Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ing the Mind, Ngugi (1986) delves into his early childhood experi-
ence and expresses the conflict of language dominance through
recollections of school life: Thus, one of the most humiliating
experiences was to be caught speaking Gikuyu in the vicinity of the
school (p. 11).
Similarly,Asantes three works on Afrocentricity evolved out of
his original conception. Each of these works contains specific
frameworks elucidating Afrocentric theory. Neither writer has re-
canted or chosen to take a position that is contrary to his principal
philosophies articulated in the 1980s and 199Os, which i s a sign of
ongoing commitmentto their theoretical or ideological viewpoints.
Both have been remarkably consistent in maintaining their objec-
tions to Eurocentric dominance of culture,
Asantes (1990) Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge poses
alternate organizationalstructures for Africaology and Afrocentric-
ity: interiors, anteriors, and exteriors.This work received a scathing
attack by Esonwanne (19921, who, in his review in Research in
African Literatures, questions Asantes fundamental definitions:
Who is the African, what is the nature of hisher perspectiv-
ism , , and what is the validity of a perspectivist theory of knowl-
e
speaking Kenyan audience. This move did not prevent the transla-
tion of his later novels into European languages or other African
languages.
The very act of repositioning audience suggests a new axis of
literary production. However, Ngugis recentering does not limit
his ideas of cultural pluraIism. He argues for cultural pluralism-
multiculturalism-and restates the problem as one of under-
standing all the voices coming from what is essentially a plurality
of centers all over the world (Ngugi, 1993, p. 11).
The conception of a moved center and its relationship to plural
notions of culture is voiced in parallel terms by Asante, who is
concerned as well with African value systems. The notion of
renaming in contexts and metaphors other than those inherited
through colonialism or slavery is central as well to definitions of
Afrocentricity as expressed by Asante (1987). Asante defines Afro-
centricity as placing African ideals at the center of any analysis
that involves African culture and behavior. He employs a literary
model, using Leslie Fiedlers universal literary romantic tradition
to show the centered nature of certain literary theories inasmuch as
African writers are not concerned with the romance variety of
literature (Asante, 1987, p. 6).
Ngugis center includes aspects of Marxism, unlike Asantes
(1988) Afrocentricity, which in its earliest formulation (it was
originally published in 1980), argues against Marxisms relevance
to Afrocentricity.
Marxisms Eurocentric foundation makes it antagonistic to our
worldview; its confrontational nature does not provide the spiritual
satisfaction we have found in our history of harmony. This history
of harmony, stemming from a strong sense of God-consciousness
in nature and each other, is denied by European materialism which
views harmony as a lack of progress, (Asante, 1988, p. 80)
Keto, who suggests that the very use of English connotes a bias
toward a particular geographic center. Despite this bias, the malle-
able nature of language accounts for transformations such as those
evident in Black English or Ebonics (p. 11). The transformation of
English in the African American context can be explained through
Ebonics, the prototypicd language of African Americans. The
term represents the joining of ebony and phonetics and is best
understood through metatheory, which goes beyond existing theo-
ries of language and allows for broaderunderstandings of language
(Asante, 1987, pp. 35-37).Furthermore, African languages them-
selves demonstrate a malleability and can be linked to elements of
Ebonics.
Yoruba, Asante, Ibo, Hausa, Mandingo, Serere, and Wolof had to
combine elements of their language in order to communicate with
each other and the English. Ebonics was a creative enterprise, out
of the materials of interrelationships and the energies of the African
ancestral past. (Asante, 1987, p. 57)
NOTE
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