 Moses (1998) 388 Oson 2. 215

and Ethiopian heritage from the Bible such as Ishmael, Moses, Tharbias, Bethsheba, and the disciples of Christ. In fact, Oson even quotes God, Himself from scripture to stress the divine importance of Africa, which is metaphorically aligned with Jesus’ upbringing, as he states “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.”389 Oson further notes a number of African “bishops” and “cornerstones” of the Christian faith including

“Divinus, Turtulian, Julius Africanus, Armobius, Sactantins, and St. Austin

(Augustine),” 390 to ultimately conclude that all Christian nations are indebted to

‘mother Africa’ as its descendants pioneered the spread of the faith throughout the world.

With this establishment of African agency in biblical, Western and Christian history, Oson’s griotic dialogue between the present and the past comes into play as he juxtaposes the ancient African nation’s accomplishments with the present day dejection and marginalization of African people by European Americans. Oson again frames this in the context of a question which he poses to the African nation, “And now, why should the Christian nations boast of the Law and Gospel, and of their supremacy over us?”391 This unified interplay between the past and the present is consequently used by

Oson to not only vindicate African people from the anti-African discourses of European

Americans but to also condemn contemporary American Christians, for enslaving and

“degrading” the “minds” of the African nation rather than representing the “truth” of

389 Ibid. 5. 390 Ibid. 3. 391 Ibid. 216

their faith. It is here that Oson utilizes African historiography to stress the hypocrisy in

European Americans’ present day treatment of the African nation. Yet, rather than lamenting this oppression in the mode of William Hamilton, Oson emphatically condemns the inhumane treatment that European Americans were inflicting on African people and emphasizes the contributions that ancient Africa rendered to Western civilization. Consequently, Oson stresses the West’s scientific, religious and moral indebtness to Africa.

According to Stephen Hall, Jacob Oson’s work exhibits a methodological style and analytical rigor that was principally geared toward demonstrating how Africa exhibited Western “humanistic” values. 392 From this study’s griotic standpoint however, Oson’s methodology is ultimately posed toward establishing an African centered agency in ‘humanity’ and ‘civilization’ itself. Oson’s African-centered narrative accordingly stressed an African genesis of Western civilization, and the indebtedness of the West to Africa. Considering the fact that Oson presented this address in a context totally defined by European-centered intellectual hegemony, these above qualities reveal a resilient and dynamic epistemology that had ascended from

West Africa. This griotic methodology was thus employed by Oson in order to claimed ownership over Western discourses and to propagate a liberatory African consciousness.

392 See Hall (2009: 32). 217

In sum, Oson’s Search for Truth employs a griotic methodology to African historiography that is intricately engaged with identity politics. As Oson’s address is surely designed to empower to his “people” and/or his “nation,” the open ended questions he presents provide a participatory contextualization for this textual performance. Oson’s oration is therefore drawing from the African/oral based framework of history that involves a unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past. Furthermore, Oson’s griotic methodology employs such dynamics to appropriate, re-configure, counter and/or transcend prevailing anti-African discourses to historicize the African past. The distinctive griotic methodology that Oson uses to produce African history consequently involves a (de)construction of European

American discourses (critical intellectualism), organic intellectualism, interdisciplinarity, black consciousness, African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism. And yet, the ultimate goal within Oson’s griotic methodology is to empower collective

African identity politics on the basis of claiming agency in religious, American and world history. It is from this standpoint, that Oson appropriates the ‘racial’ conceptualization that was used by European American discourses to displace African people, and re-presents it through a liberatory/Pan-Africanist lens geared toward consolidating and empowering the descendants of Africa throughout world.

Perhaps the most poignant illustration of Oson’s liberatory/griotic agenda is when he historicizes Africa via biblical and classical sources, then critiques the concept

218

“Negro” as a classification for his race.393 Here, Oson’s methodology reveals a reciprocal relationship between historical production and identity politics. Accordingly,

Oson discards this concept by stating that it serves as a tool to vulgarize, subjugate and/or erase African heritage, and thereby projects a historical ‘wretchedness’ upon

African people. Oson then de-racializes and re-presents the concept “Negro” as a condition that applies to all humanity, as he asserts “every son and daughter of Adam

..w(ere) sinners and wretched.. and is (therefore) stigmatized with the same epithet.”394

Thus, Oson’s Search for Truth reveals how anti-African discourses were assimilated via griotic methodology in such a manner that a New World ‘African’ agency was established in biblical, world and classical history. This distinctive approach to history production that was exhibited through Jacob Oson’s textual performances empowered free Africans to resiliently respond to European intellectual hegemony and maintain ownership over their intellectual space.

The ‘griotic’ culmination of David Walker’s Appeal

David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World 395 is distinguished as one of the most potent abolitionist discourses to contribute to the 19th century foundations of African American historical writing and the ideology of Black

393 Oson 4. 394 Ibid. 395 For elaboration on the time period, background of Walker and impact of Walker’s Appeal, see Aptheker (1965). The entire text is provided by The Journal of Pan-African Studies 2009 ebook, see Walker (1830). 219

Nationalism.396 Like his free African predecessors discussed above, Walker’s Appeal employs a distinctive griotic approach to African historiography which utilizes vindicationist and contributionist discourses to revolutionize the identity politics of

“coloured citizens” via Africanity. Published in 1829, as a textual address that includes a preamble and four articles, the Appeal was written specifically as a piece to be orally presented as it was disseminated throughout the free and enslaved communities of the

North and South. Walker’s Appeal is consequently presented in first person in which

Walker addresses all “coloured citizens of the world.” The fact that Walker addresses his audience in this manner must be viewed as an attempt to assert the human rights of

African people in all countries where they reside in reaction against the ACS’s coercive agenda to colonize Africa’s descendants on the African continent. Yet, as Walker identifies these “coloured citizens” specifically as “sons or descendants of Ham or

Africa,” he is employing a griotic approach to historiography that is claiming agency in humanity for colored citizens on the basis of Africanity. Thus, Walker’s Appeal is more than abolitionist discourse. It constitutes a historiographical and political praxis by which the ‘coloured’ race is vindicated and liberated from European American hegemony.

The title of the Appeal along with its subdivisions respectively establish a context that directly speaks to the realities that were plaguing African people during

396 This is according to Hall (2009); Ernest (2004); Moses (1996); and, Stuckey (1987) 220

Walker’s day. The full title of Walker’s Appeal, 397specifies “coloured citizens of the

U.S.” as his target audience. However, this particular group is contextualized as part of a larger ‘world citizenry.’ This identification of “coloured” with world citizenry not only lays out a global frame of reference for the Appeal, but also implies the fundamental human rights that colored people are entitled to. Still, this assertion is immediately juxtaposed within the Appeal’s preamble as Walker establishes his central premise being the fact that these “coloured citizens” of the world and U.S. in particular,

“are, the most wretched, degraded, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began, down to the present day.”398 The majority of the Appeal is consequently devoted to substantiating this “wretchedness” as a condition of oppression within the

U.S. through critical African-centered historiography that integrates biblical and contemporary discourses. The ultimate goal of Walker’s Appeal is therefore to raise the level of consciousness among “coloured people” specifically with respect to the politics of racial displacement, or what this study refers to as black consciousness. This black consciousness constitutes an awareness of a global subjugation of “coloured” people on a material, intellectual, historiographical and spiritual basis. In view of this, Walker’s

Appeal expounds on this “wretchedness” in four articles entitled , “Our Wretchedness in

Consequence of Slavery,” “Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Ignorance,” “Our

397 See Walker (1830) for full title. 398 Walker 5. 221

Wretchedness in Consequence of the Preachers of Jesus Christ,” and “Our

Wretchedness in Consequence of the Colonizing Plan.”

The use of “Our” within each of these articles demonstrates an organic bond that

Walker asserts with those he is addressing. Although he was never enslaved himself, the Appeal draws from Walker’s historicity which is derived from a sense of collective memory. He alludes to this collective memory throughout his Appeal as he states he is drawing from “the course of ..(his) travels” and what he has obtained via newspaper accounts, legal statutes, and discourses propagated through the early black press, namely Freedom’s Journal.399 As Walker’s describes and empathizes with ‘coloured people’ who are subjected to this ‘wretched’ oppression, his aim is to further project a collective consciousness of displacement, or an awareness that the conditions that these

‘coloured people’ were experiencing is worse than any “since the world began, down to the present day.” 400

Walker identifies his Appeal as a “book” written “in language so very simply, that the most ignorant, who can read at all, may easily understand.” 401 Walker also demonstrates his appreciation for textuality as he acknowledges how the written word may reach beyond one’s immediate circumstances in time and space. However, it is obvious that the Appeal is a manifestation of Walker’s living historicity that reveals its

399 Freedom’s Journal was the first African American owned and operated newspaper in the U.S.; Bacon (2007). 400 Walker (1830:4) 401 Ibid. 222

greatest impact through being presented orally. This is revealed as Walker’s Appeal provides a highly descriptive account of his engagements and experiences with his

“wretched brethren” throughout the U.S. in such a manner that encourages the audience to reflect on their present/personal circumstances. This griotic element, in which history is constructed in context and in service to the present, is further revealed by Walker’s historicity and religiosity that permeates the Appeal’s historical discourse. As he alludes to his pen being guided by divine sources,402 Walker’s Appeal also demonstrates an interdisciplinarity as he provides commentary and references from biblical, classical and political discourses to produce a history that substantiates his assessment of his brethren’s wretchedness. With the ultimate aim of prompting a collective realization of this wretchedness, or black consciousness through critical historiography, Walker’s

Appeal thus constitutes a textual performance that is designed to radicalized African identity politics toward an overthrow of oppression.

One of the primary griotic dynamics within Walker’s Appeal is the manner in which he deconstructs prevailing discourses that promote the innate inferiority of

“coloured people.” On this note, Walker targets Thomas Jefferson who he qualifies as

“one of the most learned of (the white) race.”403 Here, Walker specifically engages references from Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia, which emanate from the 18th century

402 See Walker (1830: 18) with regard to this notion as he proclaims, “Oh Heaven! I am full!! I can hardly move my pen!!” 403 See Walker 12, 22 as Walker refers to Jefferson as “a much greater philosopher the world never afforded.” 223

notions that involved racially ‘fixed’ or ‘essential’ characteristics, along with

Jefferson’s assertion that U.S. blacks were treated in a much more humane manner than slaves in antiquity. With respect to the notion of racial inferiority, Walker queries his audience, “is Mr. Jefferson’s assertions true?...that it is unfortunate for us that our

Creator has been pleased to make us black.”404 Walker then appeals directly to a divine source for an answer to this question as he asserts it is the creative faculties of “God

(who) made man to serve Him alone… is the sole proprietor or master of the WHOLE human family… and… we are men, notwithstanding our improminent noses and woolly heads.”405 To substantiate this contention, Walker references God’s authority with respect to his race’s distinctions and further asserts that “we wish to be just as it pleased our Creator to have made us.” Walker is therefore countering Jefferson’s views regarding race through asserting the distinctions of race are God given and thus, blessings. Once this is established, Walker stresses that the source of coloured peoples

“wretchedness” is not their color. Rather, Walker proclaims it is the injustices of racial displacement, and specifically the “infernal chains of slavery” imposed upon African people by “white Christians.”406

Walker further “troubles” the historical records of biblical and classical sources, along with the historical works of Josephus and Plutarch to counter Jefferson’s claim that the condition of blacks in America was more humane that those enslaved

404 Ibid.12. 405 Ibid. 406 Ibid. 12-22. 224

throughout antiquity.407 Walker accordingly refutes Jefferson by citing the conditions of slavery among such civilizations as the Antediluvians, Sodomites, Egyptians,

Babylonians, Ninevites, Carthaginians, Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, Romans,

Mohametans, as well as the Jews under the Egyptians. He accordingly itemizes how these ancient civilizations allowed slaves to read and write; to serve as tutors to their master’s children; to obtain expertise in the arts; to marry; and ultimately to assimilate into the respective civilizations. By demonstrating such privileges and an acknowledgement of basic human rights within ancient forms of slavery, Walker consequently points out how the present day atrocities subjected on enslaved Africans by “enlightened …. White Christians” were unprecedented. To further substantiate this point, Walker contends that there was never a recorded historical civilization that had subjected such psychological and/or intellectual violence upon their servants as these

“white Christians” considering the fact that European American discourses were propagating the inhumanity of Africans by referring to them as “descending originally from the tribes of Monkeys or Orang- Outangs.” 408 In a condemnatory manner, Walker goes on to identify white Christian America as hypocritical for extolling religious and

Enlightenment ideals abroad while practicing human bondage. This is shown as he cites

American news sources which published human rights violations of “Turks treating the

407 This notion of “troubling the pages of historians” is an emblematic quote of the Appeal; see Walker 13. 408 Ibid. 225

Greeks as Brutes,” while they simultaneous advertised Negro slave auctions.409 In sum,

Walker’s historiographical treatment of slavery unveils the historical, intellectual and psychological dynamics of U.S. slavery to reveal how it was the most oppressive institution that has ever been in existence.

Though Walker counters the notion of ‘fixed and/or essential’ racial traits of

Africans through employing his religiosity, he inverts and projects this prism onto whites to illustrate how they historically “have always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority.”410 Employing his griotic methodology, Walker goes on to chart this intrinsic trait among “the whites” as he details how in “Greece…(they were) cutting each other’s throats…in Rome, …the spirit of tyranny and deceit raged still higher... in

Gaul, Spain, and in Britain..(and) all over Europe…(the whites were )..acting.. like devils.”411 Conversely, Walker asks whether “blacks of Africa, and mulattoes of Asia” engaged in such atrocities, in which Walker answers, “no – they never were half so avaricious, deceitful and unmerciful as the whites, according to their knowledge.”412

Here, Walker is raising an interesting point in that he historically substantiates the

“cruel, avaricious and unmerciful” racial traits of “the whites” via their historical interactions with others. Walker’s engagement of historiography therefore involves

409 Ibid. 12. 410 Ibid. 15. 411 Ibid. 412 Ibid. 226

“troubling the pages of historians” as he engaged prevailing historical records to counter the anti-African discourses and to condemn the actions of whites.

With respect to this study’s griotic methodology, Walker’s historiographical approach to Africa serves two principal purposes, both of which are praxes to empower

African identity politics. These being: 1.) to construct a vindicationist African history that counters Euro-centric views; and 2.) to historicize ‘coloured people’ through this vindicationist African history in hopes that this knowledge will liberate them from white Christian hegemony. In alignment with these purposes, Walker proclaims a heritage that connects “coloured” people to the ancient civilizations of Africa, as he states, “Egyptians, were Africans or coloured people, such as we are--some of them yellow and others dark--a mixture of Ethiopians and the natives of Egypt--about the same as you see the coloured people of the United States at the present day.”413 Walker then constructs a teleological narrative of “that once mighty people” of ancient Africa as he identifies them being the masters of “the arts and sciences -- wise legislators..(builders of ).. the Pyramids.” This narrative further involves appropriating, deconstructing and re-presenting the prevailing views of “sons of Africa or of Ham” as

Walker asserts it was “among (these Africans) whom learning originated, and was carried thence in to Greece…thence among the Romans.”414 Walker’s engagement of

African historiography therefore involves pronounced vindicationist along with

413 Ibid. 9. 414 Ibid.17. 227

contributionist sentiments. But the underlying feature here is that Walker, like

Hamilton, Marrant and other free Africans above, demonstrates an African epistemology where there is unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past, in that his production of African history is aligned to address contemporary conditions. This is overtly revealed when Walker acknowledges “that mighty son of

Africa, HANNIBAL, one of the greatest generals of antiquity” who occupied Rome, then laments the fact that Carthage was ultimately lost to Rome because “they were dis- united, as the coloured people are now, in the United States of America.”415 Thus,

Walker’s Appeal certainly constitutes a vindicationist and contributionist narrative of

Africa’s ancient history. Beyond this, he employs a griotic praxis that prompts African- centeredism and black consciousness toward “the reason our natural enemies are enabled to keep their feet on our throats.”416

Still, Walker’s Appeal is produced precisely to address the condition of the

“sons of Africa,” whose minds are “wretched in consequence of ignorance.” In view of this, Walker more so than his contemporaries, speaks directly to the psychology of white racism, as he offers a critique of ‘education’ that some coloured people were attaining. As Walker refers to the type of education that promotes a psychological or intellectual subservience in ‘coloured’ people as “pretentions to knowledge,” he is propagating the view that the purpose of education, and historical education in

415 Ibid. 416 Ibid. 228

particular, is to liberate the minds of the oppressed.417 This factor is underscored as

Walker critiques the white Christian psyche for its conception of the word, “niger”

(nigger), which he contends was derived from a Latin reference to describe, “in- animate, beings which were black… (or) animals …they considered inferior to human beings.” 418 In light of this, Walker contends this racial epithet is a tool to promote the notion that blacks are devoid of history. Walker’s usage of history within his Appeal is therefore geared toward the establishment of an African ethos with respect to the identity politics of ‘coloured people.’ This African ethos or Africanity concerns the liberation of the mind, body and spirit from the discourses and agendas of white supremacy. As the Appeal asserts that “coloured” people’s wretchedness “commenced in America” by those “pretenders of preaching the religion of Jesus Christ,” 419

Walker’s Africanity thus serves as a historiographical praxis that deconstructs “white

Christian” intellectual hegemony and re-establishes African agency in humanity.

Lastly, Walker’s Appeal constitutes a culmination this study’s griotic methodology as he seeks to transmit his liberatory sense of religiosity, historicity and

African identity politics to his audience. The elements of Ethiopianism along with its black jeremiad sentiments further strengthen the poignancy and urgency of the Appeal for this agenda of Pan-African collectivism and liberation. This is shown specifically as

Walker references ‘coloured people” who were subjected to white tyranny in Jamaica,

417 Ibid. 23-24, elaborates on these pretentions 418 Ibid. 39. 419 Ibid. 26-32. 229

South America, and “Hayti,” (Haiti) until the latter were able to free themselves from their wretchedness. Walker’s Ethiopianist call for Pan-African liberation is therefore synonymous to the religious salvation of his race as he contends “Heaven, shall never be fully consummated, but with the entire emancipation of your enslaved brethren all over the world.”420 Walker’s praxis of African historiography is thus congruent with the holistic transmission of oral historicity via the West African griot whose historical transmission, religiosity, and identity politics were merged.

In sum, the griotic methodology of Walker re-presents a historical narrative that is shaped by his present condition, which he contends is part of an African collective.

From this African ethos, Walker assimilates biblical and secular discourses of prominent historians, politicians, newspaper accounts, and other intellectual discourses to construct a historical narrative that condemns slavery, ignorance, “white

Christianity,” and the colonization movement as the definitive sources for his race’s unprecedented ‘wretchedness.’ My assessment of Walker’s Appeal consequently moves beyond scholarly views that chart such historiographical works as being shaped by mere protest agendas or counter narratives to white European American hegemony.421 Rather, Walker’s Appeal is grounded in the griotic methodology that ascends from a West African epistemology involving a unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past; an interdisciplinarity in which Ethiopianist / black

420 Ibid. 32. 421 See, for example, Moses (1978). 230

jeremiad sentiments permeate the engagement of intellectual, historical and political discourses; a critical African historiography in which many prevailing discourses are appropriated, re-presented and/or transcended; an organic intellectualism in which

Walker is embedded within his historiographical narrative and establishes an intimate context between himself and an imagined collective audience; as well as the overlapping dynamics of black consciousness (racial displacement), African- centeredism and Pan-Africanism which are all alluded to above. It is within this griotic methodology of Walker’s Appeal that the fundamental objective of African historiography as a liberatory praxis is revealed, as Walker’s emphatically stresses the necessity for “coloured” people to unite on the basis of their Africanity and liberate themselves. Accordingly, Walker commands coloured people to “search the pages of historians diligently” in order to clearly grasp the “wretchedness” of their condition that demands active resistance. Walker is therefore engaged in a griotic praxis of historiography in which the ultimate objective is African liberation, synonymously associated with African salvation and white American ‘damnation,’ unless it atones.422

The historiographical dynamism of a griotte’, Mrs. Maria W. Stewart.

Walker’s references to “sons of Africa” and his repeated querying of his audience’s manhood (i.e. “aren’t we men?”), suggests that the early 19th century textual productions of African historiography challenged white Christian America’s hegemony

422 Walker’s Appeal was thus conceived as a prophetical warning to America; Ibid. 32. 231

by appropriating the patriarchal conventions of ‘manhood’ that were prevalent throughout society. Within this context, the ideal of ‘true womanhood’ was tied to

Victorian virtues that stressed piety, chastity, submissiveness, and domesticity.423 Yet, some of the first to challenge these conventions were free African women of the antebellum North as they organized themselves via abolitionist, intellectual and literary societies.424 Specific black female organizations that emerged throughout the North included the Salem Massachusetts Female Anti-Slavery Society which focused specifically on abolitionism, the Female Literary Association of Philadelphia which encouraged “moral upliftment” of the race as well as the Afric-American Female

Intelligence Society of Philadelphia which emphasized abolition along with the

“welfare of our friends,”425 which represented a similar agenda as the earlier African benevolent/mutual aid societies of the North. Many of these organizations were spearheaded by the ‘daughters of Africa,’ since black women were not allowed to take on leadership roles within male based organizations, nor were they permitted to join white organizations on account of their race.426 But as black women consolidated themselves through these organizations, they claimed a distinct public space and/or intellectual agency for themselves within white patriarchal hegemonic society.

423 For elaboration, see Guy-Sheftall (1995: 1). 424 McHenry (2002), states these organization emerged at the beginning of the 19th century principally as a result of urbanization in the North. 425 See “Constitution of the Afric-American Female Intelligence society," (2003). 426 See Lamontagne (2007). 232

Free African women’s intellectual and organizational contributions were therefore established to simultaneously engage European American racial and patriarchal hegemony. The fact that racial liberation and women’s rights were converged within the praxes of free African women is essential, considering the abolitionist and feminist movements were often compartmentalized and even dichotomously opposed to each other throughout history. A prime example of this distinctive methodology is exemplified within the work of David Walker’s mentee,

Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879).427 Though Stewart’s aim was to utilize public addresses/textual performances and history as a tool to empower the “descendants of

Africa” in the same tradition as Walker, her distinct vantage point as a free African woman gave shape to a gendered dynamic within her historiographical praxes that ascends from the West African female counterpart of the griot, being the griotte.428

These ‘mistresses of words’ embody the same epistemology as their male counterparts.

Still, the ‘female-ness’ within their narratives is acknowledged and propagated as a functional and complementary part of the cosmological whole.429

In this manner, Maria Stewart, a free African woman from Hartford,

Connecticut became “the first African American woman to speak publicly about

427 For biography on Stewart , see Richardson (1987) and Guy-Sheftall (1995: 25). 428 Hale (1998). 429 For elaboration on this notion of African cosmology, see Mbiti (1969); Hale (1998) and Wiredu (1996). 233

women’s rights” and to specifically address “the daughters of Africa.”430 The point that must be underscored however is that Stewart’s involvement with women’s rights was grounded in her quest for racial liberation. The fact that Stewart, along with contemporaries, Sojourner Truth and Frances E.W. Harper, were black women whom spoke publicly against white supremacy, was in itself a potent form of active resistance against white patriarchal hegemony. These dynamics speak to the complexities of white paternalistic hegemony and thus establish additional nuances within the methodologies out of which textual productions of African historiography were constructed during the antebellum era. By acknowledging such dynamics as gender in addition to race, we may realize a more complete assessment of the griotic methodology of African historiography along with the distinct impact it has on African identity politics of both male and female.

In view of this, Mrs. Maria Stewart constructed her historiographical works in much the same manner as David Walker, as she merged religiosity, political commentary, biblical and classical history into textual performance. Yet, it was the unique historical consciousness emanating from her experiences as a free African woman in the antebellum North that distinguished her voice for African liberation in general and African women in particular. In short, Stewart contended that African women should “develop their intellects, become teachers, combine family and work

430 Guy-Sheftall (1995: 25) 234

outside the home, oppose subservience to men, and participate fully in all aspects of community building.”431 Stewart would consequently present her textual productions to the lecture circuit, over a two year period. It was during this time, that she became the first woman to address a racially mixed audience in the U.S. as she orally delivered her discourse to the New England Anti-Slavery in 1832. After her brief tenure on the lecture circuit, Maria Stewart went on to serve her community as a school teacher, while her public addresses were reprinted as “Ms. Stewart’s Productions” by William Lloyd

Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper, Liberator. Mrs. Maria Stewart thus constitutes “the beginning of an unbroken chain of black women activists whose (dual) commitment to liberation and women defines their life’s work.”432

Stewart’s first textual production, “Religion and Pure Principals of Morality, the

Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build” was published in 1831 as a pamphlet to be orally presented. In the manner of Oson and Walker, this work was constructed as an

‘organic’ textual production in which Stewart embraces the audience as her racial family and repeatedly urges to reflect on their present condition. This griotic praxis establishes a ‘context of dialogue’ through which Stewart merges her religiosity,

African historicity and gender dynamics into a liberatory discourse that encourages the audience to establish agency within the work. Considering the title of the oration concludes with the notion that “we must build,” (emphasizing we) Stewart is

431 Ibid. 432 Ibid. 235

positioning herself as a representative voice for African women collectively, as she emphasizes the need for the black race’s self-improvement via moralism and religiosity.

Though Stewart’s moralist sentiment is reminiscent of the works of Phyllis Wheatley and Jupiter Hamilton, Stewart possesses a radicalized moralism that is projected as a means of liberation/salvation for free African women, and a simultaneous condemnation of white American society in the mode of her mentor, David Walker.

The griotic methodology of African historiography is initiated within Stewart’s discourse, as she reflects on the contemporary discourse concerning world history in which she asserts “all nations of the earth are crying out for liberty and equality.”433

Here Stewart is establishing a universal context by which she appeals to the rationality and emotions of her audience to realize they are entitled to the same ideals as all humanity. Stewart then transcends the Victorian ethics which promote female passivity and subordination by critically raising her voice toward the lack of intellectual agency that free African men are establishing in the world as she clamors, “..shall Afric’s sons be silent any longer?....improve your talents…show forth your talents of mind.”434

Through posing this direct question in the public domain and demanding agency in freedom from her African “brethren,” she is demonstrating a revolutionary gender and racial based praxis. In order to provide necessary encouragement for African men to step up to this challenge, Stewart thus employs a griotic historiographical approach to

433 Stewart (1831: 461). 434 Ibid. 236

refute the prevailing views that blacks are inferior or cursed, which she subsequently frames by referencing the U.S. constitution which decrees, ‘all men free and equal.’

Stewart’s historiographical approach thus reveals a distinct African epistemology as she references the “most noble, fearless and undaunted spirit of David

Walker” who “lives” in the “cause of oppressed Africa.” 435 Stewart accordingly establishes a specific praxis that she contends will vindicate Africans with respect to the discourses of the U.S. and enable them to transcend white European hegemony, as she asserts, “Never will Virtue, Knowledge, And True Politeness Begin to Flow, Till The

Pure Principles Of Religion, And Morality, Are Put Into Force.”436 With respect to this

“cause of oppressed Africa,” Stewart addresses free black women as “daughters of

Africa” to unite them in the collective struggle with their brethren, the “sons of Africa.”

In light of this, Stewart’s textual production reveals an African epistemological view in which male and female are conceived as reciprocal, complementary and interconnected to the racial whole. Moreover, Stewart’s use of ‘Africa’ as a metaphor for the race’s collective experience demonstrates a pronounced African-centeredism and Pan-

Africanist component. She further adds a gendered vantage point to this experience as she speaks to the distinctions of America’s victimization upon the “sons” and

“daughters” of Africa. With respect to this gendered dynamic, Stewart asserts America,

“has enriched thyself through her (son’s) toils and labors” and “hast caused the

435 Ibid. 436 Ibid. 237

daughters of Africa to commit whordoms and fornications.”437 By publicly voicing these dynamics, Stewart, the griotte’, is thus exhibiting and propagating African women’s agency in African historiography.

Stewart consequently constructs a gender specific narrative geared toward the collective liberation of African people. Accordingly, Stewart’s griotic prism, emphasizes the central role that African women have in this moralist agenda. To stress the free African woman’s responsibility within Africa’s history, Stewart states, “O ye daughters of Africa … awake, awake, arise, …distinguish yourself…for generations unborn.”438 Stewart then narrates the central role that African women have in this platform, which she contends involves an embrace of Victorian religiosity and morality.

She stresses these elements to be necessary for African women to become a blessing to their husbands, and the medium by which such moral traits are passed on to sons and daughters. Yet, Stewart’s view of Victorian ideals with respect to African women is not tied to passivity, subservience or subordination. Rather, Stewart’s view is for African women to utilize their religiosity, morality and virtues as an active agency that is geared toward the elevation of the African family and by extension, the African community through civil and religious organizations. This is revealed as she states, “blessed is the man who shall call her his wife… happy is the child who shall call her mother.”439 In this manner, Stewart is re-presenting Victorian virtues of womanhood as a form of

437 Ibid.(1831: 469) 438 Ibid. 462. 439 Ibid. 463. 238

liberatory strategy in that the cultivation of morality, virtue and domesticity are promoted as an active form of resistance against white patriarchal hegemony. In short,

Stewart’s griotic approach draws from the West African cosmology/epistemology to project African women as an essential component to the vindication and material advancement of the collective ‘African’ race at large. (i.e “cause of oppressed Africa”)

Furthermore, Stewart’s griotic methodology is in the mode of her predecessors as her engagement of African historiography possesses Ethiopianist and black jeremiad dynamics. This is especially shown when she alludes to the Africans’ “bold and enterprising, fearless and undaunted spirits” in the context of the ancient Hebrews, who are being unmercifully oppressed by America which she prophecizes will be subject to the “ten plagues of Egypt.”440 This Ethiopianist / black jeremiad based religiosity is even more pronounced in Stewart’s, “An Address Delivered at the African Masonic

Hall” which was delivered two years later in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1833. Here, she again establishes a participatory context by prompting her audience to reflect on their present oppressed condition through critical query in the manner of Oson and Walker.

A sense of personal accountability is further stressed as Stewart inquires, “Have the sons of Africa, no souls?... (when) it comes to the rights of liberty.”441 Stewart thus merges religion and history as an authority, or gauge by which to address these queries, as she raises questions that stress the importance of “history” and “critics in useful

440 Ibid. 468-469. 441 Stewart (1833) 239

knowledge.”442 Stewart then engages in contributionist historiography to challenge contemporary blacks to claim their racial freedom as she references how blacks fought for liberty in the Revolutionary War, and stresses the need for the “man who

…distinguishes himself in these modern days by acting wholly in the defense of African rights and liberty?”443 Stewart is therefore re-presenting African manhood as a historical agency toward the realization of freedom. Again, the fact that she is a free

African woman doing so via a public address/textual performance, further distinguishes the radical dynamism of the griotte’ in that she is actively challenging prevailing racial and gender conventions.

Like her mentor, David Walker who stressed the importance of “troubling the pages of historians” for liberatory purposes, Stewart’s griotic methodology engages biblical, universal and classical histories to establish a vindicationist and contributionist discourse. As noted above, the cyclical manner in which her historical narrative is utilized as commentary for social justice and as a case for a prophetic retribution, further reveal the Ethiopianist and black jeremiad sentiments within Stewart’s work.444

Yet, the importance of history specifically as a tool for liberation is shown in Stewart’s assertion that “History informs us that we sprung from one of the most learned nations of the whole earth – from the seat – if not the parent of science; yes poor despised

Africa was once the resort of sages, and legislators, was esteemed as the seat of

442 Ibid. 443 Ibid. 444 For an analyses on the black jeremiad sentiments of Stewart see, Harrell (2008) . 240

learning, and the most illustrious men of Greece and Rome flocked thither for instruction.”445 Thus, Stewart is using history specifically as a weapon in service to

African empowerment within this narrative. Although, a biblical prism is also employed in order to rationalize the ‘fall’ of Africa in which she contends that Africa, like the

Israelites, sinned against God and was presently being punished. Stewart therefore propagates a moralist agenda in alignment with Victorian virtues by which Africans, whom she conceives as God’s chosen people would be redeemed to their former glory in the prophetic manner of ‘Ethiopia stretching forth her hands unto God.’446

It must also be stressed that these elements of Ethiopianism, black jeremiad and moralism within Stewart’s approach to historiography were designed to prompt action, or ‘work’ on the part of ‘the race’ in order for African redemption to be realized.

Stewart specifies that such work could only be employed by avoiding such ‘vices’ as gambling, dancing and engaging in “frivolous” expenses. As these distractions were rejected, Stewart subsequently contends that collective efforts such as the building of

African schools and seminaries could be realized to propagate virtues that would ‘uplift’ the race. Through these endeavors, Stewart asserted that Africans would certainly be saved, while America, which she conceived as the once great civilization of “Babylon,” would be destroyed.447 In short, Stewart’s griotic methodology to African

445 Stewart (1833) 446 Psalms 68:31; This Ethiopianist sentiment is exhibited throughout the works of Stewart (1833) and (1831). 447 Stewart (1833) 241

historiography, like Walker’s Appeal, used a West African epistemological framework involving a dialogue between the present and the past to converge the views of religious salvation and the political liberation of African people

Though Maria Stewart claimed intellectual agency in the public realm for

African women, she was not well received and was subject to much hostility because she was in direct conflict with the racist and sexist ethics of the day. Consequently,

Stewart presented her Farewell Speech to the black Boston community in 1833.448 It is here that her griotic methodology appropriated biblical and universal history to construct a historiographical narrative that was specifically centered on African women.

Using a biblical exegesis, she acknowledges the omniscience and eternity of God and

His divine design of the woman as she highlights their biblical roles. Stewart then draws from classical history in which she cites her “Sketches of a Fairer Sex” to assert that women of antiquity were interpreters and preachers of the oracle to Greeks and

Hebrews, psychics among Egyptians, Sybils among Roman, as well “as apostles, martyrs and warriors,” throughout world historical civilizations.449 As Stewart is engaging in this (de)construction of biblical and classical history, she is consequently establishing a vindicationist historiographical narrative by which social justice for

Africans in America in general and African women in particular could be realized. The distinctiveness of this approach is that though Stewart constructed her public addresses /

448 Richardson (1997) 449 Stewart (1833) 242

textual performances from an embedded standpoint of being an African woman displaced within the U.S., she offers a narrative and prescription that emphasized the role of “daughters of Africa” being help-mates, or counterparts to the “sons of Africa.”

Therefore, her productions did not compartmentalize or dichotomize the struggle of black women and those of black men. Rather Stewart acknowledges how the gender dynamics of these struggles were interconnected and complementary. Stewart’s discourses are thus congruent with the griotte’ who views and operates within an

African cosmology where all realms of knowledge are fully integrated and not hierarchically or linear based.

