African Intellectual Heritage: A Book of Sources

African Intellectual Heritage: A Book of Sources

"African Intellectual Heritage" (AIH) is an expansive, wide-ranging anthology of writings dating from the antiquities of civilization to the present. The editors, Molefi Kete Asante and Abu Abarry, both professors of Temple University's African American Studies program, clearly demonstrate that Africans are heirs to a very strong and rich literary heritage in this compilation of written and spoken words reflecting the intellectual history of Africa and its vast and diverse Diaspora. This massive volume is organized into six major themes: The Creation of the Universe, Religious Ideas, Culture and Identity, Philosophy and Morality, Society and Politics and Resistance and Renewal. All also includes a glossary of names and terms pertinent to he book, suggestions for further readings and an African chronology which unfolds in historical significance from 6,000 B.C. to the present.In each theme there includes anywhere from 15 to 28 documents of political commentary, organizational charters, speeches, retranslated texts, prayers and praise songs, et al. that culminates in 828 pages of material. In the context of global racism and oppression to Africans, we can assume that there are two primary reasons for this volume of writings. First, to contribute to the debates surrounding the definition of the African canon, in a sense canonizing these documents. And second, to illustrate the primacy of black intellectualism in the struggle for liberation.

Asante and Abarry readily acknowledge that the loss of sources and undeciphered documents still remain to be two of the fundamental problems facing modern academia in establishing the source of aged African traditions. The editors point out: "In the ancient Egyptian texts we frequently found it necessary to rely upon our own translations of the originals rather than the translations of the nineteenth or early twentieth century. This meant tracing down the originals in libraries and museums in the United States and Egypt, particularly in Cairo and Luxor." There's also the issue of preservation; Asante and Abarry reached the same conclusions as other scholars and activists such as Manu Ampim, Ivan Van Sertima, Ben Jochannan, Runoko Rashidi, to name a few, in that the preservation of African historical documents wasn't a priority for either colonial or post colonial governments on the continent and this creates a disadvantage...