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Revision as of 04:41, 10 June 2007 by Masante (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)"Molefi Kete Asante" (born August 14, 1942) is an African American scholar who is renowned for his theory of Afrocentricity and his pioneering work in transracial, intercultural, and international communication. Asante is considered to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars in the field of African and African American Studies. He is the author of at least 65 books, published in several languages, and more than 300 scholarly articles. In addition, Asante has been a regular columnist for the African Concord, l982-88, and the Johannesburg City Press, 2003 to 2007. Asante is married to Ana Yenenga and is the father of a daughter Kasina Eka, who writes poetry and paints, and a son, .M. K. Asante, Jr., a filmmaker, author, and professor. Asante has received more than one hundred awards for scholarship and activism against racism. The New York Village Voice once claimed that he had done more than any single scholar to make African American Studies a discipline. This is because Asante created the first Ph.D. program in the field at Temple University in l988, co-founded the Journal of Black Studies, co-authored the Encyclopedia of Black Studies with Ama Mazama, co-authored the Handbook of Black Studies with Maulana Karenga, wrote the two most important works of theory in the field, named the field Afrology which was later called Africology by Winston Van Horne, established the first conference for graduate students in the field of African American Studies, and launched an international movement to gain international credibility for the field in Brazil, Ghana, Senegal, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, China, France, Norway, England, and other nations, speaking to the people, the politicians, and media in those countries and expounding the theory of Afrocentricity in community, art, and social venues. Molefi Kete Asante’s intellectual and activist career can be viewed in three important stages. The first stage might be called Idealist. Once Asante completed his Ph.D. at University of California, Los Angeles, at the age of 26, he started his professional career at Purdue and soon returned to teach at UCLA and to become the first permanent director of the UCLA Center for African American Studies. During this period Asante advanced his work in the field of communication, particularly communication across races and cultures. His first books on this subject were Transracial Communication, Handbook of Intercultural Communication, and Language, Communication and Rhetoric in Black America, and Contemporary Public Communication. Asante wrote 17 books during this phase of his intellectual work winning numerous awards for distinctive scholarship. The second stage of his intellectual career might be called Realist. During this phase Asante sets out a new vision of communication, combining it with an emphasis on values, and presenting a critical re-interpretation of many communication concepts and ideas. In fact, it was in the second stage, the Realist stage of his work, that he studied and mastered Middle Egyptian, a language that he was later to teach to graduate students in African American Studies. However, his knowledge of ancient Egyptian history and culture led Asante to challenge the periodization of African history established by European scholarship. Egypt predated Greece by thousands of years and therefore, according to Asante, it was necessary to reconsider questions of the beginnings of geometry, art, architecture, writing, medicine, philosophy, and rhetoric. Books out of this stage included works such as The Afrocentric Idea; Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge; The Egyptian Philosophers; and The Painful Demise of Eurocentrism. The third stage of Asante’s intellectual work, Pan African Afrocentricity, has seen the growing internationalization of Afrocentricity as a theoretical idea in which concepts of agency, location, disorientation, direction, centeredness, and marginality have been interpreted as the essential components of any serious discourse on the re-centering of an African population taken off of its own terms. This work has made him famous on the African continent by virtue of his role as consultant to African presidents, the African Union, and as a popular columnist for the largest weekly newspaper in Africa. Engaging postmodernists, Euro-globalists, and African compradors, Asante maintains a high profile in the discourse on the creation of an African Federative State. Asante’s objective appears to be the re-writing of African history in the light of African agency and the framing of a paradigm to be used for a general African resurgence.
