Leaders in African-Centered Education by Kamautu Ashanti

13 Pages·2003·0.3 MB·English

www.muohio.edu/InitiativeAnthology/
posted November 26, 2003
first posted on November 23, 2003
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Leaders in African-Centered Education
by
Kamautu Ashanti
(AKA Darryn C. Roberts)
Miami University
T
oday, more African Americans are beginning to search for educational
methods that will help them to counter the poor educational conditions that
the majority of their children suffer (see Hoskins, 1991; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Hilliard,
1998; Wilson, 1998). Afrocentricity is a critical discourse that is being used to form a
critical pedagogy known as African-centered education.2 African-centered pedagogy and
curriculum are designed to teach African children in a manner that takes their history,
culture, identity, and politics into account for the ultimate purpose of solving their
problems (Asante, 1988; 1991; 1992; Hoskins, 1991; Hilliard, 1998; Wilson, 1998;
Giddings, 2001). The aim of this article is to discuss the perspectives of leading African-
centered thinkers (i.e., professors, teachers, and other intellectuals) on Afrocentricity
with respect to education. In order to do this, I will draw from their research and
scholarship to address the question of what constitutes an African-centered curriculum
for African/ African American children.
Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education 2
AFROCENTRICITY
D
r. Molefi Kete Asante coined the term Afrocentricity in 1980 (Asante,
1988). In general, Afrocentricity is an epistemology that seeks to re-center/
relocate African people—Black Africans on the continent of Africa and people of Black
African descent in the Diaspora—in their own particular, yet connected, cultures for the
ultimate purpose of their social, political, and economic liberation (Asante, 1998; 1999;
Hilliard, 1998; Wilson, 1998).3 When discussing Afrocentric consciousness and culture
Asante writes, "You must always begin from where you are, … if you are Yoruba, begin
with Yoruba history and mythology; if you are Kikuyu, begin with Kikuyu history and
mythology; if you are African-American, begin with African-American history and
mythology. Irrespective of present locations, the roots of all African people go back to
East Africa, the cradle of human history" (Asante, 1988, p. 7). Furthermore, Marimba
Ani (writing under the name Ani, 1994 & Richards, 1994) asserts that Afrocentric
discourse is based in the cultural perspectives, practices, and values of African people.
In addition, Amos Wilson (1998) argues that an African-centered consciousness
produces culture that works in the best interests of people of African descent, wherever
they may be in the Diaspora. Taken together, Asante's (1988), Ani's (writing under the
name Ani, 1994 & Richards, 1994), and Wilson's (1998) positions indicate that the
cultures Afrocentricity seeks to re-center/ relocate African people in must take their
cultural diversity (distinct historical, mythical, and geographical locations) into account,
while simultaneously stressing their cultural unity (East African roots).
One important tenant of Afrocentric discourse is that the ancient Nile Valley
civilizations (e.g., the classical civilizations of Ethiopia, Nubia [Sudan], and Kemit
[Egypt]) produced the foundations of African culture, just as the classical civilizations of
Greece and Rome produced the foundations of much of Western culture (Diop, 1974;
1987; 1991; Williams, 1974; Asante, 1988; Ani, 1994, Caruthers, 2000). Thus,
Afrocentric curriculum researchers and scholars believe that by studying the classical
African civilizations, and the various African societies that branched off from them, they
can demystify the history of African people (and world history as well), which has been
systematically falsified, distorted, segmented, and erased in order to support the
interests of foreign invaders (Williams, 1974; Diop, 1974; 1991; Asante, 1988; Akbar,
1991; Hoskins, 1991; Caruthers, 2000).4 For instance, starting with the periods of the
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Arab and the European created slave trades and colonial conquests of Africa, African
people and their culture were systematically assaulted.5 The foreign slavers and
colonizers deprived Africans of their precious resources. With the Africans' knowledge
and skills (e.g., writing, math, science, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, and
agriculture) the foreigners could advance their own cultures/ societies (Williams, 1974;
Diop, 1974; 1991; Clarke, 1993). Furthermore, with the Africans' labor, land, and
mineral resources (e.g., forced and exploited labor; fertile soil; gold, silver, and
diamonds) the foreigners could expand their own populations and economies (Williams,
1974; Diop, 1991; Jones, 1992; Clarke, 1993). In addition, the foreigners lacked an
understanding and appreciation of the mainly communal, matriarchal, and spiritual
culture that the Africans developed (Williams, 1974; Jones, 1992; Clarke, 1993).
