01 - On African History
Related Links:
- Click here to Subscribe!
- Click here to Link!
- Click here to Contribute!
Osagefyo Kwame Nkrumah suggests that:
“The history of Africa, as presented by European scholars, has been encumbered with malicious myths. It was even denied that we were a historical people. It was said that whereas other continents had shaped history, and determined its course, Africa had stood still, held down by inertia; that Africa was only propelled into history by the European contact. African history was therefore presented as an extension of European history. … In presenting the history of Africa as the history of the collapse of our traditional societies in the presence of the European advent, colonialism and imperialism employed their account of African history and anthropology as an instrument of their oppressive ideology.” (Ibid. Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization. Page 62.)
“Earlier on, such disparaging accounts had been given of African society and culture as to appear to justify slavery, and slavery, posed against these accounts, seemed a deliverance of our ancestors. … The history of a nation is, unfortunately, too easily written as the history of its dominant class. But, if the history of a nation, or a people, cannot be found in the history of a class, how much less can the history of a continent be validly treated merely as the space in which Europe swelled up. …” (Ibid. Page 63.)
“In the new African renaissance, we place great emphasis on the presentation of history. Our history needs to be written as the history of our society, not as the story of European adventures. African society must be treated as enjoying its own integrity; its history must be a mirror of that society, and the European contact must find its place in this history only as an African experience, even if as a crucial one. That is to say, the European contact needs to be assessed and judged from the point of views of the harmony and progress of this society.” (Ibid. Page 63.)
“When history is presented this way, … it can become a map of the growing tragedy and the final triumph of our society. In this way, African history can come to guide and direct African action. African history can thus become a pointer at the ideology which should guide and direct African reconstruction.” (Ibid. Page 63.)
Towards A New Presentation of African History
This massive undertaking, the rewriting of African history from a revolutionary, Pan-African perspective, can only be accomplished by the masses of African people, especially our youth. As our contribution towards the fulfillment of this much needed task, paroots.org Blog offers the following preliminary outline. We ask that you critique it, and send us your comments and suggestions. Your contributions will be acknowledged, and your intellectual property rights protected.
We will publish on paroots.org Blog, over the coming months, a wealth of primary and secondary source information, bibliographic and, where copyright laws permit, full text, that will assist a new generation of African students and scholars, wherever our blog can reach them in the world, in writing articles, papers, theses and dissertations, on the different points in the Working Outline, from a revolutionary, Pan-African perspective.
We will recruit an army of African intellectuals–credentialed and non-credentialed, worldwide, to review these articles, papers, theses and dissertations, offer suggestions on how they can be improved, and assist the authors in publishing and distributing them, in print and online.
1st Draft of a Preliminary Outline
- A review, from a nation, class and gender perspective, of Africa’s role as the birthplace of humanity and a cradle of civilization.
- A review, from a nation, class and gender perspective, of 6,000-years of struggle to build kingdoms, dynasties, territorial-states, empires and civilizations in North Africa, in East Africa, in West Africa, and Southern Africa.
- An assessment, from a nation, class and gender perspective, of the impact of 3,000-years of wars against and invasions of Africa, and the slavery, slave-trades, colonialism, settler-colonialism, and neo-colonialism that developed in the wake of:
- The 1st wave of Asiatic wars against and invasions of Africa (1620 BC – 30 BC);
- The 1st wave of European wars against and invasions of Africa (509 BC – 639 AD);
- The 2nd wave of Asiatic wars against and invasions of Africa (639 AD – 1885);
- The 2nd wave of European wars against and invasions of Africa (1415-1885);
- The 3rd wave of European wars against and invasions of Africa (1885-1994);
- The 3rd wave of Asiatic wars against and invasions of Africa (1885-1994); and
- The continuing wars against and invasions of Africa today.
- An assessment, from a nation, class and gender perspective, of the legacy 3,000 years of resistance, rebellion and revolution the length and breath of the Continent of Africa, and the African Diaspora, in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
- An assessment, from a nation, class and gender perspective, of the current struggle to build a United States of Africa.
Send your comments and suggestions to paroots02@yahoo.com! Type “On African History” in the subject line.
Related Links:
- Click here to Subscribe!
- Click here to Link!
- Click here to Contribute!
© 2008 Pan-African Roots
