Why is Afrocentrism important?

In addition to emphasizing the past, Afrocentrism encourages the preservation and elevation of contemporary African American culture as manifested in language, cuisine, music, dance, and clothing.

What is Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism?

Afrocentrism is a scholarly movement that seeks to conduct research and education on global history subjects, from the perspective of historical African peoples and polities. It takes a critical stance on Eurocentric assumptions and myths about world history, in order to pursue methodological studies of the latter.

What is the Afrocentric perspective?

The Afrocentric Perspective is a culturally grounded social work practice-based model that affirms, codifies, and integrates common cultural experiences, values, and interpretations that cut across people of African descent.

What are the goals of the Afrocentricity movement?

According to Molefi Kete Asante (1988, 19-30), chair of the Department of African American Studies at Temple University and an acknowledged representative of the Afrocentrism movement, the goals of Afrocentricity are “reconstructing culture” and “creating collective consciousness” among African Americans.

When did Eurocentrism begin?

The term “Eurocentrism” dates back to the late 1970s but it did not become prevalent until the 1990s, when it was frequently applied in the context of decolonisation and development and humanitarian aid that industrialised countries offered to developing countries.

When did the African Diaspora start?

The African Diaspora – History and Definition The term “African Diaspora” first appeared in the literature in the 1950s and has been broadly defined to include all global communities descended from the historic migrations of peoples from Africa since the 15th century [3,4].

What led to the creation of Black Studies?

Programs and departments of Black studies in the United States were first created in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of inter-ethnic student and faculty activism at many universities, sparked by a five-month strike for Black studies at San Francisco State.

What caused Eurocentrism?

Eurocentrism, in this sense, is a result of European colonialism and global domination by Western powers. The different events that shaped Western supremacy are the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and Modernity, which, however, did not necessarily develop in linear ways in one particular place.

Why is art history so Eurocentric?

Art history has, through many of its European epistemological technologies, reinforced what are in fact colonialist perspectives, judgments, and rationales. An effect of Eurocentrism is the attempt at keeping “other” cultures in the past, somehow creating a contest between traditional and contemporary.

What is Afrocentrism and why is it important?

In addition to emphasizing the past, Afrocentrism encourages the preservation and elevation of contemporary African American culture as manifested in language, cuisine, music, dance, and clothing. Afrocentrism was influenced by several earlier Black nationalist movements, including Ethiopianism and Pan-Africanism.

Who coined the term Afrocentricity?

The actual term Afrocentric apparently was coined by W. E. B. Du Bois only in the early 1960s. Du Bois wrote that his proposed Encyclopedia Africana would be “unashamedly Afro-centric” in focus. Asante resurrected the term in his 1980 work, Afrocentricity, injecting new energy into an old approach to the study of Africans and their descendants.

What is Woodson’s the African background outlined?

Carter G. Woodson’s The African Background Outlined (1936) demonstrated African survivals in religion, folklore, art, and music in African-American communities. Perhaps the most enduring contribution to modern-day Afrocentrism is Melville Herskovits’s The Myth of the Negro Past (1941).

What was Melville Herskovits contribution to Afrocentrism?

Perhaps the most enduring contribution to modern-day Afrocentrism is Melville Herskovits’s The Myth of the Negro Past (1941). Herskovits emphasized West African cultural survivals in the Americas, particularly in South America and the Caribbean.