Afro
centrism it refers to the views of afro centric scholars especially of Africa
as aiming at advancing the position of African people in the world by promoting
and affirming pre-colonial Africans antiquity especially through ancient Egypt
which save as the theoretical
framework of afro centric school. And
among of this scholars are Cheikh Anta Diop, J.K Nyerere Nkwameh
Nkrumah.
Culture
is nation society major identity, a society’s way of life, its attitude toward
different matters and way of dealing with issues which differentiate it from
other societies1. Generally culture is the total way of life which
identifies and differentiates one society to another in terms of arts, language
and customs values.
Therefore among of the original afro centrism and cultural unity in Africa
is Cheikh Anta Diop who tried to show on how the Africans has been developed
and civilized over time in their culture .So let see who is Cheikh Anta Diop by
looking his biography.
Cheikh Anta Diop was born in 29 December 1923 and died in 7 February 1986;
in Senegal .Diop was born to an aristocratic Muslim Wolof family in Senegal
where he was educated in traditional Islamic school. He obtained bachelors
degree in Senegal before involving to Paris for graduate students, where he
ended his education. In 1946 at the age of 23, Diop went to Paris to study. He
initially enrolled to study higher mathematics but them enrolled to study
philosophy in the faculty of arts of the suborned. Generally he was a
historians, anthropologist, physicist, politicians and egyotologists2.
He is very famous by his work like the civilization of Africa, and cultural
unity of black Africa, so through his work Diop explain the civilization of
Africa and their cultural unity by the study of Egypt civilization.
So Cheikh Anta Diop is among of the influential scholars of afro
centrist who explained much in development in cultural unity of black people in
Africa. Diop as afro centrist he analyze various civilization and development
attained by black Africans as follows.
Diop argue that Africa is the cradle
of all humanity. it was from Africa that the evolutionary stage of homo
habilies the hominid set out to populate the Eurasian continent. It was in
Africa that humanity are accomplished its raise to the status of homo-sapience
also it was in Africa that the first Neolithic took place. So from this argument shows or indicating that
Africa has developed in terms of Neolithic, agriculture and use of iron.
He argues
that African civilization can be marked or proved through the study of ancient
Egypt civilization. Africa civilization get its beginning or formative beginning
in the Sudan and Nilotic Nubian and Egypt provided the context in which it
attained full flowering.
This means that Africa has a specific civilization
area which can be used to explain the general civilization of Africa3.
So Diop used his knowledge as Egyptologist and he learned that Africa had
better development as seen in the ancient Egypt.
Also
argue that Egypt was not an indo-European achievements as it has been expressed
by Eurocentric views or scholars, he come up with the view that Egypt civilization
it was neither semitic nor hornito-Semitic, but the plain truth is that Egypt
was black Africa spread its influences outside the parent continent.4
So Egypt civilization contributed much to the later civilization of raising in
north Mediterranean.
Then he continue by arguing that
African culture should be rebuilt on the
basis of ancient Egypt in the same way that of ancient that of European culture
was built upon the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome5. The bases
could obtain through the sharing of culture continuity across African people
that will be important to the varied development of different ethnic groups
shown by differences among languages and culture over time.
Diop in his book “Black Africa “ the economy and cultural bases for a federated state, he argue that only a united and federated Africa will be able to overcome the underdevelopment5.
This critical work constitutes a rational study of not only Africa culture,
historic and geographic unity but of Africans potential for energy development
and industrialization. All this factors combined bases on the formation of a federated
end unified Africa cultural and otherwise.
Moreover Diop views
the African culture in terms of worship
he argue that ancestors worship
was already existed and was expressed in the form of domestic religion. The
only solution which was available was to reduce the bodies of the died to a
minimum weight and volume so that they could be easily transported6.
Therefore that kind of culture of worship of these ancestors was very common
among the African nation especially the Egypt as center of African
civilization. So Diop opposed the ashes worship of Indo-European he said that
ashes of one ancestors were nothing, but the matter is to preserve those bodies
for the further ancestors worship.
Another view of Diop on cultural
unity of Africa was based in the marriage system and division of labor
according to him he shows two types of the marriage system that is matriarchy
and patriarchy,
In patriarchy
system it established that on marriage women leaves her own family to found one
jointly with her husband, conversely when the social structure is such that the man who marries leaves his clan to
live within that of his wife that is matriarchy system. Also he argue that despite
of having that system of marriage the Africa women were agriculturists while
the men was hunters and women power was based on her important economic role.
Also he shows that women in Africa were already queens
and warriors participating in public life and politics while indo-European contemporizes
were still subordinated and subjugated under patriarchal family8.for
example of powerfully ancient queens are in Ethiopia there were queen of Sheba,
queen of Candace who fought the invading army of Augustus.
Lastly Diop constantly held that Africans could not be “pigeon holed”
into rigid type that existed somewhere south of the Sahara but they varied
widely in skin color, facial shape, hair type, height and number of additional
factors just like other human population9. So he claimed that
opponent were hypocritical in starting that the race of Egyptians was not
important to define African culture.
Cheikh Anta Diop as the original afro centric has some weakness in his
argumentation on Africa civilization and development some scholars try to
develop some critique on his views as following.
The
Diop argument and views was much based on Egypt civilization rather than any
other, states in Africa. Although Egypt was the ancient civilized states in
Africa but there was another nation which proceeded after them, but Diop
he did not show those states like Great Zimbabwe which was very famous in the
production of gold but he traced only in Egypt.
Another critique is that Chiekh was racists in defined the African he
used the word like blacks to show that there was the devaluation of white
colors as well as the red Indies. Also he calls Egypt as a black and Egypt
means the blacks of Africa while the majority of academics disavow the terms
black for Egyptians and there was no consensus on substitute terminology.
Generally Cheikh Anta Diop arguments were for the supporting the black
values in the world by shows that even the whites had civilized but also Africa
was civilized like or than them. In terms of civilization of Egypt as identity
of Africa was a value to portray that Mesopotamia and western countries
civilization was outcome of African civilization together with the huge
contribution of African to the creation of man in the world due to the first
human being remains discovered into African and some element of culture include
religion, believes, matrinualy and patrinualy which were practiced by black
Africans. Therefore African had more unique features of civilization compare to
other continent in the world even though civilization come to spreaded to other
continent which proves the cornerstone of civilization is in Africa.
REFFERENCES
Babar S. Great African scholar revisit: journal of
pan- African studies vol.5 no.1march
2012
Diop. A, C. (1989). The cultural unity of black Africa. Fresence Afraine .Paris
Report on the 50th years of independence
of Tanzania main land
http:// en. Wikipedia.org./wiki/ cheikh-Anta-Diop
____________________
1Report on the 50th
years of indepence of Tanzania main land
2Babar S. Great
African scholar revisit: journal of pan- African studies vol.5 no.1march
2012 p.253
3Babacar S. Great
African scholar revisit: The journal of pan-African studies vol.5 no.1 march
2012 p.254
4http:// en. Wikipedia.org./wiki/ Cheikh-Anta-Diop
5 Cheikh A, D. (1963). The cultural unity of black
africa.APM publisher, paris.7
6Ibid p.7
7 Cheikh A.D. (1989). The cultural unity of black Africa.p.8
8 Ibid p.8
9Ibid p.9
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