However, with the help of African culture and values, the construction of black family has been able to overcome the obstacles and break its’ way into the middle class from humble beginnings. In order to fully understand the function and organization of the African American family, we must examine Africa not Europe as a primary basis. As argued by Africanist and anthropologist, Niara Sudarkasa “many of the debates concerning explanations of Black family are waged upon false dichotomies. (Sudarkasa 90)” She goes further to state “the experience of slavery in America is juxtaposed to the heritage of Africa as the explanation of certain aspects of Black family structure. (Sudarkasa 90)” A fellow black scholar in the field, Allen, argued in 1979 that Black family patterns cannot be explained without reference to the socio-economic contexts in which they developed, and this is extremely true.
“The contamination was largely due to the incursion into these communities by some majority social scientists, accompanied by black ultraconservative professionals who help pave the way for African-American exploitation” (See, 2007, p. 7). The black experience is an experience difficult to collect data on with the connection to Africa, however See (2007) suggest until social scientist are able to develop accurate information regarding the black experience, researchers should continue using the theoretical strips as a model for examining the behavior of African
This journey takes Rutherford into an enterprising passage of horror and self-discovery. The Middle Passage and The Book of Negroes are two novels written by African-American scholars, as they both clearly depict the social and psychological conflicts that result from the invasion of a self-contained African society by the white man and his culture. Thus, in this paper, I argue that post-colonial theory is a useful tool to analyze the dynamics of colonization, both in Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes and Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage. In particular, I investigate the novels depiction of truth and its betrayal according to the process of colonization from the perspective of the colonizer, the perspective of the colonized and the process of decolonization. The first step to utilize post-colonial criticism is to understand the impact of colonization through the perspectives of the colonizers.
Slavery plays a big a role in the story, but is an unfortunate part of American history. One belief within Octavian Nothing and Colonial America is the idea that Africans are lesser than Whites. This concept brings us back to the idea of slavery. The inferiority of Africans is how the
In Harlem World, John L. Jackson provides a complex and fascinating view of modern Harlem through his urban ethnographic research. He states in his introduction that he seeks to make a case for how identities work and how, by constructing social spaces, people co-construct their social selves. More specifically, he uses his research “to argue that race and class are often given emphatically behavioral glosses in contemporary folk analysis of identity” (Jackson 2001:6). Jackson's work opposes the view that Harlem is merely an African American slum; it portrays a culturally (and economically) diverse neighborhood. Unlike Berdahl, Jackson is much more visible in his ethnography.
Lakeshia Brown US History 211-05 April 19, 2012 Book Review In the Slave Community, John W. Blassingame gives insight on the slaves’ life that we normally do not get to see. He starts off by discussing the horrific enslavement process. He then goes in to depth of the African heritage, cultural, family, acculturation, behavior, religion, and personality. He supports his story with the evidence such as slave narratives, autobiographies, and historical data. Chapter one begins by explaining the process that the Africans had to go through to get to America.
The term African Design can be interpreted by different people according to personal feelings and emotions. Designers would refer to the aesthetics of a design whereas illustrators or fashion experts may argue that the traditional African patterns and shapes is what gives it an African feel (Fourie, 2012). Either way one looks at it, African Design boils down to how the various African cultures are represented through each product. By analyzing traditional rituals and art pieces as well as comparing them to contemporary South African designs, this paper will assess the role of vivid history and traditions on contemporary designs. We will also touch on the subject of how traditional African art and artifacts can easily loose their uniqueness when taken out of context.
Professor Fraga in his presentation states that “we need to appreciate our blackness” and “…recognize importance of migration and cultural diversity.” Black may be Latino and African-American, people who from the Caribbean, people who are from Africa, in one word, multi-racial people. This is only identifies them as black yet the meaning of being black is to remember one roots and not to fall in the depths of ignorance (Munashe Furusa). We should not confuse black with a race for black is cultural identity. I agree with Dr. Munashe Furusa that African, in order to keep their “blackness” must establish a sense of security of their own culture and heritage as people in America and be aware of the contributions and experiences their people made to America. I believe that recognition of one culture and own heritage forms backbone of
Why SVSU? According to activist-scholar Dr. Maulana Karenga, “Black Studies is the critical and systematic study of the thought and practice of African people in their current and historical unfolding” (Karenga, 2002). The scope of our examination includes the whole of the African Diaspora i.e. the examination of Africans dispersed throughout the world. Particular emphasis is placed on the study of agency, “the capacity and will to act.” It is similarly the goal of the
This Black thought revolutionary response to Eurocentric attitudes of African and Black people. Stereotypes have been designed to reshape African history and its impact on civilization, tracing back to the Greek. These stereotypes have distorted and made African history very vague, giving a sense of entitlement to others. Scholars have used this as a tool to deny African contribution to modern civilization, omitting the fact that all human civilization has been impacted by Africa from millions of years ago. This gave a sense of entitlement to Europeans claiming there to be no African impact on Greece civilization.