Consequently, wherever the foreigners were permitted to exercise corrupt political,
social, and economic practices—mainly as a result of superior military technology—they
went about the mission of both physically forcing and mentally coercing African people
to abandon their own cultural practices (e.g., language, religion, matriarchy, dress, and
dance) and adopt foreign cultural practices (Williams, 1974; Jones, 1992; Clarke, 1993).6
Thus, the foreigners appropriated/ incorporated certain elements of African culture
(albeit not necessarily without altering them) while destroying others.
Moreover, in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries— during the, so called, European
era of the Enlightenment— powerful and influential Europeans took the practice of
destroying African culture to the cruelest level any people have ever reached in the
history of the world by creating the chattel slave system, institutional racism, and
colonialism. Europeans originally enslaved Africans mainly in order to rebuild (e.g.,
economically, socially, politically) the nations of Europe.7 To further the building of
Europe and the expansion of European power, the Europeans then took Africa from the
remaining Africans by converting the chattel slave system into colonialism (and neo-
colonialism)—which still pervades our lives today (Williams, 1974; Jones, 1992; Clarke,
1993). In order to justify the European created slave trade and subsequent colonial
conquest of Africa some of Europe's (and some of America's) greatest scholars and
intellectuals consciously created and sustained institutional racism, which consisted of,
but was not limited to, the systematic falsification, distortion, segmentation, and erasure
of African history and culture (Williams, 1974; Caruthers, 1990; Jones, 1992; Clarke,
Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education 4
1993; Watkins, 2001).8 Africentricity stands as a powerful method of healing and
reversing the devastating effects of the great disaster/ holocaust (Maafa) that has
befallen African people.9
AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION
A
frocentric curriculum researchers and scholars attempt to provide a
framework for the reconstruction of African cultures and identities (most of
which have been de-centered/ dislocated and disrupted by the Maafa) around the best
morals, values, and cultural practices that both traditional and contemporary African
societies have to offer (Williams 1974; Asante, 1988; Ani, 1994; Hilliard, 1998; Richards,
1994).10 However, all cultural practices of African societies are not automatically to be
considered "authentic," useful, and/ or positive (Williams, 1974; Jones, 1992; Wilson,
1998, Caruthers, 1990). Furthermore, African-centered curriculum researchers and
scholars do not teach children about traditional African societies so that they might
relive them (as if they were ever fixed or could ever be fixed). The purpose of teaching
about and re-appropriating aspects of traditional African societies is to construct a more
correct version of African history and reconstruct culture and identity that help African
children to solve their present and future problems (Williams 1974; Wilson, 1998;
Caruthers, 2000). In addition, an important part of the achievement process involves
the connection of education to students' interests and the development of a positive
sense of self (Woodson, 1933). Certainly, one aspect of African-centered curriculum that
helps to increase academic achievement is the connection of students with their own
historical and cultural traditions.
Nevertheless, Afrocentric curriculum is not designed to proselytize the minds of
children (whether of African or non-African descent) and/or elevate their egos by
normalizing African historical and cultural perspectives and negating the historical and
cultural perspectives of "Others." For example, Asante (1998; 1999) argues that
Afrocentric educators should teach students that Afrocentricity is one of a number of
different ways to view the world (i.e., there are multiple cultural viewpoints within our
pluralistic society), whereas the standard curriculum of the public schools, being based
on a hegemonic form of Eurocentrism, is promoted as universal.11 Furthermore,
Afrocentric pedagogy is both compensatory and critical. It is compensatory because it
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re-centers/ relocates dislocated African people in a centered cultural frame of reference
that helps them view the world as agents rather than as mere objects and victims
(Asante, 1999). It is critical because it helps African people to realize the consciousness
necessary to question and resist the cultural, social, political, and economic domination
of non-African people (Asante, 1999). Thus, to the extent that Afrocentric curriculum is
corrective and critical in its aims, it is counter-hegemonic and transformative.
