Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes [Hardcover]

Stephen Howe (Author), Steven Howe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

This volume argues that the Afrocentric movement is guilty of reproducing all the central features of the outmoded Euro-racist scholarship. Offering a mostly fictional history of Africa and its diaspora, centred on ideas about ancient Egypt, it suggests that Afrocentrisum is a symptom of, rather than a cure for, political and economic problems. The author traces the sources and ancestries of the movement, and analyzes the writings of its leading proponents including Molefi Asante, Cheikh Anta Diop and Martin Bernal. He bases his study on wide-ranging research in the histories of both Afro-America and of Africa itself with the aims of demolishing the mythical "history" taught by black ultra-nationalists and suggesting paths towards a more accurate historical picture of Africa.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Afrocentrism, asserts Oxford historian Howe in this forceful scholarly critique, is a dogmatic ideology promoting a mythical vision of the past that involves an erroneous belief in fundamentally distinct African ways of knowing and feeling. Using archaeological and other studies, he refutes the claims of influential Afrocentrist Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop, who held that ancient Egypt was a black African civilization and that a single cultural system unified the African continent. Howe deftly exposes the shaky underpinnings of Cornell historian Martin Bernal's popular tome, Black Athena, which claims that classical Greece was massively indebted to Egyptian and Semitic sources, and to Egyptian colonization. Tracing the evolution of Afrocentric views from 19th-century pamphleteers, romantic anthropologists, occultists and political activistsAboth black and whiteAthrough contemporary Black Muslim doctrine and what he considers the distortions of U.S. academics such as Leonard Jeffries, Ron Karenga and Molefi Asante, Howe finds that much Afrocentric writing "slips from ethnocentrism and neoconservatism into full-blown racism, sexism and homophobia." A major contribution to the debate, this dense study will appeal mostly to scholars. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Howe (Ruskin Coll., Oxford Univ.) sees "Afrocentrism" as "Ethnonationalism" and as a concept that "is accompanied by a mass of invented traditions, by a mythical vision of the past, and by a body of racial pseudoscience." Here he offers a provocative and critical analysis of the philosophical and historicist validity of Afrocentrism. Howe critically analyzes, and in some cases debunks, notions of prominent Africanists such as Marcus Garvey and Frantz Fanon, providing a useful overview of some of the ideological differences between African American scholars in their debates on multiculturalism vs. Afrocentricity. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that, however flawed, Afrocentrism is the newest concept emphasizing the social cohesion of African-origin people rather than the American individualism of the older Anglo conformity. Overall, Howe's book is an effective polemic that will appeal to scholars and students alike working on developing critical interpretations and/or a historical understanding of Afrocentrism, and he is to be commended for providing scholars with easier access to source materials and for his extensive bibliography and footnotes. Recommended for special collections.AEdward G. McCormack, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 337 pages
• Publisher: Verso (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859848737
• ISBN-13: 978-1859848739
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,004,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must have' book, May 28, 2002

By 

Lachrymal "andymarch" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes (Paperback)

I found this an excellent introduction to Afrocentrism from a studied, academic viewpoint. Howe shows himself to be sympathetic to the political motivations of early 'Afrocentric' scholars while showing the poverty of the genre as a tool for historical research. He is able to savage the 'romantic racialism' and mythologising of modern proponents, littering his argument with direct quotes. (Frances Cress Welsing was my favourite.)

Howe draws parallels with Eurocentric racist ideas, showing how modern Afrocentrism is often reverse racism, a mirroring of the prejudices of white America and Europe. However, while drawing parallels, he is careful not to draw an equal sign - acknowledging issues of power and powerlessness. He castigates Afrocentrism's inherent conservatism, its focus on the 'traditional' family unit - dominant male, dutiful wife, etc - and its failure to address socio- and politico-economic issues in modern-day US, European and African societies. A 'must have' book.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Devastating Critique, February 13, 2003

By 

Damon Jasperson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes (Paperback)

The study of history hinges on the honest search for truth. Even though everyone has biases, it is critical that the ideal of objectivity be something that scholars strive for. Eurocentrism is a betrayal of this ideal as is Afrocentrism. In this volume, Stephen Howe critiques Afrocentrism from its earliest origins to the present day. The results are devastating. Over and over again Howe documents that the difference between Afrocentrists and mainline historians of Africana is that the Afrocentrists abandon widely accepted canons of evidence in favor of ideology. Howe analyzes most of the prominent Afrocentrist thinkers such as Molefi Asante, Martin Bernal, Cheikh Anta Diop, etc., and finds them to be less than objective in their approach to history. Howe also discusses the various strands of thought that have gone into Afrocentric thinking over the years, the origins of which are more obscure. Bottom line, it is not an acceptable corrective of Eurocentric history to swing to the opposite extreme and imagine a history of Africa and the African diaspora. If you want to understand this history, try John Hope Franklin, Sterling Stuckey, Robin D. G. Kelley, James Horton, Franklin Knight, or any other of a great number of scholars who stick to accepted standards of historical evidence without betraying their heritage.

33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPERB RESPONSE TO AFROCENTRIC PROPAGANDA, March 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes (Hardcover)

Stephen Howe's "Afrocentrism : Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes" is a brilliant response to the all too prevalent 'neo-nazi' styled propaganda pseudo-sciences within the Afrocentric movement. Along with other distinguished historians, such as Prof. Mary Lefkowitz ('Not Out Of Africa' and 'Black Athena Revisited'), his book joins the small but ever growing list of brave intellectuals who have successfully challenged the politically correct 'racial myth history', with overwhelming doses of historical truth and reality. Those who criticize it are more interested in promoting self-serving racist myth histories, rather than a search for historical reality and honesty.

A great book for those who seek the truth in history. Add it to your library.