Customer Reviews

Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Diop demonstrates his multidisciplinary genius in this book. His scientific approach leaves no stone unturned, even when dealing with linguistics. He addresses so many topics, from the origins of civilisation to political and social organisation in ancient states. I especially treasure the chapters on Africa's contribution to humanity in sciences and philosophy. A real eye-opener. Mostly French speaking authors are referenced and critiqued though. It's a shame there aren't more African scholars following Diop's lines of research.

Funny how most of the 1 star reviewers never deal with the facts of whats stated in the book. Even if they do have valid issues, where are the counter references beyond, he (C.A. Diop) is wrong just because YOU say so.

They make it sound as though he made up all he had to say in this EXTREMELY POWERFUL WORK with no references to other "noted" scholars and no use of scientific methods of research. They write as though C.A. diop himself isn't an Egyptologist and Scientist who ran the Radiocarbon Laboratory in Dakar. I would like to know what counter body of work exists that can compete with this one?

Perhaps the 1 star reviewers should read the works of Gerald Massey, C.F Volney, Albert Churchward, Stanley Lane Poole, Martin Bernal, Michael Bradley and even Alexander Von Wuthenau to get a comprehensive "White" Scholars view of why The PERSPECTIVE of C.A. Diop and other noted African Scholars like him exist.

An, in regards to Gerald Massey...I have yet to see anyone seriously challenge his body of work!!! Mary Lefkowitz or otherwise! I wonder why that is!

I'd suggest this book to anyone who is reading recent books on the origins of civilization. What I liked about it is that Diop was bringing a wealth of research that was otherwise inaccessible to me to the this issue--and I found that I could connect this history to that of Europe and Britain using other resources that I have. the issue I have with is is that some of the work struck me as oriented to handling one set of politically motivated forms of anthropology that he found objectionable-but he didn't consider the work of a lot of other major authors (i.e. the work of Lewis Spence on connections between North Africa and Ancient Britain). I thought Diops criticisms of Gimubutus were especially interesting.

Reading this book, by a profound author by the name of Cheikh Anta Diop, as well as other great books by other great authors, leads one to understand why there is racism, for example Diop talks about life and how it started in Africa, beginning with Australopithecus,Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo Sabiens Sapiens then the Grimaldi Negro and the migration to Europe, you see Caucasians have only been in existence for about 20,00 years, and during Diops time they were denying that, and saying that Europe was the origin of life, and it was so racist during that time, that Anthropologist and Archaeologist got together and totally fabricated and created fake fossils better know as the "Piltdown Man, and even if you don't but this book do a engine search on that name (www.yahoo.com or www.google.com) and you will read about how hard racist tried to cover up the origin of history, the book also talks about how Arabs,Chinese,Latinos,Japanese, etc... came into existence, I wont spoil the beans for you but this is by far one of the best books that I have ever read, Diop does a good job with refuting racist philosophers, and one more note it is time for people to stop believing in His-Story and read real History, because you saw how they are still trying to depict Jesus like an European, and it clearly states in Rev 1:14,15 that he had woolly hair and bronze feet, so you see racism is still here Brothers and Sisters.

The negative review preceding this one should be exposed for what it is. The pseudo intellectual ramblings of someone who probably didn't even read the book. If he did, he read it with the condescending mind-set that those of european descent adopt their historical and cultural supremacy is challenged.


First he cla1ms that Diop is false in claiming that society, science or civilization had their start with the so-called "Negro". This an absurd statement when their is a literal library of work by black and white authors that prove and support Diops premise. As well as the historical recordings of the people who lived in those times and wrote about what they saw,both black and white.

Then he states the salvation of Africa and African people relies on "integration" Oh yeah we see how thats been workin like a charm dont we? The salvation of Africa and African people will rely on the collective utilization of all our resources (including our true history) combined with an ethnically based ideology.

Then claims class and money distinctions dont seperate people. Even the dominant ethnic group at this writing has class distinctions within itself (ever hear of poor white trash?)

As for the rest of his statement, it seems his philosophy is based upon the eurocentric principle of individualism, survival of the fittest, Africans have been forced to adopt this mind-set at our peril as it does not work for us. Our ancestors didnt think or conduct themselves that way and they ruled the world taking on all comers for over 3000 years.

Diops book is genius, as he was a genius, buy it.

If you have a 3 week open period in your life this book will enlighten you, make you question history, understand history, question religion, understand religion, question philosophy, understand philosophy, question current teaching the origin of humans, understand what is human, and give the foundation to understand and analyze every historical, religious, and science book that has been used to mishape your mind.

But before you read this book take 2 weeks and read "the origin of African Civilization" by Dr. Diop.

Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last.

The chapter on Cultural Identity is as powerful and complete as anything I have ever read. Truly one of the greatest thinkers of our time

This is yet another great work from Diop. This book allows the serious scholar to navigate through the web of lies perpetuated by European historians, for Europe's benefit. As we have seen recently, with the Jessica Lynch lies, as well as the lies that led up to start of the Iraq war (invasion), the astute person of African descent will get their information on black history from black people. Otherwise, you'll never know that many of the Greek "greats" lived in Africa for considerable portions of their life, while learning the African mystery system. This system they took back to Greek, and used as the impetus for the Greek "miracle", without giving their Egyptians teachers any credit at all. We rely on the Greeks themselves to expound on the many sojourns in Egypt by Greece's greatest scholars.

Selam

This book, although a challenging read, should be read by every person with an honest curiosity about the history of humanity as it relates to black Africa. I say a challenging read because the book seems to have been written in answer to professional critics of his prior works. As a result, he uses some terms that mainly an anthropologist or paleontologist may readily understand. I am incredibly grateful to find this book and will be keeping a copy in my library forever.

No matter what anyone says, Cheikh Anta Diop's works continue to shake up the world, especially the world of academia. Until the book started to get taught in colleges and universities around the globe, no one took his work seriously. Now, historians like Martin Bernal and others have used his work as a premise for their own academic contributions, such as Black Athena. Never forget this man from an African country called Senegal who started it all, to benefit and enlighten the whole world. I have given this book as a gift to anyone who is vaguely interested about world history AS IT SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS! This book and all of Cheikh Anta Diop's works are HEAVYWEIGHTS!!!! I highly recommend this book to all!