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
By
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
Copyright by
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
ii
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’(AlTuur) together.
iv
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.
v
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!
vi
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
ix
List of Figures
Figure 1. Towards a griotic methodology ………………………………………..73
Figure 2. Classroom seating arrangement ……………………………………...266
Figure 3. Student identities / goals ……………………………………………..277
x
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)
Hale (1997) and Hale (1998) suggests the griot’s origins may be connected to one of the earliest citystates 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)
2
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 14 th 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)
Hale (1997); Hale (1998)
11
Panzachi (1994 ); Tamari (1995)
12
Jansen (2000)
10
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
13
Despite 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
6
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
th
“African American” is used for the sake of intellectual convenience considering it is a late 20 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 18 th 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
22
See Sheppardson (1974) and Clarke (1980).
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?
12
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
13
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
14
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, LadsonBillings, 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).
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.’
31
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)
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)
34
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
37
Schiele (1994).
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 Africancentered 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)
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).
39
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
41
Delgado and Stefancic (2001: 3-7).
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’
22
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
24
intellectualism/African historiography in which a simultaneous deconstruction of Eurocentric (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
47
See Chapter One, “Discerning a griotic methodology.”
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 (antiAfrican) 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
28
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
29
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).
Said (1979); MacGaffey (2005: 195) .
62
For elaboration on these processes, see Smith (1999); Schmidt (2007); and Chakrabarty (2000).
61
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
64
See Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe (1993).
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).
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).
66
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).
White et al. (2001: 4). For elaboration on how research is equated with colonialism by indigenous
peoples see Smith (1999).
74
Klein (1989).
73
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).
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.
76
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
79
G.B. (2011: 413-417).
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
81
On this point, refer to Tillman (2006); Errante (2001); and Glesne (2006).
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.) Afrocentric 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
45
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
84
A.L. (2011: 6-9); K.O. (2011:2); M.W. (2011: 4-5); G.B. (2011: 2-3).
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.
85
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.
A.L. 80-81.
91
G.B. 162-4, 69-71.
92
Ibid. 32-39, 107-109.
90
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)
Ibid.
95
M.W. 80.
96
Ibid. 80-84.
94
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.
A.L. 52-64.
99
K.O. 34-36.
98
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.
G.B. 17-23.
102
Ibid. 20-30.
103
M.W. 107-110.
104
For a critical appraisal of this paradigm see, Lamelle (1994).
101
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 antiimperialist approach” and global “Black Nationalism,”105 G.B.’s ongoing selfproclaimed “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.
G.B. 2, 6-8. 192-199.
107
K.O. 46-48.
108
A.L. 6-11.
106
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
110
K.O. 283-285.
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.
G.B. 279-291.
113
K.O. 328-339.
112
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
55
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.
A.L.
116
G.B.
117
M.W.
115
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
119
M.W. 139-140.
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
121
M.W. 214-219.
A.L. 183; G.B. 297-8; K.O. 434-436.
58
analyze prevailing Euro-centric historical discourses on Africa from an Africancentered 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
127
A.L. 282-283.
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
129
A.L.
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
132
M.W. 185-190.
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
134
G.B. 450-474.
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
137
A.L. 219-319.
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
139
K.O. 495-501.
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.
G.B. 408-413.
142
Ibid.
143
M.W. 381-390.
141
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 Eurocentric/white hegemony, the professors’ are employing an agency based praxis that can
be considered vindicationist or liberatory historiography. This approach to African
144
145
K.O. 488-501.
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
71
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
72
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 postsecondary classroom.
2
black
consciousness
7
3
Africa
centeredism
Critical
historiography
1
African
Epistemology
6
4
Inter
disciplinarity
PanAfricanism
5
Orgainic
Intellectualism
*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
73
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 ‘insideroutsider’ 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
148
“African Studies Association,” http://www.africanstudies.org/p/cm/ld/fid=8, February 26, 2011.
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’
76
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).
See, for example Gomez (1998); Stuckey (1987); Wilder (2001); and Alexander (2008).
152
See Cinnamon (2006) and Ogot (2001), for insight into this notion.
151
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).
Camaroff and Camaroff (1991: 218-219).
155
Ogot (2001: 41).
154
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
156
157
Gomez (1998: 7).
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).
Ibid. 5.
161
Mudimbe (1988).
160
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,
83
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 PanAfricanist / 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
85
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).
See Schmidt (2007) and Chakrabarty (2000) for insight on this notion of ‘provincialization’ of Europe
via African scholarship.
167
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
87
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)
88
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 subSaharan 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
169
Diouf (1988:1).
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
171
Ibid. 4-5.
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.
Austin (1984).
