Brown Hosts Afrocentrism Debate

 

 

By Devaleena Das

 

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

 

Since the 1987 publication of Black Athena by Cornell professor Martin Bernal, Afrocentricity and its place in academia has become the subject of much debate.

 

In a discussion sponsored by the Organization of United African Peoples (OUAP) last night, Brown became one of the latest venues for that debate with Wellesley College Professor Mary Lefkowitz and Dr. Charles S. Finch of Morehouse Medical School tackling this complex issue.

 

Lefkowitz is the author of a controversial book, Not Out of Africa, which has been called by some reviewers the definitive response to Bernal and other Afrocentrists.

 

Last night, Lefkowitz started out by saying that she is "not against Afrocentrism," which looks at Africa as the origin of human civilizations and their advances. She said there is a great need to study African history from the point of view of Africans.

 

Lefkowitz said her purpose is to "think of the ancient world as a multicultural ancient world," said Lefkowitz and not to "push one civilization over the other."

 

She believes it is not possible to apply the modern agenda on the past and that we should not rewrite history in order to "make us feel better." She does not believe that scholars of classic civilizations are attempting to deny the important contributions of African civilizations. And she was also critical of using myths as the basis of history.

 

Finch, who is the director of the Department of International Health at Morehouse said "history is not merely a scholarly exercise."

 

He believes history influences who we are and who we want to be. The "global attitude of antiquarians," said Finch, has been to deny the importance and centrality of African civilizations to ancient history.

 

"Afrocentricity can be questioned only if the methodology lacks rigor," said Finch. However, Finch believes that Afrocentricity is an "authentic new paradigm."

 

"Myths are not fictions," said Finch. "National myths are created" and demonstrate the essence of a people. Finch used American Manifest Destiny as one of his examples that explains how myths are a "symbolic way of being who you are" and therefore cannot be ignored in history.

 

Walking Like the Egyptians

 

Much of the last night's debate focused on the extent of the influence ancient Egyptian civilization had on ancient Greece, which has long been considered the source of Western civilization.

 

"I don't think Greek philosophy... was essentially Egyptian," said Lefkowitz. Although Egyptian literature about theology was very sophisticated, it is different from Greek philosophy, according to Lefkowitz.

 

"Cultures don't steal," said Lefkowitz. Greeks admired Egyptian theories and adopted certain aspects of their culture, but the final product was essentially Greek. Lefkowitz also does not believe that there is any substantial evidence that supports the theory that there was an Egyptian university system where many great Greek philosophers and mathematicians studied.

 

Lefkowitz used the development of Greek language as evidence to support her argument. She stated that there is no archeological evidence to support that Greeks took their language from the Egyptians. They instead used the Phoenician alphabet.

 

But Finch argued that Ancient Greek civilization did not spring from an "immaculate conception." He argued that antiquarians have long been influenced by the "Aryan model" as named by Bernal and have ignored contributions of the civilizations of the Nile, which were fully developed by 4000 BC.

 

Finch went on to list several areas where Egyptians made advancements before any other civilization did. He said the Greeks heavily borrowed from Egyptian advances in architecture and astronomy.

 

For example, Egyptians were the first to raise massive structures and sculptures and to use astronomy, which gave rise to the Egyptian calendar and mathematics. Finch said almost all famous ancient Greeks, such as Pythagoras, studied in Egypt at one point or another.

 

Finch emphasized his arguments with a slide show. After flashing a map on the screen he said, "Egypt is not in the Middle East," emphasizing that it was an African and not a mixed culture that made all these advancements.

 

Lefkowitz said that the Greeks recorded their theories, adding their own insight to Egyptian discoveries. "We have to take the good with the bad," said Lefkowitz. She emphasized that Afrocentrism has a tendency to overlook negative aspects of African culture and glorify other aspects.

 

Finch closed the debate by acknowledging that Greeks modified Egyptian knowledge and that Afrocentrists have a tendency to ignore negative aspects of African culture. However, he added that Egyptians formed much of the basis of ancient culture.

 

We "need to be angry," said Finch, when a culture has been ignored for so long, "or else no one pays attention."

 

Beyond Words Village

Give us your thoughts and opinions!

 

 

This article was published courtesy of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc.

Copyright © 1996 The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
You may not reproduce this material in any form without

the permission of The Brown Daily Herald.

 

Contact The Herald if you have any comments or suggestions.

 

This story appeared in The Herald: Thursday, October 4, 1996

 

The original location of this article is:

http://www.theherald.org/issues/100496/afro.f.html

 

 

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