In sum, the griotic methodology of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart, involves an African centered, Pan-Africanist praxis geared toward liberation. Yet, this liberatory praxis, unlike any of the works of her male predecessors exhibits a gendered dynamism in which maleness and femaleness are constructed as complementary and reciprocal entities, via a distinctive West African epistemology. It is from this oral/performance based framework in which there is a unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and the past, that Stewart appropriated and re-presented the prevailing European

American/Victorian conventions to empower her race and gender. Stewart thus constitutes the link between the West African griotte’ and what would theoretically ascend into Black Feminist Thought and Endarkened Feminist Epistemology.450

450 Scholarship that are empblematic of these paradigms include Collins (1990) and Dilliard (2000). 243

Griotic foundations within Free African textual performances.

The principal distinction of the griotic methodology of historiography as employed by free Africans in the antebellum North is that it ascends from a West

African epistemology. Though this is revealed in contemporary scholarship devoted to the African diaspora, or Black Atlantic, its foundations exist within the textual works that were performed as lectures, sermons, appeals, and orations. Considering such works were framed as “public addresses,” we are consequently provided a critical vantage point into how the transmission of “ideas attain history in process.”451

Accordingly, this assessment of the textual performances of free Africans reveals how

African identity politics were propagated to an antebellum African audience via historiographical discourse that was grounded in a distinctive African epistemology.

This griotic methodology fundamentally involves an oral/performance based framework by which African people engaged in a dialogue between the past and the present. As shown throughout the free African textual performances above, free Africans employed this griotic methodology to appropriate, re-present and/or transcend prevailing

European American discourses – with the aim of historicizing, vindicating and liberating themselves.

Again, it is important to underscore the fact that the foundational textual performances that were presented as public addresses were directly ascendant of West

451 For elaboration, see Wrage (1947). 244

African oral histories/traditions. An essential feature within these historiographical processes is what this study identifies as organic intellectualism. This involves the fact that these intellectuals constructed a historical narrative that was integrated with commentary emanating from their lived experience. Moreover, the constant questioning, or queries which came to be a distinguishing feature within the textual productions of Oson, Walker and Stewart established a participatory element between the intellectual and his/her imagined and/or real audience.

In addition to this organic dynamic, the free Africans’ griotic methodology involves an interdisciplinary engagement of religious, political, social, psychological, and philosophical discourses that were merged to historicize and empower the audience with a sense of African heritage. Though many contemporary scholars focus on free

Africans’ appropriation of Anglo-Protestantism, Victorian ideals, European

Enlightenment constructs, Romanticism, and racial essentialism, 452 it is the griotic methodology that assimilated and reframed these discourses in alignment with a distinctive African epistemology. European historical qualities involving cyclical views of history are also exhibited within free Africans’ engagement of African historiography. However, it is their distinctive epistemological context that re- configures these views in such a manner that the traditions of Ethiopianism and black jeremiads are realized. This griotic methodology further speaks to what I refer to as

452 See, for example Moses (1998); Hall (2009) and Ernest (2004). 245

black consciousness, or a realization of displacement within white Christian America, along with African-centeredism and Pan-Africanism in which the African continent is metaphorically envisioned as the collective source and destiny for the race.

Though John Marrant, Peter Williams Jr., William Hamilton, Jacob Oson and

David Walker represent these fundamental elements of griotic methodology, Maria W.

Stewart contributed additional nuances to the approach by providing a gendered dynamic that permeates her “Productions.” The textual performances of Maria Stewart thus reveal how the griotte (female griot) ascended into a distinct approach by which the

“daughters of Africa” reciprocated and complemented the “sons” of Africa in their quests for African liberation and women’s rights. In sum, within free Africans’ griotic methodology, we find an approach that was beyond a mere response or counter- narrative to European hegemony. Rather, griotic methodology involved a dynamic, fluid, resilient and processual framework that assimilated and re-presented prevailing discourses in a manner that made them viable means of liberation for and by displaced

Africans. The critical subjectivities of the griotic methodology within these pioneers of

African historiography would consequently empower the identity politics of displaced

Africans within the U.S. and by extension, the entire African world as they laid the 19th century foundations of Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism as well as the Civil Rights,

Black Power and African Independence Movements of the 20th century.

246

Chapter 5: Applying griotic methodology as pedagogy.

The griotic methodology to historiography was employed by free Africans in the antebellum North to vindicate the history of African people and the Western construction of African identity. Beyond these intellectual endeavors, this approach was used to fuel free Africans’ liberatory quests including abolition, aid to fugitive slaves, literacy campaigns, Anglo-Protestant moralism, anti-colonizationist campaigns and/or emigrationism, suffrage and citizenship rights. The fact that such a distinctive epistemological approach to historiography was utilized as a liberatory praxis for displaced Africans therefore poses critical pedagogical implications for the educator who is interested in prompting student educational agency among African Americans in particular, and perhaps other students who are experiencing academic underachievement. This notion of student educational agency refers to a process in which students’ actively claim ownership of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their respective identity politics. 453 My definition of student identity politics here involves students’ perception of themselves with respect to the politics, or status as a student within the classroom and/or beyond.454 It is thus a logical outgrowth of my historical assessment on griotic methodology to apply a griotic methodology as

453 My definition of student educational agency builds upon Asante (1989); and Asante (1990) as he refers to a sense of ‘agency’ as a people's ability, empowerment, and entitlement to control and mandate the arenas of life around them. See also Murrell (2002); Richardson (2002); Madhubuti and Madhubuti (1991); and Lee (1994) who contend such a pedagogy for African Americans must begin within the culture of African Africans. 454 Much of this discourse regarding identity politics, culture, worldview and pedagogy emanates from my reading of Murrell (2002); Richardson (2002); Madhubuti and Madhubuti (1991); and Lee (1994). 247

pedagogy within my classroom practice. This chapter accordingly involves an overview of how I applied griotic methodology as pedagogy within my post-secondary classroom to prompt student educational agency.

Concerning this participant-observation component of my study, I am attempt to engage in a praxis oriented and reflective process that involves my inquiry, discussion and/or analysis from the standpoint of my service as a post-secondary instructor of the humanities. Because I am serving in the capacity of an instructor, I am deliberately investigating how my application of griotic methodology as pedagogy may address the academic underachievement/displacement that students in general and African

Americans in particular often experience within the classroom. Thus, I am conducting this component of my research specifically from the prism of an educational practitioner of griotic methodology rather than a theoretician with the aim of “increasing knowledge about or improving curriculum, teaching and learning.”455

Consequently, this chapter proceeds with a brief summary of the historical griotic methodology and some of the contemporary educational dynamics that this griotic methodology as pedagogy may address. I then provide a roadmap of how I applied the griotic methodology as pedagogy in a post-secondary classroom. I contextualize this this component of my study by providing an overview of the educational setting, discussing some of the curricular dynamics of the course in which I

455 This component of my study therefore intersects with action research; Kemmis and Tagart (1988) cited by Brown (2000: 32). For further elaboration on action research see Noffke and Stevenson (1995); McTaggart (1997); Johnson (1995); Calhoun (1994); and Best and Kahn (1998). 248

implement the pedagogy, and highlighting important characteristics of the students as research subjects. I subsequently present this pedagogical component of the study with respect to three consecutive stages (described below under methodology) in which I provide an overview of the pedagogy I implemented within the classroom and a data / analysis section. This chapter is then concluded by offering a summary of principles and practices that are revealed from my griotic methodology as pedagogy within the post-secondary classroom.

Griotic methodology and contemporary educational dynamics.

The griotic methodology that was employed by free Africans in the North from the late 18th century to the early 19th century demonstrates a distinctive epistemological approach that ascends from West African oral traditions/history. This approach culminated in such textual public performances as sermons, lectures, appeals, petitions, and addresses through which these free African intellectuals engaged African historiography to empower their identity politics in a European American hegemonic environment that marginalized African people intellectually and materially.

Accordingly, these scholar-activists employed this griotic methodology to appropriate, counter and/or transcend prevailing discourses that emanated from Euro-centric /

Anglo-centric conceptualizations of the Enlightenment, Christianity (Anglo-

Protestantism) and/or Victorian era ideals. As these free African intellectuals re- presented these discourses via their distinctive African epistemology, they vindicated

249

themselves intellectually and fueled political agendas designed to ‘uplift the race.’456

This griotic methodology of African historiography can therefore be viewed as a liberatory educational praxis by which these displaced people empowered themselves individually and collectively in a European American dominated society.

Despite the racial, ethnic, cultural and religious diversity that exists throughout

America’s classrooms, recent scholarship reveal how educational research, teacher training, and the development of curriculum and pedagogy remain tied to ‘official,’ or white cultural models.457 Such models reproduce power relations between ‘dominant mainstream society’ (i.e. white, or majority) and others (i.e. non-white, or minority) in such a way that the dominant group’s cultural and intellectual ‘capital’ is reproduced.

Moreover, alternative and/or non-European intelligences, cultural epistemologies and historical perspectives are suppressed by the field of education in general and America’s classrooms in particular. 458 U.S. schools are consequently structured to ‘domesticate’ the masses via Euro-centric devices of control which perpetuate domination and an unjust exercise of power. 459 In other words, as U.S. schools perpetuate the dominant

456 This notion of ‘race uplift’ would unfortunately have internal classist dynamics, though this is beyond the scope of this study, see Gaines (1996). 457 This notion of “official” knowledge is borrowed from Apple (2000). Other discourses which contribute to my contention of how education in the U.S. involves the promotion of dominant cultural / racial capital include Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995); Enslin and Tjiattas (2009); and Ogbu (2008). 458For elaboration of this process of domestication, see Freire (1970). For elaboration on the notion of schools being structured as a system of ‘rituals of control’ see hooks (1994). 459With respect to how U.S. schools suppress non-European cultural intelligences, epistemologies and historical perspectives, see Rodriguez (2008); Enslin and Tjiattas (2009); Asante (1989); and Hilliard (2000). For elaboration on the notion of schools being structured as a system of ‘rituals of control’ see hooks (1994). 250

(white, or majority) group’s political, cultural and intellectual hegemony, the non-white, or minority group is directed toward servicing the dominant group’s agenda, rather than its own. The ‘unjust exercise of power’ that results therefore involves the majority

(white) group’s continued domination over all realms of society and the political, cultural and intellectual marginalization of non-white, or minority groups.460 African

American students who are subjected to these Euro-centric schooling processes consequently experience the highest level of academic underachievement at all levels of their educational experiences. This can be shown by the fact that African Americans in general and African American males in particular possess the lowest scores of academic performance; the highest rates of suspensions, expulsions, non-promotions, dropouts, and special education placements; and the lowest rates of secondary school graduation and gifted and talented assignments in the majority of the more than 16,000 school districts across the country.461

With these contemporary dynamics in mind, I am encouraged to employ my own griotic methodology to history in which there is unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past (to impact the future). I accordingly realize the striking parallels between the racially and intellectually displaced free Africans of the antebellum North and the disparaging state of African Americans within U.S.

460 Ogbu (2008) specifically speaks to the schooling dynamics among and between majority and minority groups. 461 For elaboration on these dynamics, see Erik (2006); Garibaldi (2007); and Toldson et al (2009). Also see Shockley (2007) and Reynolds (2010) respectively contend that African Americans experience “cultural mismatch” or “disconnect” which manifests academic underachievement. 251

classrooms. What I find to be most intriguing regarding this past-present merger is the fact that antebellum free Africans critically responded to the prevailing Euro-centric discourses that are the foundations of the schooling process that presently displaces and marginalizes the educational aspirations of contemporary African Americans. This distinctive griotic methodology to African historiography therefore establishes critical epistemological and pedagogical implications for the post-secondary classroom. This study shall proceed by acknowledging, implementing and analyzing this griotic methodology which emanates from the early African American experience as an

‘agency based’ pedagogy that is geared to address the intellectual and racial displacement of post-secondary African American students. 462 As this study’s pedagogy addresses this particular group which is the most educationally marginalized group within contemporary U.S. schools, I contend additional educational insights for all students throughout U.S. schools may also be realized. To this effect, I am arguing that by applying this distinctive griotic methodology as an agency based pedagogy, students will be prompted to engage in “intratexturealities,” in which they establish meaning in curriculum from the standpoint of their lives beyond the classroom.463 As students establish such real world significance in this Africa content material, their cultural and racial representations of self and the ‘other’ will be challenged and/or

462 Ibid. 463 I am borrowing this concept from the work on freedom schools completed by Agosto (2008). 252

expanded.464 This contention is based on the fact that if such an agency based pedagogy can empower the most educationally marginalized and displaced population within the

U.S. in this manner, this pedagogy may serve as a model to construct other pedagogies that acknowledge and empower the cultural epistemologies of other displaced/ marginalized students’ toward the realization of educational agency. This premise is certainly in alignment with free Africans’ griotic methodology whose intentions were to employ a liberatory approach to historiography that emancipated their race as well as to promote the salvation of U.S. society at large.465

I would be remiss if I did not mention that this ‘agency based’ pedagogy does not undo the systemic/structural dynamics that perpetuate racial, cultural and class based marginality and/or inequities throughout America’s educational institutions.

These dynamics include, but are not limited to: education and/or ‘official knowledge’ constructed on the basis of a white, European American cultural ethos; lack of racially, culturally and religiously diverse educators; and the marginalization of non-Western courses which may expose students to alternative cultural epistemologies and intelligences. 466 It should also be noted that this study’s goal of prompting student

‘educational agency’ via griotic methodology is certainly limited by the framework of

464 Murrell (2002). 465 In sum, as we empower the ‘least of these,’ all others within the schools may reap the benefit; Mathew 25:45. Indeed this was the role in which the free Africans viewed themselves as especially shown via the black jeremiads of Oson, Walker, Stewart and others. 466 See Apple (1999); Apple (2000); Ogbu (2008); Best (1998). For further discussion on racial inequities throughout America’s primary and secondary schools and ways by which to address these injustices, see, Kunjufu (2002); Murrell (2002); Erik (2006); Tate (1997); Shujaa (1995); Shockley (2007); Powers (2007); Ogbus (2008); Madhubuti and Madhubuti (1991); and Lynn (2006). 253

the course and its curriculum as well as by the time and space allotted for instructional activities within the classroom. However, by applying and assessing this African

American griotic methodology as pedagogy within the post-secondary classroom, I hope to demonstrate how identity politics are important variables with respect to how students learn. Moreover, this study may prompt further research leading to educational reform especially within the arenas of teacher training, curriculum and pedagogy development.

Applying ‘griotic’ methodology as pedagogy.

In the same manner that free African intellectuals of the antebellum North drew from their distinctive epistemology to appropriate and re-present prevailing discourses to historicize their identities and promote liberatory political agendas, I seek to construct and implement a pedagogy that will prompt student educational agency within the post-secondary classroom. As defined above, this notion of student educational agency involves the process by which students’ claim ownership of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their identity politics - being their perceptions of themselves as students within the classroom and beyond (identity politics).

Although the formulation of my griotic methodology as pedagogy has been developing along with my intellectual autobiography for over a decade, the formal application of this pedagogy took place within an “Introduction to African Literature” course that I taught at a central Ohio community college during spring quarter 2011

254

over period of 5 weeks, for a total of 20 hours. This component of my study was therefore conducted as a participant observation in which I served as the instructor / researcher who both implemented and assessed the pedagogy within the classroom. All students enrolled in the course were asked to participate and presented a consent form

(see appendix E) that indicated that participation in the study in no way, or manner would impact grade and/or credit earned within course. If students decided not to participate, their work and/or assessments were not included in the study. As this study’s griotic methodology is, in essence a distinctive methodological process by which historical/knowledge is transmitted to empower and/or expand the audience’s students’ view of themselves and the world, I facilitated various educational exercises that I demarcated into three processual stages of this griotic methodology as pedagogy. I extracted data within the classroom by way of observation notes, students’ textual, or written assignments and through their oral discourses which I captured through a digital audio recorder. I then analyzed this data to discern how the griotic methodology as pedagogy prompted student educational agency within the post-secondary classroom.

Stage one of this griotic methodology for pedagogy involved me establishing a griotic merger of the literary past and the experiential present within the classroom to acknowledge and assess students’ identity politics as ‘processes’ in the making. As noted above, ‘identity politics’ refers to students’ perception of themselves with respect to the politics, or status as a student within the classroom and/or beyond. With these

255

objectives in mind, I initiated this stage during the first week of the study by presenting highlights to students from my intellectual autobiography. This ‘inventory’ of the intellectual dynamics of how I process and present knowledge served as prerequisite for students’ oral testimonies/histories in which I prompted them to share what they perceive as the most important element of their respective identities as a student within the class and to develop individualized course goals (i.e. students were asked to determine what they hoped to intellectually gain from the course). Though I posed the concept of identity in an ‘open ended’ manner, I was concerned with how students’ perceived themselves and how their perceptions of themselves shaped the way they view the course and by extension, the world. Subsequently, I implemented an additional activity within this stage in order for students to substantiate, elaborate on and / or even deconstruct their respective identities. These activities included an oral/textual engagement of a piece entitled ‘Know Thyself’ 467 which deals with intellectual subjectivity. I collected data on this activity via my observation notes, digital audio recording of students’ oral responses, and students’ textual / written responses on activities. I analyzed this data specifically with respect to how students’ projected and / or defined themselves when posed with questions regarding identity and how their perceived identity impacted their interpretation of course materials that dealt specifically with Africa content material. By taking note of how students’

467 According to Browder (1992), this piece is a modern adaptation of an ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) proverb. 256

substantiated, elaborated on and/or deconstructed their perceived identities through their textual and oral engagements of the Know Thyself piece, I made further assessments with respect to how students’ initially defined themselves within the classroom and the manner in which they engaged the curriculum. I provide an analysis of my data through the use and assessment of transcribed statements of students’ responses regarding self- identity and goals for the course; a diagram which condenses students’ self-identities; transcribed students’ responses with respect to the “Know Thyself” piece; as well as transcribed portions of teacher to student and student to student dialogue.

Stage two of this study represents the cultivation of my griotic methodology as pedagogy, as I merge the literary past and experiential present to prompt students’ academic agency in curriculum. I initiated this stage by facilitating students’ oral presentations of ‘griotic bullets’ on two articles that are essential to the course, namely

Moradewun Adejunmobi’s "Routes: Language and the Identity of African

Literature" (1999) and Kwesi Wiredu’s "An Oral Philosophy of

Personhood: Comments on Philosophy and Personhood.” (2009) These ‘griotic bullets’ are students’ written assessments, theses, points of contention, and/or arguments that they construct from their reading of these respective works. I encouraged students to reflect on how these works specifically related to their identities, and explained that they may construct their bullet responses based on literal and/or metaphorical interpretations of the works. As students’ orally presented their griotic

257

bullets to the class (which I refer to here as textual performances), I interrogated them by requiring students to substantiate why their griotic bullets have meaning to them. I further encouraged students to engage in the interrogation of each other. I extracted data during this stage through observation notes, students’ oral responses which I audio recorded and students’ textual bullet responses which were submitted to me. My data analysis is described principally through my analysis of students’ textual griotic bullets and the transcribed dialogue from the interrogation of students’ textual performances of griotic bullets along with teacher to student and student to student interrogations. As I analyzed this data, I specifically highlight how they relate to the realms of griotic methodology.

The third stage of my griotic methodology for pedagogy expands upon stage two in which the literary past and experiential present are merged, specifically with the aim of prompting students to establish agency in curriculum from the standpoint of their identity politics within the classroom and beyond. I initiated this stage through facilitating ‘griotic essays,’ in which students are to read assigned course texts and construct 3-5 paged analytical essays (typed and double spaced) that demonstrates how the texts’ material intersects with course discourses and/or lived experiences. To facilitate this endeavor, I explained to students that that they should consider three questions when writing their essays: What specifically about this text is important to the world’s knowledge on Africa?; How is this knowledge important to who you are?;

258

and How can this knowledge be of service and / or promote social justice throughout the world? The culmination of this activity involved students presenting these essays to the class, then defending their ideas, in much the same manner as the bullet responses of stage two. Though each student within my class engaged in three of these textual performances via griotic essays over the course of the study, I provide and assess data on one below, Mariama Ba’s So Long A Letter, (1989) which I contend reveals nuances that represent all griotic essays. The data which I extracted from this stage was compiled through my observation notes, the textual essays that were produced by students as well as the audio recordings of students’ oral presentations of these griotic essays which involve my interrogation of students as well as student to student discourse. My data analysis is presented through assessment of transcribed oral presentations, or ‘textual performances’ of students’ analytical essays; and transcribed teacher to student and student to student dialogue– specifically as it involves achievement of educational agency in accordance with realms of griotic methodology as elucidated above.

Educational setting.

For over a decade and a half, I have served as an instructor of the humanities at community college located in a central Ohio metropolitan area. The ‘community’ campus is situated between downtown and a predominantly African American community on the near east side of the city, which happens to be divided from the

259

campus by a major interstate on/off ramp. The stated mission of the college is “to provide quality educational programs…. dynamic curriculum and commitment to diverse learners, (and to) serve as a catalyst for creating and fostering linkages among the community, business and educational institutions.” 468 Accordingly, the student body reflects the urban and surrounding suburban demographics and is therefore comprised of a very racially, culturally and socio-economically diverse population of traditional and non-traditional students.

At present, the campus is undergoing rapid expansion as shown by the ongoing construction projects on various instructional halls and parking garages. Moreover, the student population is at an all-time high with a total enrollment of 30,297 for Autumn

2010 - which is inclusive of the two campuses, its suburban classrooms and distance learning programs. The programs of study offered by the college include over 120

Career Tech associate degrees as well as the college’s Arts and Sciences division which allows student to complete the first two years of a Bachelor’s degree, that they can then finish at another school. Aside from the cost efficiency to the student as the tuition is significantly less than other nearby universities, the other publicized desirable element of the college is its emphasis on instruction; the average class size is 19 students and the student to faculty ration is 17:1.469

468 www2.cscc.edu/edu/about/mission.shtml 469 www2.cscc.edu/about/fastfacts.shtml 260

Course overview – “Introduction to African Literature”

The specific course I teach is entitled, “Introduction to African Literature” and is one of two courses that constitute a 5 credit hour, non-Western Humanities transferrable requirement offered by the college. Though there are a minority of students who enroll in the course to ‘learn about their respective culture and heritage,’ the majority of students enroll within this specific course to fulfill the non-Western humanities component of the college’s general educational requirements. Consequently, ninety percent of the students who enroll in this course are taking a non-Western course for the first time.

The course’s curriculum is comprised as a general survey of global African literature that acknowledges African continental and diasporic voices and / or active contributions to world civilization, philosophy, history, politics, geography, psychological, sociology, and religion. The specific learning outcomes for students are as follows: 1.) to challenge prevailing stereotypes of Africa and its people.; 2.) to foster students’ awareness of and appreciation for the diversity of cultures and ethnicity in

Africa; 3.) to familiarize students with the literary output of representative authors from the African continent and diaspora; 4.) to heighten students’ awareness of the oral basis of the written literature and the artist’s relationship with and responsibility to his/her audience; 5.) to critically evaluate the literature in form and content; 6) to examine and evaluate the contact with and influence of Middle Eastern and European cultures as

261

shown in the literature; 7.) to assess the historical and historiographical impact of the

West on Africa literature; and 8.) to analyze the political, cultural and psychological impact colonialism and westernization on African literature. (see appendix F)

Though the course’s curriculum is geared toward African literature, it is principally a course that acknowledges, explores and expands upon the individual students’ views of self and world (i.e. ethos) via literary discourses on Africa. A more appropriate title for the course would therefore be ‘Introduction to your humanity through African literature.’ As shown in the course’s syllabus, (appendix F) the course is thematically arranged in a manner that encourages a critical (de)construction of prevailing Euro-centric/Western perspectives, portrayals or stereotypes of Africa/ns; introduces students to the indigenous perspectives, history and realities of African people; examines the impact of Atlantic slavery and colonialism on Africa/ns; and explores the contemporary trajectories of African development and/or liberation. The underlying element within the curriculum involving the deconstruction of Euro-centric perspectives/Western stereotype emanates from the premise of the course that ‘Africa’ is a Western “invention” or “idea” that has promoted Western intellectual hegemony rather than a prism by which to access the historical and/or indigenous realities of

Africa.470 As I make it plain to students throughout the course that this ‘Africa’ is conceptualized with respect to the notion of “dyadic opposition” through which the

470 See Mudimbe (1994) and Mudimbe (1998). 262

West imagines itself in its constructions of the African other, 471 students’ engagement of ‘Africa’ is intricately tied to the assessment of their own intellectual prisms by which they conceive themselves and the world (ethos).

As shown above in chapter one, my intellectual autobiography and philosophy of education (appendix A) involve an ongoing quest to engage in intellectual expansion via African-centered discourses. This has culminated in this study of a distinctive griotic methodology by which African Americans engage historiography to claim intellectual agency in, or ownership over their views of self and the world. The fact that

I have constructed and taught this course to students for over 15 years contextualizes the course’s curriculum as a manifestation of my intellectual autobiography. Moreover, the teaching of this course has influenced my own epistemology and intellectual autobiography with respect to how Africa content may contribute to the educational empowerment of students. This specifically relates to my objective for this study to utilize Africa related discourse to prompt such educational agency within my students.

I contend that this griotic methodology is indeed the same platform that emanates from the foundational approach in which African historiography was employed by free

Africans in the antebellum North to impact and empower their intellectual ethos and political platforms. It should be noted that I have constructed the curriculum in alignment with all the realms of my griotic methodology (African epistemology, black

471 MacGaffey (2005: 195). 263

consciousness, Africa centeredism, Pan-Africanism, organic intellectualism, interdisciplinarity, and critical intellectualism/historiography). This principally involves the realm of African epistemology, or unified interplay between present and the past, which permeates the course’s curriculum, and the exploration of the remaining realms as manifestations of the African experience. My course’s curriculum is therefore in accordance with the early free African intellectual’s approach of African historiography, as it generally involves an African and African related counter narratives to mainstream discourse that attempt to decenter, deconstruct or

‘provincialize’ European history.472 Yet, as noted above, I contend that by applying this distinctive griotic methodology as an agency based pedagogy, I will prompt students to engage in “intratexturealities,” critical thinking, and to challenge and expand their cultural and racial representations of self and ‘the other.’473

Students/Research Subjects.

There were a total 15 students who were enrolled within the course and engaged in this participant observational component of my study. On the basis of my initial observation of students’ race, gender and age, these students included two continental

African males: one, in his 30s and the other in his mid 20s. There are two African

American males in their twenties, two African American females in their 20s and 30s respectively, one continental African female in her mid- twenties, two white females in

472 See Schmidt (2007); Smith (1999); and Bruzuela-Garcia (2006) 473 Agosto (2008);Murrell (2002) 264

their twenties, two white males in their twenties, one multi-cultural female in her early

20s, one Indian male in his 20s, one Latina in her late teens, one Korean American in his 20s and one Arab American in his twenties.474 Because this study specifically focuses on the pedagogical implication of a distinctive approach to African historiography that I employ within my African Literature course, I find it important to note how students negotiated the physical space of the classroom upfront. Figure 2 below illustrates this seating arrangement based on my initial observation.

474 Again, these designations were on the basis of my initial observation with respect to students’ external characteristics – most of which were confirmed as will be revealed in stage one of this study. 265

Front Door

______Toure*______

______

Alan (AAM) Marcus (AAM)

______

Fatima (AF) Maria (HF) Annette (AAF) Taylor (MCF)

______

Debbie (WF) Jerry (AAM)

______

Lee (KM) Brenda (WF)

______

Ali (IM) Theodore (AM) Mike (WM) Robert (WM) Samba (AM)

______REAR______

*With the exception of myself, all names provided are pseudonyms. **Acronyms indicating Racial / Gender designations: AAM = African American Male AAF = African American Female AM = African Male AF = African Female IM = Indian Male KM = Korean Male WM = White Male WF = White Female.

Figure 2. Classroom seating arrangement

266

The seats the students sat in on the first day generally served as the seats students voluntarily sat in throughout the duration of stages one and two of the study. With the exception of stage three, (explained below) I did not encourage students to sit in any particular seat within the classroom. Rather, students voluntarily chose their seats and continued to sit in these respective seats throughout the majority of the study. This may represent an (un)conscious manifestation of students claiming academic space, or their establishment of a physical, psychological and/or intellectual comfort zone within the classroom. This sense of comfort in the classroom’s space is significant to the study because students revealed through initial questionaires that this course is the first post- secondary course that they are taking which is focused specifically on Africa and is taught by an African American male teacher. In light of this, I use pseudonyms for students’ names, along with acronyms that denote the gender and racial designation students’ use to identify themselves within the diagram above to provide a depiction of how students arranged themselves spatially within the classroom. As shown in the diagram, African American males and females along with the multicultural and

Hispanic female students all sat toward the front of the room, while white male students sat in the rear and white female students sat in the center. With respect to the continental African students, the African female students sat toward the front, while the

African male students sat in the rear. Lastly, the lone Korean student sat in the center of the classroom. Though this spatial arrangement among students represents a

267

negotiation of the classroom’s physical space, this physical negotiation did not correspond to students’ level of intellectual participation or their claiming of educational agency, as shall be described below. I am therefore including this information simply to establish the setting for the pedagogical dynamics that occur in the classroom. I shall now proceed by presenting the three consecutive ‘stages’ of my study of griotic methodology as pedagogy in which I will do the following for each stage: 1.) describe how I applied the griotic methodology as pedagogy within the classroom; 2.) provide data/analysis on griotic methodology as pedagogy with respect to how student academic agency was achieved.

Stage I: Initiating a context for student academic agency.475

Considering I served in the dual capacities of instructor/researcher within this action research, stage one of this study officially began following my review of the course’s syllabus with students. I collected all oral data for this stage via observation notes, a digital audio tape recorder and students’ textual responses that they submitted to me. Below, I describe how I initiated the griotic methodology as pedagogy within my

African Literature course as I presented highlights from my intellectual autobiography to students. I explain much of this pedagogical activity through the interpretation of my observation notes and transcribing key statements I made along with students’ oral discourse in response to my presentation. Using transcriptions of the discourse that

475 All quotes within this section are from observational notes and audio recordings of Toure (2011). 268

occurs among and between myself and students within the classroom, I describe how I prompted oral testimonies from students that generated data specifically on how students identified themselves within the classroom (i.e. student identity) and students’ individualized goals within the course. I integrate additional transcriptions within my narrative from observation notes to detail how I encouraged students to substantiate, or expound on these specific variables of their identity and their reasons for taking the course. I utilize students’ textual responses as well as transcriptions of their oral dialogue to summarize what occurred in response to a piece entitled Know Thyself and a free writing exercise on central concepts of the course. From this narrative of the pedagogy that I implemented in the class, I then extract data on how students’ perceptions of themselves within the classroom and their stated reasons for taking the course were impacted by my pedagogical activities. In final assessment of this data, I determine whether students’ actively claimed agency in, or ownership of the curriculum in a manner that was meaningful to their identity politics.

Initiation.

The first griotic praxis that I implemented after reviewing the syllabus was to orally present highlights from my intellectual autobiography (see appendix A) to the class. I did this in a very relaxed and informal manner, charting my matriculation through The Ohio State University as an undergraduate and my initial experiences as a middle school teacher which convinced me to go back to school, “cause those kids were

269

crazy!” During this intellectual and experientially based narration, I noticed many of the students ‘loosen up.’ In fact, many of the students smiled, chuckled, or laughed when I made the comment about those ‘kids being crazy.’ I continued on by sharing my graduate and travel experiences abroad to Kenya, East Africa, which served as a

“historical and cultural pilgrimage” for me as I was “welcomed home as a brother.” I then explained that upon attaining my Master of Arts in African Studies from The

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “I was tired of being a broke graduate student, so much so that I had forgotten how crazy those kids were… I therefore re- entered the public school classroom as a high school social studies teacher here in

Columbus Ohio in 1995, but to balance this out I obtained a job at this community college as instructor of this course, SO I COULD ACTUALLY TEACH.” Again, students across the room chuckled at my comments. I explained to students that I am presently working toward my Ph.D. and I inquired, “Does anyone know what that acronym Ph.D. stands for?” After a brief pause, Annette stated, “Player Haters

Degree,” and the rest of the class laughed again. I smiled and responded, “Indeed, there are those who have a double Ph.D. in that sense.” The class laughed again. I then re- presented the question, “With respect to the Ph.D. being the highest degree one can earn from a University, what does this acronym stand for?” Theodore replied, “I think it means Doctorate of Philosophy.” I then queried the meaning of this title by asking,

“What is philosophy?” Debbie replied, “Ideas, beliefs, perspectives.” Maria added, “It’s

270

just people’s opinions, right?” I responded, “Well, let’s think about this… how about

INFORMED opinions, ideas, beliefs and perspectives… informed in such a way that you are contributing to a specific body of scholarly knowledge that is called a discipline.” I continued, “Indeed, each and every one of you brings an experience-based philosophy, but the point of our interaction here is to inform, modify, and/or expand your intellectual and experiential based philosophy by way of the course’s materials.” I concluded my intellectual autobiography by explaining to students, “I am a student as you are, therefore we are here fundamentally to learn from and with each other. The process of learning is therefore reciprocal, as you learn from me, I learn from you and the more intellectual effort you put into this process, the more you receive.” I explained to students that this is my philosophy of education derived from my intellectual autobiography, and that my principle concern with respect to the objective of the course is to engage in “educational processes” that will enable me to “assess how we may best learn about ourselves through Africa content material.” I concluded my oral history / intellectual autobiography by explaining that all African content material that I share within the classroom is from my unique “voice.” I defined this concept for the class as

“a distinct, or unique perspective, approach, or view of reality that is representative of one’s historical, cultural, political, religious, racial, and/or gender-based experiences.” I then stated to the class that I want them to feel free to share their unique “voice” with respect to the course’s material.

271

After a brief pause, I explained to students that because they are now within a classroom together, and we are becoming a part of each others’ intellectual autobiography, it is important that they share something about themselves. Realizing the course is ‘African Literature’ and one of the very few 5 credit hour non-Western humanities requirements offered by the college, I stated, “I know many of you are taking this course to earn the transferable 5 credit hours in a non-Western Humanities course.” When I mentioned this, a few students chuckled. I then stated that I would like for students to take a minute or two and jot down what they perceive to the most significant component of their identity “that may shape their voice as a student in the course.” As soon as I finished providing instructions, Taylor raised her hand and asked,

“What do you mean, the most significant factor of our identity.” I responded, “Anything you believe to be important about your identity.” Taylor again asked, “You mean, like race or culture?” I replied, “If that is what you perceive to be most important about your identity.” After about a minute, I then instructed student to, “write down an individualized goal for this course…or explain what they hoped to gain or achieve through taking this course.” I must note here that I did not ask students to relate their identities to their goals. After approximately 45 seconds, I asked students to share these factors. Each student then shared their responses orally through either reading what they wrote down or providing a general overview of their responses. Although I

272

captured students’ responses in their entirely on audio tape, I provide a reduction of the students’ responses under the data / analyses section of this stage below.