In addition, some curriculum researchers and scholars argue that Afrocentricity
(and African-centered pedagogy) is essentialistic (for an example of such a critique see
McCarthy, 1997). In other words, some scholars may think Afrocentricity denies the
reality that African people exhibit multifarious, as opposed to monolithic, cultural
characteristics. However, Asante (1998) sensibly asserts that essentialism is not
necessarily a negative quality; therefore, he does not completely deny this criticism. For
instance, consider his comments on essentialism:
…one must be 'open to the possibilities of dynamism, moving, and flowing,
but you have to be moving and flowing from some base. Those who do not
move from a base are just floating in the air.' It is clear to me from my own
study of history that cultures do exist and in fact persist for centuries with
many basic characteristics hardly changed. This is the nature of human
societies operating on the foundations of myths, history, and memories.
The African American community is no different from others in this
regard. There are certain essential characteristics that identify the
contours of our African American community. These are not essential
characteristics, in the sense of being inborn, but rather the fundamental
outlines of what we regard and preserve as characteristic of our society.
Thus, while I may answer to being an essentialist, I am not an
immutabilist. Asante, 1998, p. 13)
I believe Asante's comments suggest many important ideas. First, I think he is
suggesting that just because a community chooses to be guided by a particular cultural
frame of reference does not necessarily mean that it will develop cultural tunnel vision.
Secondly, it appears as if he is suggesting that while there is always room for growth and
development with respect to culture and identity people often keep the center or core of
their culture and identity in tact—to use as a platform from which they navigate their
Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education 6
world. Thus, Afrocentric curriculum should help African children to develop a sense of
culture and identity that is necessarily fixed to a degree, but never rigid, stagnant, or
complacent. Amos Wilson (1998) seems to express the same type of idea about culture
and identity when he discusses African-centered curriculum. For instance, he discusses
the importance of recognizing that traditional African culture was not stagnant, but
constantly evolving, growing, and changing. Moreover, Wilson warns African people
against resisting the appropriation of types of thought that are often considered non-
African (e.g., linear thinking)—granted that such thought has the potential to help
African people to liberate themselves. Thirdly, I think that by pointing out the fact that
all African people possess certain non-biologically determined, yet essential, cultural
continuities and constitutions Asante is suggesting that culture is based on common
relationships and experiences that arise out of, and may be transmitted through,
socialization. Audrey Thompson (1998) argues a similar view as she states that to the
extent members of a group (which can be culturally and politically recognized) share
common circumstances and a particular set of values transmitted via their community,
it is possible to speak of shared assumptions that make up a recognizable cultural
perspective.12
There are a variety of other factors that influence African-centered curriculum.
For example, African-centered curriculum must be oriented around solving the
problems (e.g., White supremacy, poverty, unemployment, inadequate education, crime,
and AIDS) that African American children face. Africentric curriculum scholars and
researchers assert that African-centered education should empower African people to
deal with their problems not only by reconstructing and preserving African history,
culture, and identity but also by employing other strategies (Williams, 1974; Asante,
1998; Wilson, 1998; Caruthers, 2000; Collins 2000). For instance, African-centered
education is designed to teach African children to engage in the indispensable process of
building institutions (e.g., schools, businesses, banks, political parties, etc.) that support
their communities (Williams, 1974; Wilson, 1998, Caruthers, 2000). In addition, Ani
(1994b) and Collins (2000) stress the need of African-centered education to address
both intra-group and inter-group patriarchy and sexism. Furthermore, positive concepts
of African womanhood and manhood should be taught through African-centered
education (Akbar, 1991; Ani, 1994b, Collins, 2000). Also, many African-centered
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educators emphasize the necessity of studying both intra-group and inter-group class
struggle (Jones, 1992; Wilson, 1998, Caruthers, 1990; 2000). Therefore, the study of
asymmetrical power relations (that manifest through racism, sexism, classism, religious
dogmatism, and all other forms of oppression) must be a part of any Africentric
pedagogy and curriculum.
