Abstract
Following in the tradition of contributionism, Afrocentrists are engaged in an effort to correct the errors, omissions, and distortions of Africa and the Africana diasporic experience produced by European/Anglo-American/Eurocentric scholarship. The African-centered perspective has not differed substantially with Carter G. Woodson’s interpretation of the efficacy of Black history and culture. The Afrocentrists have simply replaced the names of Wheatley, Douglass, and Banneker with those of Ptahhotep, Amenemhat, Duauf Imhotep, and Cheik Anta Diop. They differ with the vindicationist tradition in one respect that is of great importance. Our friends have replaced the racist representation of Africa with a bold, fantastic, and passionate reconstruction of African history which accents the role of African subjectivity. In this respect, they have turned historiography on its head, replacing Euorcentric diffusionist theory with an African-centered one. Africa, instead of Europe, becomes the epicenter of world civilization. Metaphorically speaking, the master narrative has moved from Mt. Olympus to Mt. Kenya!1
This chapter includes revised and altered components of the article “The Utopian Worldview of Afrocentricity: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy” written by Stephen C Ferguson and published in the March 2011 edition of the Socialism & Democracy Journal. Reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd., http://www.tandfonline.com).
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Notes
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Ferguson, S.C. (2015). The Heritage We Renounce. In: Philosophy of African American Studies. African American Philosophy and the African Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137549976_5
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