As students presented their respective identities and goals, I affirmed what they said, by stating “good,” “excellent,” “welcome,” and / or “great to have you.” At the conclusion of all students’ responses, I stated, “we are fortunate to have such a diverse group in the class…. each one of you has a unique history that gives shape to your voice… and I am looking forward to helping each and every one of your explore your own history and develop that voice through the study of Africa!” I then presented a piece entitled Know Thyself, which I present in its entirety below:

KNOW THYSELF (1) A person who knows not and knows not that they know not is foolish, disregard them. (2) A person who knows not and knows that they know not is simple, teach them. (3) A person who knows not and believes that they know is dangerous, avoid them. (4) A person who knows and knows not that they know is asleep, awaken them (5) A person who knows and knows that they know is wise, follow them. (6) ALL OF THESE PERSONS RESIDE IN YOU. (7) Know thyself and …always be true.476

476 The original work uses the concept of Ma’at in the last line, however, I chose to change this to “always be true” due to the fact that students were not familiar with the ancient system of Ma’at. Ma’at is acknowledge by African-centered scholars as the indigenous spiritual system of ancient Kemet, which consists of seven principles being Truth, Justice, Righteousness, Reciprocity, Harmony, Balance and Order; Browder (1992). 273

After I paused for a moment, I told students I would like them to read the piece on their own, and write down an instance from their past experiences in which they could be the person described in at least 2 of these lines. I gave students approximately 3-4 minutes to write down their responses. I then went line by line and asked students to share their responses.

Data/Analysis

While my griotic methodology as pedagogy was initiated through the presentation of highlights from my intellectual autobiography, I noted a number of pedagogical nuances. First, I spoke from an informal, non-textual and experiential basis, in which I employed a sense of humor throughout my oral history. As I proceeded with this ‘oral history,’ students’ were noticeably relaxed as shown through their facial expressions, smiles, and the fact that as a class they chuckled and/or laughed on three separate occasions in response to my narrative. Second, I prompted students to contribute to my oral history/intellectual autobiography by posing questions periodically throughout my narrative as shown when I asked, “What does Ph.D. stand for?” This provided the context and an opportunity for students to establish an intellectual space and/or agency for themselves. Third, even when students answered questions incorrectly, and perhaps even jokingly in a non-serious manner, I acknowledged their contribution to my narrative as illustrated when Annette, answered

274

the above question as “Player haters degree,” and I responded, “Indeed, there are those who have a double degree in that sense.”

Though these nuances may seem subtle to the reader, these initial findings with respect to my oral history/intellectual autobiography specifically promotes a “context of intimacy, intimacy of context.”477 As shown through students’ responses (smiles, chuckles and laughs) to the manner in which I shared my intellectual autobiography, they were establishing a sense of familiarity, relatability and comfortability within the culture of the classroom. The fact that Annette responded to my query of “What does

Ph.D. stand for?” with “Player hater’s degree,” further demonstrates this ‘context of intimacy’ being realized by students within the classroom in that she obviously viewed me, being the instructor, receptive and/or familiar enough to make such a culturally loaded response. Reciprocally, my response to her statement with, “Indeed, there are those who have a double Ph.D. in that sense,” reaffirmed this intimate context by demonstrating my familiarity of the students’ history and/or macro-culture. Likewise, as students laughed and became more relaxed as a result of such dialogue, it became evident that the students were viewing me from a standpoint of ‘intratextureality’ as I was being acknowledged as an active part of their own intellectual, historical, cultural and psycho-social world. Beyond this ‘intratextureality’ and ‘context of intimacy that were being realized, this dynamic of my pedagogy intersects with the African-centered

477 This is a central component of my advisor’s work; Errante (2001). 275

notion and theoretical platform of Endarkened Feminist Epistemology involving the establishment of an organic relationship and/or collectivity between educational researcher/teacher and researched/student collective.478 My ongoing affirmation of students’ responses and/or contributions to my narrative (regardless of them being incorrect and / or jokes) further encouraged this organic relationship and therefore speaks to the dynamic of my pedagogy that is designed to promote a political

‘redistribution’ of the conventional hierarchy that exists between the teacher and learner in favor of positive rapport between teacher and student where there is reciprocal dynamism.479

The second major activity of this stage involved me prompting students to define how they would like to be identified within the class and to establish an individualized goal for the course. Figure 3 below provides the pseudonyms of the students within the class along with reduced version of their responses which I audio recorded.

478 Key Afrocentric studies which highlight such dynamics include Murrell (2002); and Schiele (1994). Dillard (2003) constitutes the principle work that I am drawing from with respect to Endarkened Feminist Epistemology. 479 Ibid. For an discussion of this political redistribution between researcher and researched which I am applying to the classroom, see Miescher (2001). 276

Student Stated Identity Individualized goal for course

Alan African American To learn about my African heritage

Fatima African woman To learn about my African culture

Maria Latina To learn about African culture

Debbie Female college student To appreciate diversity in America

Ali Indian Muslim To learn about African history.

Theodore Zimbabwean student To know my Africa.

Annett African American Female To learn about my African heritage

Lee Korean American To read books about Africa.

Mike College student To get the non-Western Hum credit

Robert White male To be exposed to African literature

Marcus African American male To learn about African culture and history.

Taylor Multicultural female student To learn about African authors

Jerry African American student To learn about my history.

Brenda Nursing student To learn more about Africans.

Samba African student To learn about my people on the continent and diaspora

Figure 3. Students’ identities / goals

277

With respect to students’ responses regarding identity, I made a number of general observations. First, the majority of students identified themselves on the basis of race and / or cultural heritage. Gender was used as a student identifier secondarily and principally by female students. Religion, for the most part was absent from students’ stated identities, with the exception of one international student, ‘Ali’ who identified himself as “Indian Muslim.” The tendency for the majority of students to identify themselves on the bases of race and/or culture may have been due to Taylor’s (who identified herself as a multi-cultural student) question, who asked if I was referring to

“race or culture” as possible identity markers. This may also have been due to the tendency of students to engage in a patterned expectancy or ‘normative bias’ in which students’ responses represent their adherence to a perceived ideology of the classroom / course.480 Still, three students, Mike, Debbie and Brenda, whom I phenotypically viewed as European American, or Caucasian did not mention their race and instead identified themselves as students in a race and cultural neutral sense. This distinction in which white students did not acknowledge their racial identity may be directly related to them being indoctrinated with an European American hegemonic notion of race neutrality, “racelessness, and/or “racial objectivity.” 481 Because of this societal dynamic which is centered on a privileged white norm, white students don’t feel the need to

480 For elaboration on how researcher, and in this case instructor may inadvertently promote a ‘patterned expectancy’ or ‘normative bias’ in the testimonies of the researched / students, see Roberts (1990). 481 For elaboration on this dynamic of white privilege in educational research and the classroom setting see Chandler (2009) and Best (2003). 278

acknowledge themselves racially. Accordingly, white students who aren’t identifying themselves racially, in reality, are in fact identifying themselves as the ‘privileged white standard bearers’. Conversely, students of African descent in particular and non-white students in general (as shown by Taylor, Ali, Maria and Lee) feel the need to acknowledge their racial, cultural and/or religious identity in response to their marginalization and/or displacement by this Euro-centric hegemonic norm.

With regards to students’ responses to what they hoped to gain from this African content course, the students who defined themselves as continental African or African

American made statements that affirmed the course as a component of their distinctive heritage, history and/or culture. This is juxtaposed to non-African students who referred to the course as more ‘academically’ based and/or contributing to their knowledge base of cultural and/or racial ‘others’. (i.e. ‘diversity,’ ‘multiculturalism’, ‘to appreciate diversity’, ‘learning about Africa’). Moreover, those African and / or African

American students who stated the course was connected to their heritage, culture or history generally elaborated on how learning about Africa related to their individual experiences. This can be illustrated through Annette, an “African American female,” who stated, “I am taking this course to learn about my African heritage….growing up in

Columbus, and never taking any classes on Africa, never learning anything positive about black people, I’m tired of just learning what everybody else did…. that’s why I took this class….I want to learn about all the history I wasn’t taught in school.” Samba,

279

an “African student,” also expounded on his goals in such an organic manner as he stated, “there are so many African people throughout the world who don’t know about their culture…. that’s why they get involved in self-destruction… I want to learn about all my people and I want my people to learn about me… because African people are all over the world…. Africa is not just a continent, it is a global experience.” Generally speaking, the non-African students did not elaborate on why their objective for the course was important to their identity. Instead those that did provide some elaboration, did so with respect to why the study of Africa was important to their professional or academic endeavors. For example, Brenda, a “nursing student,” stated, “I have to come into contact with people of all cultures and I think it’s important to know where they come from…..I don’t want to be in a situation that I disrespect someone because I’m ignorant about their culture.” In accordance with this statement, Brenda, who described herself as a “female college student” stated, “I think when you go to college, you should learn something about other cultures.” These two students thus contended that the study of Africa would help them interact and/or understand others that are different from themselves in professional or academic settings.

The responses of the student body thus illustrate that there was a relationship between how students defined themselves and their individualized goals for taking the course. In sum, the students who defined themselves as African American and African

(including African nationalities) stated their individual goal for the course was to

280

expand their knowledge of the history that they perceived themselves a part of. In essence, these students were interested in learning more about themselves through history. Students whose identity did not include Africa stated their goal for the course was to gain historical knowledge on others. Though African students’ statements may have revealed a more organic relationship between identity politics and stated goals or the course, this opening activity represented a process in which all students were able to project a definition of themselves as students within the classroom and to establish their individualized goals for the course. As shown through the data and the transcribed excerpts included in the text above, most students, if not all re-presented goals for the course as a means to empower their respective identity politics as students and beyond the classroom. Despite the notion of ‘normative bias’ that may have impacted students’ testimonies in the classroom, their responses as represented above through Annette,

Samba and Brenda reveal that this pedagogical activity facilitated a context in which students themselves defined their identities within the classroom as well as their individualized course goals. In this manner, this pedagogy I implemented involved establishing a student centered context within the course. Accordingly, students’ testimonies represented the initial stages of student educational agency being achieved in that students themselves established ownership over their identities and goals as students within classroom on the basis of their respective vantage points.482

482 See Murrell (2002) which discusses how pedagogy must begin with the students at the center. 281

As students presented their responses to each line of Know Thyself, I noted students were particularly attentive, focused and responsive. In fact, after each student presented a response, other hands flew up and a discussion ensued, which I had to literally cut short in order to move on to the next line due to time sake. Though I allowed two responses for each line, I provide transcribed excerpts of one response along with the line it addresses below to represent how students’ engaged this piece.

Line 1: A person who knows not and knows not that they know not is foolish, disregard them.

Samba: There was a time, when I was a young man in Dakar, Senegal and I saw these very well educated, well manner men, speaking very, very good French and thought, that’s how I want to be…but I found out when I went to France, that they were exaggerating their French, and trying to be something that they were not, trying to escape who they were… I realized I was a fool then because I idolized fools who should have been disregarded… but maybe I was just simple and needed to learn.”

Line 2: A person who knows not and knows that they know not is simple, teach them.

Ali: When I was young my father taught me how to recite Qur’an and make salaat…I didn’t know what it meant because our language is Urdu, but when I finally became old enough and began understanding, I realized how important my religion’s rituals were.

Line 3: A person who knows not and believes that they know is dangerous, avoid them.

Taylor: When I was a child, I played with matches and got burned…. I never played with them again…and now that I have my own child

282

it’s one of my pet peeves that I make sure she (her daughter) doesn’t do.

Line 4: A person who knows and knows not that they know is asleep, awaken them.

Marcus: Being in the Marines and deployed during the Gulf War, confirmed things that I didn’t know that I knew, like how America is all about the ‘paper’… I mean we were there freeing Kuwait because of the oil.

Line 5: A person who knows and knows that they know is wise, follow them.

Annette: There’s certain things, that I know I know because they’ve been passed down and instilled in me, like raising my daughter with morals and principles.

Line 6 / 7: All these persons reside in you……Know thyself and always be true.

(I did not have students respond to the last two lines.)

As shown above, Samba’s response to line one reveals the historical dynamics involving the intersection of being a West African subjected to the dynamics of colonialism, alienation and assimilation. Samba’s response was followed by a 5 minute discussion in which Fatimata and Theodore engaged in discourse on how the legacy of colonialism is still a potent force in their countries that continues to misguide their leaders. Ali’s response to line two reveals the dynamics of his background which was

283

shaped by a conservative brand of religious instruction where adherence to ritual and indoctrination was stressed over comprehension and critical thought. This was followed by a 2.5 minute discussion in which Annette shared her experiences of how she didn’t understand many of the rituals of her own “Methodist Faith” until she was an adult, and

Taylor explained that she grew up attending a “Catholic Church” and “still” doesn’t understand all the rituals involved. Taylor’s response to line three involving ‘playing with matches as a child and getting burned’ and that this is a “pet peeve” that she has instilled in her daughter, demonstrates an interpretation of the text based on the standpoint of a rudimentary life lessons learned that she contends should be passed on to her child. This was followed by a 4.5 minute discussion initiated by Allan who raised his hand and stated, “ Yeah…I thought I knew so much when I was 15 and now that I am 22 I realize I don’t know much of anything…I guess that’s why so many teens get caught up in gangs and such.” Jerry expanded on this sentiment as he shared how many of his childhood friends got “caught up” in gangs. Marcus also added to this discussion as he shared how his experiences during basic training in the military made him believe that he didn’t know anything and that he should just “follow orders.” He went on to state that those giving orders didn’t know anything either. Marcus’ response to line four built upon his discussion point as it involved being deployed during the Gulf War as a

Marine and his realization that America was “all about the paper (money).” This revealed a pronounced politicized ideology that he had developed specifically in regards

284

to America’s ‘war to free Kuwait’ being tied to U.S. economic, and/or corporate interests. Only one student contributed to this point. Robert, who stated, “I think that’s what war is always about …. political and economic interests!” Annette’s response to line five with respect to raising her daughter, reveals, like Taylor, autobiographical foundations in which she was instilled with ‘morals’ and ‘principles’ that she contends are essential for her, as a “good mother” to pass on to her child. A 3 minute discussion ensued immediately after this comment in which Taylor, Annette, and Brenda discussed how being a “good mother” is something that you have to learn how to do rather than an innate quality.

Although there was one additional response for each line as well as supplemental commentary that followed, the above student discourses are representative of how students’ drew from past processual dynamics of their lived experiences to reveal the ideological complexities of their identities. Considering lines 6 and 7 summed up the point of the exercise as it states, “All of these persons reside in you.

Know thyself and always be true,” it is evident that this piece is specifically designed to encourage students to reflect on how they are various “persons” with respect to certain realms of knowledge or past experiences that are delineated within the work as

“foolish,” “simple,” “dangerous,” “asleep” or “wise.” However, as each student revealed personal experiences or realms of knowledge in which they considered themselves to be these respective “persons,” they also appropriated, analyzed and re-

285

presented this curriculum in a manner that was personally meaningful to their lives.

Thus, this notion of ‘intratextureality’ constituted students establishing educational agency in the curriculum as they claimed ownership over how they would define and present certain experiential or intellectual components (‘persons’) of their identities to the class. It is also important to note that many of the experiential and intellectual dynamics that were revealed by students moved beyond how students initially defined themselves to the class. 483

In addition to re-presenting the curriculum from their respective experiential and intellectual standpoints, students’ commentary and supplemental dialogue that occurred throughout the Know Thyself activity, further reveals how they were able to relate to and build upon each other’s discourse. This is shown above as Fatimata and Theodore engaged in dialogue on the legacy of colonialism in reaction to Samba’s initial response to line one; the commentary of Annette and Taylor concerning the lack of religious comprehension they had within their faiths which they offered as a supplement to Ali’s response to line two; the discussion between Alan, Jerry and Marcus involving the realization of ignorance through experience as an answer to Taylor’s response to line three; Robert’s verbal affirmation of Marcus’ response to line four; and finally, the

483 Such an activity may aid in the deconstruction of hegemonic identities such as race, culture and gender which often promote dichotomously based monolithic stereotypes on those who claim them. Indeed this activity transcends Critical Race Theorists analyses that focus on the ‘all pervading dynamics of race’; Tate and Ladson-Billings (1995) as well as cultural essentialisms of Afrocentric; see Asante (1988); Ogbu (1987) and Hilliard (1997) refers to how for African Americans in particular, such racial and /or cultural identification may prompt an oppositional culture or culture of anti-intellectualism. 286

discussion between Taylor, Brenda and Annette which was initiated by Annette’s response to line five in which it was asserted that the value of good mothering is something that is learned through personal experience. These dynamics among students therefore constitute a process in which they were not only learning about themselves through critical reflection and re-presentation of their respective past experiences, they were learning about each other as well as learning from each other (reciprocal learning).

This student-centered dynamic thus involved a restructuring of the conventional teacher-student hierarchy where the teacher is positioned as the authority of all ‘official’ knowledge that is to be uncritically indoctrinated by students.484 Though, I as the teacher, facilitated these activities, the intellectual engagement that took place among and between students ultimately gave structure to a learning process within the classroom that was established as meaningful to their lives. Students consequently achieved educational agency by interpreting and re-presenting course curriculum from the standpoint of their intellectual and experiential subjectivities. Furthermore, students’ claimed ownership of the learning process by establishing an organic and reciprocal relationship among and between each other. 485

484 This notion of teacher-student hierarchy emanates from Freire’s (1970) concept of banking education. The notion of ‘official’ knowledge is borrowed from Apple (2000). 485 See Dilliard (2003) where an organic bond is established among and between researchers and the student collective. Carjuzaa and Ruff (2010: 74) further assert this dynamic to be an “indigenous” educational process in that a reciprocal teaching and learning process is occurring between and among teacher and students from the standpoint of all participants cultural and epistemic dynamics.This obviously builds upon Freire (1970) with respect to his critique of “Banking education” where the Teacher is the authority and students are mere receptacles, as well as Apple’s (2000) critique of “official knowledge” that is transmitted top to bottom, from teacher to students in an uncritical ‘objective’ manner. 287

Stage II: Cultivating student educational agency via ‘griotic’ bullet responses.486

After I facilitated the ‘context of intimacy’ in which an organic and reciprocal bond was established among and between students and myself with respect to the learning process, I assigned a number of articles that dealt with a vast array of perspectives, disciplinary approaches, and theoretical paradigms concerning the literary treatment of Africa/ns (see syllabus appendix F). I then required students to read these literary works and formulate written analytical ‘bullet responses,’ or ‘griotic bullets.’ I explained to students that these bullet responses should be constructed as 2-5 concise sentences that are reactions, critical insights, general observations, reflections and/or theses. I further explained to students that they should think about what the article is saying and how it may help expand their views of self and world. Though I required bullet responses to be typed and submitted, they served as the textual foundations for students to contribute to classroom discussion on assigned articles. I assigned bullets on almost 40 different articles throughout the quarter. I will therefore provide a transcribed excerpt of the textual presentations in narrative form on two articles that were engaged by students during the course of this study. The articles assigned were Moradewun

Adejunmobi’s "Routes: Language and the Identity of African Literature” and Kwesi

Wiredu’s "An Oral Philosophy of Personhood: Comments on Philosophy and

Personhood.” 487

486 Quotes from this entire section are from observation notes and audio recording Toure (2011). 487 See Adejunmobi (1999); Wiredu (2009). 288

Adejunmobi’s “Routes”

On the day we engaged Adejunmobi’s work, I suggested to students that the concept “route” within the title, could be conceptualized as “roots,” meaning “origins, foundations, genesis.” Almost immediately, Annette raised her hand and began reading her bullets, “I believe that when African literature is interpreted in different European languages, the interpreter puts his or her own meaning onto the African experience,”

Annette paused, then began to further elaborate orally,“ I guess I mean that when the languages of Africa are not used to tell its story, the story is told through someone’s else’s experience.” I then asked her, “Does simply being from Africa and speaking in an African language necessarily mean you are going to have an ‘African perspective’?”

Several students replied “Nope!” in the background. Annette then responded, “Not necessarily, but I feel that if you’re not BLACK and you haven’t experienced what I have experienced….. you can’t be white and be trying to write about my experiences!”

I queried Annette’s content by asking, “Are you referring to black and white as concepts that speak to experience rather than any type of biology?” Annette replied,

“Yeah, I’m saying you have to experience something in order to write about it… even me…I’m African American and I can’t write something from an African experience because I’ve never been there…I’m not a part of it, I didn’t grow up there!” She paused and I asked, “But can’t Africa grow in you, through study and travel” Annette responded, “I guess, so… I guess if I take more classes and go there, I could possibly

289

write from the experience.” I stated, “Well, could you accurately write about the

African experience in English?” Annette replied “You know I think it’s actually about the experience… if one experiences the culture and identifies with it, that’s part of his identity and it doesn’t matter what language they use.” Ali, (Indian Muslim student) raised his hand, then offered a question / comment, “You know in my religion, we believe that you should read the Qur’an in the original Arabic, because that’s the only way you can gain the true meaning … . so do you think that when an African story is translated into another language, the story loses its creativity, or originality?” Before I made a response, Theodore, the “Zimbabwean student” answered, “I think you do lose some specific aspect of culture when you translate an African story into another language, but I think its worth it so others can gain some understanding of what’s going on in Africa and other places….like my own culture is Shona and I read and write in both English and Shona. I can use these languages to help both people learn…Shona from English and English from Shona.” I then posed an open ended question, “Well how does this discussion of language relate to identity?” Debbie (white female student) raised her hand and stated that she produced a bullet that addresses this. She then read it word for word, “African literature is often produced in European languages so that the world can be informed about African history, but if the world wants to learn about

Africa it should learn African languages, because it is only through language that you can really understand the culture.” She went on to orally elaborate, “I just think

290

Africans should write their stories in their own language because they lose part of their identity when they write only in English.” Fatimata (Senegalese African female) stated, “I wrote, cultural identity is expressed through language.” I immediately asked

Fatimata’s , “..and does language shape culture identity?” Fatimata responded, “Yes, in

Senegal many people speak Fula and Oolof but when they speak French, they begin to act like French in terms of how they dress, eat, and act.” I continued to ask questions that encouraged students to draw from their personal experiences and then asked, “So if we write, read, think and act in English, and we use this English to learn about

Africa…. are we really learning about Africa? Ali responded, “No, we’re learning about the English version of Africa.” Theodore added, “Yeah we’re learning about St through Africa!” I offered a final challenge to these sentiments by stating, “Aren’t all cultures fundamentally human, and all humans fundamentally African?” Many students nodded in the affirmative. I then concluded this session by offering the rhetorical question, “If Africa is fundamentally about the human experience, ‘routes’ or ‘roots’ of humanity, why shouldn’t this experience be told through any and all human languages?”

Wiredu’s “Oral Philosophy.” To initiate the bullet responses on Wiredu’s work, I stated, “Africa’s oral based framework provides a distinctive view of its realities as well as our own.” I then asked for student volunteers to begin presenting their griotic bullets on Wiredu’s work. Marcus volunteered first to present his bullet, but instead of reading

291

it word for word, he orally expounded on his bullet as he stated, “There were a couple of things that caught my eye …in Africa, to be a ‘person’ is something you have to earn unlike here where everybody is automatically a person…also the way the author shows how African oral philosophy is connected to communalism as opposed to our notion of individualism.” In response to Marcus, I asked, “So you’re speaking of a very different view of being a person and a person’s relationship with others?” He stated, “Yeah, it seems that a person’s identity is based on his group membership, and it is this identity which gives shape to how that person communicates.” I then asked, “Is that very different than ours?” Marcus responded, “In a sense, I think in our culture a person is always a person regardless of group membership.” I added to this, “So it seems you are suggesting that the context of oral tradition is something that Wiredu is referring to as an African view of personhood which embodies a communal ethos.” Marcus nodded, and I then used a LCD projector to present a definition of oral tradition to students which I read to them. The definition is as follows:

Oral tradition definition

Transmission of historicity (historical consciousness that encompasses cultural, socio- psychological, and religious elements) through words, song and/or sounds of mouth, bodily movement, theatrics, and/or dance, playing of musical instrument, and conscientious human interaction that is tied to given experience, circumstance and occurrence.

Essential Features of Oral Traditions:

“unity and interplay between the realms of the present and the past” “reciprocity between and/or in service to all parties and/or participatory beings.”

292

After reading this to the class, I offered my contention that this ‘oral tradition’ could only be understood from an African context in which the person is grounded in a communal, collective ethos, but this ethos is in fact holistic in the sense that it includes spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical components. I then asked for another bullet. Alan raised his hand and began to offer a critique of Western views as he stated,

“It seems that all they do is put down African beliefs, by portraying Africans as superstitious, make believe, mystical and really just childlike in respect to their oral traditions.” I asked Alan if he was critiquing Western stereotypes of African culture and/or oral traditions and he stated, “Yes!” I then asked Alan why he feels these views

‘they’ present on Africa/ns are incorrect. He stated, “Well, all we get is a Western view of Africa through T.V. and media, and … because they do have different beliefs and traditions than us, we end up just judging them on the basis of our stereotypes.” Maria added, “Yeah… it’s like everything that is actually spiritual in Africa is flipped around and made to seem primitive or bad from our standpoint, because it’s not ‘Christian’ or

‘modern’.” In response I stated, “Good observations, but I would like to move beyond critique and actually elaborate on what Wiredu refers to as ‘oral philosophy’…. how about you Fatimata?” Fatimata began by providing an oral overview of her bullets as follows: “I read the part where it says that the problems Africans dealt with in the past are still seen in the present… therefore they must go to the past, and based on that, move forward.” Fatimata then made a transition and began reading her bullets word for

293

word: “We have to learn our national languages, restore our culture and values, know our history and our historical achievements because I still feel the strength and dominance of the West over us, and that’s why we must call on the ancestors, because I don’t like the way it is now.” In response to this, I stated, “Ok, we’ve heard that we must return to the African past to its present, but these sources have been stereotyped by the West, so what do we get from Wiredu that helps us understand what the oral philosophy of African personhood is all about?” Theodore chimed in, “Well the article talks about how the West has totally taken over oral philosophy of African personhood and now we have leaders who are utilizing a Western way of ruling their country.”

Fatimata stated, “Yeah and that they should go back to the way of their ancestors, in which they look to promote their own culture through communalism.” Ali stated “Well that’s what Wiredu goes into when he’s talking about spirituality and… medicine, in

(indigenous) Africa, medicine is always spiritual first… for us it is physical….so we have to remember how African spirituality and medicine is different than ours.”

Theodore added, “Yeah, we need to know, like in other countries…like Britain, their

Democracy is different from the U.S.,… and I don’t see anyone judging it or imposing negative stereotypes on it. This should be the same for Africa, we shouldn’t impose our view on them, Africa does its own thing in its own way.”

294

While there was a pause in the student dialogued, I then presented the following scenario in order for students to comprehend the ‘holistic contextualization’ of oral tradition:

Imagine you and a significant other are awarded an all-inclusive, all-expense paid trip to the Bahamas. And, once you arrive, you check in, go straight out to the beach as the sun is setting. The waiter brings you a cocktail while a reggae band is playing a slow rootsy rhythm in the background. There is the smell of jerk chicken in the air while a light mist from the ocean glistens your faces, and you hear the waves gently hit the shore. You reach over, take hold of each other’s hands, and look into each other’s eyes and EXHALE. …Now you go back to your room and write a letter to your mother about this experience. Could you do this experience justice in your letter?.

Mike, (white male student) raised his hand and stated, “Well you could describe some of it, but you really couldn’t describe all of it? Like the smells, there’s no way you could really put smell into words.” I encouraged students to add to this by asking,

“What about other sensory perspectives that would be difficult to put into words?”

Robert responded, “I think trying to put sound into words…like the reggae and the waves would be difficult.” Samba stated, “There’s an emotional component between the two when they hold hands.” Annette stated, “Well I think you could probably explain a part of all of these things but the issue is whether or not your mother would really understand what … really happened from your writing.” Annette paused for a moment, then continued, “Only the two who were there would have the total picture with all the senses involved, you know what I’m saying?” I nodded, and then inquired,

“So you’re saying the written tradition is like a one-dimensional version of the holistic,

295

oral traditional experience ….. but what about when your mother reads what you write…wouldn’t she understand a sense of it? … I mean how would she make sense out of it…don’t we mentally recreate an experience that we’re being told or one we are reading about?.... How do we RECREATE it?” After about 20 seconds Theodore raised his hand then stated, “The mother, would most likely recreate what you wrote her based on her own memories or experiences…” Theodore continued on by explaining an experience that he was telling his own mother in which she replied, “that’s just like when your brother went off to school and did that…” He summed up his statement by stating, “People make sense out of what you tell them by referring to their own experiences.” I then asked, “Well how do you make sense out of what you want to tell people?” A few students uttered, “your experiences” in the background. I repeated,

“Your experiences… mmm, so the past shapes the present which then shapes the past?”

Data/Analysis: For both exercises, I posed opening queries and/or points of contention to facilitate class discourse. For bullet responses on Adejunmobi’s, “Routes,” I connected it to the concept of ‘roots’ in order to get students to reflect on how this relates to origins, foundations, and beginnings. Though students did not explicitly speak to this metaphorical inquiry, this contextualization produced a number of nuances that became more and more evident as I engaged in ongoing interrogation of students’ griotic bullets. In other words, as I engaged in questioning students’ rationale for “why they believe what they believe,” students drew from their experiential ‘roots,’ or

296

foundations to answer the questions. This is shown upfront through Annette’s reduction of the discussion of African literature being produced in European languages to a critique of “whites writing about MY black experience,” Ali’s statement regarding the

Qur’an not being translated in order to maintain authenticity; and Theodore’s reference to his own usage of Shona and English to understand both cultures. These responses in particular demonstrate how students were engaging in ‘intratextureality’ as they were assimilating course material on the bases of their own intellectual autobiography. These dynamic processes fundamentally involved students taking intellectual ownership over the curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their lives beyond the classroom.

As I set up the context for bullet responses on Wiredu’s “Oral Philosophy,” through offering my contention that, “Africa’s oral based framework provides a unique view of its realities as well as our own” I was facilitating students’ discussion to take on an exploration of an alternative epistemology and/or comparative analyses on African and Western phenomena. These exploratory processes were achieved upfront through

Fatimata’s reference to the ancestral presence necessary to move Africa forward and through Marcus’ statement involving the achieved nature of African personhood and

African communalism juxtaposed to innate American personhood and individualism.

As I interrogated Marcus’ responses in particular, we were able to flesh our key features of oral philosophy/tradition prior to me offering an ‘official’ definition to the class. As students then began to critique Western stereotypes of Africa, intra-student dialogue

297

generated examples of African epistemology that emanated from the standpoint of students’ respective intellectual and experiential vantage points. For instance, after

Alan and Maria established a critique of the West’s stereotypes of African spirituality,

Ali delved into the spiritual basis of African medicine to acknowledge an African epistemology that must be recognized to understand what’s actually taking place in indigenous Africa. Theodore was then prompted to respond to this notion of African epistemology as a tool to gauge not only the distinctiveness of Africa, but as a prism by which he could gauge the distinctiveness of all world nations, as shown through his comments with respect to the distinctiveness of British and American democratic practices. This teacher-student and student-student learning process further constituted a ‘reciprocal teaching and learning process between and among teachers and students from the standpoint of all participants’ experiential dynamics. 488

Furthermore, when students presented their griotic bullets, most initiated their

‘performances’ through reading what they had textually prepared. Often these responses gave general assessments of what the students’ thoughts were of a specific point of the writer under review. However, as I interrogated students’ responses, they always drew from personal experiences. As shown through the above references of

Annette’s ‘blackness,’ Ali’s ‘Qur’anic references,’ and Theodore’s reference to his

‘Shona’ background in addition to his mother’s interpretation of his letter on the basis

488 Carjuzaa and Ruff (2010: 74). 298

of his brother’s previous experiences, a pronounced embeddedness or organic intellectualism is manifested in which students are assimilating the curriculum with respect to their cultural ethos. I must also underscore here that the manner in which I

‘interrogated’ students was predicated on the ‘context of intimacy’ established via stage one’s activities involving my intellectual autobiography, students’ stated identities and individualized goals, and the Know Thyself activity. Accordingly, my engagement and facilitation of students’ textual performances through interrogation during stage two was implemented in a cultural or socio-psychological manner that students could identify with.489 This dynamic was further revealed specifically through how students responded to my scenario involving the holistic basis of the oral tradition juxtaposed to the one dimensional textual productions. As shown above, most students were able to easily relate to how a textual production would significantly reduce the holistic experience, in that they were able to itemize a numbers of sensory based shortcomings that would not be transferrable into a textual production. Students’ participation in this scenario in itself became an act of student educational agency as they claimed ownership over this element of the curriculum from the standpoint of

“intratextureality,” or in a manner that resonated with their intellectual and experiential lives beyond the classroom.490

489 For elaboration on this, methodology of interrogation, see Agosto (2008). 490 Ibid. 299

In sum, these activities which I refer to as griotic bullets led to students making the curriculum meaningful to their own racial, religious and / or cultural experiences.

This is shown above with respect to Adejumobi’s “Routes” as students discussed issues relating to identity, culture and Africa from the standpoint of their own experiences.

This process of student academic agency was further revealed as students’ responses to my interrogation as well as each other’s comments exhibited a process involving the deconstructing and (re)construction of their ideas’ on Africa, specifically concerning how it relates to their view of self. This was overtly revealed by Theodore, who stated studying Africa is about learning about “OURSELVES!” This process of intellectual

(de)construction was further revealed as students presented bullets on Wiredu’s “Oral

Philosophy.” Here, students actually became involved in the critique of stereotypes associated with Africa/ns. This was shown as Alan stated T.V. and media projected

African spirituality as “superstitions” and Maria’s statement of African cultural practices being portrayed as “primitive” or “bad.” Once this student centered critique was in place, other students further deconstructed Western stereotypes and offered new insight into African oral traditions from the standpoint of their intellectual and experiential standpoints. This was shown through Ali’s statement which referenced the unity between medicine and spirituality in Africa, and Theodore’s contention that in order to understand Africa, we must give it the same intellectual respect we give

Britain, as they engage in cultural and political practices from their own unique

300

standpoint. In sum, through student centered discourse, students were engaging in the deconstruction and construction of knowledge specifically as it was conceived as meaningful to their respective intellectual and experiential autobiographies. In this manner, students were realizing educational agency via African literary discourse.