Jeffries (1991) and Johnson (2001) argue that Afrocentric education possesses at
least three dimensions: (1) a skills function, (2) a morals function, and (3) a spiritual
function. That is, African-centered curriculum is about balancing "traditional"
disciplines (e.g., math, science, language, writing), morals and values (e.g., MAAT and
Nguzo-Saba), and spirituality (e.g., understanding our relationship to the Creator and
our ancestors) in order to give African children a complete education. Moreover,
African-centered curriculum must be designed to accommodate the various learning
styles (e.g., oral, literate, holistic, and linear) that African children are socialized into
(Jeffries, 1991; Hoskins, 1991; Asante, 1998; Richardson, 2000; Johnson, 2001). 13 In
addition, Jeffries (1991), Hilliard (1992), Asante (1999), and Caruthers (2000) write
about pluralizing curricula (especially within public schools) so that the
accomplishments of all peoples within all areas of society are both recognized and
studied.
Lastly, Caruthers (1990), in his lecture entitled "The African-Centered
Curriculum and the White Supremacy Control of African American Education" gives us
the following seven basic guidelines for the development of African-centered curriculum
within various school settings: (1) Africa should be studied through primary data (e.g.,
its literature, its documents, and its oral tradition), (2) Africa should be presented as a
continuous component of world history with cultural, social, political, and economic
dimensions, (3) Africa should be presented with balance (e.g., antiquity and
contemporary; agricultural, pastoral, and urban; oral and literate; and problems and
successes), (4) Africa should be studied from a comparative, multicultural framework
(e.g., in comparison to Europe, Asia, etc.), (5) Ancient Africa must be presented in terms
of race specificity (e.g., the current sociopolitical constructions of race dictate that the
Ancient Egyptians were Black people), (6) Africa must be studied with respect to all
disciplines (e.g., science and mathematics as well as language and art), and (7) Africa
Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education 8
must be presented in truth (e.g., Africa must be presented as it is and was without
falsification).
In conclusion, I have attempted to discuss the educational views of some of the
leading African-centered thinkers in Afrocentric discourse. Their perspectives inform us
that good African-centered pedagogy and curriculum are built around solving the
problems of African people. Therefore, African-centered pedagogy and curriculum
involve the following eight processes: (1) the reconstruction and preservation of African
history, culture, and identity, (2) the engagement in counter-hegemony, (3) the
engagement in transformation, (4) the engagement in the activity of nation-building, (5)
the construction of positive concepts of African womanhood and manhood, (6) the study
of (asymmetrical) power relations, (7) the integration/ balancing of technical, moral,
and spiritual dimensions of education, and (8) the incorporation of the learning styles of
African children.14 In addition, as previously mentioned, Caruthers' (1990) seven basic
guidelines for the development of African-centered curriculum within various school
settings are extremely important. Consequently, by adding his aforementioned
guidelines to the latter eight processes, I am suggesting that good African-centered
pedagogy and curriculum encompass fifteen guidelines/ processes. However, African-
centered pedagogy and curriculum are by no means limited to these fifteen guidelines/
processes, as other people working within African-centered discourse undoubtedly have,
and will, suggest others.
I believe that African-centered curriculum is necessary for many reasons. One of
the most critical reasons for its implementation is that African people are not totally
free. They are militarily and economically constrained, mainly by the nations of Europe
and the United States, and far too many are mis-educated to accept and uphold
oppression (e.g., the global system of White supremacy and its affects) in various ways.
African-centered curriculum has the potential to help African people liberate themselves
and exercise the type of self-determination (kujichagulia) that all people are entitled to
exercise.
