REVISITING THE DISCOURSE ON AFROCENTRICITY AND AN AFROLOGICAL METHOD

Autores

  • Benson Kairichi Marimba PhD Candidate, Mass Communication, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology & Adjunct Faculty, Daystar University, School of Communication, Language & Performing Art, Department of Communication

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v0i0.153

Palavras-chave:

Afrocentric, Afrological, Afriamericentric tradition, Ubuntu traditions or world views

Resumo

The debate on Afrocentrism and its place in the communication theorizing has not been settled. While few colonizing nations pursued a policy of assimilation of the colonized, language, and by extension culture is gained through habituation, there ought to have been a deliberate effort by the African intellectuals to propose other world views in addition to the Eurocentric view which had had already been codified. Afrocentricity, presented in the manner in which it has been so far appear to be rebellion against anything European. This should not be the case. In this article, I have established that there is a strong case to recognize that there are different worldviews which emanate from the diversity of human race and none is inferior or superior. The Afrocentricism paradigm is an invitation by and for scholars to begin to deconstruct cosmological, ontological, epistemological, axiological and aesthetic issues from an African orientation as opposed to seeing these issues in the Eurocentric manner in which they are packaged and presented to the academy. First, while agreeing Afrocentric paradigm is a metatheory and can be applied in any human inquiry, we are involved in from agriculture to mathematics as and when the paradigm gets fully developed, probably we need to rename it Afrological Theory to avoid the ‘centric’ tag which tend to be antagonistic or sees everything in binary opposition to that other. Secondly, in response to African-American unique position and experiences, I propose we isolate an African-American orientation or Afriamericentric tradition to capture their unique cosmological and epistemological views. Thirdly, since Ubuntu appear to cut across many African settings, it should be Africa’s contribution to humanity, and we should codify its tenets and develop into it into the Ubuntu theory or philosophy, an idea alluded to in Obonyo’s article or in the very least as an organizing framework from which many frames of Africa may be explored.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Referências

Berger P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday Anchor Book

Delores P. Aldridge, (2000). On race and culture: beyond afrocentrism, eurocentrism to cultural democracy: Sociological Focus, Vol. 33, No. 1 (February 2000), pp. 95-107 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20832066 Accessed: 11-05- 2017 07:37 UTC

Fox R, (1992). Afrocentrism and the X-Factor: Transition, No. 57 (1992), pp. 17-25 Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2935153 Accessed: 11-05-2017 07:37 UTC

Jackson R.L (1997). Afrocentricity as a Metatheory A Dialogic Exploration of its Principles.

Levi Obonyo (2011): Towards a theory of communication for Africa: The challenges for emerging democracies, Communication, 37:1, 1-20, DOI:10.1080/02500167.2011.563822

State University of New York Press, Albany, (2014). Molefi Kete Asante and the Afrocentric Idea

Willems, W. (2014). Beyond Normative Dewesternization: Examining Media Culture from the Vantage Point of the Global South : The Global South, Vol. 8, No. 1, New Media and Mass/Popular Culture in the Global South (Spring 2014), pp. 7-23 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/globalsouth.8.1.7 Accessed: 29-05-2017 16:51 UTC

Publicado

2017-07-28

Edição

Seção

Articles