Stage III: Realizing student educational agency through griotic essays.

The final component of my griotic methodology as pedagogy involved students’ producing and orally presenting an analytical, or ‘griotic’ essay which demonstrated an integration of their historical consciousness (emanating from intellectual and experiential dynamics) with assigned novels. Here the students were required to read all assigned texts inclusive of T.D. Niani’s Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, Chinua

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, or Wretched of the

Earth, Dangarembga’s Nervous Condition, Ba’s So Long A Letter, and Steve Biko’s I

Write What I Like. It should be noted that these texts were assigned with respect to historical periodization and thematic progressions of the course. (see appendix H).

From this selection, students were to choose three texts, on which they would construct a 3-5 page griotic essay that integrated course discourses and lived experiences. These essays were then to be orally presented and defended to the class. To facilitate a griotic epistemological frame of references for students’ essays, I explained that they should consider these three questions: What specifically about this text is important to the world’s knowledge on Africa and itself? How is this knowledge important to the

301

expansion of your ethos (self and world view); and How can this knowledge be of service and/or promote social justice throughout the world? It should also be noted that this is actually the assessment stage of the course in which over 60% of the course grade is earned (see syllabus). Moreover, this oral component, or ‘textual performance’ of the griotic essay represents students’ intellectual projection of their identity politics onto the course’s pedagogy and curriculum. In essence then these griotic essays are the culmination of the griotic methodology in that they demonstrates how well the course’s material is assimilated by students’ historical consciousness, giving way to intratextureality and the expansion of views of self and ‘other.’ Because there were a total of 45 presentations on six different texts, I will proceed by offering excerpts of the griotic methodology as implemented on Ba’s So Long A Letter, which I view as emblematic of all griotic essays.

Griotic Essays on Mariama Ba’s So Long A Letter 491

Because this text represents a culmination of my course’s themes, I began this session with a general overview of the course’s topics (see attachment F). I noted that students were attentive, but did not offer any comment or inquiry during my overview.

I then asked whether students would like to sit in a semi-circle, or ‘round table’ format to present their essays, rather than presenting from behind the podium at the front of the classroom. Every student agreed and immediately began to reposition themselves in a

491 All quotations within this section are from Toure (2011). 302

semi-circle arrangement (i.e. roundtable) in which every student could see all other students as well as myself. I then asked for a volunteer to initiate the presentations of the griotic essays. Ali raised his hand and stated, “Since this book is dealing with feminism, let a lady go first.” The class laughed. Almost immediately, Fatimata raised her hand and stated, “I would like to go first since I’m Senegalese and Mariama Ba is a

Senegalese writer.” I replied, “That’s a good enough reason for me.” The class laughed again and Fatimata began her presentation. Fatimata started out her presentation by stating quite casually, “I like the book but I am surprised that Mariama Ba did not talk about the Tukulor, which was a major group in Senegal that gave shape to her culture and was a major force that fought against the French.” She then began to read excerpts from her essay to the class in which she identified “four castes” within Senegalese society, their respective ideologies, along with intra-and inter-caste dynamics. She further she spoke to parallels between the text’s characters and members in her own family and their relationship with other Senegalese and “Toubabs” (Fulani for whites).

After about five minutes, I noticed class members were becoming somewhat disengaged as they began whispering to each and looking at their own papers. I then requested

Fatimata to please “..jump to her conclusion.” She said, “Ok,” and read a brief conclusion which reiterated the existence of these “castes” and ended with her contention that “Senegal must overcome the divisions created by caste in order to develop as a society.” After this statement I paused, looked at the class as a whole then

303

asked, “Can anyone tell me what her thesis was?” No one answered. After 2-3 seconds, I asked Fatimata to, “Please, restate your thesis for the class.” Fatimata then read, “The oppression of interpersonal relationships in Senegalese society is based on indigenous caste systems.” Fatimata paused, then stated, “…and this must be overcome.” I asked the class, whether or not they knew what a caste was. Ali raised his hand and stated, “Yes, like caste in India where people only marry within their group.” I then asked Fatimata, “Are you saying there are internal divisions within Senegalese society within ethnic groupings?” She shook her head in the affirmative. I stated,

“Well, aren’t these divisions necessary in that they serve a specific function, or perform a duty within society?” Fatimata replied, “Yes, but it becomes a problem because each caste looks down on others!” I responded, “That’s quite interesting, but how does this relate to the book?” Fatimata answered my question by talking about the marriages that had taken place within the text along with the “betrayals” and then identified the fact that one of the characters who offered a contract of marriage within the text was refused because he “belonged to a lower caste.” I asked Fatimata, “So is caste good or bad for

Senegal?” She stated, “it’s bad… it divides us! I asked my mom where all these things come from and she says she doesn’t know….just do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that.” Samba raised his hand and as soon as I looked at him, he stated, “All groups in

Senegal don’t have caste!” Theodore then confirmed Samba’s contention as he stated,

“Yeah, in Southern Africa, we don’t have these castes either.” Samba continued, “Most

304

do have castes but some groups like the Jola, Wolof, and Fulani, don’t have castes.” I then asked, how does this caste function with respect to Islam and the French “toubabs” who come to Senegal.” Fatimata replied, “Islam is against castes, but it doesn’t stop it…people still stick to their castes.” I asked, “And what about relating with toubabs?”

Samba jumped in, “That’s the big contradiction … if you go to Europe and bring back a

European wife…that’s ok, but if you stay in Senegal, you are supposed to marry within your caste!” The dialogue between Fatimata and Samba continued on for a few minutes, until I intervened and asked, where did either one of them obtain this information?” Fatimata stated, “I just know it from my culture.” Samba stated, “it’s something that is passed down from culture.”

Annette volunteered next and began reading her introduction. She then emphasized her thesis by stating “African women are stepping out of indigenous roles and demonstrating personal thought in their life choices.” She went on to offer some highlights from her paper including: “this book represents a feminist perspective in that these women chose to make decisions outside of their indigenous traditions in terms of their decisions to marry, get educated, and move on without their husband”; “African men feel they have the power and women often have no voice and this book provides a voice for women to find themselves”; and finally, “Mariama Ba is a crusader that wants to help African women find happiness within themselves, because that is what being human is all about!” At the end of the presentation, I asked, “So African women are

305

experiencing changes?.....Are you saying that indigenous traditions and personal thought or choice are mutually exclusive?” Annette responded, “Well, I’m saying that the African women in the novel seem to pick and choose which one’s (‘traditions’ / customs) they want?” I asked, “So you’re saying that indigenous customs impede personal choice for women?” Annette stated, “That’s exactly what I’m saying….like here in the U.S., women are able to choose what’s best for them in society rather than follow customs which limit them.” Samba again intervened within the conversation, and referred to the importance of being rooted in some cultural foundation. He continued on by stating that this text is written within the context of Dakar, which is very

Westernized, so “these women are trying to balance their traditions with

Westernization.” Annette stated, “Well, I’m considered Western in my thought process, even though I am African American because I see nothing wrong with picking and choosing what’s best from your culture to move forward instead of being dictated to what you must do from a culture, where women have no voice….just because that’s the way it has always been.” Theodore then responded to this statement: “Well, I think that when you’re raised in a Western culture, and you come to Africa, as a woman you will come and see polygamy and things like that and think that it’s terrible. It’s because of a Western influence that African women resist certain things that come from their culture… for example, if you compare this to women in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the African women had no problem with polygamy.” I asked the class, “So is

306

Westernization liberating these women or alienating African women?” Annette answered, “I think it’s both.. Western culture liberates women because it gives them a voice, but it alienates the women because sometimes women may go too far… I don’t believe in disrespecting the man through your voice, or being so feminist that you dominate and ruin your household!”

Debbie presented her essay next by reading much of it word for word. She emphasized her thesis which is “Polygamy produces dissonance within African women and men as shown within the novel, So Long A Letter. As she proceeded to read her essay however, it became evident that her paper was a general summary of how the acts of betrayal committed by men “in the name of polygamy” contributed to a breakdown of the family unit within West Africa. At the end of her presentation, I asked her to explain why she held such a view on polygamy and she stated, “Well, when men can have more than one wife, the women in the relationship are not fulfilled and the men are not fulfilled either because there’s a sense of betrayal when a man takes on another wife.” I asked, “Are you referring to the institution of polygamy itself, or the manner in which polygamy was practiced in the text?” Debbie stated, “Probably the manner in which polygamy was practiced in the text but I think any time a man would take on another wife, it would produce problems for everyone involved.” I then asked her was this view perhaps due to a Western orientation and / or did she think that indigenous women would feel the same way about polygamy?” In response, Debbie stated this was

307

most likely be due to Western influence but “traditional women don’t know anything other than to accept it the way it is!” A number of students raised their hands to ask questions relating to jealousy and envy between wives and whether or not this is a universal human trait. I then redirected the question to Debbie concerning a definition of ‘marriage’? She replied, “It’s an institution that’s designed to bring people together…to help them build something, have children and leave a legacy.” I then asked, “Wouldn’t polygamy promote such an agenda?” Debbie stated, “I guess so, but I think women would really be subjected to negative experiences and would be pitted against each other.” Annette then entered into the discussion as she raised her hand and stated, “I’ve read about how white women who called themselves feminists go to Africa to help African women, but what they end up doing is promoting a political and economic agenda …they end up going in and telling African women what’s right and wrong with their culture…. like condemning polygamy….. how can you condemn this without condemning African culture…I think this is a new form of colonialism!” I looked at Debbie and she responded, “Well you know I didn’t think about the fact that maybe I’m being biased… I guess what I’m saying is if it was me in this situation, there would be problems!” The room is silent for a moment, and I then ask for the next volunteer.

As Maria began to present her paper, she stated that her intention was to demonstrate how oral traditions promote a sisterhood within the novels of So Long A

308

Letter and Nervous Conditions. She presented an overview of oral traditions with respect to the above definition offered early in the course then drew parallels between how the lived experiences between women in these novels established a framework for them to strengthen themselves despite the alienation they experienced by

Westernization and betrayal via polygamy. Maria contextualized these parallels by integrating her own experiences, as she stated, “These are things that we all go through all the time.” At the end of her presentation, I asked her, “So you’re saying there is a unique manner in which these women relate to each other in which they strengthen each other?” Maria replied, “Yes, you can see how these women use their past experiences as women to make sense out of what they are going through now…and that’s exactly how we all figure out who your sisters really are.” Theodore then asked, “Do you think this female bonding that you speak about, could perhaps take place between co-wives within a polygamous relationship?” Maria responded, “Yes, I do.” Alan stated in the background, “Common experiences are what brings people together!” Maria then continued, “Yes I do because, if these women would have been allowed to have more say so, or voice in terms of the first wife, whether she wanted to be in a polygamous relationship, the entire situation would have been different.” Realizing the time factor, I call for another volunteer and Marcus, an African American male raises his hand to present.

309

Marcus began by stating, “Well I read this book and saw the connections between this and Black Skin White Masks because what’s going on is a situation in which the men are now confused about who they are and what it means to be a husband and father… which I would say is to be a provider and a protector.” Marcus continued by explaining that it’s not the institution of polygamy at all that is the problem, rather it is the “men not being true to who they are as African men!” He referred to Okonkwo in

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Sundiata as positive African males who had more than one wife and protected and provided for all of them in such a way that their relationships with their “wives were the foundations of their nations.” Marcus then stated that the impact of “slavery, colonialism, and Westernization” undermined the cultural respect within the African man to protect and provide for his family. Marcus further contended that the African man began to look at everything that was “used to give his nation power” as a way he could now “empower himself materially and individually.” Marcus concluded his presentation by stating that the characters in the book So Long A Letter represented African men who are just like African American men in that they are just trying to “get paid, get women, and satisfy their materialistic desires” through exploiting their “cultural traditions rather than using these traditions to empower their nation.”

At the conclusion of Marcus’ presentation, the class was silent for a moment. I initiated my interrogation by asking, “Are you saying that because African men are

310

culturally displaced by Westernization, they end up exploiting their own people through certain cultural practices rather than using these practices to empower their people?”

Marcus responded “Yes!” I then asked, “Well, how does this relate to African American men.” Marcus stated, “Well that’s the same problem… we think we are promoting our culture…like through hip hop, but we are really hurting our people through promoting stereotypes and negative images.” I asked, “So are you saying the portrayal of these

African men within this text who are engaging in polygamy is pretty much the same thing?” Marcus answered, “I think so!” There is silence for a moment, then Theodore offered commentary on this point as he stated, “I think he’s right because if people would go back to the way polygamy was before colonialism, African nations would be strong and the African woman would be protected and provided for, but now polygamy seems to be demonized and African women are left on their own!” Annette then added to the discourse as she stated, “I agree with Marcus on the point about African

American males promoting negative images even though they think they are ‘keeping it real’… and I guess I see the relationship between that and how these men used polygamy in the text to satisfy their lusts” I then stated, “What a minute…so we are going to just blame Westernization, or some ambiguous boogey man and not identify how African men attempt to claim agency, or a sense of power for themselves by buying into these Western ideas?” Marcus stated “Yeah, some do get paid, or get the girls, but they end up losing in the end because they lose control over their culture!”

311

Data/Analysis.

As I provided an overview of the course’s theme during the initiation of this activity, students adhered to the conventional roles of being ‘receptacles’ of the pedagogy and curriculum that I was implementing. This is in fact in alignment with

Freire’s “banking concept” of education in that students actively listened, but offered no interaction, comments or questioning and seemed to accept everything that I presented as the “official knowledge” of the course. 492 However, a noticeable shift occurred with respect to student’s physical disposition when I suggested that they could elect to sit in a circle as they presented their essays rather than individually addressing the class from the front of the room. Accordingly, students quickly reached a consensus that they would be more comfortable presenting their essay within this ‘round table’ format.

Consequently, this physical restructuring of the classroom resulted in a decrease of student anxiety during their presentations and the establishment of a more interpersonal context as shown through the active willingness of students to volunteer presenting their griotic essays and the high level of participation among and between students that occurred. Students actively volunteered to lead class instruction by either reading their text or giving an oral overview of it, then responded to the interrogation of fellow students as well as myself, based on their informed opinions. This student agency in class participation reveals how the “context of intimacy” as well as an “indigenization”

492 For concept of banking education, see Freire (1970). For an overview of ‘official’ knowledge in service to political and cultural hegemony, see Apple (2000). 312

was further realized. In light of this, students’ comfortability and relatability within the classroom gave way to a reciprocal learning process between and among teacher and students.493 I will proceed by offering a brief analysis on how each presenter established academic agency through griotic essay/ presentations on Ba’s text – specifically highlighting how students established meaning from the text that resonated with their respective identity politics.

Upfront, Fatimata demonstrated an intratextureality, embedded, and / or organic disposition with respect to this particular oral presentation as shown through her volunteering to go first on the basis of her being Senegalese, like the author, Mariama

Ba. Even though Fatimata did not acknowledge the gender component, it was obviously a factor in her engagement of the discourse. However, the organic bond that

Fatimata revealed she had with the text’s author did not manifest itself in solidarity with the author’s views. Rather Fatimata offered an intellectual deconstruction of the work as she critiqued Ba for not acknowledging the “Tukulor who gave shape to the culture that this book is about and who fought against the French.” Here she provided an important subjective insight revealing the texts’ limitation that she possesses from the standpoint of her lived experiences and even collective memory, both of which emanate from the standpoint of her being an African female student from Senegal. These attributes are further exemplified as Fatimata read her text and focused on the ‘indigenous based

493 Carjuzaa and Ruff (2010:74). 313

castes,’ and the connections that exist between her family members and the books characters. Ali was the first student that contributed to Fatimata’s discourse in which he drew from his own historicity by referring to the caste system in India as a reference.

This was followed by Samba, a student also from Senegal, who spoke on the contradictions between the notion of caste and the acceptance of interacting with and intermarriage between Senegalese and Europeans within Senegal. What became most evident in this student exchange, was that as dialogue ensued between Fatimata and

Samba, both began to exhibit overt manifestation of disseminating organic historicity from the standpoint of their collective memory as they revealed that their sources were from their “culture” or “passed down” respectively. This indeed represents a pronounced manifestation of an alternative epistemological basis of culture and history that these two students, in particular were drawing from in order to claim ownership over the curriculum at hand.494

With respect to Annette’s presentation, she like Fatimata, revealed a sense of embeddedness, or organic intellectualism with the text. Within her discourse, she in fact acknowledged she is an African American woman reflecting on a text written by a West

African woman that is centered on the experiences of African women. This embeddedness was further revealed as Annette volunteered to orally present her essay immediately after Fatimata, and spoke from the standpoint of this text providing

494 This may resonate with Asante (1989) Banks (1996) and Murrell’s (2002) notion of student agency and/or starting with the cultural bases of the students with respect to the construction of pedagogy and/or curriculum, but as stated above this activity tapped into alternative epistemology of culture itself. 314

African women a “voice” that she viewed as being denied by indigenous customs. As I began to ‘interrogate’ her points of contention, she offered a gendered perspective on the women of the text to assert that these women desired a voice and were crusaders for the human attribute of “happiness.” In this sense, Annette was revealing a ‘collective memory’ which she distinguishes on the basis of her having a “Western thought process,” unlike “indigenous” women who probably felt the need to voice things but did not, due to their culture. Although there is a pronounced sense of assumption and essentialism with respect to Annette’s contentions here, what is most revealing was her deconstruction of this “Western thought process,” which she asserted was not a blind adherence to Western ideals but the “ability to pick and choose what’s best from your culture and the culture of others.” Accordingly, Annette’s presentation offered a pronounced critique of African womanhood/femaleness in the sense that African women should have a voice but should not use that voice…..or “become so feminist that they ruin their household.” Indeed, this testimony, whether right or wrong, emanated specifically from Annette’s historical consciousness. Moreover, it revealed how the course material was made meaningful with respect to Annette’s identity politics in such a way that she interpreted the material, and re-presented it as an “African feminist discourse” that was grounded in the notion of lifting up women with the aim of stabilizing the black family. This unity between the cause of female liberation and race uplift, exemplifies the tradition established by free African pioneer, Maria Stewart on

315

through the contemporary paradigms of Black Feminists and Endarkened Feminist

Epistemology.495

Debbie, the only white female student who presented an essay on this text, provided an analyses of the text from a conventional Western/Euro-centric standpoint.

She accordingly offered a critique of polygamy without reference to any of the course themes or consideration of alternative world views and/or cultural relativism. However, when I interrogated her views of polygamy, she stated she was critiquing “the way it was practiced” in the text rather than “the institution itself.” Even though she did not want to appear to make a condemnation of an African cultural institutions, she in essence maintained an allegiance to a Western ethos that reduced polygamy to “acts of betray and/or institution that fostered jealousy and envy,” onto all African women as she stated, “it would produce problems for all involved.” It was only when I asked her to reflect on the institution of marriage itself that Debbie began to view this institution from the standpoint of a political, economic and social agency that was designed to establish a “legacy.” Still, it was Annette’s comment regarding the political and economic motives of white ‘feminists’ coming to Africa that ultimately prompted

Debbie to reveal that she was failing to acknowledge the Western ideological prism that she was utilizing in her assessment of the institution of polygamy. Annette’s engagement with Debbie not only exemplifies the notion of indigenization as noted

495 See Collins (1990); Tyson (1998); Dillard (2000, 2003). 316

above, but also reveals an organic and reciprocal learning process among and between students. In sum, these oral presentations and dialogue between Annette and Debbie reveal a critique of customs they perceived as impeding or silencing women’s’ voice.

Moreover, they demonstrate these students’ identification with and concern for African women collectively. Thus, a sense of educational agency was being realized within the classroom as these students re-presented the curriculum from the standpoint of their identity politics beyond the classroom. This dynamic along with the fact that students engaged in social commentary for African women collectively, significantly resonates with the paradigm of Endarkened Feminist Epistemology.496

Maria’s presentation was perhaps the most integrated of the course material with regards to Ba’s text. She demonstrated a historiographical and intellectual

(de)construction in that she did not buy into the Western hegemonic view that ‘othered’

African women and their practices, as revealed through her statement of “these are things we all go through.” Moreover, Maria re-presented the oral dynamics on which the text’s relationships are based on through her own experiential lens to establish a pronouncement of ‘sisterhood.’ This was revealed as Maria stated, “Yes, you can see how these women shared their past experiences as women to make sense out of what they are going through now…and that’s exactly how we all figure out who your sisters really are.” This statement further revealed how Maria not only has an academic

496 Ibid.; Carjuzaa and Ruff (2010). 317

knowledge of ‘oral tradition’ but an experiential knowledge of this dynamic which involves how the past may be used to service, or empower the present.497 Moreover,

Maria’s initial statement that “these are things we all go through,” further reveals an ethos in which she is identifying with women collectively and is therefore offering an organic, or embedded perspective of such issues that these women in the text are facing.

In sum, Maria’s achievement of educational agency is distinguished by her organic intellectualism, in that she utilized her own historicity to establish meaning from the course’s material and then used the course materials to reflect back onto her lived experiences.

Marcus was the only African American male to present on this text and it is significant that he went last. This is most likely due to the fact that this text was focused on the experiences of African women, and he decided to allow the “ladies to go first.” However, Marcus utilized this presentation as an opportunity to focus not just on what was going on in the text but like Maria, to relate it to other course materials in order to focus on African men in general and African American males in particular, specifically focusing on the dynamic of ‘cultural displacement.’ Of interest is the fact that Marcus’ presentation was probably the least in need of my interrogation to flesh out griotic nuances. This is because Marcus’ oral presentation constituted an organic commentary informed via course material on contemporary African American males. In

497 As revealed in this studies oral historical basis of griotic methodology, see Wiredu (1996) and (1980). 318

view of this, Marcus drew parallels between African Americans males and continental

African males who were the indigenous “providers and protectors,” but were now disempowering their own people in the name of ‘tradition’ “due to colonialism and

Westernization.” In short, Marcus’ textual performances revealed an underlying

African epistemology in which he engaged literary material from a lived experience in which his ‘present engaged the past’ and the ‘past was intellectually engaged to service the present.’ Because Marcus’ entire presentation contextualized and critiqued the state of African males in general and African American males in particular, this presentation demonstrated a pronounced sense of embeddedness, or organic intellectualism and interdisciplinarity within his discourse. The fact that he was able to take fragments from other sources such as Black Skin White Masks, Sundiata, and course lecture notes to make a coherent narrative that critiqued a contemporary problem specifically related to

African American males reveals an overt manifestation of historiographical intellectual deconstruction and construction. These above elements accordingly distinguished how

Marcus’ achieved a sense of educational agency in that they culminated in an pronounced collectivist ethos that he used to re-presented Ba’s text as a prism to critique African American males who were (not) “keeping it real.” In sum, Marcus’ textual presentation was emblematic of how the griotic methodology as pedagogy prompts students to claim ownership over the curriculum from the standpoint of their

319

identity politics in a manner that prompts a critical view of reality within and beyond the classroom.498

Griotic methodology as pedagogy: practices and principles. This component of my study assesses how I applied the griotic methodology as pedagogy in the post-secondary classroom specifically to prompt students’ educational agency. Like the early free

Africans who utilized historiography as a praxis to empower their identity politics within a European American dominant society, this pedagogy prompts students to claim ownership of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their respective racial, cultural, religious and gender based backgrounds that are often ‘marginalized’ or displaced by “official” pedagogy and curriculum within conventional U.S. classrooms.499 Because it ascends from a distinctive African American approach to historiography, this griotic methodology as pedagogy is specifically targeted to African and African American students. With this in mind, this griotic methodology as pedagogy demonstrates the need for further educational that takes into consideration the importance of alternative epistemologies and cultural intelligences in teacher training, as well as curriculum and pedagogy development.

Accordingly, there are a number of important principles and practices that I have found to be key in the effectiveness of griotic methodology as an ‘agency based’

498 This represents Agosto (2009) concept of “intratextureality” as well as Freire’s (1990) ‘education for critical consciousness.’ 499 This notion of ‘official’ discourse/curriculum is borrowed from Apple (2000). The notion of conventional classrooms in which banking education occurs emanates from Freire (1970). 320

pedagogy. The first emanates from the underlying current of griotic realm one, an

African epistemological view of history/reality in which there is unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the present and past, and furthermore an acknowledgement of history and knowledge being produced in context or service to the present. Pedagogically, this may involve the educator maintaining a conscientiousness of his/her own intellectual and experiential subjectivities. As ‘griotic’ educators, we must be aware of the fact that we possess an ethos (self and world view) that is defined by our racially and/or culturally constructed realms of knowledge and experiences with others. We must therefore maintain a cognizance and a sense of reflexivity of our ethos (along with our respective biases and subjectivities) as we interact with students in order for students to engage in learning from the standpoint and in service to their own identity politics.500

As noted above, taking time to reflect on and share one’s intellectual autobiography with students is a very effective exercise in which the educator may maintain conscientiousness of how his/her ‘present is contextualized by his/her past.’ (realm one)

Moreover, being ‘transparent’ with oneself and in fact sharing intellectual/ autobiographical dynamics is necessary to promote a sense of relatability, comfortability, an overall ‘context of intimacy’ and ‘intimacy of context,’501 and what relates to griotic realm five, a sense of organic intellectualism. This latter element involves the establishment of a good rapport and interpersonal connection between the

500 For this concept of reflexivity, see Glesne (2006). 501 Errante (2001) 321

educator and students. With respect to these dynamics, I would also add that using humor goes a long way because it contributes to a much more relaxed atmosphere within the classroom.

Second, educators must be familiar with or at least receptive to the cultural, racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds of the students they are engaging.502

Not only does this build upon the griotic realms of African epistemology (realm one) and organic intellectualism (realm five) where the instructor integrates his autobiographical dynamics into the pedagogy, this involves a holistic or interdisciplinarity (realm six) in which the classroom itself is projected as an extension of students’ lived experiences. The more the educator learns about or at least projects interest in the background and/or cultural ‘baggage’ students bring, the easier it is to query students’ views of self, interpret curriculum to students through language they comprehend, and facilitate students’ engagement of curriculum in a manner that is meaningful to their everyday lives. This further involves griotic realm four, Pan-

Africanism. However, this griotic context of Pan-Africanism here involves the educator being receptive to students’ cultural ways of expression in order to access their respective ‘collective memories.’ As such cultural, religious, and/or experiential ‘ways of knowing’ and ‘being’ are shared among and between students, students may realize an awareness of their own ethos as only a part of a underlying African / human

502 See how this resonates with Murrell (2002); Schiele (1994) and other Afro-centric scholarship.

322

commonality. I must again stress that to facilitate such an organic, interdisciplinary and

Pan-Africanist (humanist) context within the classroom, the educator must at least demonstrate a familiarity or interest in all students’ backgrounds. Although, it is impossible for an instructor to develop an expertise in all respective backgrounds, an instructor must at least stay abreast of the common cultural views and/or popular colloquialisms that are utilized by students that they are engaging. Moreover, students’ initial introductions/oral histories and establishment of individualized goals for the course may go a long way with respect to assisting the instructor to initiate such a culturally receptive context within the classroom.

The third griotic practice involves the educator consistently affirming students’ respective contributions within the classroom. As long as there is no disrespect from, among and between students, the educator should always acknowledge the fact that students are contributing something to the class as a potentially ‘good thing.’ Here, the educator must remember to always begin a lesson on the basis of how students comprehend it, rather than what the educator’s expectations for students comprehension may be. In addition to all the above griotic realms, this practice further involves realm one, critical historiography as divergent perspectives may be acknowledged, encouraged and empowered within the classroom. Moreover, by constantly affirming students’ contributions which may often be culturally, socially, religiously and racially

323

divergent discourses, students are encouraged to acknowledge intelligences beyond their own, engage each other and expand upon their own knowledge.

The fourth practice which represents a physical manifestation of griotic methodology, involves the educator encouraging students to sit in a circle or semi-circle where each student can physically (and intellectually) ‘see’ and acknowledge all other classmates. The educator should also be a part of this (semi)circle as this physical positioning within the classroom promotes a sense of cohesion, coherence, belonging and/or organic intellectualism (realm five) among and between students and instructor.

From a symbolic standpoint, students within such an arrangement are a part of a dynamic circle of learning, in which they are drawing from their intellectual and experiential autobiographies to engage each other in reciprocal learning (realm one).

The fifth griotic practice which intersects with this notion of reciprocal learning involves the instructor redistributing his/her ‘teacher’ authority within the classroom.503

By this, I am referring to the deconstruction of the ‘hierarchy’ within the conventional classroom in which the teacher is viewed as the embodiment of knowledge while the students are considered empty vessels awaiting instruction. 504 Conversely, as an extension of the instructor’s intellectual autobiography and organic intellectualism, he/ she should state outright that the classroom is a reciprocal learning environment, in

503 This notion of redistributing power was borrowed from research on life histories offered by Miescher (2001). Also see Freire (1970) for this notion in which teachers must learn and students must teach. 504 This view of the conventional classroom resonates with the notion of banking education according to Freire’s (1970). 324

which the instructor is learning from the students based on their engagement of curriculum to improve upon teaching, learning and curriculum development.

Sixth, the instructor should encourage students toward ‘intratextureality’ in which students are encouraged to relate curriculum to their lives beyond the classroom.505 As students relate curriculum to their lives or determine how it can be useful to their lives, the discourse that results will most often involve students’ re- presentation of curriculum through a distinctive intellectual and experiential prism. This process in which the literary or historical past is merged with the contemporary present speaks directly to the underlying current of African epistemology (realm one) with respect to griotic methodology. Furthermore, as students relate to and re-present the material from the standpoint of their everyday real world experiences, student to student engagement or organic intellectualism (realm five) often ensues. This was particularly evident above as students often reacted to and/or provided commentary and criticism to other students’ discourse on course materials. This student to student engagement is key here as it facilitates a student-centered classroom as well as reciprocal learning among and between students.

The seventh and final griotic principle I am highlighting draws from realm two,

‘black consciousness.’ However, rather than promoting a notion of ‘black consciousness’ involving intellectually displacing students, I am suggesting that the

505 Agosto (2009). 325

educator facilitates activities where students’ views are ‘problematized.’ As shown through my action research, I consistently affirmed students’ divergent contributions to class discourse (noted as practice three above), yet at the same time I actively

‘interrogated’ students’ respective views.506 Put another way, as the educator encourages students to ‘voice’ their re-presentations of course material, he /she should query students as to the ‘why’ or ‘substantiation for’ specific contentions, perspectives, analyses, and / or arguments offered with respect to the course material. Such a process which further involves griotic realm seven, critical historiography (intellectualism), establishes the basis for students to engage in ‘intratexturealities,’ as well as reflective and critical thinking that challenges and promotes the expansion of students’ views of self and others. Moreover, as the instructor queries students in such a manner, a model by which students may query themselves and each other is established, which facilitates student to student reciprocal learning.

In closing, griotic methodology as pedagogy was derived from the qualitative and historiographical assessment of a distinctive epistemological approach to historical production that was by and for antebellum African Americans. It therefore targets and seeks to counter some of the academic displacement that African Americans experience within the classroom. However, such an epistemological approach through which Africa content is engaged may also provide a framework for other students in general who may

506 This notion of ‘interrogation’ is a key feature of Agosto (2009) work on freedom schools. 326

be experiencing academic underachievement to realize a sense of educational agency that empowers their identity politics. In view of this, the griotic methodology may serve as a model for educational inquiry into alternative cultural and racial epistemologies and intelligences. Accordingly, other pedagogical models can be developed that acknowledge and empower students within the classroom on the basis of their identity politics. As shown through the above stages of my griotic methodology as pedagogy, students within this Africa content course were afforded the intellectual space to define themselves to the class, establish individual goals for the course, claim ownership of course materials from the standpoint of their intellectual and experiential vantage points, engage in reciprocal learning and/or experience a sense of intratextureality- all in a racially, culturally and religiously distinctive manner. And, because the course itself is ‘Africa’ centered (realm three) which, from a historical and educational standpoint has been othered, marginalized and subjected to stereotypes, students’ engagement of curriculum necessarily prompts critical discourse among and between students in such a manner that their views of self and the ‘other’ are challenged and even expanded. Certainly, this griotic methodology as pedagogy addresses only a fragment of the systemic inequities that plague American educational institutions. (as noted above) However, by demonstrating how this distinctive epistemology approach from the African American experience stresses the importance of students’ identity

327

politics within an educational setting, we are prompted toward further research which may educate the system on how to best educate our increasingly diverse student body.

328

Conclusion.

As I operate as an African American griot, I am faced with prevailing scholarship on the historical and educational experiences of African Americans that others, marginalizes or assesses this particular group as ‘deviant,’ deficit and / or ‘at- risk.’ Such discourses promote a Western intellectual hegemony which fails to center

African Americans as active agents within their own endeavors. Conversely, I seek to establish an endogenous scholarly prism that is by and for African Americans that may serve as a vanguard to raise critical approaches by which research and praxis is organically connected and in service to those that are being researched. Through this study, “Towards a ‘groitic’ methodology,” I acknowledge such an African American epistemological approach that ascends from a West African oral basis of historicity.

This approach involves a unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the realms of the present and the past, that was initially employed by Africans as they were displaced by

Atlantic slavery. Accordingly, these Africans drew from this distinctive epistemology to orally propagate manifestations of Africanity as a mode of active resistance against

European American oppression. As literacy was attained by free Africans throughout the Anglo-speaking world and the antebellum U.S. North in particular, this underlying methodology would in effect, culminate in the public addresses, or textual performances of such free Africans as Olaudah Equiano, John Marrant, Peter Williams Jr., William

Hamilton, Jacob Oson, David Walker, and Maria W. Stewart. The griotic methodology

329

that these intellectuals employed within these addresses thus constituted historiographical discourses that would appropriate, counter and/or transcend prevailing discussions emanating from the European Enlightenment, American Revolutionary era,

Anglo-Protestantism, and/or Victorian era ideals to engage in a liberatory praxis. In light of this, this study highlights how free Africans employed this distinctive griotic methodology to empower their identity politics by historiographically vindicating ‘the race’ and promoting liberatory political agendas.

As we turn to the educational status of African Americans in general, and

African American males in particular, we find a pronounced academic displacement in which this particular group disproportionately underachieves across all levels.507 The

Euro-centric pedagogical and curricular dynamics that give shape to the classrooms in which African Americans now find themselves displaced thus mirrors the historiographical and political displacement experienced by the free Africans in the antebellum North. The griotic methodology as employed by free Africans in the antebellum North to empower their respective identity politics therefore poses critical nuances for pedagogy within the post-secondary classroom. This study argues that applying ‘griotic’ methodology as pedagogy can prompt a sense of academic agency to counter the displacement now experienced by African American students and further

507 For elaboration on these dynamics, see Erik (2006); Garibaldi (2007); and Toldson et al (2009). Also see Shockley (2007) and Reynolds (2010) respectively contend that African Americans experience “cultural mismatch” or “disconnect” which manifests academic underachievement. 330

pose insights into the importance of identity politics within the classroom for other marginalized students as well.

