Abstract
Dr. Stanley Diamond was an enigmatic and provocative scholar, poet, ethnolinguist, and anthropologist. A genuinely concerned universalist, though unorthodox, he reached into the lives of nations and peoples from Native American Iroquois, on to Arab villagers, Jews of an Israeli Kibbutz, and numerous ethnic groups within the African continent, such as the Anagutas, the Yorubas and especially the Ibos of Nigeria. One wonders what drove this anthropologist. What did he find special and irresistible about Africa and its peoples? Sharp witted, charismatic and penetrating, Diamond answered many questions on cultural divergences, primitivism, civilization, and racial differences. He also provoked many other unanswered questions which continue to gnaw at each one of us. In his various writings Diamond raised questions concerning issues of civilization and culture, language and literature, especially poetry and its functions in both traditional and industrial societies, concepts of the sacred, human existence and individuation and the drama of life and death. The crisis of civilization catalyzed by fascism and the horrors of the Second World War informed his anthropology and his active support of oppressed peoples. He supported the African cause when Africa was still divided among colonial regimes and very few scholars dared oppose the status quo of world political and military order. Before any African countries gained political independence, he
Published Version
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