174
Lovejoy (1994).
175
Individual African Muslims Diouf focuses on include Ben Ali, Abu Bakar al-Siddiq, Salih Bilali,
Ibrahim Abdulrahman, and Job-ben Solomon.
173
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
182
Ogot (2001).
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
184
For this African cosmological view see Mbiti (1969); Wiredu (1996); and Wiredu (1980).
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 17201850, 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
187
Chambers (2005).
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).
Gomez (1998).
190
This notion of ‘Ibo’ invention is further explored by the works of Northup (2000) and Byrd (2006).
191
See Equiano (1789).
189
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 PanAfricanism 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
192
193
K.O. (2011: 9-10).
M.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 PanAfricanist 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).
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).
195
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 (PanAfricanism) 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 PanAfricanist 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
200
Ibid. 4.
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 politicoreligious 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 nonMuslim 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
204
Ibid. 66, 79, 132.
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 ‘deathcentered’ 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
206
Brown (2008:32).
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 PanAfricanist 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 PanAfricanism 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
210
Ibid. 11.
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
212
Ibid. 19.
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)
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.
214
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
217
Diouf (1998:159).
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
219
Ibid. 177.
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
221
Ibid. 194-198.
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
224
Mbiti (1969).
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
226
Ibid. 260.
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 unidimensional, 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
229
Ibid. 159-187.
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 agency135
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 represented, 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 ‘selfassertion’ 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.
231
Carter 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
237
See Ogot (2001); and Gomez (1998).
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.
238
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 19 th 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).
Rucker (1999).
249
Alexander (2008) and Wilder (2001) both highlight such ‘Africanisms’ among the ‘free black’
population of the North.
248
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 PanAfricanism.
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).
Letters and Documents Relating to Slavery in Massachusetts, MHS Colls. 5th Ser., III (1877: 401402).
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.
252
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
257
As quoted in Melish (1998: 222-223).
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).
See 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).
259
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 19 th 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).
Alexander (2008:4). For additional African influences on African American culture in New York City,
see Wilder (2001).
266
Wilder (2001: 3).
265
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).
Wilder (2001:20).
269
Ibid. 20.
270
Ibid.
268
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 GraecoRoman 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”.
See Stuckey (1987) on this point.
278
See Gomez (1998) and Du Bois (1903).
277
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 PanAfricanism.
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 represented 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 deAfricanization 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).
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.
284
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).
Moses (1978) states Ethiopianist tendencies were commonly known among antebellum free Africans
in the U.S.
287
Chirenje (1987: 1-2).
286
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.
291
Compare 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.
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.
295
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
297
See Ernest (2004) as he elaborates on this notion of ‘theatre’ and ‘assemblies’ of history.
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
299
Ibid.
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.
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.
301
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
308
Ibid.
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 AngloProtestantism 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 Eurocentric 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 AngloProtestantism 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 AngloProtestantism. 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
316
See the scholarly treatment of ‘moralism’ by Alexander (2008: 4) and Wilder (2001: 70-72).
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.
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)
320
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
323
Marrant 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.
Ibid.
327
Ibid. 36.
326
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
329
Ibid. 31.
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 Africancentered 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 representation 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
331
Ibid. 32-33.
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
333
Marrant 32.
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
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.
335
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 AngloProtestantism. 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 18 th 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 AngloProtestant 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 AngloProtestants. 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).
Williams. 69; Wilder (2002); Alexaner (2008).
343
Williams. 70; Wilder (2002); Alexander (2008).
342
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.
Williams 71. See also Alexander (2008) and Wilder (2002) for his political activism in this regard.
346
Williams 70-71.
345
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).
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).
349
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
352
Hamilton (1809: 82-83). See also Hall (2009); Ernest (2004).
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).
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).
354
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
358
Hamilton (1815: 92)
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).
Hamilton (1815: 93).
361
Ibid. 95.
360
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
363
Ibid.
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)
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).
365
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)
Ibid.
369
Ibid. 97.
368
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
375
Oson (1817:1)
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.
See Rael (2002) for discussion of free black’ appropriation of European American ideals of
nationalism that was re-presented as black nationalism.
377
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)
Ibid.
381
Ibid. 1-2.
380
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.
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.
383
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.
Moses (1998)
388
Oson 2.
387
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.
Ibid. 3.
391
Ibid.
390
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.
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).
394
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
398
See Walker (1830) for full title.
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.
Ibid.
406
Ibid. 12-22.
405
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.
Ibid. 15.
411
Ibid.
412
Ibid.
410
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
414
Ibid. 9.
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 disunited, 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 Africancenteredism 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
416
Ibid.
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, “inanimate, 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
Ibid. 39.
