Kush, the Jewel of Nubia: Reconnecting the Root System of African Civilization [Paperback]

Miriam Maat-Ka-Re Monges (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996 | ISBN-10: 0865435294 | ISBN-13: 978-0865435292

This work represents the cutting edge of a new generation of Afrocentric scholarship whose mandate it is to provide a clearer picture of Africa's true nature and of its genuine contribution to world civilization.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Great Cheikh Anta Diop identified the roots of African culture from which one can trace the branches. No African researcher since, however, has provided a comprehensive analysis connecting the ancient Nile Valley civilizations with the African universe. From the pyramids of Egypt to the great walls of Zimbabwe, Western scholars have attributed the achievements of these prodigious indigenous African civilizations to people culturally and geographically alien to Africa. However, in the case of the ancient Nubian Empire of Kush, which occupied the southern part of Kemet (ancient Egypt) and all of present-day Sudan, one expects reasonable scholars to attribute this African culture to an African people. The present much-needed work traces Diop's great "African cultural commonalities" of matriarchy, totemism, divine kinship, and cosmology to the very core of Kushite culture. This book is on the cutting edge of a new generation of Afrocentric scholarship whose mandate it is to provide a clearer picture of Africa's true nature, it s genius and its genuine contribution to World Civilizations.

About the Author

Miriam Ma'at-Ka-Re Monges is currently an assistant professor of Sociology/social work at California State University, Chico Campus. A founding member of the Institute of Africana Social Work at Temple University, she has also created and conducted a "rites-of-passage" program called "Candaces" for young African American women.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Africa World Press (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865435294
• ISBN-13: 978-0865435292
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective Afrocentricity vs Biased Eurocentricity!, November 7, 1999

By 

O. B. Makhubela (South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kush, the Jewel of Nubia: Reconnecting the Root System of African Civilization (Hardcover)

Any objecive, unbiased and well argued book on African civilizations or history deserves a 5 star for me: the reason being simple, there are not many of such books in the world! Ms Monges has presented both sides of the argument (an art of arguing) and has logically and objectively rejoindered some of the eurocentric views and arguments very well. I have read 3 other books on Africa and Kemet (Egypt) and all share to a great extent the same well argued, objective and afrocentric view as potrayed by Ms Monges. I have always asked myself what do european anthropologists or so-called egyptologists mean by: 'negroid', but not 'negro'; to rephrase, black but not black enough? Indeed I have found several of the their arguments very irrational, absurd and illogical. Indeed Ms Monges does well to deal with most of the misconceptions surrounding Kemet, Kush and Africa. She seeks partly to adduce evidence for the Blackness of Egypt by comparing it to other cultural practices in modern Africa. Something which she does very well! Jesus said: there is nothing that is hidden that will not be revealed. Thank You Ms Monges for you objective Afrocentricity!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not terribly helpful, July 16, 2010

By 

Paul A Swanson (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kush, the Jewel of Nubia: Reconnecting the Root System of African Civilization (Paperback)

I wish that this book did what it said - reconnected the root system of African civilization. This book is in the same vein as Cheik Anta Diop's African Origins of Civilization, but unfortunately she seems more interested in rehashing the same arguments and counters from the 1960s and '70s than she is in writing a concise, African-centered history of Kush and Nubia. I guess I'll have to keep looking...