Biography
Molefi Kete Asante was born in Valdosta, Georgia, one of sixteen children. His maternal mitochondrial DNA is traced to Nubian heritage in Sudan and his paternal Y-Chromosome ancestry goes back to the Yoruba in Nigeria. His parents, Arthur and Lillie Smith, were laborers. His father worked first in a peanut warehouse and then on the Georgia-Southern Railways. Asante’s parents named him Arthur Lee Smith, Jr., but were pleased when he later changed his name to Molefi Kete Asante to reflect his African heritage and a rejection of a slave name. When Asante graduated from college he was the first member of his family to complete a college degree. Asante got his BA from Oklahoma Christian College in l964. He received his Master’s degree from Pepperdine University in l965; this degree was followed by the Ph.D. degree from UCLA in l968. After one year as an assistant professor of Communication at Purdue University, the University of California asked Asante to return to his doctoral institution as director of the Center for African American Studies and eventually as associate professor. He created the Master’s program in African American Studies at UCLA. After three years, he left UCLA for State University of New York at Buffalo as Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication. He was 30 years old and one of the youngest full professors ever appointed at SUNY. At Buffalo he worked in concert with Leslie Fiedler to produce a number of outstanding African doctoral students, many of them would later work in the liberated countries of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Asante re-wrote the Master’s program in Communication at SUNY-Buffalo in the early l970s, adding courses on Intercultural Communication. Increasingly involved in international politics Asante writes policy documents and position papers based on Afrocentricity on the renaissance of Africa along lines of a federative African state. Asante has produced more than 135 doctoral students; his students are responsible for over one hundred books. No academic has impacted African American Studies’ curriculum, graduate students, and journal publication as much as Asante who, as the long time editor of the Journal of Black Studies, has created an entirely new international community of scholars.
Influences
Asante, the author of The History of Africa; Cheikh Anta Diop: An Intellectual Portrait; and co-author with Emeka Nwadiora of the book, Spear Masters: An Introduction to African Religion, has contributed and written about African culture, history, and values in an effort to interject the African ethical issue in all discussions of human community. He has written commentaries and reviews on most leading figures in African American Studies and has employed various methods and procedures for assessing data. Fundamentally, Asante argues that it is the orientation to data, not the data themselves, that determines Afrocentricity. His writings are critical, interpretative, historical, analytical, and metatheoretical, but he has also written three or four textbooks for students. Finally, Asante’s work has influenced anthropology, sociology, religion, philosophy, education, political science, urban studies, criminololgy, history, social work, and communication. Given the extent of his influence, range of his publications, impact of his activist scholarship, Asante’s career might be considered parallel to the discourse in African and African American Studies inasmuch as he is responsible for initiating curricula, editing the premier journal, creating the first doctoral program, and co-editing both the Encyclopedia of Black Studies and the Handbook of Black Studies.
A Discipline
The definitional issue is at the root of Africology. Is it a discipline or a field of study? Many of the leading figures such as Maulana Karenga, James Stewart, to name a few, have taken Africology to be a field. However, Asante, following the work of Ama Mazama, offered an argument for the discipline view saying that Black Studies was not conceived as an aggregation of courses about African people but the Afrocentric study of African people. Such a study would be considered Africology, a discipline, not a field of studies. In the creation of an environment for the discourse around discipline Asante has written critical reviews of numerous authors. Asante has taken a stance against certain ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Anna Julia Cooper, Booker T. Washington, and others. In addition, Asante has criticized what he calls “spookism,” the heavy reliance on religion by some African American intellectuals. Asante’s concern has been that the “preachers” often replace analysis with moralizing and dependence when it is necessary to advance a clear, rational agenda toward African agency. When Asante wrote Erasing Racism: The Survival of the American Nation he was trying to explain how the two visions of the American nation, Wilderness and Promised Land, had colored the way Africans and whites saw the American society. When whites came to North America they saw a mountaintop of possibilities. The African people saw a valley of great despair. The realities were different and the responses to the environment were different. Asante argued that blacks were not whites in blackface. What made the African American different from the whites were historical experiences. White racial domination created a web of arguments based on the notion of race as described in the literature. Of course, Asante has argued against biological determinism, but that does not mean that he argues against difference. Black people tend to be phenotypically different from white people and vice versa; though this is not necessarily so in specific cases. Yet what this means is that society recognizes differences; what is illegitimate is the imputing of inferiority or superiority to those differences. Asante’s book, The History of Africa: Quest for Eternal Harmony, appeared in 2007 as the first comprehensive Afrocentric history of the African continent. Asante asserted that the African narrative had rarely been told from the standpoint of African agency. The History of Africa opened a new chapter in African historiography by seeking to uncover the voice of the African in every significant event in continental history. Turning his attention to the African revivalist spirit in politics and culture and a new Pan African Afrocentric tendency, Asante wrote the book, An Afrocentric Manifesto: Toward an African Renaissance, as a declaration of African liberation from the conceptual stranglehold of Eurocentric ideas. . Selected Bibliography
Molefi Kete Asante is the author of over 60 books and 300 articles. This is a selection of some of the key books:
Molefi Kete Asante, An Afrocentric Manifesto: Toward an African Renaissance. London: Polity Press, 2007.
