'Black Folk Here and There' was part of a larger project that the author began entitled 'Coping and Co-optation.' The purpose of the project was to conduct an 'analysis of the values and symbols that have emerged within Black communities in the Diaspora and to relate them to the 'coping' process at various periods in history and in diverse places where ecological and economic contexts present quite different options.
This book is a result. Crucial in the African American's coping process has been their identification, over a time span of more than two centuries, with ancient Egypt and Ethiopia as symbols of black initiative and success long before their enslavement on the plantations of the New World. Great myths are always part of group-coping strategies. The book begins with an examination of Nile Valley civilizations, after a brief discussion of 'The Ambivalent Exiles' from Africa who found themselves evolving as part of North American societies.
This book is a result. Crucial in the African American's coping process has been their identification, over a time span of more than two centuries, with ancient Egypt and Ethiopia as symbols of black initiative and success long before their enslavement on the plantations of the New World. Great myths are always part of group-coping strategies. The book begins with an examination of Nile Valley civilizations, after a brief discussion of 'The Ambivalent Exiles' from Africa who found themselves evolving as part of North American societies.
