Afrocentrism

Afrocentricity and Commodity Fetishism: Cultural Objectification and the" New" African Diaspora

by Ryan Cecil Jobson

Stand In Awe: A Parable About Love, Youth, & Change

by Horace Columbus Neal II

Draft N: December 9, 2011 - It is finished.

This is a simple three-page short story that calls for a reflection on the core need of today's troubled youth. In 36... more This is a simple three-page short story that calls for a reflection on the core need of today's troubled youth. In 36 CE, a group of rowdy, Cushite-Hebrew youths go to see the Roman crucifixions, hoping to have some fun taunting the victims. Their encounter at one man's cross causes them to stand in awe. Notes and images follow the narrative to aid the readers' conceptualization of some of the story's themes. The story is thematically multilayered to facilitate productive discussions on a number of topics.

Accentric Psychology

by Fabian Tompsett

Published in Annual review of Critical Psychology, Vol. 3, 2003 pp 139 - 148

As with the Worm of Ourobouros, wherever we start, we always start in the middle - and then we discover that the... more As with the Worm of Ourobouros, wherever we start, we always start in the middle - and then we discover that the middle is merely the meeting place of the beginning and the end - and thus we conclude that we end once again at the middle ready for the cycle to recommence. This asymmetrical relationship lies at the heart of Acentric Psychology whose aim is to function more as an array of oxymoronic aporiae akin to the diffusion of Black Matter in the depths of outerspace interacting with transient photons proclaiming the being of a distant star. This takes us to the heart of the cosmology of Giordano Bruno, and indeed this piece could be considered as a response to Ramon Mendoza’s Acentric Labyrinth. Despite the numerous merits of this book, criticism must by pass these, and focus on some minor discrepancies, and by dealing with these minor flaws push forward the realisation of the general intellect in all its limitations.

les études sur le hip-hop-synthèse bibliographique

by Marie-Thérèse Atsena Abogo

La imagen de Busiris y Memnón en las fuentes clásicas [The image of Busiris and Memnon in the classical sources]

by Daniel M. Méndez-Rodríguez

In Trabajos de Egiptología / Papers on Ancient Egypt 5(2): 87-108.

The physical characterization and ethnical adscription of the Ancient Egyptians have been topics of great interest in... more The physical characterization and ethnical adscription of the Ancient Egyptians have been topics of great interest in Egyptology research for some time. The afrocentrists’ hypotheses insist that the Egyptians were black. Opposing this interpretation we find the western academic media. My objective is to emphasize in this context the importance of one source of information: the iconography of Hellenic pottery. By means of this and its comparison with literary sources it will be possible to analyze how the Egyptians were perceived by contemporary societies. The specific purpose of my research is to compare different sources on two paradigmatic characters in Greek mythology: Busiris, an Egyptian monarch, and Memnon, an Ethiopian ruler. With these objectives, I have mainly focused on the phenotypic features which appear in references from classical literary sources, and also, from Hellenic pottery production of the VI-IV AC centuries.

"Find Their Level": African American Roots Tourism in Sierra Leone and Ghana

by Kwame Zulu Shabazz

Co-authored with Adia Benton. Published in Cahiers d’Études africaines, XLIX (1-2), 193-194, 2009, pp. 477-511.

In many “developing” and post-conflict African nations, cultural tourism has been touted as a vital source of foreign... more In many “developing” and post-conflict African nations, cultural tourism has been touted as a vital source of foreign exchange revenue for jumpstarting national development. This trend has led to a scramble in Africa by African state officials seeking to “package” their nations in order to attract the patronage of Diasporan “returnees”— descendants of the Middle Passage who travel to Africa in search of cultural and historical “roots”. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the planning and execution of national “packaging” frequently bypasses the ordinary citizen. Thus the official agenda of these nation states is sometimes at odds with the aspirations of local citizens and pan-African sojourners. Moreover, this trend has contributed to considerable conceptual slippage and, consequently, vociferous debates over the meaning of and criteria for asserting Africanness. In other instances, these conjunctures have transformed and enhanced received notions of African identity. An ethnographic comparison of a developing nation (Ghana) and a post-conflict nation (Sierra Leone) can both deepen and complicate our understandings of this emerging pan-African phenomenon and its attendant possibilities and limitations. We consider how these complimentary and conflicting interests, beliefs, and practices converge to shape novel modes of pilgrimage, nationhood, transnational dialogue, and globalization.

Nollywood Confidential: the unlikely rise of Nigerian video film

by John C. McCall

2004. Transition Magazine. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University. 95: 98-109.

An ethnographic introduction to the Nigerian movie industry, written to order for Transition - with directions to make... more An ethnographic introduction to the Nigerian movie industry, written to order for Transition - with directions to make it readable and free of academic jargon.

The pan-Africanism we have: Nollywood's invention of Africa

by John C. McCall

Special Edition of Film International (FilmInt.). Onookome Okome (ed.). Issue 28, 5(4): 92-97. 2007.

Download pdf at: http://anthro.siuc.edu/mccall/articles/Pan-AfricanismWeHave.pdf

This article argues that Nollywood movies have initiated a pan-African discourse about what it means to be African. This article argues that Nollywood movies have initiated a pan-African discourse about what it means to be African.