My study accordingly employs qualitative and historiographical analyses to discern seven realms of griotic methodology: 1.) a West African view (epistemology) of history which involves unity, interplay and/or dialogue between the past and the present; 2.) a pronounced sense of black consciousness that emanates from intellectual, historical, cultural and/or racial displacement within American society; 3.) a commitment to Africa as the metaphorical source of one’s racial heritage and by extension, the source of human origins (African-centeredism); 4.) a Pan-Africanist / collectivist ethos whereby a collective memory along with an identification and commitment to African people and/or humanity is manifest. 5.) a sense of organic intellectualism in which scholarship is embedded in lived experiences, i.e. a merger between scholarship and activism; 6.) an interdisciplinarity in which African history and/or knowledge is produced by bridging and even transcending the academic disciplines; and 7.) critical intellectualism/African historiography in which a simultaneous deconstruction of Euro-centric (anti-African) discourses and construction of vindicationist/contributionist African-centered discourses occurs. It is important to note here however that these elements of the griotic methodology are not static, compartmentalized or arranged in a linear fashion. Rather the griotic methodology is conceptualized as a processual continuum through which realms two through seven

331

ascend from and are made coherent via realm one, the African epistemology in which there is a unified interplay between the present and the past.

As these ‘realms of griotic methodology’ are revealed, I subsequently use this prism to trace and assess the ascension of griotic methodology from its West African oral/performance basis of historicity on through the textual productions of sermons, appeals, petitions, and lectures of the above free Africans in the antebellum North from late 18th to early 19th centuries. Because such a distinctive epistemological approach was effectively used as a historical liberatory praxis for displaced Africans persons within a hegemonic environment, critical pedagogical implications with respect to identity politics may be elucidated for other students who are displaced or academically underachieving within the post-secondary classroom. The final component of my study therefore involved a participant observational study in which I applied griotic methodology as pedagogy within a humanities course I teach, called “Introduction to

African Studies” via three stages. In final assessment of this action research, seven principles and practices for instructors are revealed that may prompt student educational agency in accordance with the realms of griotic methodology as elucidated above: 1) establish instructor transparency via intellectual autobiography; 2.) become familiar or open to divergent cultural intelligences / epistemologies; 3.) constantly affirm all students’ contributions; 4.) encourage (semi)circle seating arrangement for class; 5.) encourage reciprocal, student to student learning; 6.) facilitate and affirm

332

‘intratextureality’ as students establish real world meaning / significance in curriculum; and 7.) promote on-going interrogation of student discourses with aim of challenging and expanding students’ views.

Certainly, ‘Africa’ related discourse is the central component of this study and

African Americans were the target group. 508 And yet, this application of griotic methodology as pedagogy poses a critical ‘agency based’ model that challenges the

‘objectivity’ of banking education and/or assessment driven curriculum, where many students across race, culture, ethnicity and/or gender may experience othering and displacement via ‘official knowledge’ and/or Western intellectual hegemony.509

Through this griotic study, it is therefore hoped that the insights gained into identity politics and educational ‘agency’ may prompt further calls for a restructuring of the educational experiences of students across American classrooms.

508 The fact that most non-blacks and many blacks themselves may not identify with ‘Africa’ even though humanity is indigenously African demonstrates an embedded othered / dichotomous ethos (self and world view). See MacGaffey (2005) for elaboration on this intellectual dynamic. Such a dichotomous based ethos is obvious a product of ‘official knowledge’ as discussed by Apple (2000). 509 Freire (1970); Apple (2000). 333

References

Oral Histories / Interviews / Action Research

A.L. 2011.“Oral history facilitated by Abu J. Toure,” February 7.

G.B. 2011. “Oral History facilitated by Abu J. Toure,” February 9.

K.O. 2011. “Oral History facilitated by Abu J. Toure,” February 12.

M.W. 2011. “Oral History facilitated by Abu J. Toure,” January 30.

Toure, Abu J. 2011. “Griotic Methodology as Pedagogy: Action Research in Three Stages.” Spring Quarter.

Toure, Abu. 2010. Intellectual Autobiography of Abu J. Toure,” The Ohio State University, December .

Primary Textual Sources.

Allen, Richard and Absalom Jones. 1794. “An Address To Those Who Keep Slaves and Approve The Practice.” http://www. milestonedocuments.com/ documents/ view/ richard-allen-an-address-to-those-who-keep-slaves-and-approve-the- practice/text

------.1793/1969. A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, during the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793: And a Refutation of Some Censures, Thrown upon Them in Some Late Publications. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times.

“Constitution of the Afric-American Female Intelligence society.” 2003. http://www.irw.rutgers.edu/research/ugresearch/organize/afriaamerican.html.

Cowper, William. 1788. “Pity for Poor Africans.” http://www.yale.edu/glc/aces/cowper.html.

------. 1788. “The Negro’s Complaint. http://www.geneseo.edu/~easton/engl313/CowperNC.html

334

Cuffe, Paul. 1812. A Brief Account of the Settlement and Present Situation of the Colony of Sierra Leone, In Africa. New York: Samuel Wood.

Equiano, Olaudah. 1789/2001. Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African (London), Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina.

Hall, Prince. 1792. “A Charge Delivered to the Brethren of the African Lodge.” In Phillip S. Foner and Robert James Branham, eds. 1998. Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. 38-44.

Hamilton, William. 1815. “An Oration, on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Delivered in the Episcopal Ashbury African Church, in Elizabeth St., New York.

------. 1809. “Mutual Interest, Mutual Benefit, Mutual Relief.” In Phillip S. Foner and Robert James Branham, eds. 1998. Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

------.1815. “O’Africa.” In eds. Phillip S. Foner and Robert James Branham, 1998. Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 91-97.

Hammon, Jupiter. 1778. “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley, Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, who came from Africa at eight years of age, and soon became acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu /xtf/view? docId = chad wyck

------. 1786. “An Address to the Negroes of New York State.” In Afro American Philosophies, Selected Readings, From Jupiter Hammon to Eugene C. Holmes. Ed., Percy E. Johnson, 1970. Montclair State College Press.

Letters and Documents Relating to Slavery in Massachusetts, MHS Colls. 5th Ser., III (1877: 401-402).

Marrant, John. 1789. “You Stand on the Level with the Greatest Kings on Earth.” In Phillip S. Foner and Robert James Branham, eds. 1998. Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1910. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 27-37.

335

Oson, Jacob. 1817. “A Search for Truth; or, An Inquiry for the Origins of the African Nation: AnAddress, Delivered at New Haven in March, and at New York in April 1817.” Web supplement for Steven G. Hall, A Search for Truth; Jacob Oson and the Beginnings of African American Historical Textual Discourse http://oieahc.wm.edu/wmq/Jan07/Hall.pdf

Stewart, Maria W. 1833. “An Address Delivered at the African Masonic Hall. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/stewartmason.html

------. 1833. “Farewell Address.” http://www1.assumption.edu/users/ mcclymer /His130/PH/Grimke/StewartFarewellAddress.html

------.1831. “Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, The Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build.” In Dorthy Porter, ed. 1995. Early Negro Writing: 1760- 1837. Baltimore. MD: Black Classic Press, 460-471.

Walker, David. 1830. “David Walker’s Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of The United States of America.” The Journal of Pan- African Studies 2009 ebook. http://www.jpanafrican.com/ebooks

Wheatley, Phillis. 1778. “On Being Brought from Africa to America.” http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Wheatley/brought.html

Williams, Peter. 1808. “An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Delivered in the African Church, in the City of New York.” In Phillip S. Foner and Robert James Branham, eds. 1998. Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787- 1900. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 66-72.

Secondary Textual Sources.

Adejunmobi, Moradewun. 1999. "Routes: Language and the Identity of African Literature." The Journal of Modern African Studies. Vol. 37, Issue 4, Dec., 581- 596.

Adelake, Tunde. 1998. UnAfrican Americans: Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalists and the Civilizing Mission. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

Agosto, Vonzell. 2008. Intratexturealities: The Poetics of the Freedom Schools. The Journal of Negro Education Vol. 77. No. 2, Spring, 168-179

336

Akom, Antwi A. 2009. “Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy as a Form of Liberatory Praxis. Equity Excellence in Education. Vol. 42. No. 1, 52-66.

------. 2003. ‘‘Reexamining Resistance as Oppositional Behavior: The Nation of Islam and the Creation of a Black Achievement Ideology.’’ Sociology of Education. Vol. 76. No. 4, 305–325

Alexander, Leslie M. 2008. African or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1787-1861. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Ani, Marimba. 1994. Yurugu: An African-centered critique of European cultural thought and behavior. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Apple, Michael. 1999. The Absent Presence of Race in Education Reform. Race, Ethnicity and Education. Vol. 2, 9-16.

------. 2000. Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age. New York: Routledge.

Aptheker, Herbert. 1965. “One Continual Cry” David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizen of the World (1829-1830): Its Setting, its Meaning. New York: Humanities Press.

Asante, M. K. 1988. Afrocentricity, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Inc.

------. 1987. The Afrocentric Idea. Utah: Temple University Press.

------. 1990. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge. Trenton: Africa World Press.

Austin, Allan D. 1997. African Muslims in Antebellum America: TransAtlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles. New York: Routledge.

Babou, Cheikh Anta. 2007. Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.

Bacon, Jacqueline. 2007. The First African-American Newspaper: Freedom’s Journal Lexington Books.

337

Baldwin, J. 1981. “Notes on a Africentric theory of Black Personality.” Western Journal of Black Studies.5/4, 172-179.

Bauer, Michelle. 2000. “Implimenting a Liberatory Feminist Pedagogy: bell hooks’ Strategies for Transforming the Classroom,” MELUS, vol. 25, No. ¾, Fall/Winter.

Bercovitch, Sacvan. 1978. The American Jeremiad. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Biko, Steve. 2002. “The Definition of Black Consciousness.” In ed. C.R. Aelred Stubbs, I Write What I Like: Selected Writings. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press/

Bilby, Kenneth M. and Jerome Handler. 2004. “Obeah: Healing and Protection in West Slave Life,” The Journal of Caribbean History, 38, 2, 152-183.

Best, J.W. and J.V. Kahn. (1998). Research in Education. (8th ed.) Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Boahen, A. Adu. 1985. “New Trends and Processes in Africa,” General History of Africa, VI. Berkeley: UNESCO, 46-51.

Bradley, Michael. 1991. Ice Man Inheritance: Prehistoric Sources of Western Man’s Racism, Sexism and Aggression. Kayode Publications.

Brandon, George. 1993. Santeria from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press

Brizuela-Garcia, Esperanza. 2006. “The History of Africanization and the Africanization of History,” History in Africa. 22, 85-100.

Browder, Anthony T. 1992. Nile Valley Contribution to Western Civilization: Exploding the Myths. Vol. I. LUB.

Brown, Vincent. 2008. The Reaper’s Garden. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Byrd, Alexander X. 2006. “Eboe Country, Nation and Gustavus Vassa’s Interesting Narrative,” William and Mary Quarterly, 63, 123-148.

338

Calhoun, E. F. 1994. How to use action research in the self renewing school. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Camaroff, Jean and John L. Camaroff. 1991. Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness. Vol. I. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Carjuzaa, Jioanna and William G. Ruff. 2010. “When Western Epistemology and an Indigenous World View Meet: Cultural responsive assessment in Practice” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.Vol. 10, No. 1, January, 68-79.

Carmichael, Stokeley. 2003. Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokeley Carmichael (Kwame Ture). Schribner

Caron, Peter. 1997. “Of a Nation Which Others Do Not Understand”: Bambara Slaves and African Ethnicity in Colonial Louisiana, 1718-1760,” in David Eltis, ed., Routes to Slavery: Direction, Ethnicity, and Mortality in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. London, England: Frank Cass.

Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2000. Provincializing Europe: Post-Colonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Chambers, Douglas. 2005. Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.

Chirenje, Muttero. 1987. Ethiopianism and Afro-Americans in Southern Africa, 1883- 1916. Baton Rouge, LO: Louisiana State University Press.

Cinnamon, John M. 2006. “Missionary Expertise, Social Science, And The Uses Of Ethnographic Knowledge In Colonial Gabon.” History in Africa. Vol. 33, 413- 432.

Clarke, John Henrik. 1980. “African-American Historians and the Reclaiming of African History,” Journal of African Studies, VII, 2, Washington, D.C.: Heldref Publications, 91-9.

339

------. 1976. “The African Heritage Studies Association (AHSA): Some Notes on the Conflict with the African Studies Association (ASA) and Fight to Reclaim African History.” Issue: A Journal of Africanist Opinion.6, 2-3, Summer-Fall, 5-11.

Cohen, C. 1989. “The Undefining of Oral Tradition,” Ethnohistory, 36, 9-18.

Collins, Patricia Hill. 1990. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and Politics of Empowerment.New York: Routledge.

Cone, James. 1970/1990. A Black Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.

Cutajar, Josann. 2008 “Knowledge and Post-Colonial Pedagogy,” Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 13. No. 2, 27-47.

Daget, S. 1985. “The Abolition of the Slave Trade,” General History of Africa, VI. Berkeley: UNESCO.

Delgado, R and J. Stefancic. Eds. 2001. Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University.

Dillard, Cynthia, Daa’iya Abdur –Rashid and Cynthia A. Tyson. 1990. “My Soul is A Witness: Affirming Pedagogies of the Spirit.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Vol. 13, No. 5, 447-462.

Dillard, Cynthia. 2000. “The Substance of Things Hoped For, the evidence of things not see: Examining an Endarkened Feminist Epistemology in Cultural Engaged Research” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Vol. 13, No. 6, 661-81.

------. 2006. “When the music changes, so should the dance: cultural and spiritual considerations in paradigm ‘proliferation’” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Vol. 19, No. 1, January-February, 59-76.

Diouf, Sylviane A. 1998. Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. New York: New York University.

Drake, St. Clair. 1991. Black Folk, Here and There: An Essay in History and Anthropology. University Of California Press.

340

Du Bois, W.E.B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg and Company.

Dunn, Richard S. 1972. Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Ellis, A.B. 1890. The Ewe –Speaking People of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages. London, England.

Enslin, Penny and Mary Tjiattas. 2009. “Philosophy of Education and the Gigantic Affront of Universalism” Journal of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.

Erik, E. 2006. “Plight Deepens for Black Men, studies warn.” http:nytimes.com/2006/03/20/national/20blackmen.html

Ernest, John. 2004. Liberation Historiography: African American Writers and the Challenge of History, 1794-1861. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Errante’, Antoinette. 2001. “But Sometimes You’re Not Part of the Story: Oral History and Ways of Remembering and Telling.” Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 2, 16-27.

Ewald, Janet. 1988. “Speaking, Writing and Authority: Explorations in and from the Kingdom of Taqali,” Comparative Studies in Society and History. 30, 2, April, 199-224.

Fanning, Sara C. 2007. “The Roots of Early Black Nationalism: Northern African Americans’ invocations of Haiti in the early 18th Century,” Slavery and Abolition, 28/1. April, 61-85.

Fisher, Maisha T. 2008. Black Literate Lives: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. New York: Routledge.

Foner, Phillip. 1976. Blacks in the American Revolution. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

Foner, Phillip S. and Robert James Branham. 1998. Lift Every Voice and Sing: African American Oratory, 1787-1901. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

341

Franklin, V.P. and Bettye Collier-Thomas. 2002. “Biography, Race Vindication and African-American Intellectuals,” The Journal of African- American History. Vol. 87, Winter, 1-16.

Frazier, E. Franklin. 1949. The Negro in the United States. New York: Macmillan Co.

Freire, Paulo. 1992. Education for Critical Consciousness. New York, NY: Continuum International, Inc.

------. 1970/2006. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, N.Y.: Continuum International, Inc.

Freierman, Steven. 1993. “African Histories and the Dissolution of World History.” In eds. Robert H.Bates, V.Y. Mudimbe, and Jean O’Barr. Africa and the Disciplines: The Contributions of Research in Africa to the Social Sciences and Humanities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Gaines, Kevin K. 1996. Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics and Culture in the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of Chapel Hill Press.

Garibaldi, Antoine M. 2007. “The Educational Status of African American Males in the 21st Century” The Journal of Negro Education. Vol. 76, No. 3, Summer, 324- 333, 522.

Gilroy, Paul. 1993. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Giroux, H. 1997. Pedagogy and the politics of Hope: Theory, Culture and Schooling. Boulder, Co: Westview.

Glesne, Corrine. 2006. Becoming Qualitative Researchers. Boston: Pearson.

Gomez, Michael. 1998. Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South, Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press.

Gordon, Beverly. 1990. “The Necessity of African-American epistemology for Educational Theory and Practice.” Journal of Education, vol. 172, Issue 3.

342

Guinier, Lani and Gerald Torres. 2002. The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. Ed. 1995. Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought. New York, New York: The New York Press.

Hale, Thomas. 1998. Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Hall. Gwendolyn Midlo. 1992. Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge, LO: Louisiana University Press.

Hall, Stephen G. 2009. A Faithful Account of the Race: African American Historical Writing in Nineteenth Century America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of Chapel Hill.

Hall, Stuart. 1990. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” In J. Rutherford (Ed.). Identity: Community, Culture difference, London, UK: Lawrence and Wishart, 222-237.

Harding, Vincent. 1969. “Religion and Resistance Among Antebellum Negroes, 1800- 1860,”in August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, eds., The Making of Black America, vol. 1, New York: Atheneum, 179-97.

Harrell, Willie J., Jr. 2008. “A Call to Political and Social Activism: The Jeremiadic Discourse of Maria Miller Stewart, 1831-1833.” Journal of International Women’s Studies. Vol. 9. #3. May.

Herskovits, Mellville. 1941. The Myth of the Negro Past. Beacon Press (1990 edition)

Hegel, Georg W.F. 1837. The Philosophy of History. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1991 edition.)

Hilliard, Asa III. 2002. African Power: Affirming African Indigenous socialization in the face of the culture wars. Gainesville, FL: Makare.

------. 1997. SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind. Gainesville, FL: Makare.

343

------. 2000. “The State of African Education” American Educational Research Association Plenary Presentation, Commission on Research in Black Education. New Orleans, LA: April.

Howard-Pitney, David. 1993. The Afro-American Jeremiad: Appeals for Justice in America. Temple University Press.

Howell, Martha and Walter Prevenier. 2001. From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods, Cornell University Press. hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge

James, C.L.R. 1989. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Overature and the San Domingo Revolution. NewYork, Vintage Books Edition.

Jansen, Jan. 2000. The Griot’s Craft: An Essay on Oral Tradition and Diplomacy, Research on African Languages and Cultures. No.8. Hamburg: Lit.Verlag

Jewsiewicki, B. and V.Y. Mudimbe. 1993. “Africans’ Memories and Contemporary History of Africa,” History and Theory. Vol. 32. No. 4. History Making in Africa, Dec., 1-11.

Johnson, B. M. 1995. “Why conduct action research?” Teaching and Change, 1, 90- 105, Fall.

Johnson, Sylvestor. 2004. The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth Century American Christianity: Race, Heathens, and the People of God. Macmillan.

Kaschula, Russell. 2001. African Oral Literature: functions in contemporary contexts. Cape Town: South Africa: New Africa Books., Ltd.

Keita. Maghan. 1994. “Deconstructing the Classical Age: Africa and the Unity of the Mediterranean World,” The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 79, No. 2, Spring.

Kemmis, S and R. McTaggart. 1998. The Action Research Planner. Victoria, Australia: Deakin Unversity Press.

Klein, M. 1989. “Studying the History of Those Who Would Rather Forget: Oral History and the Experience of Slavery,” History in Africa, 16, 209-217.

344

Kratz, Corinne. 2001. “Conversations and Lives,” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Kunjufu, Jawanza. 2002. Black Students, Middle Class teachers. African American Images.

Ladson-Billings, G. 1994. The Dreamkeeper: successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Ladson-Billings, G. & William Tate. 1995. “Toward a critical race theory of education.” Teachers College Record., Vol. 97. No. 1, 47–68.

Lamarie-Ortiz, I. 1979. “The Griots of Senegal and Change,” Africa (Rome) Vol. 34. No. 3,1983-97.

Lamelle, Sidney. 1994. “The Politics of Cultural Existence: Pan-Africanism, Historical and Materialism and Afrocentricity.” In ed. Sidney Lamelle and Robin D.G. Kelley Imaginining Home. New York, NY: Verso, 331-350.

Lanning, Michael. 2005. African Americans in the Revolutionary War. New York, NY: Citadel.

Lamontagne, Kori. 2007. “A Study of Black Intellectual and Literary Societies in Antebellum. Boston.”http://www.primaryresearch.org/bh/research /lamontagne/index.php

Lee, C.D. 1994. “African-Centered Pedagogy: complexities and possibilities.” In ed. M.J. Shugaa. Too much schooling, too little education: A paradox of Black Life in White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa Free Press, 295-381.

Lovejoy, Paul. 1994. “Background to Rebellion: The Origins of Muslim Slaves in Bahia,” Slavery and Abolition. 15. 2, 151-180.

Lynch , Hollis. 1966. “Pan-Negro Nationalism in the New World, Before 1862,” Boston University Papers on Africa, II. Boston, Mass.: Boston University Press.

Lynn, Marvin. 2006. “Race, Culture and the Education of African Americans.” Educational Theory. Vol. 56. No. 1, University of Illinois Press.

345

Macgaffey, Wyatt. 2005. “Changing Representations in Central African History,” Journal of African History. Vol. 46. No. 2, 189-207.

Madhubuti, H. and S. Madhubuti. 1991. African Centered Education: Its value, importance and necessity in the development of Black Children. Chicago, IL: World Free Press.

Magaziner, Daniel R. 2007 “Removing the Blinders and Adjusting the View: A Case Study From Early Colonial Sierra Leone,” History in Africa, 34, 169-188.

Mbiti, John S. 1969. African Religions and Philosophy. Johannesburg, South Africa: Heinneman.

McManus, Edward J. 1973. Black Bondage in the North. Syracuse University Press, 13.

McHenry, Elizabeth. 2002. Forgotten Readers. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

McTaggart, R. Ed. 1997. Participatory action research: International contexts and consequences. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Melish, Joanne Pope. 1998. Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and ‘Race’ in New England 1780-1860, Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press, 222-223.

Miescher, Stephen F. 2001. “The Life Histories of Boakye Yiadom (Akasease Kofi of Abetifi, Kwawu): Exploring the Subjectivity and ‘Voices’ Of A Teacher- Catechist inColonial Ghana.” In eds. Luise White,Stephan F. Miescher and David Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History.Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. . Morgan, Jennifer. 2004. Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery, Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press.

Moses, Wilson Jeremiah. 1998. Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History. Cambridge, Oxford University Press.

------. 1996. Classical Black Nationalism: From the American Revolution To Garvey. New York, NY: New York University.

346

------. 1978. The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925, New York: Oxford University Press.

Mudimbe, V.Y. 1994. The Idea of Africa: African Systems of Thought. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.

------. 1988. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Mullins, Gerald. 1974. Flight and Rebellion: Slave Resistance in Eighteenth Century Virginia. New York: Oxford University Press.

------. 1994. Africa in America: Slave Acculturation and Resistance in the American South and the British Caribbean, 1736-1831. Chicago, IL: Unversity of Illinois Press.

Murrell, Peter C. Jr. 2002. African-Centered Pedagogy: Developing Schools of Achievement for African-American Children. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Niani, D.T. 2004. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Longman Africa Writers Series.

Nobles, W. W. 1980. “African Philosophy: Foundations for Black Psychology.” In ed. R. Jones Black Psychology. New York, Harper and Row, 23-35.

Noffke, S.E. and R. B. Stevenson. Eds. 1995. Educational Action Research: Becoming practically critical. New York: Teacher College Press.

Northup, David. 2000. Igbo and Myth Igbo: Culture and Ethnicity in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850,”Slavery and Abolition, 21 1-20.

Novick, Peter. 1988. That Noble Dream: The ‘Objectivity’ Question and the American Historical Profession. Cambridge: Cambride University Press.

Obi, T. J. Desch. 2002. “Combat and the Crossing of the Kalunga: Central Africans and Cultural Transformation in the American Diaspora.” Ed. Linda M. Heywood Cambridge: Cambridge University.

347

------. 2008. Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.

Ogbu, John. 2008. Minority Status, Oppositional Culture and Schooling: Sociocultural, Political and Historical Studies in Education. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ogot, Bethwell. 2001. “The Construction of Luo Identity and History.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher, and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices:Critical Practices in Oral History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Panzacchi, Cornelia. 1994. The Livlihoods of Traditional Griots in Senegal. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. Vol. 64. No. 2, 190-210.

Patterson, Orlando. 1971. “Rethinking Black History,” Harvard Educational Review. 41.August.

Phillips, John, ed. 2005. Writing African History. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press.

Pierre, Martin R., James R. Mahalik and Malcolm H. Woodland. 2002. “The Effects of Racism, African Self Consciousness and Psychological Functioning on Black Masculinity: A Historical and Social Adaptation Framework. Journal of African American Men. Vol. 6, No. 2, February.

Powers, Jeanne M. 2007. “The Relevance of Critical Race Theory to Educational Theory and Practice.” Journal of Philosophy of Education. Vol. 41. No. 1.

Quarles, Benjamin. 1969. Black Abolitionists. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

------. 1961. The Negro in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Universityof North Carolina.

Raboteau, Albert J. 1978. Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South.New York: Oxford University Press.

348

Rael, Patrick. 2002. Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North. Chapel Hill: NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Reynolds, Rema. 2010. “They Think You’re Lazy,” and Other messages Black Parents Send Their Black Sons: An Exploration of Critical Race Theory in the Examination of Educational Outcomes forBlack Males.” Journal of African American Males in Education. April/May. Vol. 1, No. 2

Richardson, Dave. 1989. “Slave Exports from West and West-Central Africa, 1700- 1810: New Estimates of Volume and Distribution,” Journal of African History. Vol 30. No 13.

Richadson, Elaine B. 2002. African Americans Literacies. New York: Routledge.

Richardson, Marilyn. 1987. Maria W. Stewart: America’s First Black Woman Political Writer. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Roberts, Richard. 1990. “Reversible Social Processes, Historical Memory, and the Production of History,” History in Africa, 17, 341-9.

Rodriguez. Louis F. 2008 “‘I’ve Never Heard of the Word Pedagogy Before’: Using Liberatory Pedagogy to Forge Hope for Teachers in Our Nation’s Public Schools” InterActions: UCLA Journal of Educational and Information Studies. Vol. 4. No. 2.

Rucker, Walter. 2001. “I Will Gather All Nations,” Resistance, Culture and Pan- African Collaboration in Denmark Vesey’s South Carolina,” Journal of Negro History, Vol. 86, No. 2, March, 132-147.

Rury, John L. 1983. “The New York African Free School, 1827-1836: Control Over Community Control of Black Education,” Phylon. Vol. 44,187-197.

------. 2005. Social Change: Themes in the History of American Schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

------. 1994. Afrocentricity: Implications for Higher Education. Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2, December, 150- 169.

Said, Edward. 1979. Orientalism. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

349

Schiele, Jerome. "Afrocentricity: Implications for Higher Education." Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 25, Issue, 2, December 1994, 150-169.

Schmidt, Heike. 2007. “The Future of Africa’s Past: Observation on the Discipline.” History in Africa.Vol. 34, 453-460.

Shepperson, George. 1974. “The African-American Contribution to African Studies,” Journal of American Studies. VII, London, England: 281-301.

Shockley, Kmt G. 2007. “Literatures and Definitions: Toward Understanding Africentric Education.” The Journal of Negro Education. Vol. 76. No. 2, Spring, 103-117

Shujaa, Mwalima. 1995. Too much schooling, too little education: a paradox of black life in white societies. Trenton, NJ: Black Classical Press.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.University of Otago Press.

Stuckey, Sterling. 1987. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tamari, Tal. 1995. “The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa.” Conrad and Frank. 1995, 61-85.

Tate, William. 1997. “Critical Race Theory and Education” Review of Research in Education, Vol. 22, 195-247.

Thornton, John. 1992. Africa and Africans in the Formation of the Atlantic World. 1400-1600. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.

Tillman, L.C. 2006. “Researching and Writing from an African-American perspective: Reflective notes on three research studies.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Vol. 19, No. 3, 265-287.

Toldson, Ivory A., Rikesha L. Fry Brown and Ryan M. Sutton. 2009. “Commentary: 75 Years After the Miseducation of the Negro: New Imperatives for the Education of Black Males.” The Journal Of Negro Education. Summer, Vol. 78. No. 3, 195-203.

350

Toldson, Ivory A. 2008. Breaking Barriers: Plotting the path to academic success for school age African-American Males. Washington D.C.: Urban Institute Press.

Tyson, Cynthia and Sung Park. 2006. “From Theory to Practice: Teaching for Social Justice.” Social Studies And the Young Learner. Vol 19, No. 2, Nov-Dec.

Tyson, Cynthia. 1998.”A Response to “Coloring Epistemologies: Are Our Qualitative Research Epistemologies Racially biased?” Educational Researcher, Vol 27, No. 9, December.

Weston, Henry G. Ed. 1996. “Genesis” The Holy Bible: Containing The Old and New Testaments, Authorized King James Version, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

White, Luise, Stephan F. Miescher, and David William Cohen. (2001) African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Wilder, Craig Steven. 2001. In the Company of Black Men: The African Influence on African American Culture in New York City, New York, NY: New York University Press.

Wiredu, K. 1996. Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African perspective. Indianapolis:Indiana University Press.

------. 1980. Philosophy and African Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wiredu, Kwesi. 2009. “An Oral Philosophy of Personhood: Comments on Philosophy and Personhood." Research in African Literatures. Vol. 40, Issue 1, February 6, 8-18.

Williams, Eric. 1994. Capitalism and Slavery, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Williams, William H. 1996. Slavery and Freedom in Delaware, 1639-1865, Wilmington, Del.:Scholarly Resources.

Woodson, Carter G. 1919. The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861, http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~natalieb/The_Education_Of_The_Negro_

351

------. 1933/2000 . Miseducation of the Negro, African-American Images, 2000.

Wrage, Ernest. J. 1947. “Public Address: A Study in Social and Intellectual History.” The Quarterly Journal of Speech. 33, 451-457.

Wright, Handel Kashope. 2002. “Editorial: Notes on the (Im)possibility of Articulating Continental African identity” Critical Arts. Findarticles.com

Zilversmit, Arthur. 1967. The First Emancipation: The Abolition of Slavery in the North. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

352

Appendix A: Intellectual Autobiography

Ethos, Agency and Philosophy of Education: An Intellectual Autobiography of Abu Jaraad Toure.

As an African-American educator interested in African historiography, production of knowledge, and politics of identity, my scholarly pursuits directly relate to principalities that have shaped my ethos. Throughout my professional and personal endeavors, I have sought to delineate, critique and respond to Western hegemony on a macro and micro level within the intellectual and cultural realms of my life. My aim therefore is to progressively establish agency by countering hegemony in the above realms through innovative theoretical, methodological and epistemological considerations. A major avenue in this process is to deconstruct the concepts of ‘Europe,’ or ‘the West’ as educational, political, social and cultural monoliths. Consequently, I ‘decenter’ and ‘decolonize’ the way I see myself and the world from an ‘European’ based prism. (Smith, 1999, Asante, 1989, Bruzuela-Garcia, 2006 ). At the same time, I seek not to engage in a perpetual, on-going critique of my conceptualizations of Western hegemony, or imprison myself within other paradigms such as Africentrism that impede realization of intellectual agency and ethos. Rather, I view agency and ethos as dynamic processes that are organically tied to my philosophy of education; an ongoing scholarly inquiry through which the parameters of knowledge are delineated, challenged and expanded. This intellectual autobiography is therefore a critical examination that chronologically traces key literary, educational/organizational and experiential dynamics that have given shape to my present ideological conceptualizations of ethos and agency. The fact that the intellectual autobiography is generated from the standpoint of my contemporary ideology has further implications. First, a disclaimer on the comprehensiveness of key intellectual entities must be made. Instead, a pronounced ideological selectivity is at play in which the ‘present’ engages in an interpretative analysis of ‘past’ entities in order to clarify, or give meaning to my present theoretical framework. In other words, intellectual entities within this autobiography will be included based on the perceived significance of the author – which is of course shaped via ideology. Second, establishing the original context and/or ‘authenticity’ of past intellectual entities is unattainable. Nonetheless, by acknowledging my contemporary ideology and delineating it through an ‘intellectual inventory,’ opportunities are established to expand ethos, bolster agency and further assist me along my respective educational trajectory. This intellectual autobiography will proceed through assessing intellectual entities in a chronological manner. Accordingly, literary works will be subdivided with respect to college course work or intellectual experiences that they pertain to. Literary works will therefore be presented in the standard format of an annotated literature review. Finally, it should be emphasized again that this intellectual autobiography is in fact selective with respect to the limitations of time and space. Yet it involves a critical process that I shall continue to engage in to further enhance ethos, agency and philosophy of education. INTELLECTUAL BEGINNINGS THROUGH 1977 \**REALM I: BLACKNESS AS ‘OTHER’ Hegel’s dictum in The Philosophy of History that “Africa is no historical part of the world,” best articulated the void in my early sense of identity and intellectual pursuits. Aside from “Tarzan” in Africa on Saturday mornings, I knew absolutely nothing about Africa’s past as well as my own cultural past. My ‘Black’ racial identity was therefore conceived in opposition to ‘White’ - with no definitive sense of cultural or ancestral heritage.

353

**REALM II: HUMANIZING AND/OR AFFIRMING BLACKNESS** Being around a strong musically-oriented family provided opportunities for ‘Black’ awareness that was promoted via Soul music. James Brown’s Say It Loud, Aretha Franklin’s To Be Young, Gifted and Black and O’Jay’s Family Reunion consequently established strong undercurrents of pride and belonging within the Black community. During this time, I was also enrolled in a ‘Black oriented’ Saturday school, Project for Academic Excellence (PAX) , in which I learned the National Black Anthem, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ penned by James Weldon Johnson and other Black American historical facts Still yet, the pride of being Black was ‘ghettoized,’ or ‘minoritized’– always subordinant to, rather than parallel to dominant ‘White’ society. As Roots: The Saga of an American Family was broadcast throughout America in 1977, the first major breakthrough occurred for me. This was the first time I was exposed to the importance of one’s heritage and how it was the core of identity. As Haley’s fictionalized autobiography originated with the proud and resistant “Mandinka” warrior, “Kunta Kinte,” the Hegelian “primitiveness” of Africa was by and large not challenged - though notions of African ‘savagery’ were. Aside from this, the larger significance involved viewing an “American saga” in which the historical experience was centered on Black Americans and their history. The 1978 production of The Wiz starring Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, Michael Jackson and others, also had a profound impact on my pre-adolescent mind. This impact was not based so much on the subject matter of this respective film. Rather, this represented the first time that I viewed Black people on screen not being validated or marginalized by White counterparts. Black people constituted the self evident reality and experience that was viewed as a direct extension of myself, my family and my community. Even though this was a distinctively Black centered film, it countered the ‘ghettoized’ portrayal of Black people by connecting them to ‘universal’ themes. Unfortunately, it would be another 10 years, along with a macro-cultural identity shift in America as ‘Blacks’ became ‘African-American’, before the next major intellectual endeavor would impact my ethos.

