PRE-COLONIAL AFRICAN PARADIGMS AND APPLICATIONS TO BLACK NATIONALISM A Thesis Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS by Trey L. Lipscomb Diploma Date (May 2017) Thesis Approvals: Thesis Advisor, Molefi K. Asante, Chair, Department of Africology and African American Studies ii ABSTRACT From all cultures of people arises a worldview that is utilized in preserving societal order and cultural cohesiveness. When such worldview is distorted by a calamity such as enslavement, the victims of that calamity are left marginal within the worldview of the oppressive power. From the European Enslavement of Africans, or to use Marimba Ani’s term, the Maafa, arose the notion of European or White Supremacy. Such a notion, though emphatically false, has left many Africans in the Americas in a psychological state colloquially termed as “mental slavery”. The culprit that produced this oppressive condition is Eurocentricity and its utilization of the social theory white supremacy, which has maturated from theory into a paradigm for systemic racism. Often among African Americans there exists a profound sense of dislocation with fragmentary ideas of the correct path towards liberation and relocation. This has engendered the need for a paradigm to be utilized in relocating Africans back to their cultural center. To be sure, many Africans on the continent have not themselves sought value in returning to African ways of knowing. This is however also a product of white supremacy as European colonialism established such atmosphere on the African continent. Colonization and enslavement have impacted major aspects of African cultural and social relations. Much of the motif and ethos of Africa remained within the landscape and language. However, the fact that the challenge of decolonization even iii for the continental African is still quite daunting only further highlights the struggles of the descendants of the enslaved living in the Americas. The removal from geographic location and the near-destruction of indigenous language levied a heavy breach in defense against total acculturation. Despite this, among the African Americans, African culture exists though languishes under the pressures of white supremacy. A primary reason for such deterioration is the fact that, because of the effects of self-knowledge distortion brought on by the era of enslavement, many African Americans do not realize the African paradigms from which phenomena in African American cultures derive. Furthermore, the lack of a nationalistic culture impedes the collective ability to hold such phenomena sacred and preserve it for the sake of posterity. Today, despite the extant African culture, African Americans largely operate from European paradigms, as America itself is a European or “Western” project. The need for a paradigm shift in African-American cultural dynamics has been the call of many, however is perhaps best illuminated by Dr. Maulana Karenga when he states that we have a “popular culture” and not a nationalistic one. Black nationalism has been presented to Black People for over a century however it has varied greatly between different ideological camps. The variation and many conflictions of these different ideologies perhaps helped the stagnation of the Black Nationalist movement itself. An Afrocentric investigation into African paradigms and the Black Nationalist movements should yield results beneficial to African people living in the Americas. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to Cleveland A. Flott in honor of the continuation of my promise, and the entire Flott clan for their continued love, sacrifice, and encouragement. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………………...ii DEDICATION …………………………………………………………………………………………………….iv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………1 2. HELD AT GUNPOINT………………………………………..……………….…....16 3. CULTURAL RETENTION VS. CRISIS OF IDENTITY…………………………..32 4. AFRICAN PARADIGMS: THE GIKUYU MODEL & DISCOURSE ON AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY………………………………………………………..........................51 5. ON THE PATH TO BLACK NATIONALISM…………………………………….75 6. CONCLUSION: NATIONALIZING ON A CULTURAL BASIS………………..117 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….……127 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This study will trace from the period of enslavement until the present day the cultural retentions extant within African Americans and then present theory as to why the use of such retentions is a strong basis for nationalization. Pre-colonial African paradigms will also be introduced throughout the text in order to provide parallel examples of cultural paradigmatic origins and retentions. A robust examination and critique of previous nationalizing efforts is included in order to grasp the spiritual, economic, social and political orientations of these movements and how they either benefit or hinder further efforts at nationalization. Ultimately, what is submitted here is a contention that unity on the basis of legitimate shared cultural commonalities among people of the African world is the soundest foundation for nationalism. From all cultures of people arises a worldview that is utilized in preserving societal order and cultural cohesiveness. When such worldview is distorted by a calamity such as enslavement, the victims of that calamity are left marginal within the worldview of the oppressive power. From the European enslavement of Africans, or to use Marimba Ani’s term, the Maafa (holocaust or great calamity), arose the notion of European or White Supremacy. Such a notion, though emphatically false, has left many Africans in the Americas in a psychological state colloquially termed as “mental slavery”. From the earliest days of enslavement Europeans have utilized the social theory of white supremacy for such ends as to create the conditions of mental slavery. White supremacy has maturated from theory into a paradigm for systemic racism. Often among African Americans there exists a profound sense of dislocation with fragmentary ideas of 2 the correct path towards liberation and relocation. This has engendered the need for a paradigm to be utilized in relocating Africans back to their cultural center. To be sure, many Africans on the continent have not themselves sought value in returning to African ways of knowing. This is however also a product of white supremacy as European colonialism established such atmosphere on the African continent. The removal from geographic location and the near-destruction of indigenous language levied a heavy breach in defense against total acculturation. Despite this, among the African Americans, African culture exists though languishes under the pressures of white supremacy. A primary reason for such deterioration is the fact that many African Americans do not realize the African paradigms from which phenomena in African American cultures derive. Furthermore, the lack of a nationalistic culture impedes the collective ability to hold such phenomena sacred and preserve it for the sake of posterity. Today, despite the extant African culture, African Americans largely operate from European paradigms, as America itself is a European or “Western” project. The need for a paradigm shift in African-American cultural dynamics has been the call of many, however is perhaps best illuminated by Dr. Maulana Karenga when he states that we have a “popular culture” and not a nationalistic one.1 Black nationalism has been presented to Black People for over a century however it has varied greatly between different ideological camps. The variation and many conflictions of these different ideologies perhaps helped the stagnation of the Black Nationalist movement itself. Further investigation into these movements and the paradigms in which they operated from should yield results beneficial to African people living in the Americas. 1 Mazama, Ama. The Afrocentric Paradigm. (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2003), 19 3 Methodology The African world has long needed, and long desired, manumission from the theories, philosophies, ideologies, and cultural hegemony of Europe. The application of Sankofa implies an imperative to revisit past cultural paradigms of Africa in order to apply their successes to the future national successes of African people. Sankofa is used in this essay within the context of Kawaidan theory, thus being, “an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world.”2 Kawaida finds itself responsive to culture and its seven core elements, which are, “history; spirituality and ethics; social organization; political organization; economic organization; creative production (art, music, literature, dance, etc.) and ethos.”3 Thus, this text purposes itself in extracting the best of the African models and presenting them as solutions to current conditions in the African community. In synthesizing the Kemetic paradigm, it is important to note that, without it, there would be left a void in the foundation of African thought and practice. Unequivocally, Kemet and the Nile Valley region is the national spiritual birthplace –the heart of Africa, and as such, the heart of the diasporic African community. 2 Maulana Karenga, The Language and Logic of Kawaida: African Ways of Engaging the World, http://ibw21.org/commentary/the-language-and-logic-of-kawaida-african-ways- of-engaging-the-world/ Accessed: October 22, 2016 3Maulana Karenga, The Language and Logic of Kawaida: African Ways of Engaging the World, http://ibw21.org/commentary/the-language-and-logic-of-kawaida-african-ways-