Molefi Kete Asante and Emeka Nwadiora, Spear Masters: Introduction to African Religion. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2007.
Molefi Kete Asante, The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony. London: Routledge, 2007.
Molefi Kete Asante, Cheikh Anta Diop: An Intellectual Portrait. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press, 2006.
Molefi Kete Asante, Rhetoric, Race, and Identity: The Architecton of Soul. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005
Molefi Kete Asante and Maulana Karenga, eds., Handbook of Black Studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005.
Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, eds., Encyclopedia of Black Studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, December, 2004.
Molefi Kete Asante, Erasing Racism: The Social Survival of the American Nation. Amherst: NY: Prometheus Books, 2003
Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change, 2nd Edition. Chicago: African American Images, 2003. Molefi Kete Asante, Customs and Culture of Modern Egypt. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
Molefi Kete Asante, 100 Greatest African Americans. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2002.
Molefi Kete Asante, Scattered to the Wind, fiction, (a African metaphorical saga). Princeton: Sungai Books, 2002.
Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, (eds.) Egypt, Greece, and the American Academy. Chicago: AA Images, 2002
Virginia Millhouse, Molefi Asante, and Peter Nwosu., (Eds), Transcultural Realities. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2001.
E. J. Min and Molefi Kete Asante, (Eds.) Social Conflict Between African Americans and Korean Americans. Alexandria, Va.: University Press of America, 2000.
Molefi Kete Asante, African American History. Saddle Brook, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001, Second Edition.
Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, Theresa Flynn-Nason, and David J. Glunt, Teacher’s Guide for African American History, Second Edition. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001.
Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, Theresa Flynn-Nason, and David J. Glunt, Worktext for African American History, Second Edition. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001
Molefi Kete Asante and Judylynn Mitchell, Discovery Essays for Teachers. Philadelphia: Ankh Publishers, 2001.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Egyptian Philosophers. Chicago: African American Images, 2000.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Painful Demise of Eurocentrism. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2000.
Molefi Kete Asante, Scream of Blood: Desettlerism in Southern Africa. Princeton: Sungai Books, 1999.
Molefi Kete Asante and Mark Mattson, African American Atlas. (2nd Edition) New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition, 1998.
Molefi Kete Asante and Renee Muntaqim, African American Names. Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997.
Molefi Kete Asante and Augusta Mann, Activity Book for African American History. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997. Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, and Augusta Mann, Teacher’s Guide for African American History. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997.
Molefi Kete Asante, Love Dance. Trenton: Sungai Press, 1996.
Molefi Kete Asante and Judylynn Mitchell, Classical African Activity Book. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1996.
Molefi Kete Asante and Abu Abarry (Eds.), African Intellectual Heritage, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
Molefi Kete Asante (Ed.), In Their Faces: Situating Alternatives to Afrocentricity, Philadelphia: Temple Institute for Advanced Afrocentric Research, 1994.