**REALM III: BLACK COLLECTIVISM / SOLIDARITY JUNIOR YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL: 1986-1987 The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told To Alex Haley, (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1973), was the first book I read that made me realize the importance of “reading to learn.” It represented a journey of ongoing psycho-political and intellectual transformation geared toward ‘knowledge of self.’ Further, topics that Malcolm X explored including World history, philosophy, political science, religious studies, and Orientalism were presented in a way that directly related to me, as an African-American male. Malcolm’s travels throughout Africa and the Islamic World, and transformation from “Detroit Red” to Nation of Islam’s “Asiatic Black Man” and ultimately “Pan-Africanist Revolutionary” framed a political orientation in my thinking geared toward a racialized conceptualization of African identity. This ‘Malcolm model’ served as the framework for my matriculation within my Undergraduate experience at the The Ohio State University

**REALM VI: LITERARY BLACKNESS VIA ACADEME** UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AUTUMN 1988 The first Black studies course that I took in college was Black Studies 154 -“Introduction to Black Literature.” This course exposed me to various genres emanating from the Black experience. The first text I recall from this course was Gustavus Vassa’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African. (1789), which was the first autobiography written by a former enslaved African. This was truly an eye opener in that it provided me with the first look into African agency in slavery. Next, was Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery, (Dover Publications,

354

1995), which was the first American slave narrative I read. It highlighted Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” and Industrial Education in contrast to DuBois’ talented tenth / liberal arts philosophy. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls Of Black Folk. (New York, NY: The New American Library, 1969), was probably the most intriguing text that I engaged this quarter in that I was introduced to the construct of “double consciousness” – the dilemma of unreconciled strivings in one “dark body.” There was also Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940) which was a most powerful ‘classic’ text that highlighted Black self hatred, fear, and rage that gave way to self-destruction. And, finally there was Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man (1952) which took me on a journey of self reflection regarding pre-conceived notions of Black masculinity, marginality and invisibility. This constituted the basis of my entry into self discovery via Black studies at The Ohio State University. WINTER 1989 I began the study of the East African language of Kiswahili, and this would continue for 3 consecutive quarters. Though my first quarter was taught by a German Professor, the subsequent quarters were taught by Kenyan and Tanzanian graduate experiences. This was my first window into Africa as I was exposed to indigenous culture through language and was able to network with other African- American undergraduate students who had an interest in Africa. The principle course I took this quarter was Black Studies 101 – “Introduction to Black Studies” which was a scholarly study of the Black experience from the 15th century to the present. Its emphases was on “patterns of resistance, adaptation and cultural diversity.” There were two principle history texts that I recall. They were Leronne Benette’s Before The Mayflower: A History of Black America (1982) and John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom: A History Of Negro Americans (1988). Together, they provided a comprehensive overview of the African- American experience from African origins, through the founding of America, up through the 1960s. Together, these texts served as good reference sources for my continued study of African-American history. AUTUMN 1989 The International Studies 250 – “Introduction to Africa,” course was an interdepartmental survey course that exposed me to Africa’s “land, people, history, politics, social institutions, economic development, literature, and arts.” My racialized conceptualization of the Africa was consequently broadened to include insight into the indigenous cultural diversity of the continent. SPRING 1990 The Black Studies 252 – “Cultural and Intellectual Traditions of Black Studies” course exposed me to the intellectual discourse of W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, and Malcolm X. The course was intellectual stimulating in that the diversity and complexity within the political, religious, economic and sociological thought of the Black intelligentsia was highlighted. AUTUMN 1990 The Black Studies 571 – “Image in Media Production” course provided the opportunity for me to engage in critical analyses of racial images produced via media. This course heightened an analytical awareness within me as I began to realize how pervading the dynamics of propaganda were especially through media. AUTUMN 1991 The Black Studies 223 – “Age of Slavery” course dealt with slavery from 1619 through America’s antebellum period. The course however was limited in scope to North America.

355

SPRING 1992 The Black Studies 633 – “Black Community, Welfare and Poverty” course was not a very enlightening or inspiring course. Yet, it presented various explanations for disparities exhibited by the Black community. During this quarter, Dr. Molefi Kete Asante visited OSU’s campus and lectured on “Afrocentricity.” This was the first time I seriously considered Asante’s paradigm as he expressed how Eurocentricity was totally inadequate as the “universal model.” Asante’ further stressed the need to recenter, or re-position Africa when researching African history. Though Dr. Asante’ covered some valid points concerning the inadequacy of Western historiography, I found his presentation to be grounded in rhetoric rather than substance. Moreover, he seemed to be promoting himself as the architect of African ‘authenticity’ seemed to be more about ideological and cultural production, instead of knowledge production. REALM V: AFROCENTRISM AUTUMN 1992 – SUMMER 1993 In December 1992, I graduated from The Ohio State University in Social Studies Education. My intellectual appetite or passion for learning was primarily grounded in Black Studies / African studies. My particular orientation to Africana still however embodied strong Black nationalist and religious tendencies. I would serve as a middle school teacher with Columbus Public Schools for 8 consecutive months. Yet, I continued to read texts that nourished the intellectual appetite that I had developed. Practically, all the texts dealt with either Black historical, political, psychological or religious thought, and ranged from scholarly studies to radical critiques of American and World history. These texts indeed cultivated a sense of intellectual militancy and discipline in me that “knowledge was power.” The texts which had the greatest impact on me at that time are listed below with brief analytical annotations. Akbar, Naim. (1996) Breaking the Psychological Chains of Slavery.Tallahassee, FL: Mind Productions Associates, Inc. Akbar offered the most potent critique I had read concerning the religious images. Akbar accordingly, stressed a correlation between White religious imagery and Black psychological confusion.

Amen, Ra Un Nefer.(1990) Metu Neteru. Vol. 1: The Great Oracle of Tehuti and the Egyptian System of Spiritual Cultivation. Brooklyn, NY: Kamit Productions, Amen established an Afrocentric affirmation of spirituality, drawing from Nile Valley Civilizations, Ancient Dravidians, and Yoruba Spirituality. The African Spiritual Origins of World Civilizations were stressed. This text would serve as the impetus for me to explore African religions (namely Yoruba).

Ben-Jochannan, Yusef.(1988) Africa: Mother of Western Civilization. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Pres. This was the first African history text that I read that asserted Africa was the cradle of civilization. And, from this point onward, I would read material that seemed to confirm the work of ‘Dr. Ben’ who indeed had an underground following within the non-academe based Afrocentric community.

Ben,-Jochannan, Yusef. (1983) The Black Jews: Witness to the White Jewish Race Myth. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press. This further reinforced the sense of African origins of Western Civilizations focusing on Western Judea-Christendom from a ‘scholarly’ perspective.

Bradley, Michael (1978) The Ice Man Inheritance: Prehistoric Sources of Western Man’s Racism, Sexism and Aggression. Kayode Publications Limited. Bradley presented the thesis that it was

356

the lack of natural resources, harshness of the environment and even Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ that explains the “Western” (white) man interaction with other races. Though this thesis was admittedly “racist,” it really made a lot of historical and cultural ‘sense.’

Fanon, Franz.(1967) Black Skin, White Masks. New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, Inc. This was a difficult read for me at the time, but it exposed me to the concrete psychological realities of racism as Fanon expounded on critical topics such as interracial relationships, politics of language, and race based psychological disturbances.

Franz, Fanon.(1963) Wretched Of The Earth. New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, Inc. I read this immediately after Black Skin, White Masks, and was introduced to the psycho-political dynamics of violence as a means to liberation, the pitfalls nationalism and implications of decolonization. This text really made me re-think the historiography of the Civil Rights movement.

Kunjufu, Jawanza.(1985) Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys. Vol. 1. African- American Images. This was a text that offered practical knowledge that asserted there is a state of emergency for Black male youth in which educational institutions are grooming these youth for prisons. Kunjufu then provides practical steps to counter this ‘conspiracy.’

Madhubuti, Haki (1991) Black Men: Single, Dangerous, Obsolete; The African American Family in Transition. Chicago, IL: Third Word Press. This text was written by a former Black Arts Movement poet, Don L. Lee and had a great impact on me. I t was the first text I read written from the standpoint of a Black man for Black men. It told the stories, struggles, successes and dilemma of Black men in lay men’s terms. At the same time, it offered a quite comprehensive reading list for Black male educationalempowerment within America.

Rashidi, Runoko. (1985) African Presence in early Asia, Vol. 7, Issue I. Piscataway, NJ: Journal of African Civilization, Ltd. This text opened up a whole new meaning to the concept of African Diaspora - especially the political plight of the Black Untouchables (Dalits) of India. Conversely, I decided to direct my intellectual horizons toward the African Diaspora of which I was a part.

Whelsing, Francis Cress. (2004) The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors. CW Publishing. This was an examination of the dynamics of racism, or ‘White Supremacy’ from a critical psychological perspective. Whelsing’s thesis stated that White supremacy was a global system that is rooted in an ingrained fear of White genetic annihilation. I found it intriguing, but at times far-fetched.

Van-Sertima, Ivan.(1992) The Golden Age of the Moors, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, This text was probably the most historically enlightening for me in that it highlighted the African origins and contributions of the Moors to the Iberian peninsula from 711 AD through the 1400s. The most intriguing element was the role of Al-Islam as an agency in acculturation and how the Moors laid the foundation for Western education.

Van-Sertima, Ivan. (1976) They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Americas. New York, NY: Random House. This text also proved to be quite intriguing in that it established concrete evidence which substantiated the pre-Columbian African exploration of the Americas Considering this text was published in 1976 but was still by and large marginalized by Western

357

academe, it became more and more evident, that the consideration of historiography was necessary in order to gain a true sense of history.

Though there were other texts, these constituted the foundational texts that I was able to intellectually ‘digest’ prior to graduate school. Moreover, these historical, political, and psychological analyses instilled a strong Black consciousness in me in which I began to re-conceptualize my ‘world’ as emanating from Africa. Though I didn’t embrace the paradigm of Afrocentrism from an academic standpoint, I can say in retrospect that my intellectual dispositions of African centered, in such a manner that I had a tendency to promote a segregated view of reality, history, culture, etc. Further, my disposition at this stage of my life was quite militant and even intolerant at times. I was even told quite often, that I was an “angry Black Man.” Well, I felt that I had been lied to about my history, religion and psychology throughout the majority of my life! Now that I was learning ‘the truth,’ I felt obligated to disseminate the information to friends, family and students. Unfortunately, I didn’t know, or appreciate the need to “agree to disagree.” It was indeed a blessing that after 6 months of teaching in Columbus Public Schools, I was notified that I had received a Graduate College Fellowship from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign to pursue a Master of Arts in African Studies. This was critical because I was afforded the opportunity to engage in scholarly discourse and experiences that would expose me to the complex realities of Africa. My essentialized, psychological and political construction of Africa would therefore be challenged.

**REALM VI: AFRICANIST DISCOURSES** UIUC’S MASTER OF ARTS PROGRAM IN AFRICAN STUDIES - AUTUMN 1993 The first graduate course that I recall taking was History 380 - “Colonial Africa.” This provided a comprehensive overview of the historical dynamics and cross-currents emanating from the colonial era throughout Africa. Here, Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth was revisited in addition to the following texts:

Boahen, A. Adu Boahen.(1987) African Perspectives on Colonialism. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins Press. This was a good introduction to the imposition and operation of colonialism along with African initiatives and responses to colonialism. I would use this text as a key reference with the African literature course.

Crisp, Jeff. (1984) The Story of An African Working Class. Totawa, NJ: Zed Books, Ltd.. This was the first labor history I read. But, I gained a valuable insight into how worker consciousness evolved into nationalism.

Rodney, Walter (1982) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. This is the first major work that I was exposed to that engaged history from a Marxist perspective. Here, I digested the cause-effect relationship in which Europe exploited Africa’s land and labor through slavery and colonialism. As arbitrary political borders were demarcated and Africa’s economy was re-structured to serve Europe, a legacy of African ‘dependency’ in service to European industrialization ensued.

Vail, Leroy. Ed.(1991) The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. This was an eye opener for me in that I learned how African “tribes” were constructs that were created to divide and conquer African people. This text’s assertion really forced a re -conceptualization of the African continent.

358

Williams, Chancellor.(1987) The Destruction of Black Civilizations: Great Issues Of A Race From 4500 B.C. To 2000 A.D. Chicago, Illinois: Third World Press. This was probably the most intriguing read of the quarter in that it was a central text among Afrocentrists.

The first major research project I produced in graduate school was a carryover from my post- undergraduate pursuits – ‘traditional’ African religion. The paper was thus entitled The Diversified Unity of Traditional African Spirituality: An Analysis of Yoruba Cosmology. Dr. M.O. West, Assistant Professor of History was my advisor for this project. After he read a draft of the paper, he informed me I had only scratched the surface of research on this topic and I needed to “get to work.” I consequently compiled a comprehensive bibliography of over 60 sources for a 19 page paper. The most significant works were as follows.

Adesanya, A. (1958) “Yoruba Metaphysical Thinking” Odu, Journal of Yoruba and Related Studies, No. 5, Eds. S.O. Biobaku, and H. Beir. Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press. This work introduced me to a Yoruba cosmology that maintained a fundamental unity and coherence among all elements in the universe.

Adewale, S.A. (1988) The Religion of the Yorubas: A Phenomenological Analysis. Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press. This text provided an indepth insight into the foundations of Yoruba religion, how it shapesYoruba life, and how it maintained continuity in Africa and the Diaspora.

------.( 1983) ”The Significance of Traditional Religion in Yoruba Culture,”: Odu, Journal of Yoruba and Related Studies. No. 5, Ed. Tonyin Falol, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, University of Ife Press, 3-15. Here I was exposed to how Yoruba religion is interwoven within all aspects of Yoruba culture as evidenced through festivals, offerings and day to day activities.

Bascom, William. (1969) Ifa Diviation: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. This was my first introduction to the element of divination as practiced among the Yoruba in West Africa.

------.(1980) Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to New World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. This text illustrated Yoruba retentions throughout the Diaspora.

Ben Jochannan, Yusef, Charles Finch and Modupe Oduyoye.(1988) The African Origins of the Major World Religions. London, England: Karnak House Pub. This text presented historical evidence to substantiate how Africa, specifically Egypt, constituted the origins of the monotheistic religions of the world. It was important in my research in that it promoted an underlying common spirituality that I began to focus on in assessing all religions.

Ellis, A. B. (1894) The Yoruba Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Nigeria: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws….etc. London, England: Champmare and Hall Ltd.. This was was considered a definitve 19th century anthropological assessment of the Yoruba that provided a depiction of the Yoruba’s major and minor Gods, priests, means of worship, spiritual practices and beliefs. Though pronounced essentialism and monolithic views of the Yoruba are presented, the work illustrated how ‘tribes’ were constructed via ethnography.

359

Idowu, E. Bolaji. (1963) Olodumare, God in Yoruba Belief. New York, N.Y.: Praeger. This tex explained in detail the diverse dimensions of Yoruba supreme God. It also included the conceptualizations of Olodumare’s names, attributes, statues, orisas, orisa cult, priesthoods, moral values and mans relationship with Olodumare.

Johnson, Samuel. (1937) The History of the Yoruba: From Ealiest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. Ed. Dr. O. Johnson. London, England: Lowe and Brydon Prnters, Ltd., This was considered one of the principal historical works on the Yoruba in that it addresses its genesis and foundations of Yoruba religion focusing specifically on ideology and objects of worship.

Mbiti, John.(1989) African Religion and Philosophy. 2nd edition. Protsmouth, N.H: Heinemann Educational Books, Inc. 1989. This was probably the first text I read that offered an indigenous insight into religious practices throughout Africa. Accordingly, Mbiti explores indigenous ideas, concepts, and practices with references to specific African cultural communities. Most intriguing within work is Mbiti’s assessment of the indigenous view of ‘time.’

Parrinder, E.G. (1970) “Monotheism and Pantheism in Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa. Vol. 3, Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 81-88. This work cites references of the Yoruba and the Akan to established an underlying monotheistic nature within Africa’s religious beliefs and practices. From this piece, I conceptualized the notion that God was “the sum total of the pantheon.”

SPRING 1994

During this quarter, the understudy of Yusef (Dr. Ben) Ben-Jochannan, Ashra Kwesi, came to UIUC to present a lecture on “The African Origins on Judea-Christianity.” It consisted of a series of slides that he accumulated via study abroad tours to “Kemet” (Ancient Egypt). Overall, the presentation was quite compelling as he highlighted ancient Kemetic religious imagery that predated Christianity by over a thousand years. Like Asante’ however, Kwesi’s narrative was grounded principally in rhetoric that appealed to emotions rather than intellect. Moreover, the fact that he provided no empirical evidence other than the visuals also compromised the ‘scholarly’ frame of reference for his presentation. Conversely, it was during this quarter that UIUC’s Center for African Studies hosted a symposium on “Reconstructing the Meaning and Study of Africa.” Scholars across the disciplines and from throughout the world attended. For the first time, I was exposed to the realm in which knowledge on Africa was being ‘produced.’ The discourse generated via the symposium dealt primarily with competing paradigms and methodologies that were being employed throughout respective disciplines devoted to African studies. There were many dynamic presenters, critical historiographies, and ‘innovative’ theoretical frameworks. But, there were just too many ‘posts’: postmodernism; postcolonialism; poststructuralism; postfeminism; post, post, and more post! Needless to say, this experience was quite overwhelming considering that it was my second semester as a graduate student. All I wanted to do was just study ‘Africa.’ What did all this theory have to do with the ‘motherland?’ Yet when Africanist and political scientist, Horace Cambell, presented a paper dealing with ‘Conceptualizing Africa and Intellectual Warfare’ and V.Y. Mudimbe, Africanist philosopher, presented a paper dealing with excerpts from The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. (Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988), I began to realize that ‘Africa’ conceptually was infact a Western theoretical construction. Further, as Mudimbe ended with his proclamation, “Education is violence,” I began to grapple with the idea of how African studies was fertile ground through which Western disciplines re-produce, re-present, and re-enforce themselves. These were the only two presenters that I

360

vividly recall in that they established a critical revelation for me. Yet, despite the theoretical dissonance, I remained committed to the idea that it was in ‘Africa’ that a sense of heritage, identity and purpose could be established. In addition to continuing on with the advanced study of Kiswahili which I took throughout my entire Master’s program, I took the core requirement for the M.A. program under the Director of the Center for African Studies - Africanist Historian, Dr. Donald Crummey. This was African Studies 450, a graduate seminar course – within which the following texts were involved:

Appiah, Kwame Anthony.(1992) In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Though Appiah shed an insight on a multitude of conceptualizations concerning African identity, I was perplexed that he argued against a race based identification for Pan-Africanism.

Asante, Molefi.(1989) Afrocentricity. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Inc. Suprisingly, Asante’s text was more scholarly and informative than I had expected. Accordingly, Asante substantiated his paradigm through re-centering African history via the African ‘ethos’ he delineated within the qualities of B.T. Washington, Garvey, King, Elijiah Muhammad, DuBois, Malcolm X, along with Karenga’s concept of Kawaida and Njia. From an activist’s ideological standpoint Asante’ was starting to make more sense, yet I held serious misgivings regarding the paradigms’ production of African history.

Bates, Robert, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Jean O’Barr, Eds. (1993) Africa and the Disciplines: The Contribution of Research in Africa to the Social Sciences and Humanites. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago, IL. This text helped me gauge how the scholarly engagement of ‘Africa’contributed to the development of the Western disciplines – especially anthropology in which Western constructions that were imposed on African people; and history in which Western phenomena are defined via the African “Other.”

Clarke, John Henrik. (1980) “African-American Historians and the Reclaiming of African History,” Journal of African Studies, VII, 2, Washington, D.C.: Heldref Publications, 91-9. This text along with Shepperson(1974), established an organic orientation of African Studies. Contrary to the academic programs which utilize Africa to re-produce Western scholarship, this theoretical basis of African studies was established by African-Americans who were focused on vindicating, redefining and reclaiming Africa as the of heritage that was lost.

Shepperson, George. (1974) “The African-American Contribution to African Studies,” Journal of American Studies. VII, London, England:, 281-301. See Clarke above.

SUMMER 1994

At this juncture, I was awarded a FLAS fellowship to study Kiswahili abroad in Kenya, East. Consequently, I spent 8 ½ weeks in the East African nation, which constituted in many ways, a cultural and intellectual pilgrimage for me. I recall being greeted by a teen-aged boy outside the airport. And as soon as I was able to communicate that I was an African-American coming ‘home’ to fellowship with my people, he said “Karibu Sana Nyumbani, Ndugu Yangu! (You are very welcome home, my brother!). This was indeed a heart felt greeting! Though Kenya was most likely not the area my ancestry descended from, it was still ‘Africa” and I truly felt a sense of empowerment, affirmation, and growth. The experience included: studying Kiswahili with other American study abroad students at Egerton College,

361

in Nakuru Kenya; staying in a village in Busia (Luoland); and study tours throughout Massai Mara, Kakamega, Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa. Intellectually, this ‘pilgrimage’ impacted me in the following ways. First, many of the conscious as well as unconscious stereotypes of Africa/ns were challenged. Here, existed a diverse multitude of African people. In other words, many of the people looked just like African-Americans, ranging in complexion from ‘high yellow’ to ‘blue black’ - with all types of features and grades of hair. The environment too was beautiful; from the fertile flatlands to the red earth of Busia; to the white sands of Mombasa. Within the urban areas however, economic disparity was most evident in that there were the few who appeared to be connected to wealth, those in the middle, and those who were subject to abject poverty. Second, the “minority” racial status that I had been indoctrinated with my whole life within the U.S. was challenged the longer I spent time in Kenya. Existing as part of a racial majority, at least for this brief time period, empowered me with a sense of racial based ‘ownership’ and affirmation. I felt a pronounced sense of what Ogbu (1983) states “power, privilege and prestige” that I had never known as the core of my being felt as if I was organically connected to the earth. Third, I developed a greater capacity to discern the opposing forces within Africa which were humanism and naturism in contrast to individualism and materialism. It is my belief that the indigenous cultural groups of this beautiful country were grounded in more organic relationships and/or outlooks on life. Therefore a sincere, or genuine concern for the wellbeing of others was evident among many. Yet concentrated in the urban areas, there were strong Western influences that seem to corrupt and alienate the Kenyan psyche. Finally, the time I spent fellowshipping with ordinary Kenyans was the most rewarding element of this experience. As I engaged these human beings through the medium of Kiswahili and spent time within remote villages, I began to not only look at my self and the world from different perspectives, I began to consider different epistemologies. In otherwords, I became cognizant that there are alternative ways of ‘knowing’ – especially regarding one’s view of self and world - that may be accessed via language and culture. Needless to say, this experience had a profound impact on me as I established a strong desire to cultivate the humanist side in me. For, upon my return to the U.S., the worldview of my heritage, identity and purpose had expanded.

AUTUMN 1994 Being that African studies is a multidisciplinary program, I decided to take a sociological approach to the study of Africa. I therefore enrolled in Sociology 344, World Systems Analyses, under Dr. William G. Martin. For this course, I produced four essays through which various paradigms were explored. They included Race and Racism: A World Historical Construct, Peripherial Dimensions of Incorporation: Transformations of Africa’s Social Relationships (Dependency Theory), East Asian NICs: Implications for African (Under)Development, and An Afrikan-Centered Examination Tribalism: The Transcontinental state of homelessness. Through these essays, I engaged in critical discourse from a ‘macro’ (global) perspective on social dynamics that were directly related to the social construction of my ‘micro’ (local) world. More than anything, I was instilled with a disposition to view all phenomena ‘macro to micro.’ The most critical works that I engaged in addition to Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (above) included: Mies, Maria.(1986) Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labor. Trenton, NJ: Third World Press.

Mohandy, Chandra.(1988) “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse,” Feminist Review, 30 Autumn, 65-88.

362

Smart, Barry. (1994) “Sociology, Globalization and Postmodernity: ‘Comments on the ‘Sociology for One World’ Thesis,” International Sociology, 92.

Ward, Kathryn.(1988) “Remail Resistance to Marginalization: The Igbo Women’s War of 1929,” in Smith et al, Race, Sexism and the World System, New York, N.Y.: Greenwood Press, 121-135.

Wallerstein, Immanuel.(1989) Historical Capitalism. London, England: Bookcrafte, Ltd..

William, Eric.(1944/1994) Capitalism and Slavery. University of North Carolina Press.

Of these texts, Wallerstein (1989),Williams (1944), and Mies (1986) have been pieces that I have continued to utilize throughout my teaching and research endeavors. During the academic year of 1994, I also had my first teaching experience as a Graduate Teaching Assistant under Sociologist, Dr. William Martin and Political Scientist, Dr. Merle Bowen. The course was African studies 222 (cross listed with Political Science, History, Sociology) “Introduction to Modern Africa.” It was an undergraduate course that examined the images, definitions, pre-colonial kingdoms and empires, religious trends, impact of slavery and colonialism, and the nationalist and independence movements of Africa/ns. It was this experience that I believe established in me a well- rounded multi-disciplinary foundation and appreciation of African Studies.

**REALM VII: ORGANIC AFRICAN AMERICAN INTELLECTUALISM** SPRING 1995-AUTUMN 1996 I obtained a M.A. in African Studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign May 1995 and was admitted to the Doctoral Program in History at The Ohio State University. However, I deferred entrance into the program in order to begin working full-time as a Social Studies Teacher with Columbus Public Schools and as an Adjunct Instructor of the Humanities at Columbus State Community College in which I taught “Introduction to African Literature.” The Graduate Teaching experience that I had at UIUC indeed became quite useful in that I was able to use it as a framework for my college course. Through this course, I utilized multidisciplinary materials to introduce students to Africa’s history, historiography, philosophy, religion, political, social, psychological and economic dynamics through pre- colonial, colonial and post-colonial discourse. The specific texts I’ve used included the following: Achebe, Chinua. (1994) Things Fall Apart. New York, NY: Anchor. Achebe, Chinua. (1989) A Man of the People. New York, NY: Anchor. Ba, Mariama. (1989) So Long A Letter. Heinneman Biko, Steve. (1996) I Write What I Like. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Dangarembga, Tsitsi. (1988) Nervous Condition. New York, NY: Seal Press. Fanon, Franz. (1967) Black Skin White Masks. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc. Fanon, Franz. (1963) Wretched of the Earth. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc. Ousman, Sembene.(1996) God’s Bits of Wood. New York, NY: Heinneman.

SPRING 1997. I enrolled in Educational Policy and Leadership 717 – Comparative Education - under Dr. Erwin Epstein, in which I produced an extensive paper entitled, “Education For Caste: The Imposition Of the Hampton-Tuskegee Model of Industrial Education On Liberia by the U.S.” Dr. Epstein’s feedback on the paper was the following “Outstanding, though it would have been even more so had you framed your paper explicitly as a case of educational transfer.” This was the first Graduate course I took in Edu P&L and I was able to get into primary and secondary educational resources that provided insight into the cross currents of racism. Those which were most useful to me were the following:

363

Anderson, James (1988) Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina.

Gunnar, Myrdal.(1944) An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. New York, NY: Harper and Row. Gunnar established the dictum that the fundamental contradiction within America is its ideals of “equal opportunity” and its deeply entrenched racialized ‘caste’ system.

Ogbu, John (1983) . “Minority Status and Schooling in Plural Societies,” Comparative Education Review. June. Ogbu introduced the concept of Minority and Majority as pertaining to the three Ps: power, privilege and prestige.

Shick, Tom W. (1980) Behold the Promised Land: A History of Afro-American Settler Society in Nineteenth Century Liberia. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.

Smith, James Wesley. (1987) Sojourners In Search Of Freedom: The Settlement of Liberia By Black Americans, New York, NY: University Press of America.

Spivey, Donald. (1978) Schooling for the New Slavery: Black Industrial Education, 1868-1915. Westport: Greenwood Press.

Sundiata, I.V.(1980) Black Scandle: America and the Liberian Labor Crisis, 1929-36. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.

West, Richard. (1971) Back to Africa: A History of Sierra Leone and Liberia, New York, NY: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston..

Woodson, Carter G. The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. New York, NY: Arno Press, 1968.

Dr. Epstein strongly encouraged me to transfer to the Edu P&L Comparative Educational program. Considering I had no support network in the department of History and the fact that I could engage the educational dynamics that contributed to Africa’s history, I felt that the Edu P&L doctoral program would better fit my academic trajectory.

AUTUMN 1997 During this quarter, I enrolled in Dr. Errante’s Edu P & L course, “Role of Schooling in the Social Order.” It was at this time that I shifted my interest toward Islam and African identity. Considering I had already completed research on Liberia and that it was a major venue for Pan-Africanist aspirations among African-Americans, I produced a paper entitled, “Islamic Education In Liberia: An African Agency Of Enlightenment and Empowerment.” The central questions I explored were: How did Islam impact African identity?; Does Islam Arabize Africans? ; and Does Islam enhance or undermine African solidarity? The sources which were most useful were: Abdullahi, Abdul-Rahman Salih.(1982) Educational Theory: A Qur’an Outlook. Madda, Saudi Arabia: Umm Al Qura University. Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad al-Naquib. (1979) Aims and Objectives of Islamic Education. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: King Asis University. Ali, Abdullah Yusef. (1991) The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. Beltsvill, MD: Amana Pub. Co. Blyden, Edward Wilmot, (1994) Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race. Baltimore, MD.

364

Bravmann, Rene.(1983) African Islam. London, England: Smithsonian Institution,. Clark, Peter B. (198) West Africa and Islam. London, England: Edward Arnold Pub. Diara, Agradem I. (1973) Islam and Pan-Africanism. Detroit, MI: Agascha Productions. Hiskett, Mervin. (1987) Development of Islam in West Africa, London, England: Longmann. Fasi, M, El and I Hrbek, (1988) “The Coming of Islam and the Expansion of Muslim Empire,” General History of Africa, II: Africa from the 7th Century to the 11th Century, Berkely, CA: UNESCO, El-Garh, M.S. (1971) “The Philosophical Basis of Islamic Education in Africa,” West African Journal of Education. Vol. XV, No. 1, Feb. Isssifou, Z. Dramani. (1988) “Islam as a Social System in Africa since the 7th Century,” General History of Africa, III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Berkely, CA. Konneh, Augustine. (1996) Religion, Commerce and the Integration of the Mandingo In Liberia Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc. Nyang, Sulayman S. (1990) Islam, Christianity and African Identity. Brattleboro, VT: Aman, Books, 1990.

SUMMER 1998

During this summer, I participated in a program with 11 teachers from the central Ohio area in a grant based program funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program operated though Ohio University in Athens and the objective was for teachers to study ‘on location,’ the impact of Democratization on Southern African schools. The “groups project abroad” thus spent a total of 6 weeks in Southern Africa: 3 ½ weeks in Swaziland; and 2 ½ weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. We took quite extensive tours and visited numerous educational facilities including Swaziland’s Department of Education, Makerere’ Teacher’s College, numerous Swazi rural schools, University of Western Cape and and numerous urban schools in Cape Town. For me, the most significant observation made during this “group experience” had nothing to do with South Africa. Instead, I was forced to engage the pronounced self-centeredism and cultural arrogance exhibited by American Teachers! Their observations of South Africa revealed a lack of historical depth and an inability to transcend one’s political and cultural ethos. In short, American teachers viewed South African educational phenomena as darkened, inverted or undeveloped models of themselves. Regarding ‘South Africa,’ I was able to experience and examine, global cross currents of neocolonialism and institutionalized racism that permeated all levels of society. Although “Blacks” had political representation and educational “equal opportunity,” South Africa’s entire social structure mirrored America’s in that its intellectual, political and material resources all remained tied to Euro-centered hegemony. WINTER, SPRING AND AUTUMN 1998 During this time period, I completed the following course work in Edu P & L : 925 “Seminar in Graduate Professional Study”; 800 “Qualitative Methods”; and 650.03 “History of Modern Education.” The most significant research that I engaged in during these endeavors was a paper I produced for Dr. Errante’ that dealt with the intersections between Steve Biko’s “Black Consciousness Movement” as articulated in I Write What I Like (1978) and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). I essentially argued that any type of “liberatory education” must involve the deconstruction of psychological racism (‘white supremacy’) in order for the realization of a pedagogy of “humanization.”