419
Ibid. 26-32.
418
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
421
Ibid. 32.
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), Africancenteredism 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).
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).
424
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).
Hale (1998).
429
For elaboration on this notion of African cosmology, see Mbiti (1969); Hale (1998) and Wiredu
(1996).
428
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
432
Ibid.
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
434
Stewart (1831: 461).
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 PanAfricanist 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
436
Ibid.
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)
Ibid. 462.
439
Ibid. 463.
438
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
441
Ibid. 468-469.
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.
Ibid.
444
For an analyses on the black jeremiad sentiments of Stewart see, Harrell (2008) .
443
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)
Psalms 68:31; This Ethiopianist sentiment is exhibited throughout the works of Stewart (1833) and
(1831).
447
Stewart (1833)
446
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
449
Richardson (1997)
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 reconfigures 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 counternarrative 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.
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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 (AngloProtestantism) and/or Victorian era ideals. As these free African intellectuals represented 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).
458
For 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).
459
With 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
463
Ibid.
I am borrowing this concept from the work on freedom schools completed by Agosto (2008).
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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).
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).
465
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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 selfidentity 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
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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?;
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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
469
www2.cscc.edu/edu/about/mission.shtml
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
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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).
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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
473
See Schmidt (2007); Smith (1999); and Bruzuela-Garcia (2006)
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)
Maria (HF)
______________
________________
Annette (AAF)
________________
Debbie (WF)
______________
______________
Theodore (AM)
________________
Taylor (MCF)
________________
Jerry (AAM)
________________
Lee (KM)
Ali (IM)
________________
Marcus (AAM)
______________
Fatima (AF)
________________
___________
________________
Mike (WM) Robert (WM)
________________
Brenda (WF)
________________
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 postsecondary 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
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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 reentered 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 represented 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.
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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).
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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
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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).
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 re285
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
487
Quotes from this entire section are from observation notes and audio recording Toure (2011).
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
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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
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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
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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, sociopsychological, 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.”
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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
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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.”
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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,
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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
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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
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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).
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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
490
For elaboration on this, methodology of interrogation, see Agosto (2008).
Ibid.
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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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!”
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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).
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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).
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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.
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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
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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).
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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).
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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
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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).
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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
501
For this concept of reflexivity, see Glesne (2006).
Errante (2001)
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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, PanAfricanism. 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.
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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
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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).
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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’ representation 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).
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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.
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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 ‘atrisk.’ 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
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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
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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.
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**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,
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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 AfricanAmerican 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 15 th 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 AfricanAmerican 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.
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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
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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
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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 UrbanaChampaign 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.
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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 postundergraduate 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.
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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
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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,
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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.
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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 wellrounded 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 precolonial, 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:
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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.
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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 7 th 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 7 th 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 “AfricanAmerican 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
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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
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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).
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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, 98121.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.
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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, 1527.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 worldwide, 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 19 th 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 20 th
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.
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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.
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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 AfricanAmerican 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 19 th 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.
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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
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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
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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 18941924 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 11 th -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 20 th 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
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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, 369408. 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, 415434. 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:
Realm 1 -
Realms of Consciousness of an African American male in African
studies
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 -
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.
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 PanAfrican 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
Study Title:
“Towards a Griotic Methodology: African Historiography, Identity
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
for subject (when applicable)
Signature of person authorized to consent for
subject
(when applicable)
Relationship to the subject
Date and time
AM/PM
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
Study Title:
“Towards a Griotic Methodology: African Historiography, Identity
Politics and Educational Implications”
(Component B - Students)
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 investigates how African history may be used to empower students in a postsecondary 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
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:
To improve upon the teaching and learning of African history to students 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 at (614) 579-8278 or [email protected]
389
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]
Abu J. Toure at (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
for subject (when applicable)
Signature of person authorized to consent for
subject
(when applicable)
Relationship to the subject
Date and time
AM/PM
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
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Date and time
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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.
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)
5.)
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7.)
8.)
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Challenge prevailing stereotypes of Africa and its people.
Foster students’ awareness of and appreciation for the diversity of cultures and ethnicity in Africa.
Familiarize students with the literary output of representative authors from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Heighten students’ awareness of the oral basis of the written literature and the artist’s relationship
with and responsibility to his/her audience.
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.
Examine and evaluate the contact with and influence of Middle Eastern and European cultures as
shown in the literature.
Assess the historical and historiographical impact of the West on Africa literature.
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,
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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.
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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 …..
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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/humanjourney/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
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"Moorish/Islamic contributions to Spain"http://www.loadislam.com/artical_det.php?artical_id=492&section=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
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- 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
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- 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.
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