Moreover, Afrocentric curriculum helps African children to develop a sense of
culture and identity that is flexibly centered (i.e., fixed to a certain extent, but not
stagnant) (consequently, the critique of essentialism that some curriculum scholars have
leveled against Afrocentric discourse and African-centered pedagogy is unwarranted).
9 Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education
Also, unlike the mainstream curriculum of public schools, Africentric curriculum is not
constructed as universal. On the contrary, it is multicultural/ pluralistic in its emphasis
on respecting other non-hegemonic ways of viewing the world. Indeed, the fact that
African-centered educators often write about pluralizing the curriculum reflects the
non-oppressive and counter-hegemonic nature of Africentric education. Furthermore,
the transformative and counter-hegemonic nature of African-centered curriculum is
reflected in its ability to help African children to view the world as agents and to
question and resist foreign domination.
In addition, Afrocentric curriculum is therapeutic. For instance, therapists often
help their patients understand the nature of an assault and develop strategies for
moving beyond its deleterious effects by guiding them through a reflective process
(Akbar, 1991).15 Such a process takes into account the types of attitudes, behaviors, and
achievements their patients exhibited before (and even during) the assault. Just as an
individual who has been victimized/ assaulted (e.g., raped, robbed, tortured) may need
to reflect on her/ his experiences in order to heal there is a need for all Africans to
examine their history and culture, both prior to and during the Maafa, in order to heal
as a people. The importance of reflecting on past experiences is not for the victim to
become the same person that sh/e was before the assault (this is not possible), but
rather to allow the victim to overcome the assault and move forward.16 Africentric
curriculum provides the critical consciousness necessary for African people to overcome
past (and present) oppression. It does so in a myriad of ways (e.g., by helping them to
regain a more correct and positive sense of self, unite with one another to solve their
problems, reengage in nation building, and resist all types of foreign hegemony). Yet,
the critics of Afrocentric discourse often deny the right of African people to utilize their
great history and past cultural practices to repair the damage that they have suffered
(and continue to suffer). No one other than the assailant, and possibly his/ her
accomplice, denies the victim the right to heal.
Having used the preceding patient—therapist analogy, it is imperative for me to
acknowledge that I agree with Molefi Asante's (1999) position that Africans should not
be viewed and/ or presented as perpetual victims. Indeed, African people have always
fought domination (see Diop, 1974; Williams, 1974; and Browder, 1992). They continue
to exercise agency, resistance, and kujichagulia to address their problems on local,
Ashanti: Leaders in African-Centered Education 10
national, and global levels. Afrocentricity, and African-centered curriculum, are present
demonstrations of such actions and should be respected as such. I believe that for the
overwhelming majority of their existence African people have been completely free and
self-determining (see Diop, 1974; 1991; Williams, 1974; and Clarke, 1993). With the
implementation of African-centered curriculum, they will become so again.
Because the depth and scope of Afrocentric thinkers' work is so great, and
because my understanding of Afrocentric discourse is still developing, I have
undoubtedly only managed to scratch the surface of research and scholarship that these
individuals have amassed. Furthermore, as is the case with many forms of dialogue, I
have also left certain voices out of this discussion. I did so partly to avoid redundancy
and partly to avoid exceeding the focus of this essay, which was not to debate different
views that Africentric scholars might have with respect to the direction of Africentric
discourse and/ or education. For instance, I did not present differing perspectives on
whether or not African consciousness should be based solely on nonlinear, circular, and
holistic forms of thinking. Thus, my essay is by no means representative of the entire
spectrum of Afrocentric thought. Rather, my essay reflects the fact that I have
represented/ conceptualized African-centered curriculum in a manner that is consistent
with my beliefs in the need for people of African descent to present a united front (e.g.,
engage in Afrocentric Pan-Africanism and kujichagulia), while at the same time
maintain a centered culture and identity that is somewhat flexible, and the need for all
people (especially educators) to work for social justice. Having acknowledged this, I
believe that my discussion of leaders in African-centered education is quite consistent
with the direction that Africentric curriculum is taking in many places around the
nation.