I continued to work full time with Columbus Public Schools and was able to get an “African- American Studies” course offered for the first time in the history of Walnut Ridge High School. This was indeed significant because at least 65 percent of the school at that time was African-American! I was thus able to engage in the praxis of African-American history as I continued to pursue my studies while implementing it within a public school context. More and more, I came to view myself as a public

365

intellectual, or conduit through which African based knowledge was transmitted rather than a “teacher.” For the next 9 years, I also continued to read, write and teach through Columbus State Community College as well as with Columbus Public Schools with notable changes in venue that would in fact impact my ethos. SUMMER 2002 This would constitute my third ‘pilgrimmage’ to the African continent. This time however I took my wife, and together we went to Senegal, West Africa. Upon landing in Dakar, we took a day to experience Goree’ Island. Though it was very emotional and somber as we traveled throughout the island, explored the slave fort, and peered out the “door of no return,” it was also, somewhat ‘edifying.’ We stood on the very spot that thousands of enslaved Africans stood right before they were physically removed from their ‘history.’ By returning to the “door of no return” however we symbolically were reclaiming and re-establishing our agency within this history and heritage. The cultural aspect of this ‘homecoming’ was further established as we were able to travel throughout the country to such places Toba Jalloh, St. Louis, and Futa. It was in Futa that we stayed within the village of Gollere’ for about 5 days and this was where I believe we were able to commune with the “African Spirit,” or ‘Human ethos’ that so many people in America have been reduced from via Western hegemony and its culture of materialism. The sense of anger and resentment produced by ‘historical revelations’ regarding slavery, racism and colonialism was now grounded and overshadowed by a pronounce sense human compassion by way of the beauty of indigenous African culture! However, this sense of frustration and resentment would resurface upon my return to the states, and ironically be directed at members of my own ‘race’ – especially those calling themselves “Afrocentric.” AUTUMN 2003-FALL 2005 As Columbus Afro-centric School was expanding to a K-12 high school, I decided that this would be an ideal venue to realize my African consciousness in a capacity that would embrace, encourage, condone and celebrate. Little did I know, the Afro-centric school had nothing at all to do with “African” based curriculum, or critically relevant discourse aimed at empowering students through redirecting and re-presenting their historical and cultural knowledge. I was appalled that not a single staff had taken any Graduate level Black Studies or African-American Studies courses and the ‘Afrocentric’ component was condensed into Malauna Karenga’s Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) and Molefi Asante’s Ma’at which meant something different, or nothing at all to each individual staff member. Moreover, the student body was unfortunately comprised of disciplinary transfers from throughout Columbus Public Schools. In short, the school could more accurately be called “ghetto-centric” in the sense that there were a greater proportion of Black teachers to students at this school than any other in Columbus. Furthermore, intra-black ‘clique-ism,’ and in-fighting contributed to a very disjointed and non-collegial environment. The one positive element within this experience is the fact that I was afforded the opportunity to establish a “Nubian Drum Circle.” Using the acronym DRUM which stood for “Discipline, Responsibility, Understanding and Mastery” through historical and cultural knowledge - I was able to recruit a group of male and female students that were interested in indigenous forms of drumming. Accordingly, I utilized the drum as a medium through which to critically engage young African American men and women within an informal setting. Within this context, these students seemed more responsive and interested in learning how their history and cultural had been misdirected, or undermined. Moreover, they consciously began to develop themselves into the cultural ambassadors of the school as the “Nubian Drum Circle” often served as the vehicle by which the school was culturally and historically re-presented, re-centered and reaffirmed. This educational agency was effective in that it truly established a culturally relevant tone for the entire school. Yet, after three short years, it, along with its complementary dance component were dismantled by a new administrative team that were sent to “restructure” the school. In short, the ‘Afro-centric School’ served as a distraction and a means of appeasement for certain segments

366

of Columbus’ community. I consequently left disheartened, but probably more critically aware of the psychology of the oppressed and how American based cultural paradigms are commodities in service to Euro-American capitalist hegemony. Moreover, it had become increasingly evident that due to the oppressed psychology of many African-Americans, a deconstruction of ‘Europe’ through the infusion of African history and culture was perhaps a better approach than the “Afro-centric” paradigm that was in actuality a sort of educational ‘bantustan’. SUMMER 2007 One way that I proposed to deconstruct Europe, or Western Civilization through African history was through developing a teaching resource that would expose the African basis of Western civilization. This would be in the spirit of W.E.B. DuBois’ The World and Africa (1965) and Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s The Miseducation of the Negro (1933). Through an independent study (Edu P & L) with my advisor Dr. Errante’ I therefore constructed a piece entitled “Africana and Western Civilization’ with the objective of providing analytical bullets with supporting references to begin deconstructing the Western/European hegemony of knowledge by highlighting its African origins and/or contributions. The teaching resource was divided into the following sections: Africana and Human Origins; Africana and World Civilization; Africana and Ancient Americans; Africana and Early American Exploration; Africana, Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution; Africana and the American Revolutionary Ethos; Africana and American Imperialism; Africana and the Civil War; Africana and Native Americans; “Africa for the Africans”; Africana and America’s War Efforts; Africana and American Education; Africana and the American Inventor Tradition; African-American Vindicationist Historiography; Africana and American Civil Rights; Africana and Militancy; Africana, Women and Equality; Black Entrepreneurs; Africana and American Music; Africana and American Popular Culture; Blacks and the American Sports Industry; Africana and American Media; and Black Politics. Thus, the overall objective was to open doors of inquiry into European and Euro-American history by highlighting how it was constructed through the contributions and/or diametrical oppositions of Africana.

AUTUMN 2007 This quarter I enrolled in Edu P&L 863 History of African American Education 1700-1950 under Dr. Beverly Gordon. The course was quite informative specifically regarding how literacy was originally used as a factor to justify African enslavement within “Christian” based Euro-North American society. As political dynamics emanated from revolts and protests against the institution of slavery, a major shift regarding literacy occurred in that it was made illegal throughout antebellum U.S.. With political emancipation, literacy was organically tied to African Americans’ quest to realize freedom, attain suffrage, and engage in race uplift. The most significant texts that I recall from this course was Dr. Carter G. Woodson The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 (1968) and James D. Anderson Education of Blacks in the South prior from 1860-1935 (1988) - both notated above. WINTER-SPRING 2009 Here, I enrolled in two courses under Dr. Walter Rucker, AAAST/HIST 758.00 Comparative History of the African Diaspora and AAAST/HIST 705.03- West African Civilizations. I can honestly say that these courses exposed me to the most current historiography on the African Diaspora. I offer brief annotation of the major texts below. Akyeampong, Emmanual Kwaku. Ed. (2006) Themes in West Africa’s History. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press: Harvard University Professor of History edited this undergraduate and graduate text book, providing works in three parts: One, perspectives on West Africa’s history from archeology, ecology, and culture, linguistics, and oral tradition; two, perspectives on environment, society, agency and historical change; and three, how economic and political developments have shaped religious expression and identity (on back cover).

367

Alexander, Leslie M. (2008) African Or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1787-1861. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. This study discerned the politics of identity that existed among Blacks in New York immediately following the Revolutionary war. Though ‘African’ identity was connected to emigrationist agendas and “American” was connected to integrationist / moral suasion agendas, she further considers how Black leadership often employed both throughout their careers.

Bilby, Kenneth M. and Jerome Handler (2004). “Obeah: Healing and Protection in West Slave Life,” The Journal of Caribbean History, 38, 2, 152-183.. Bilby and Handler examine the ambiguity and ubiquity of Obeah as a West African derived concept utilized throughout Anglophone Caribbean to denote the supernatural, or spiritual channeling of forces for socially beneficial ends. The authors further trace its distortion and negative portrayals emanating from Europeans during the era of slavery which continues to by and large minimize its positive functions.

Brandon, George.(1993) Santeria from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Brandon critiques “syncretism” as a fallacy and utilizes “processual framework” in assessing Santeria in the New World. He further highlights a Yoruba derived cosmology that faced changing political, economic, racial, cultural and religious realities throughout the Diaspora, and subsequently produced various manifestations such as the Lucumi religion of Santeria, Santerismo, Orisa-Voodoo, and others

Brown, Vincent. (2008) The Reaper’s Garden. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Brown highlights the omnipresence of death within the Atlantic world in general, and British colonial Jamaica in particular. In doing so, he further attempts to transcend conventional frameworks by considering the metaphysical, symbolic and spiritual impact on the political and social realms of the living. Consequently, his work moves beyond secularist notions of ‘identity’ to address the relationship between ideological orientations and actions (i.e. people are what they do).

Caron, Peter.(1997) “Of a Nation Which Others Do Not Understand”: Bambara Slaves and African Ethnicity in Colonial Louisiana, 1718-1760,” in ed. David Eltis, Routes to Slavery: Direction, Ethnicity, and Mortality in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. London, England: Frank Cass, 98- 121.Caron examines the dynamics of African ethnic retention and identity propagation among the enslaved peoples of Colonial Louisiana.

Chambers, Douglas.(2005) Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Chambers revisits the poisoning of Pres. James Madison’s grandfather to examine Igbo African retentions, identity and solidarity. The work further explores the dynamics of African agency, negotiation in master-slave relations and processes of acculturations by which ethnic groups evolved from African to African-American.

Foster, Herbert J. (1976) “Partners of Captives in Commerce?: The Role of Africans in the Slave Trade,”Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 6, No. 4. Foster’s work demonstrates a revisionist quest to refute the “reservoir theory.” Accordingly, he assesses indigenous African slavery to be quantitatively insignificant to Atlantic slavery. As he quotes Delany and Equiano, Foster further contrasts indigenous servitude as “serfdom” “villeinage” from chattel forms of New World slavery. Foster then absolves the Africans’ role in “selling” other Africans to Europeans through dynamics involving firearms along with documenting specific West African empires’ resistance to the Atlantic slave trade.

368

Gaines, Kevin K. (2006) American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. Gaines’ work reveals Black Atlantic ideological and political “cross-currents” that shaped Nkrumah’s visionary idealism for Ghanaian independence and Pan-African unity during the 1950s and 60s. Moreover, Gaines concentrates primarily on the understudied contributions of African-American expatriates and their allies including George Padmore, W.E.B. DuBois, Bill Sutherland, Richard Wright, George Lamming, Lorraine Hansberry, E. Franklin Frazier, Julian Mayfield, St. Claire Drake, Malcolm X and others as they viewed Ghana’s independence as organically tied to their struggles for meaningful cultural identity and American citizenship

Gomez, Michael.(1998) Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South, Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. Gomez offers a comprehensive of assessment of African origins, retentions and transformations occurring among enslaved peoples of the colonial and antebellum South. Gomez’s examination is quite meticulous in his demographic assessments as well as his analyses of ethnic particularities among African peoples in the New World.

Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo.(1992) Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge, LO: Louisiana University Press. Hall argues that it was the Africans’ manual labor as well as their indigenous skills in agriculture (tobacco, rice, indigo, corn, peas) and technology (as metalworkers, guild smiths, artisans, blacksmiths, etc.) that were essential to the basic subsistence of the colony due to high European mortality, vast corruption, and overall economic and political instability. Further Hall provides a thorough documentation of slave inventories, testimonies and interrogations to conclude that the principal political and cultural group among the enslaved and free Africans of colonial Louisiana were the “Bambara” from the Senegambia region.

Hartman, Saidiya. (2007) Lose Your Mother: A Journey along the Atlantic Slave Trade. Union Square West, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hartman’s work is an African-American’s personal narrative that employs an interplay between the past and the present to investigate the origins of her African dislocation in Ghana. She provides some empirically sound information concerning Ghana constituting a major slave trading center, European agency in the slave trade and distinctions in indigenous African slavery. However, Hartman admittedly embraces an “abruni” (outsider) lens through which a pronounced pessimism and cynicism shape the entire narrative. Hence, this work run counter to Pan-Africanist ideology.

Landers, Jane.(1999) Black Society in Spanish Florida.Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press Landers’ study reveals critical Black agency in the establishment, operation and maintenance of Spanish Florida in particular and the European colonial world in general. As Landers contrasts the Spanish system of slavery with the Anglo “racialized chattel” practice, she details how New World “Africans” occupied such roles as explorers, interpreters, merchants, miners, agriculturalists, artisans, carpenters, iron smiths, statesmen, pirates, etc., Through these roles, Blacks continuously and consciously established a transnational and transcultural sense of political, economic, religious and cultural autonomy within Spanish America.

Morgan, Jennifer.(2004) Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery. Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press. Morgan offers a Black feminist critique

369

highlighting how representations of African women were used to religiously and racially validate notions of African inferiority and racial enslavement. Morgan further examines how African women’s reproductive capacities were valued commodities.

Northup, David. (2000) Igbo and Myth Igbo: Culture and Ethnicity in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850,” Slavery and Abolition. 21, 1-20. Northup examines the ambiguity of the African indigenous identity of “Igbo” and poses how it may have been manufactured among slaves in the Diaspora.

Obi, T. J. Desch. (2002) “Combat and the Crossing of the Kalunga: Central Africans and Cultural Transformation in the American Diaspora,” Linda M. Heywood (ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Obi explores the “Kalunga” within the context of a counter clockwise cosmogram as the spiritual journey that drives African Martial Arts. The “Kalunga” is the central concept that represents the “line” or “sea” across which one’s ancestral, or spiritual power can be obtained. African Martial Arts are therefore assessed as ritualized exercises through which the “Kalunga” is bridged and ancestral power is gained.

Obi, T. J. Desch.(2008) Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press. Obi explores how specific living traditions existed in Africa as shown through the grappling/leg wrapping “mgba” style developed among the Ibo and the Angolan kicking/stick fighting “engola” style. These “art forms” however were utilitarian in nature and practiced in context with the group’s methods of subsistence, notions of healing, respect, identity, inter-village / intra-village relationships, gender relationship, conflict resolution, gender/masculinity establishment, etc. Obi then provides references to the kicking and knocking (i.e head-butting) influenced styles existing throughout the Americas, “mgba” style in South Carolina, acculturated African styles in Haiti, and Angolan derived styles in Brazil to assert direct African retention in the Americas.

Pérez y Mena, Andrés I. (1998) “Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodun, Puerto Rican Spiritualism: A Multiculturalist Inquiry into Syncretism,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37, 15- 27.Perez y Mena critiques the “Eurocentric” view of “syncretism” and considers African consciousness within the “fused” religious iconography of Cuban Santeria, Haitian Vodun, and Puerto Rican Spiritualism. In sum, the need for a multicultural / Afrocentric approach is stressed to move beyond Western hegemonic interpretations of African phenomena.

Rucker, Walter C. (2005) “The African and European Slave Trades,” A Companion to African American History, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Rucker’s work charts how the historiography of Atlantic slavery developed through three stages: Eurocentric interpretations that project Europeans as the principal agents; revisionist / dependency paradigms that failed to transcend Eurocentrism; and finally, neo-revisionist approaches that offer a re-orientation into the complexity and dynamism of African agency. He then explores the pivotal role occupied along with the dynamism and complexity of African agency in Atlantic slavery.

Thornton, John K. (1988) “On the Trail of Voodoo: African Christianity in Africa and the Americas.” The Americas. 44, 261-278. Thorton’s assesses how Africans consciously utilized “Christianity” as a “framework” to synthesize their own ideology/cosmology in such a way as to counter the European hegemony that was ensuing.

370

White, Shane.(1988) “‘We Dwell in Safety and Pursue our Honest Callings,’: Free Blacks in New York City” 1783-1810. The Journal of American History. Vol. 75, No. 2, September. 445-470. White examines the demographic, political, social and racial implications of Free Blacks in New York City during the late 18th-early 19th century.

These texts provided a solid basis to pursue scholarly inquiry within the framework of African Diasporan studies. Probably most significant is that this paradigm transcended the “modernist” perspective through which the ‘nation-state’ served as the prism for analysis. Instead, historical processes are examined through the basis of cultural continuity. Specifically, this paradigm seemed most accurate in engaging the phenomena of African people world- wide, as it begins with their origins and charts the transformation that occurred as they were dispersed throughout the Americas. Most interesting to me within these studies were the elements of African agency: agency in slavery; agency in resistance to slavery; agency in cultural retentions throughout the Diaspora; agency in the propagation of ‘Africanity’; and lastly, African agency in ‘historicizing’ an ‘Africa’ to re-present a collective heritage, identity and purpose for the politically, culturally and psychologically dispersed persons throughout the Diaspora. This organic sense of African historicity would thus be the emphases of my research for the next few quarters. I conceived the foundations of organic ‘African’ historicity as being most evident within 19th century ‘Classical Black Nationalist,’ or Pan-Africanist discourse . Accordingly I engaged in a comprehensive assessment of these dynamics within a research paper entitled ‘Africa for the Africans and Black Men to Rule Them’: An Assessment of Classical Black Nationalism and Implications of African Identity. Through tracing the intellectual and organizational endeavors of David Walker, Henry Highland Garnett, Alexander Crummell, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and Marcus Mosiah Garvey I illustrated : 1.) “African identity” (often embodying a notion of racial absolutism) was a Black Nationalist construct in reaction to Hegelian conceptualizations of ‘Africa.’ This ‘Africa’ was therefore vindicationist and liberatory in that it was designed to promote self-determination in all spheres of life. This explains why some of these endeavors are referred to as “Back (and perhaps Black) to Africa” movements – (religiously, economically, culturally, and politically); 2.) African agency in and re-presentation of the Anglo-ideals of “Christianity, Commerce and Civilization” was viewed as the means to realize racial self determination; and 3.) Classical Black Nationalism served as the foundation for and/or fuel of the many strains of 20th century Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, African independence movements, Ethiopianism and Black Theology, as well as the theoretical framework for the historiography of the Africa and the African Diaspora. The sources which were used in this endeavor are as follows:

Adelake, Tunde.(1988) UnAfrican Americans: Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalists and the Civilizing Mission. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. “The African Origin of Grecian Civilization,” (1917) The Journal of Negro History, Vol.2, No. 3, July, 334-344. Alexander, Leslie M. (2008) African Or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1787-1861. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Aptheteker, Herbert.(1965) “One Continual Cry” David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizen of the World (1829-1830): Its Setting, its Meaning, New York: Humanities Press. Birmingham, David. (1990) Kwame Nkrumah: The Father of African Nationalism. Athens: Ohio: Ohio University Press. Blyden, Edward Wilmot. (1967) “Ethiopia Stretching forth her hands unto God, or Africa’s Service to the World,” in Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race (1887), Edinburgh: Edinbugh University Press. Boahen, A. Adu.(1985) “New Trends and Processes in Africa,” General History of Africa, VI Berkeley: UNESCO, 46-51. Bracey, John H. Jr., August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, (1970) Black Nationalism in America, New York, N.Y.: Bobbs-Merrill, Inc.. Bradley, Michael. (1991) Ice Man Inheritance: Prehistoric Sources of Western Man’s Racism, Sexism, and Aggression. Kayode Publications.

371

Brandon, George (1993) Santeria from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, Brown, Robert A. and Todd C. Shaw, (2002) “Separate Nations: Two Attitudinal Dimensions of Black Nationalism,” The Journal of Politics, Vol. 64,1, Feb., 22-44. Brown, Vincent. (2008) The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Blyden, Edward Wilmot. (1967) “Ethiopia Stretching forth her hands unto God, or Africa’s Service to the World,” in Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race (1887), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Byrd, Alexander X.(2006) “Eboe Country, Nation and Gustavus Vassa’s Interesting Narrative,” William and Mary Quarterly, 63, 123-148. Brown, William Wells.(1863) The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius and His Achievements. Boston: Boston Stereotype Foundry. Caron, Peter. (1997) “Of a Nation Which Others Do Not Understand”: Bambara Slaves and African Ethnicity in Colonial Louisiana, 1718-1760,” in David Eltis, ed., Routes to Slavery: Direction, Ethnicity, and Mortality in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. London, England: Frank Cass, 98-121. Casely Hayford, J.E. (1969) Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation. Frank Cass and Co. Chambers, Douglas B. (2005) Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Chevannes, Barry.(1994) Rastafarianism: Roots and Ideology, Syracuse University Press. Chirenje, Muttero, (1987) Ethiopianism and Afro-Americans in Southern Africa, 1883-1916. Baton Rouge, LO: Louisiana State University Press. Cone, James H. (1970) A Black Theology of Liberation, Maryknoll, NY: J.B. Lippincott Co. Cronon, Edmun David. (1955) Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Cruise, Harold. (1967) The Crises of the Negro Intellectual, New York: William Morrow and Co. Daget, S. (1985) “The Abolition of the Slave Trade,” General History of Africa, VI. Berkeley: UNESCO. Delany, Martin R. (1968) The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered. New York: Arno Press, 48. ------. (1880) Principia of Ethnology: The Origin of Races and Color with an Archeological Compendium of Ethiopia and Egyptian Civilization. Philadelphia, Arno Press. Diouf, Sylviane A.(1998) Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. New York: New York University. Ellis, A.B. (1890) The Ewe –Speaking People of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages. London, England. Eluwa, G.I.C.(1974) “Casely Hayford and African Emancipation, Pan-African Journal, VII/5, New York, Pan - African Institute, Inc., Summer. Fanning, Sara C. (2007)“The Roots of Early Black Nationalism: Northern African Americans’ Invocations of Haiti in the early 18th Century,” Slavery and Abolition, 28/1,April, 61-85. Fanon, Franz (1968) Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press. Franklin, V.P. and Bettye Collier-Thomas, (2002) “Biography, Race Vindication and African-American Intellectuals,” The Journal of African- American History, Vol. 87, Winter. Frazier, E. Franklin.(1949) The Negro in the United States. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan. Fyfe, Christopher. (1972) Africanus Horton, 1835-1883, New York: Oxford University Press. Gaines, Kevin K. (2006) American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. ------. (1996) Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics and Culture in the Twentieth Century: Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of Chapel Hill Press..

372

Garnet, Henry Highland (1969). The Past and Present Condition and the Destiny of the Colored Race. Miami: Mnemosyne Publishing Inc. Gilroy, Paul. (1983) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvar University Press. Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo. (1992) Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge, LO: Louisiana University Press. Herskovits, Melville J.(1941) The Myth of the Negro Past. New York: Harper. Hill, Adelaide Cromwell and Martin Kilson. Eds., (1969) Apropos of Africa: Sentiments of Negro Leaders on Africa from the 1800s to the 1950s. London, England: Frank Cass and Co.. Horton, Africanus. (1969) West African Countries and Peoples. Edinburgh, Edinburg University Press. James,C.L.R. (1989) The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Overature and the San Domingo Revolution. New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books Edition. Keita, Maghan (1994) “Deconstructing the Classical Age: Africa and the Unity of the Mediterranean World,”The Journal of Negro History. Vol. 79, No. 2, Spring. Killingray, David. (2003) “The Black Atlantic Missionary Movement and Africa: 1780s-1920s,” Journal of Religion in Africa,33/1, February. Landers, Jane. (1999) Black Society in Spanish Florida. University of Illinois Press. Logan, Rayford and Michael R. Winston, eds., (1982) Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 608-610 Lynch, Hollis R . ed., (1971) Black Spokesman: Selected Published Writings of Edward Wilmot Blyden, London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd. ------. (1967) Edward Wilmot Blyden: Pan-Negro Patriot, 1834-1912. London, England: Oxford University Press. ------(1966) “Pan-Negro Nationalism in the New World, Before 1862,” Boston University Papers on Africa, II. Boston, Mass.: Boston University Press. Martin, Tony. (1976) Race First: The Ideological and Organizationist Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Westport: Greenwood Press. Mazrui, Ali. (1986) The Africans, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company. Meier August and Elliot Rudwick, eds., (1969) The Making of Black America, Vol. 1, New York: Atheneum. Morgan, Jennifer.(2004) Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery, Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press. Moses, William Jeremiah, Ed., (1992) Alexander Crummell, Destiny and Race: Selected Writings, 1840-1898, Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 194-205. ------. (1989) Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent. New York: Oxford University Press. ------. (1978) The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925, New York: Oxford University Press . Northup, David. (2000) “Igbo and Myth Igbo: Culture and Ethnicity in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850,” Slavery and Abolition, 21, 1-20. Ofari, Earl. (1972) Let Your Motto Be Resistance: The Life and Thought of Henry Highland Garnet. Boston: Beacon Press. Obi, T.J. Desch. (2007) Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World. Columbia, S.C.: The University of South Carolina Press. Palmer, Colin. (2000) “Defining and Studying the Modern African Diaspora,” Journal of Negro History, Vol. 85, No. ½, Winter-Spring, 27-32. Redkey, Edwin S. (1967) “Bishop Turner’s African Dream,” in Journal of American History, vol. 54/2 September. ------. (1969) Black Exodus: Black Nationalist and Back to Africa Movements, 1890-1910. New Haven,: Yale University Press.

373

------. (1971) Respect Black: The Writings of Speeches of Henry McNeal Turner. New York: Arno Press. Rodney, Walter. (1982) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Washington, D.C: Howard University Press. Rucker, Walter. (2002) “‘A Negro Nation within A Nation’: W.E.B. DuBois and the Creation of a Revolutionary Pan-Africanist Tradition,” 1903-1947, Black Scholar, Vol. 32, No. ¾, Sept., 37-46. ------. (2001) “I Will Gather All Nations,” Resistance, Culture and Pan-African Collaboration in Denmark Vesey’s South Carolina,” Journal of Negro History, Vol. 86, No. 2, March 2001, 132-147. Schor, Joel (1977) Henry Highland Garnet: The Voice of Black Radicalism in the Nineteenth Century, Westport: Greenwood Press. Stuckey, Sterling. (1972) The Ideological Origins of Black Nationalism. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. ------.(1987) Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New York: Oxford University Press. Thorton, John, “The Coromantees: An African Cultural Group in Colonial North America and the Caribbean.” “To Be More Than Equal: The Many Lives Of Martin Delany” http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/delany/home.htm Vassa, Gustavus. (1789/1996) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African. New York, N.Y.: Praeger, (initially printed in London, England). Weston, Henry G. Ed., (1996) “Genesis” The Holy Bible: Containing The Old and New Testaments, Authorized King James Version, New York, NY: Oxford University Press. White, Shane, (1988)“ ‘We Dwell in Safety and Pursue Our Honest Callings,’: Free Blacks in New York City,”1783-1810. The Journal of American History. Vol. 75. No. 2, Sept., 445-470. Williams, Eric. (1994) Capitalism and Slavery. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Woodson, Carter G. (1933/2000) Miseducation of the Negro, African-American Images.

SUMMER 2009 During this quarter, I finished Dr. Gordon’s ‘History of Education’ sequence by taking Edu P & L 834 “History of African American Education, from 1950-Present.” Additionally, I took another independent study course under Dr. Errante.’ Together, these courses afforded me the opportunity to delineate the educational component within the research that I completed under Dr. Rucker through incorporating: Fisher, Maisha T. (2008) Black Literate Lives: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Routledge, which highlighted how literacy was intrinsically tied to liberational struggle within the antebellum and postbellum African-American experience; Franklin, V.P. and Bettye Collier-Thomas, (2002) “Biography, Race Vindication and African-American Intellectuals,” The Journal of African- American History, Vol. 87, Winter, which highlighted the educational aspirations of African-Americans that were tied to notions of race uplift and vindication; V.Y. Mudimbe, (1994) The Idea of Africa (African Systems of Thought), Indiana University Press, and The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Indiana University Press (1988), which examined the concept of “Africa” as being a construct that was originally in service to European hegemony and Western scholarly analyses of the ‘Other’; Peter C. Murrell Jr. (2002) African-Centered Pedagogy: Developing Schools of Achievement for African-American Children. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, which provided a methodology for implemented curriculum to African-American children in congruence with their repective culture; and Linda Tuhiwai Smith, (1999) Decolonizing Methodology: Research and Indigenous Peoples, New York, NY: Zed Books, Ltd., which queried the basis of research itself as being tied to colonialism and explored methods through which an indigenous discourse can be realized. I thus constructed a paper entitled, EXAMINING PRAXIS OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WITHIN PAN-AFRICANISM AND ETHIOPIANISM. Within this examination, I argue that it was the agency of African historiography within 19th century Pan Africanist and Ethiopianist endeavors, that a re-presentation of African history among the descendents of Africa occurred in reaction to Hegelian models of the African ‘other’ and European hegemonic material conditions. The praxis of African historiography therefore constituted the construction of a historical narrative to preserve, affirm and/or reclaim African political, cultural and religious identity, and encourage “common uplift” with ‘Africa’ at the center.

374

To further my knowledge of Pan-Africanism to encompass a more radical 20th century intellectual and organizational endeavors I read works which are annotated below:

Carmichael, Stokeley. (2003). Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokeley Carmichael (Kwame Ture). NewYork, NY: Scribner. This is an intriquing narrative as told to Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, highlighting Ture’s Childhood, college experiences, evolution from civil rights activist to Black Power activist and Pan-Africanist Revolutionary. Ture’s insider views of such historical figures and organizations as Fanny Lou Hamer, SNCC, SLCL, Dr. King, Mariam Makeba, Malcolm X, Black Panthers, Fidel Castro, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture and others is indeed invaluable.

Lewis, David Levering. (1993) W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of A Race, 1868-1919 New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co. LLC. Lewis details the first half of DuBois’ life focusing on his Barrington upbringing, schooling, experiences at Fisk, and Harvard, as well as his early works on “The Supression of the Slave Trade,” “The Philadelphia Negro,” “The Souls of Black Folk.” The text further highlights DuBois’ international experiences as shaping his ethos and his work geared toward the Niagra Movement, early Pan-African Congresses, and rift with Washington. Lewis further shows DuBois’ transformation from social scientist to civil rights propagandist as he serves as editor of Crisis Magazine.

Lewis, David Levering. (2000) W.E.B. DuBois: The Fight For Equality and The American Century, 1919-1963.New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co. LLC, 2000. Lewis provides an extensive biography on DuBois’ second half of his life including his rifts with the NAACP and Garvey, his contributions to Pan-African Congresses and African nationalism, his embrace of socialism and ultimate self-exilein independent Ghana. The text is highly interpretative but most intriguing especially regarding the dynamics between DuBois and Garvey.

AUTUMN 2009 Because my area of emphasis has consisted of African historiography, production of knowledge and the politics of identity, I took History 742, “African History and Methodology” course under Dr. Ousman Kobo to meet my methodology requirements for the Doctorate in Edu P & L. Accordingly, I reviewed a quite comprehensive selection of scholarship that addressed the multidisciplinary implications, theoretical paradigms, and methodologies involved in the development of African history. This has indeed familiarized me with the prominent scholarly discourses that have emerged within this area studies. Major works that I engaged are annotated below.

Adenaike, Carolyn Keyes. (1996) “Reading the Pursuit: An Introduction.” In eds. Jan Vansina and Carolyn Keyes Adenaike. In Pursuit of History: Fieldwork Experience. Adenaike offers this introduction to a collection of essays written by historians as she briefly considers the dynamics involved in fieldwork involving fieldworkers’ identity, political context, interplay between researcher and researched, and issues involving gender and race. She also offers a brief commentary on historical methods in which “we can use the present to understand the past.”

Babou, Cheikh Anta. (2007) Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridyya of Senegal, 1853-1913. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. Murid scholar Babou offers a comprehensive historiographic assessment of Amadu Bamba utilizing a “from within” approach that draws from a wide selection of oral, written, archival, and iconic sources. Babou’s intention is to elucidate the Murid’s spiritual, educational and doctrinal dimensions within a

375

historiography that is dominated by scholarship that emphasize political and economic dimensions of the order with respect to the French colonial hegemony.

Bonk, Jonathan J. (2005) “Ecclesiastical Cartography and the Problem of Africa.” History in Africa. 32, 117-132. Bonk’s work establishes a reciprocal relationship between cartography and the production of historical and theological knowledge. He argues that contemporary ecclesiastical cartography is exclusive to Western Christendom and denies the actualities of the unprecedented growth in African Christianity. He further promotes an ongoing Dictionary of African Christian Biography derived from a collaboration of religious and academic institutions that pull from written and oral sources to contribute to an “update” in the ecclesiastical cartography of the world.

Brizuela-Garcia, Esperanza (2006). “The History of Africanization and the Africanization of History,” History in Africa. 22, 85-100. Brizuela-Garcia examines the methodological implications of African history, dynamics of oral history, struggle between “universalism and authenticity,” as well as African agency in historiography. Further, he argues for an Africanization of Western approaches that can reconfigure traditional forms of scholarship. This was one of the most intriguing pieces of the course.

Camaroff Jean and John Camaroff. (1991) Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness. Vol. I. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. This was an intriguing piece that involves an unsuccessful attempt at utilizing anthropological history to liberate rather than colonize. The Camaroffs assess the process involved in the “colonization of consciousness and the consciousness of colonization” that occurred within the initial encounters between the Southern Tswana and British Nonconformist Missionaries in South Africa.

Charumbira, Ruramisai. (2008) “Nehanda and Gender Victimhood in the Central Mashonaland 1896-97 Rebellions: Revisiting the Evidence,” History in Africa. 35, 103-131. Charumbira revists the historiography of the trial and execution of Nehande to reveal “women’s voices are rendered irrelevant to the discourse and if relevant, in need of verification by patriarchal standards of those that created the archive in the nineteenth century and those that use it to write narratives in our time.”

Cinnamon, John M. (2006) “Missionary Expertise, Social Science, And The Uses Of Ethnographic Knowledge In Colonial Gabon.” History in Africa. 33, 413-432. Cinnamon explores the intersections and critiques concerning ethnographic research among and between missionaries and anthropologists as he highlights the fieldwork experiences of American Presbyterian Missionary Robert Hamilton Nassau and French Spiritan, Henri Trilles in Gabon. The useful concept of “mythomaniac” was also introduced as a characterisitic of missionaries, and even for anthropologist who base assessments on “Western historical experiences.” Cinnamon concludes that it was missionaries such as the above who still provide useful insights into the history of colonialism and missionaries in Africa and are the foundational models that shape the ethnographic imagination today.

Cobbing, Julian. (1988) “The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo,” Journal of African History, 29, 487-519. Cobbing desconstructs the concept of “Mfecane” as emanating from European assessments of South African history that define a period of Zulu expansion and

376

subsequent “genocidal effects” in the area. By focusing on Shaka’s innovations and the lesser known battles of Dithakong and Mbolompo, Cobbing questions the “Afrocentric” interpretation of Zulu agency in the Mfecane and suggests that European agency be considered.

Cobbing, Julian. (1988) “A Tainted Well: The Objectives, Historical Fantasies, and Working Methods of James Stuart with Counter-Argument,” The Journal of Natal and Zulu History, II, 115-154. Cobbing critiques the oral histories compiled and synthesized by James Stuart between 1894- 1924 which have become the foundation for Zulu historiography from pre-Shaka to the massacre of 60 Zulus in 1906. Cobbing contends that Stuart’s work and the historiography that emanate from it are “tainted” on the grounds that it was acquired and written in service to white Colonial rule – emphasizing Zulu ‘otherness’ and ‘violence’.

Cohen, C.(1989) “The Undefining of Oral Tradition,” Ethnohistory, 36, 9-18. Cohen examines how the hegemony of Western analytical models have codified “oral traditions.” Further, he explores how the “undefining” of these sources is necessary to gain an ‘authentic’ insight into the transformative interplay that occurs between the African past and present.

Cohen, David William.(2001) “In a Nation of White Cars….One White Car, or “A White Car, Becomes a Truth.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher, and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 264-280. Cohen caveats against stereotyping as he as revisits the use of oral testimony that was used for an investigation into a mysterious death of a Kenyan government official.

Ewald, Janet. (1988) “Speaking, Writing and Authority: Explorations in and from the Kingdom of Taqali,” Comparative Studies in Society and History. 30, 2, April, 199-224. Ewald explores the relationships between documentation, power relations and historical knowledge as she engages the written and oral sources to construct a narrative of late 18th early 19th century kingdom of Taqali. Key concepts explored include graphocentrism, positivism, and the historical political dynamics of orality and literacy.

Fall, Babacar, (2001) “Senegalese Women in Politics: A Portrait of Two Female Leaders, Arame Diene and Thioumbe Samb, 1945-1996. In Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Indiana University Press, 214- 223. Babacar examines two illiterate West African women with the aim of providing a representative “voice” for “voiceless” African women. The work however illustrates pronounced essentialism and dynamics of “intellectual convenience.”

