Africans must honour their greats, says Afrocentric scholar
"Europeans invented the press but not all Europeans invented it but they all share in that European glory."
THROUGHOUT the years, Afrocentric scholar, public intellectual, and activist, Prof Molefi Kete Asante has produced a plethora of scholarly works in the hopes that, Africans and those in the diaspora we will not forget their names, language, religion, culture, God and Africa.
As the father of Afrocentricity and author of 76 books, Asante who has published more books than any other African-American scholar and public intellectual, delivered the keynote address at the International Colloquium.
While all the previous speakers went for the ‘normal’ greetings, Asante who was going to speak on Afocentricity and Decolonization of Education used the ancient Egyptian word Hotep, used as a greeting loosely meaning “I come in peace.”
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“It important for Africans to view their culture in its totality. Even though I am an African-American born in Atlanta Georgia, I share the Zulu culture with Mazisi Kunene, I share in it because it is part of my culture. Europeans invented the press but not all Europeans invented it but they all share in European glory, whether the invention is from Italy, Germany or France, it is a European culture and they share it, including those who were never engaged in it. Why can’t we as Africans share in our rich African culture. We have to take ownership of Afrocentricity.”
“As a teacher Kunene was phenomenal, he defied the odds. He did not only write about the sufferings but the resilience and strength of African people. To say he was steeped in the Zulu culture is an understatement because he was himself the maker of that culture. That is what he taught me, take your culture as your starting place. He was a living example of Afrocentricity,” added Asante.
Asante, from the department of Africology and African-American studies at the Temple University in Philadelphia in the US, kept the packed auditorium engaged with his emotive speech. Talking about the UNESCO award that Kunene was awarded in 1993 which made him Africa’s poet laureate and in 2005 when he became South Africa’s first poet laureate, Asante said: “As remarkable as it is for Africans to win this international awards,it is important for us to honor our greats before anyone else.”
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