Afrocentrism

Abstract

During the past 20 years, African American researchers have been developing the idea of Afrocentrism. This field of Africalogical research has been outlined excellently by Asante (1990), who observes that the Afrocentrist seeks to uncover and use codes, paradigms, symbols, motifs, myths and circles of discussion that reinforce the centrality of African ideas and values as a valid frame of reference for acquiring and examining data (p. 6). Although Afrocentric scholars have been writing on Africalogical themes for many years due to the success of Asa G. Hilliard (1991/1992) of Georgia State University and Molefi Kete Asante (1990, 1991, 1991/1992) of Temple University, the Afrocentric idea in education has spread from a small group of advanced African American scholars to high school and elementary school teachers. Africalogy, as explained by Asante (1990, p. 30), builds upon theoretical principles outlined by previous scholars.... The fundamental theoretical bases for Africalogy are derived from the Afrocentric perspective. Due to the attempts of many educators to advance Afrocentrism as a part of the multicultural perspective in the social science/social studies curriculum, there has been a White backlash. Given the increasing popularity of Afrocentrism and multiculturalism among teachers around the United States, many White have begun a campaign to discredit these educational ideas and the Africalogical field of inquiry (see, e.g., Martel, 1991, p. 2). To support their attack on Afrocentrism, the resisters formed the Committee for the Defense of History (CFDH). Asante (1991) notes,