Fair, Laura. (2001) “Voice, Authority, and Memory: The Kiswahili Recordings of Siti Binti Saadi.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History, Indiana University Press. Fair utilizes the recordings of the 1st African female recorded on a gramophone to examine how people take ownership of and superimpose their own collective memory on song. The work therefore explores the methodological implications involving music as a medium through which “voice” may be attained.

Fife, Wayne. (2005) Doing Fieldwork: Ethnographic Methods for Research in Developing Countries and Beyond. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2005. Fife discusses methods for carrying out ethnographic research at the macro and micro level of analysis. His findings are drawn from his

377

year long field research project examining social change and education in the province of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Forkl, Hermann. (1990) “Publish or Perish, or How to Write a Social History of the Wandala (Northern Cameroon),” History in Africa. 17, 77-94. Forkl dissects a dissertation on the Wandala to reveal how incorrect terminology, inappropriate anthropological cultural models and erroneous references were utilized to ‘construct’ the “social history” of the “Wandala.”

Freierman, Steven. (1993) “African Histories and the Dissolution of World History.” In eds. Robert H. Bates, V.Y. Mudimbe, and Jean O’Barr. Africa and the Disciplines: The Contributions of Research in Africa to the Social Sciences and Humanities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Freierman discusses how the emergence and development of African history has contributed to Western scholarship in general but is also forcing a reconsideration of the foundations and historical paradigms of Western civilization.

Garlake, P.S. (1982) “Prehistory and Ideology in Zimbabwe,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 52/3, Past and Present Zimbabwe, 1-19. Garlake discusses the ‘prehistory’ of the ancient southeastern African empire of Great Zimbabwe which flourished from the 11th -15th centuries A.D. Garlake further critiques the Rhodesian colonizer’s attempts to censor Zimbabwean historiography.

Giles-Vernick, Tamara. (2001) “Lives, Histories, and Sites of Recollection,” In African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History, eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. Indiana University Press, 184-213. The author draws from her interactions with the Mpiemu peoples of the Sangha Basin in West Central Africa. After making a transition from interviewing methods to “field research” (i.e. literally, through working in the fields) she was able to obtain insight into the intricacies within this community. The work therefore raises critical methodological issues of field work.

Golan, Daphna. (1990) “The Life Story of King Shaka and Gender Tensions in the Zulu State,” History in Africa. 17, 95-111. Golan examines how Shaka’s life story is a historical invention used by whites to justify how blacks should be ruled. Conversely, “Shaka” was used to represent black power and nationalism for blacks. Beyond this, Golan considers the metaphorical implications involving the corroboration of oral sources and written sources which exemplify certain hero typologies. Golan further highlights “Shaka’s” changes in the successive pattern via merit system and Shaka’s fight against pregnancy as providing symbolic insight into the redefinition of and tension between male and female roles within precapitialist Zulu society.

Hamilton, Carolyn.(1998) Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press. Hamilton’s examines the historiography and methodologies involved in the origin and evolution of “Shaka” histories. She considers how the “Shakan core” was invented to serve as a “living source of tradition” that would preserve “indigenous customs” under white South African hegemony. Further, Hamilton explores how the Shakan model has given shape to and has been shaped by complex and competing political identities within South Africa, as well as a model through which the South African government based its authoritative rule on Black South Africans.

378

Jewsiewicki, B. and V.Y. Mudimbe. (1993) “Africans’ Memories and Contemporary History of Africa.” History and Theory, 32/4, History Making in Africa, Dec., 1-11. The authors explores the Judea-Christian and ‘Enlightenment’ roots of African historiography, which it unsuccessfully attempted to escape. The article further explores the relational challenges between archive based research and oral tradition, African history and western constructs, ideals of modernity and tradition, andAfrican nationalism and historiography of pre-colonial Africa.

Klein, M. (1989) “Studying the History of Those Who Would Rather Forget: Oral History and the Experience of Slavery,” History in Africa. 16, 209-217. Klein examines the methodological implications of oral sources in historicizing indigenous slavery within the context of colonial French West Africa. Key insights are provided on the issue of “silence,” or “selectivity” within “oral traditions” and “oral data.”

Kratz, Corinne A. (2001)“Conversations and Lives.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Indiana University Press,127-161. Katz explores the possibilities and constraints of life history/story “as method, as data, as composite ’genre,’ and as scholarly category,” to investigate and historicize personal, or individual views of self, life, society and history.

Magaziner, Daniel R. (2007) “Removing the Blinders and Adjusting the View: A Case Study From Early Colonial Sierra Leone,” History in Africa, 34, 169-188. With the aim of recovering “alternative histories,” Magaziner raises key historiographical, methodological, and epistemological concerns as he assesses accounts of 1898 Mande peoples revolt in the colony of Sierra Leone. Accordingly, he considers how 20th century texts mirror 19th century narratives of the event that were shaped by competing colonial discourses. This text is key in deconstructing or provincializing “Europe.”

Miescher, Stephen F. (2001) “The Life Histories of Boakye Yiadom (Akasease Kofi of Abetifi, Kwawu): Exploring the Subjectivity and ‘Voices’ Of A Teacher-Catechist in Colonial Ghana.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Indiana University Press, 162-193. Miescher explores notions of masculinities among the people of Kwawu in colonial Ghana through the oral and narrative testimonies of a teacher-catechist. Miescher further considers the implications of subjectivity and “open texts” of life histories which negotiate conflicting value systems.

Ogot, Bethwell. (2001) “The Construction of Luo Identity and History.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Indiana University Press, 31-52. Ogot traces the historiography of Luo from its indigenous oral origins that involved ideological interplay between present and past to Western constructed “frozen” entities that often are manipulated for subnationalist agendas within modern Kenya. His treatment of oral traditions is aimed toward establishing insight into people’s view of history rather than establishing an ‘objective’ view of history.

Phillips, John. (2006) “What is African History.” In ed. John Phillips. Writing African History. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. Philips discusses some basic assumptions of history, history’s relationship with social science, its distinctions from other disciplines and the overall value of history.

379

Rabinowitz, Paula. (1993) “Wreckage upon Wreckage: History, Documentary and the Ruins of Memory.” History and Theory. Vol. 32, No. 2, May, 119 -137. The author dissects the history of documentary cinema, distinguishes documentary from narrative, examines critiques of documentaries with respect to ‘truth telling’ and political discourse, and ends by exploring imaginative documentaries. He calls into question subjectivity and historical agency. Most intriguing in the work is the author’s discussion of how history is the “excess” of documentary, and how Shoah and Spike Lee’s Malcolm X constitute imaginative art forms that become the ‘documents’ of history.

Roberts, Richard. (1990) “Reversible Social Processes, Historical Memory, and the Production of History,” History in Africa, 17, 341-9. Roberts queries the methodological implications of oral testimonies that omit major transformative events involving gender dynamics and textile industry in Segu region of what is now Sudan. He highlights the dynamics between researcher informant relationship as well as “normative bias” within oral testimonies that are shaped in accord with contemporary ideologies and agendas.

Robertshaw, Peter. (2000) “Sibling Rivalry? The Intersection of Archeology and History,” History in Africa. Vol. 27, 261-286. Robertshaw critiques VanSina “Historians, Are Archeologists Your Siblings?” by offering an examination of the paradigmatic complexities within archeology inclusive of post-processual African archeology, distinctions between American and British forms of archeology regarding anthropology, and a review of historiography of oral traditions focusing on implications of archeology, time and identity. He ultimately suggests a collaboration between archeology and history is important for continued scholarly inquiry within both fields.

Robertson, John H. and Rebecca Bradley.(2000) “A New Paradigm: The African Early Iron-Age without Bantu Migration,” History in Africa, 27, 287-323.The authors refute the Eurocentric migration theory that has dominated African archeology specifically regarding iron-production, in which “research serves to reinforce rather than test the initial assumptions.” They point out topographical and environmental challenges that would have prevented such a migration and propose new paradigms that consider examinations of disease and genetic resistance to them , better assessments of material evidence and a “continuity model” in which communities tend to be sedentary while becoming diverse over time.

Schmidt, Heike. (2007) “The Future of Africa’s Past: Observation on the Discipline,” History in Africa, 34, 453-460. Schmidt explores challenges of African studies as this area studies struggles with such issues as the ‘Hegelian’ dictum, provincializing Europe, deprovincializing Africa, Post-Cold War era funding shifts, scholar-activist endeavors, relationships between diasporas, and epistemological challenges.

Shokpeka, S.A. (2005) “Myth in the Context of African Traditional Histories: Can it be called ‘Applied’ History”? History in Africa, 32, 485-591. Shokpeka offers a definition of myth and applied history, then examines various narrative excerpts from Hausa, Yoruba Asante, and Wolof. He concludes that myth is “indispensable in the reconstructions of the African past.

Sutton, J.E.G. (2006) “Denying History in Colonial Kenya: The Anthropology and Archaeology of G.W.B. Hutingford and L.S.B. Leakey,” History in Africa. 43, 287-320. Sutton’s critiques the migration theory within the archaeological work of Huntingford in Kenya to be grounded in

380

Colonial / Eurocentric biases, as he deliberately ignored local traditions and asserted technological advances as belonging to “Azanians,” rather than local inhabitants. Sutton also touches on the how these migration theories are used to deny claims to land as well as how they are promoted through African school texts.

Vansina, Jan.(1982) “Is Elegance Proof? Structuralism and African History.” History in Africa. 10, 307-348. Vansina offers a thorough critique of the adequacy of structuralism in reconstructing African history as he delineates the Hegelian based flaws of de Heusch’s work on “traditional” Rwanda.

Vansina, Jan. (1995) “Historians, Are Archeologists Your Siblings?” History in Africa. Vol. 22, 369- 408. Vansina argues that archeology is “indispensable for any worthwhile history of Africa” though critiques its neo-evolutionist paradigm. He further assesses American and European forms of anthropology, archeological tendencies that focus on technological innovation and migration, historian archeologist, DeVisse and his theory of Annales, and other implications of anthropology such as funding, surveying and excavation, digging techniques, and expectation and interpretation which all impact the historical value of archeology.

Vansina, Jan. (1965) Oral Traditions: A Study in Historical Methods. Chicago, IL.. Trained as both a medieval historian and anthropologist, Vansina establishes this seminal study in the use of oral traditions as a source for historical methodology. Highlights of the work include oral tradition’s relation to written history as well as its method of transmission, distortions, structure, meaning, mirage, cultural values, typologies, evaluation and biases.

Vaughan, Megan. (2001) “Recorded Speech and Other Kinds of Testimony.” In eds. Luise White, Stephan F. Miescher and David William Cohen. African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History, Indiana University Press, 53-77. Vaughn examines the relationship between oral testimony, “voice,” “consciousness” within the process of documenting history in Malawi. She also considers how oral histories may privilege “voices” and in effect silence other expressions which may historicize the past.

Zeitlyn, David. (2005) “The Documentary Impulse: Archives in the Bush.” History in Africa, 32, 415- 434. Zeitlyn discusses how linguistic dynamics, bias, politics between researcher and researched, as well as the political and institutional implications of archived sources impact issues involving “authenticity” in conducting anthropological and historical fieldwork.

In conclusion, this intellectual autobiography, like the historiography of Africa itself, has involved a process aimed at validating, authenticating and “historicizing” myself against a deeply embedded Hegelian premises that “Africa is no historical part of the world”. As I have explored multidisciplinary approaches, various methodologies and a multitude of theoretical frameworks that have contributed to the development of African history, I have gained a critical awareness of the need to continue in the ongoing expansion of my own cultural ethos. In addition to meaningful discourse within academic settings, it has become increasingly clear that the epistemological and theoretical foundations of Western scholarship are geared toward its reproduction rather than an actual production of non-Western knowledge. This has constituted the principle impediment in the establishment of African voice within African history as well as the establishment of agency within my own educational endeavors. 381

The fact that Schmidt (2007), Brizuela-Garcia, (2006), Smith (1999) and others are now offering critical discourse concerning how Western theoretical frameworks and paradigms “deconstruct” or “provincialize” Europe and give way to the “decolonization” of knowledge is indeed intriguing. The methodological and historiographical implications Africa will undoubtedly be essential within this process because Africa has constituted the “other” by which the West has constructed itself as the intellectual monolith. (Macgaffey, 2005) Accordingly the ‘deprovincialization’ of African history may open avenues for scholarly inquiry that may not only promote what Brizuela-Garcia contends to be the “Africanization of History” but an actual “humanization,” or “universalization” of history. This will be especially important for non-Western, non-White, and indigenous peoples of the world because the knowledge of the world and the knowledge of themselves have been subjected to Western hegemonic frameworks. In sum, these frameworks subordinate people of the world within their own ethos! It is therefore my objective to delineate the ‘organic’ elements of African voice and agency through which historical knowledge is deemed relevant and empowering to African and indigenous peoples of the world, or what is referred to as an “indigenization of knowledge” (Smith,1999) As I continue to query the informal, organic based forms of African historiography from its indigenous origins (i.e. oral traditions) through Diasporic manifestations, I will further engage in the deconstruction of “Europe.” Moreover, I will consider the critical methodological, epistemological and pedagogical implications through which history is connected to the production of knowledge and politics of identity.

382

Appendix B: Realms of Consciousness of an African American male in African studies Realm 1 - Racial awareness determined by minority status, otherness, or Differentness. No definitive sense of cultural or ancestral heritage.

Realm 2 - Humanizing/affirming blackness: Sense of belonging to a collective that was actively claiming agency in one’s own identity through music, dance, politics, art, religion and theatre.

Realm 3- Realm 3 - black collectivism/solidarity – combination of 1 and 2 above in which interactions and engagements are viewed through a dichotomous racialized political lens by which one should aspire to achieve for the black collective.

Re Realm 4 - Literary blackness - Expanding ethos via U.S. centered -African American - centered history, literature education

Realm 5 - Afro-centric awareness - Development of an essentialized Pan- African ethos grounded in spirituality, mysticism, homogenized views of cultural, history – almost always in opposition / contrast with Western or Euro-centric paradigms.

Realm 6 – Africanist discourses - Problematizing Afro-centric essentialism through intellectual assessment of complexities of historical and political dynamics of African and African American realities.

Realm 7 - Organic African American intellectualism - Culmination of all the above and continued expansion of African ethos via experiential and literary discourse. Critical engagement of African political and historical realities as well as American political, historical and cultural dynamics from intellectual and experiential repertoire. Engaging the transnational, national and intraracial dynamics of African and African American dynamics from a merger between experiential and intellectual experiences.

383

Appendix C: Consent Form For Professors’ Oral Histories.

The Ohio State University Consent to Participate in Research

“Towards a Griotic Methodology: African Historiography, Identity Study Title: Politics and Educational Implications” (Component A – Professors) Researcher: Abu J. Toure

Sponsor: The Ohio State University

This is a consent form for research participation. It contains important information about this study and what to expect if you decide to participate. Your participation is voluntary. Please consider the information carefully. Feel free to ask questions before making your decision whether or not to participate. If you decide to participate, you will be asked to sign this form and will receive a copy of the form. Purpose: This study seeks to contribute to the historical and educational scholarship on the African American foundations of African historiography, via qualitative and historiographical components. This study specifically queries an unique African American epistemological framework that is tied to identity politics and the production of history through the analyses of antebellum African American productions of history. It is hoped that this study will yield a pedagogical model that may enhance the educational agency (empowerment) of all students’ in general, and African Americans in particular.

Procedures/Tasks: This qualitative component will involve individual consultations / oral histories with no more than five (5) African and/or African American professors who have a specialization in African and/or African American history / studies. All professors are faculty at major U.S. based research institutions, and at least two professors will be male and two will be female. The oral histories will either be digitally recorded (audio only) in person or via phone conferences.

Duration: Each professor oral history will last no more than 90 minutes in length.

You may leave the study at any time. If you decide to stop participating in the study, there will be no penalty to you, and you will not lose any benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. Your decision will not affect your future relationship with The Ohio State University.

Risks and Benefits: Risks – None

Benefits: 384

To contribute to a neglected component of scholarship peculiar to the African and African American experience. To promote educational agency and empowerment of all students in general, African Americans in particular, in a post-secondary setting.

Confidentiality:

Efforts will be made to keep your study-related information confidential. However, there may be circumstances where this information must be released. For example, personal information regarding your participation in this study may be disclosed if required by state law. Also, your records may be reviewed by the following groups (as applicable to the research):  Office for Human Research Protections or other federal, state, or international regulatory agencies;  The Ohio State University Institutional Review Board or Office of Responsible Research Practices;  The sponsor, if any, or agency (including the Food and Drug Administration for FDA-regulated research) supporting the study.

Incentives: None

Participant Rights:

You may refuse to participate in this study without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. If you are a student or employee at Ohio State, your decision will not affect your grades or employment status.

If you choose to participate in the study, you may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. By signing this form, you do not give up any personal legal rights you may have as a participant in this study. An Institutional Review Board responsible for human subjects research at The Ohio State University reviewed this research project and found it to be acceptable, according to applicable state and federal regulations and University policies designed to protect the rights and welfare of participants in research.

Contacts and Questions: For questions, concerns, or complaints about the study you may contact :

Dr. Antoinette Errante’ (614) 247-6857 or [email protected]

Abu J. Toure (614) 579-8278 OR toure.4 @buckeyemail.osu.edu

For questions about your rights as a participant in this study or to discuss other study-related concerns or complaints with someone who is not part of the research team, you may contact Ms. Sandra Meadows in the Office of Responsible Research Practices at 1-800-678-6251.

If you are injured as a result of participating in this study or for questions about a study-related injury, you may contact:

Dr. Antoinette Errante’ (614) 247-6857 or [email protected] 385

Abu J. Toure, (614) 579-8278 OR [email protected]

Signing the consent form

I have read (or someone has read to me) this form and I am aware that I am being asked to participate in a research study. I have had the opportunity to ask questions and have had them answered to my satisfaction. I voluntarily agree to participate in this study.

I am not giving up any legal rights by signing this form. I will be given a copy of this form.

Printed name of subject Signature of subject

AM/PM Date and time

Printed name of person authorized to consent Signature of person authorized to consent for for subject (when applicable) subject (when applicable)

AM/PM Relationship to the subject Date and time

Investigator/Research Staff

I have explained the research to the participant or his/her representative before requesting the signature(s) above. There are no blanks in this document. A copy of this form has been given to the participant or his/her representative.

Abu J. Toure Printed name of person obtaining consent Signature of person obtaining consent

AM/PM Date and time

386

Appendix D:

Consultations/Oral History Questions: What would you describe as the most important aspects of your identity? What is your earliest memory of having a sense of identity? What were some of the most significant experiences that impacted your self identity? To what degree do you think that aspects of sense of identity were influenced by your responding to oppositional dynamics? Were there affirmational dynamics, or dynamics that were encouraging and/or nurturing that gave shape to your sense of identity? Based on these dynamics, how were you impacted? What in your personal biography led you to study History? African American history? Do you recall the first African novel, or Black history text that you read? What impact did it have on you? Was there any tendency to segregate ‘Black history’ or did you attempt to infuse African/ African American history into the standard view of history? Was there a tendency to engage African American history while not critiquing European history? Your view today? How did your identity impact your decision to become a professor of African and/or African Americans studies? How did becoming a college professor of African and/or African studies impact your identity? What contributions do you believe persons of African descent bring in their engagement of African and/or African American history? Are there any peculiarities that you’ve notice among your collegues that you can speak to? Is there any unique cultural epistemology that Africans / African Americans bring to their engagement of African history? How does your sense of identity influence your historical production? How do you think your biography influences the kind of scholarly work you do and/or your perspectives on African history and historiography? What is your overall mission in the production and teaching of African American history?

387

Appendix E: Consent form for students.

The Ohio State University Consent to Participate in Research

“Towards a Griotic Methodology: African Historiography, Identity Study Title: Politics and Educational Implications” (Component B - Students) Researcher: Abu J. Toure

Sponsor: The Ohio State University

Purpose: This study investigates how African history may be used to empower students in a post- secondary classroom setting. This study specifically examines how connections between the teaching of African history and students lived experiences may occur.

Procedures/Tasks: This component of the study will involve participant observation in which the instructor will be teaching African history in a manner that makes connections to the lived experiences and/or identities of students. In short, this study seeks to observe and improve upon how students may best learn African history. All students who enroll in a post-secondary college - Humanities course, “Introduction to African Literature” are solicited to participant in the study which involves no risks and no additional requirements beyond those listed on the syllabus. Students who agree to participate in the study will be video recorded during class lecture/discussion sessions and student presentations, and will be given the opportunity to anonymously assess/evaluate the instructor’s teaching methods and curriculum presented. Those students who do not agree to participate will be: a) not video recorded; b.) blocked out on video tape if excluding them from video tape is impossible; c.) excluded from assessment / evaluation instructor. Course grade and/or credit received will not be impacted by participation or non-participation of students.

Duration: The study will take place over a period of 5 weeks. Two classes per week will be observed (10 total) and each observation will last 2 hours.

388

Risks and Benefits: Risks – None

Benefits: To improve upon the teaching and learning of African history to students in a post-secondary setting.

Confidentiality:

Incentives: None

Participant Rights:

An Institutional Review Board responsible for human subjects research at The Ohio State University reviewed this research project and found it to be acceptable, according to applicable state and federal regulations and University policies designed to protect the rights and welfare of participants in research.

Contacts and Questions: For questions, concerns, or complaints about the study you may contact:

Dr. Antoinette Errante (614) 247-6857 or [email protected]

Abu J. Toure at (614) 579-8278 or [email protected] 389

If you are injured as a result of participating in this study or for questions about a study-related injury, you may contact:

Dr. Antoinette Errante (614) 247-6857 or [email protected]

Abu J. Toure at (614) 579-8278 or [email protected]

Signing the consent form

I am not giving up any legal rights by signing this form. I will be given a copy of this form.

Printed name of subject Signature of subject

AM/PM Date and time

Printed name of person authorized to consent Signature of person authorized to consent for for subject (when applicable) subject (when applicable)

AM/PM Relationship to the subject Date and time

Investigator/Research Staff

Abu J. Toure Printed name of person obtaining consent Signature of person obtaining consent

AM/PM Date and time 390

Appendix F: Course Syllabus

INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN LITERATURE Humanities Department Instructor: Abu J. Toure

Course and Number: Introduction to African Literature

CREDITS: 5 CLASS HOURS PER WEEK: 5

PREREQUISITES: Placement in ENGL 110

DESCRIPTION OF COURSE: A general survey of sub-Saharan African Literature. Students will read literary texts originally written in English or in English translation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1.) Challenge prevailing stereotypes of Africa and its people. 2.) Foster students’ awareness of and appreciation for the diversity of cultures and ethnicity in Africa. 3.) Familiarize students with the literary output of representative authors from Sub-Saharan Africa. 4.) Heighten students’ awareness of the oral basis of the written literature and the artist’s relationship with and responsibility to his/her audience. 5.) Critically evaluate the literature in form and content. This will be done both from the points of view of African and European artistic and aesthetic conventions. 6.) Examine and evaluate the contact with and influence of Middle Eastern and European cultures as shown in the literature. 7.) Assess the historical and historiographical impact of the West on Africa literature. 8.) Analyze the cultural impact of African literature in the context of post-colonial theory.

GENERAL EDUCATION GOALS: Humanities 254 will provide students with the following skills: 1.) The ability to read and listen critically and with understanding. 2.) The ability to write and speak effectively and in standard English. 3.) The ability to analyze the cultural, economic, historical, philosophical and political issues raised in the literature assigned, 4.) The ability to recognize and evaluate the aesthetics which inform African literature. 5.) The ability to identify methods of cultural inquiry in comparison with his/her own.

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL REQUIRED: 1.) Selected non-fiction, fiction, poetry and film highlighting the dynamics of the African world. 2.) Laptop computer, LCD projector, and VHS / DVD player.

TEXTBOOK, MANUALS, REFERENCES, AND OTHER READINGS: For the first half of the course, students will engage a wide variety of scholarly articles that will introduce students to the Africa’s changing portayals, textual and oral history, historiography,

391

philosophy, culture as well as the politico-cultural and psycho-social dynamics of the African world. These presently include the following articles:

See supplemental weekly readings assigned below.

Additionally, assigned texts for the course are as follows: Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart Ba, Mariama, So Long A Letter Biko, Steve, I Write What I Like Dangarembga, Tsitsi, Nervous Condition Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin White Masks or Wretched of the Earth Niani, T., Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS: Lecture, discussion, student presentations of weekly responses and analytical essays.

ASSESSMENT: The College is committed to assessment (measurement) of student achievement of academic outcomes. This process addresses the issues of what you need to learn in your program of study and if you are learning what you need to learn. The assessment program at the College has four specific and interrelated purposes: (1) to improve student academic achievements; (2) to improve teaching strategies; (3) to document successes and identify opportunities for program improvement; (4) to provide evidence for institutional effectiveness. In class you are assessed and graded on your achievement of the outcomes for this course. You may also be required to participate in broader assessment activities.

STANDARDS AND METHODS FOR EVALUATION: Weekly reaction papers on assigned readings, analytical essays, student presentations, midterms and final exam.

GRADING SCALE: A: 90-100% B: 80-89% C: 70-79% D: 60-69% E: less than 60%

SPECIAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS: UNITS OF INSTRUCTION.

Week 1 Unit of Instruction: Introduction to African Literature - Defining Africa/ns - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to ….. 1.) Understand the course content, policies and assignments. 2.) Identify the changing portrayals of the African continent. 2.) Know that Africa is a continent and not a country.

392

3.) Understand and appreciate the physical and human diversity of Africa 4.) Read a map with understanding. 5.) Read and listen carefully - Assigned Reading: "Why Study Africa." http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/teachers/curriculum/m1/notes.php Miner,Horace,"Body Ritual Among the Nacerima" http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~thompsoc/Body.html Makunike, Ezekiel,"Out of Africa." http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article108.html Olujobi, Gbemisola, "The Africa You Need To Know." http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/pdfs/The_Africa_You_Need_To_Know.pdf Hawk, Beverly. "If Africa Ruled Europe." http://www.jstor.org/pss/1166950 - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exam

Week 2 Unit of Instruction: African Literature, Orality and African identity - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to ….. 1.) Understand the importance of oral tradition to written literature. 2.) Recognize the relationship between language, culture and identity. 3.) Identify the existence of an African epistemology to literature. 4.) Compare African and Western genres of literature. - Assigned Readings: Adejunmobi, Moradewun. ""Routes: Language and the Identity of African Literature." The Journal of Modern African Studies. Vol. 37, Issue 4, Dec. 1999, 581-596. (available through Ohiolink and JSTOR) Ojaide, Tanure, "Modern African Literature and Cultural Identity," African Studies Review, Vol. 35, No. 3, Dec., 1992, 43-57. (JSTOR) Wiredu, Kwesi. "An Oral Philosophy of Personhood: Comments on Philosophy and Personhood." Research in African Literatures. Vol. 40, Issue 1, February 6, 2009, 8-18. - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exam.

Week 3 Unit of Instruction: Griotic Methodology, African historiography and Liberation. - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to …… 1.) Understand the role of the griot and his/her (re)production of African knowledge. 2.) Chart the evolution of / relationship between indigenous ‘ethnic’ forms of knowledge production to African literature. 3.) Understand how the context / audience of the author impacts African literary narrative - Assigned Reading: Ernest, John."Liberation Historiography: African American Historians Before the Civil War," American Literary History. Vol. 14, Issue 3, 2002, 413-443. Bekerie, Ayele. "The Ancient African Past Speaks," Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37., No. 3, January 2007, 445-460. (Ohiolink) - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exam

Week 4 Unit of Instruction: Modern Complexities of African Literary Scholarship - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to …..

393

1.) Understand the contribution the field of African literature has made to the study of literature in Western institutions of higher learning. 2.) Recognize the impact of the West’s intellectual engagement on African literature. 3.) Assess the respective paradigms that have given shape contemporary African Literature Assigned Readings: Talking About Tribe: Moving From Stereotype to Analysis." http://www.africaaction.org/bp/ethall.htm (if this doesn't work, try this hyperlink http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/ethn0801.php) Schiele, Jerome. "Afrocentricity: Implications for Higher Education." Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 25, Issue, 2, December 1994, 150-169. Hanchard, Michael George. “Black Transnationalism, Africana Studies and the 21st Century." Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 35, Issue 2, November 2004, 139-253. - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exam

Week 5 Unit of Instruction: African Origins of Civilization and Early African Civilization - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to …. 1.) Recognize Africa as the source of humanity and world civilization. 2.) Name and succinctly discuss significant Nile Valley civilizations of Ancient Africa. 3.) Identify the cultural exchange that occurred between Ancient African and Western civilizations. - Assigned Reading: "What Genes and Fossils Tell Us." http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0603/feature2/map.html Shreeve, James "The Greatest Journey," http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/03/human- journey/shreeve-text ben-Jochanon, Yosef, "The Nile Valley Civilization and the Spread of African Culture." http://www.africawithin.com/jochannan/drben_nile_valley_civilization.htm "Who Are The Nubians," http://wysinger.homestead.com/nubians.html "Ethnic Diversity in Americas Before Columbus" http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/ethnic1.htm - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exam.

Week 6 Unit of Instruction: African Civilizations II: From Ancient Zimbabwe to Songhai. - Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to …. 1.) Name and succinctly discuss significant African civilizations. 2.) Identify and map the major rivers of the African continent. 3.) Understand Islam as an influence on African civilizations. - Assigned Reading: http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/ethnic1.htm “Great Zimbabwe" (11-15th century) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zimb/hd_zimb.htm "Ghana" http://wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/GHANA.HTM "Mali" http://wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/MALI.HTM "Songhay" http://wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/SONGHAY.HTM "Shaka Zulu" http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1zulushaka.htm "Who Are the Moors" http://www.africawithin.com/black_history/overview_chapter18.html

394

"Moorish/Islamic contributions to Spain"http://www.load- islam.com/artical_det.php?artical_id=492§ion=indepth&subsection=Islamic%20history - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exams

Week 7 Unit of Instruction: African origins of religion / African Spirituality - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to ….. 1.) Understand the African contribution to the origins of Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths. 2.) Recognize Africa’s indigenous spiritual system as a way of life. - Assigned Reading: "Teaching of Ptahotep" http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/ptahhotep.html "African Origins of the Major Western Religions" http://www.africawithin.com/jochannan/african_origins.htm - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exams

Week 8 Unit of Instruction: Africa/ns and Al-Islam - Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to … 1.) Understand the basic tenants of the Islamic Faith 2.) Understand what methods were used in the introduction of Islam into Africa. 3.) Assess how Africans incorporated Islamic customs into their indigenous way of life.

-Assigned Reading: "Islam in Africa" http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22873.pdf "Islam in Africa" www.members.tripod.com/worldupdates/islamintheworld/id25.htm "Islam in West Africa" www.members.tripod.com/worldupdates/islamintheworld/id26.htm - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exams

Week 9 Unit of Instruction: Africa/ns, Islam, Arabism and Indigenous Slavery - Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to …. 1.) Identify how cultural/Arab nationalism was merged with Islam in North and East Africa. 2.) Explore indigenous forms of African slavery. 3.) Examine the intersections between Islam, Arab nationalism and African enslavement. -Assigned Reading: "Types of Slavery In Africa" http://africanhistory.about.com/od/slavery/p/SlaveryTypes.htm "The Role of Islam in Slavery" pt. I http://africanhistory.about.com/od/slavery/a/IslamRoleSlavery01.htm "The Role of Islam in Slavery: Using slaves on the African Continent" part II. http://africanhistory.about.com/od/slavery/a/IslamRoleSlavery02.htm de Waal, Alex "Who Are the Darfurians" http://conconflicts.ssrc.org/hornofafrica/dewaal/ - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, class discussion and/or exams.

Week 10 Unit of Instruction: Dynamism of indigenous Africa

395

- Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to….. 1.) Recognize the significance of oral tradition and the griot within indigenous Africa. 2.) Identify the existence of pre-colonial empires in Africa 3.) Recognize the cultural, ethnic and religious complexities within pre-colonial Africa. 4.) Develop an understanding of the incorporation of indigenous and Islamic traditions. 5.) Assess the methods by which an empire was established in pre-colonial Africa. - Assigned Reading: Niani., T. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays, student presentations and/or exams.

Week 11 Unit of Instruction: Culture Contacts: Africans, Europeans and Christianity. -Student Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to …. 1.) Develop a general understanding of the rationale for European incursion into Africa. 2.) Understand from a cultural point of view, the explorers’ motives. 3.) Understand missionary objectives and how they dealt with the realities they encountered in Africa. 4.) Be able to recognize in the literature where African and Christian beliefs clash or synthesize. - Assigned Reading: Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays, student presentations and/or exams.

Week 12 Unit of Instruction: Impact of European-Centered Slavery and Colonialism on Africa - Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to …. 1.) Identify the economic, political and religious motives of slavery and colonialism in Africa. 2.) Recognize African responses to Atlantic slavery and Colonialism. 3.) Assess the psychological impact of slavery and colonialism on the African’s mind. 4.) Recognize in literature where African beliefs were impacted by European centered slavery and Colonialism. - Assigned Reading: Fanon, F. Black Skin, White Masks. - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays, student presentations and/or exams.

Week 13 Unit of Instruction: African Nationalism and Quest for Independence - Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to ….. 1.) Chart the evolution of African nationalist consciousness. 2.) Identify the contradictions within African quests for decolonization. 3.) Evaluate the meaning of African independence within a post-colonial context. 4.) Recognize in literature where African values merged with, contradicted with and/or were undermined by European values. - Assigned Reading: Dangarembga, T. Nervous Conditions and Fanon, Frantz, Wretched of the Earth. - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays and student presentations

Week 14 Unit of Instruction: African Women and Feminism: A Critique

396

- Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to …. 1.) Identify the challenges faced by contemporary African women. 2.) Become aware of the conscious authorial choice of subjects of special interests to African women. 3.) Discern the African characteristics of literature across gender lines. - Assigned Reading: Ba, Mariama. So Long A Letter - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays and student presentations.

Week 15 Unit of Instruction: African independence, Black Consciousness and Ongoing quests for Liberation: A South African trajectory for African Liberation - Student Learning Outcomes: The students will be able to …… 1.) Develop an understanding of the apartheid system. 2. Assess the strategies of Black Consciousness with respect to African liberation. 3.) Explore the challenges of African independence within a post-colonial environment. 4.) Debate the prospects for African development. - Assigned Reading: Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like - Assessment Methods: Reaction papers, analytical essays and student presentations

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. Two unexcused absences will result in a lower grade. Students are responsible for all material covered during an absence. If a lecture or presentation is missed, it is the responsibility of the student to borrow notes from a fellow classmate.

397