Molefi Kete Asante, African American History: A Journey of Liberation, Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, An Asante Imprint Book, 1995
Molefi Kete Asante, Malcolm X as Cultural Hero and Other Afrocentric Essays, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1995.
Molefi Kete Asante, Classical Africa (part of the Asante Imprint series of high school textbooks), Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, Inc., 1993.
Molefi Kete Asante and Dhyana Ziegler, Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Book of African Names, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.
Molefi Kete Asante and Mark Mattson, Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans, New York: MacMillan, 1991.
Molefi Kete Asante, Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1990.
Molefi Kete Asante, Umfundalai: Afrocentric Rites of Passage, Philadelphia: National Afrocentric Institute, 1989.
Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Idea, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987. (First Edition)
Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity, 3rd edition, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1987.
Molefi Kete Asante and W. Gudykunst (Eds.), Handbook of Intercultural and International Communication, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1989.
Molefi Kete Asante and Kariamu Welsh (Eds.), African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity, Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Molefi Kete Asante (Ed.), International Press Seminar Proceedings, Harare: Ranche House, 1982.
Molefi Kete Asante, Research in Mass Communication: A Guide to Practice, Harare, Zimbabwe: ZIMCO, 1982.
Molefi Kete Asante, African Myths: New Frames of Reference, Harare, Zimbabwe: ZIMCO, 1982.
Molefi Kete Asante, et. al., Media Training Needs in Zimbabwe, Harare: Mass Media Trust and Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 1982.
Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change, Buffalo: Amulefi Publishing Company, 1980.
Molefi Kete Asante and A. Sarr Vandi (Eds.), Contemporary Black Thought, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1980.
Molefi Kete Asante, E. Newmark, and C. Blake (Eds.), Handbook of Intercultural Communication, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1979.
Molefi Kete Asante and Mary Cassata, Mass Communication: Principles and Practices, New York: MacMillan, 1979. Molefi Kete Asante, Epic in Search of African Kings, Buffalo: Amulefi Publishing Company, 1978.
Molefi Kete Asante and Mary Cassata (Eds.), The Social Uses of Mass Communication, Buffalo: SUNY Communication Research Center, 1977. Molefi Kete Asante and J. Frye, Contemporary Public Communication, New York: Harper and Row, 1976.
Molefi Kete Asante and Eileen Newmark, Intercultural Communication: Theory Into Practice, Alexandria, VA. : Speech Communication Association, 1976.
Molefi Kete Asante, African and Afro-American Communication Continuities, Buffalo: SUNY Center for International Affairs, 1975.
Molefi Kete Asante , Transracial Communication, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
Molefi Kete Asante , Language, Communication, and Rhetoric in Black America, New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Molefi Kete Asante and Steve Robb (Eds.), The Voice of Black Rhetoric, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971.
Molefi Kete Asante , Anne Allen, and Deluvina Hernandez, How to Talk to People of Other Races, Los Angeles: Transcultural Education Foundation, 1971.
Molefi Kete Asante , Toward Transracial Communication, Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies, 1970.
Molefi Kete Asante and Andrea Rich, Rhetoric of Revolution, Durham, N.C.: Moore Publishing Company, 1970.
Molefi Kete Asante , The Rhetoric of Black Revolution, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1969.
Molefi Kete Asante , Break of Dawn, Philadelphia: Dorrance Company, 1964.
Filmography
Asante has appeared in many documentary works, including "The Faces of Evil," "Marshall Keeble," and the award-winning film, "500 Years Later," alongside Maulana Karenga, Muhammed Shareef, Francis Cress Welsin, Kimani Nehusi, Paul Robeson Jr , Nelson George, and others. The latter film was written and produced by M.K. Asante, Jr. and directed by Owen Shahadah. In addition to these films, Asante has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs including top programs on BBC, NBC, ABC, CNN, TNT, MSNBC, and CBS.
