How another scholar portrays us in the west

Read Article

Comments (36)

This article is closed for comments.

Read Comments Comments (36)

Akadu Mensema 12 years ago

The most prolific scholar of Africa is the Nigerian Toyin Falola. He has c/authored more 100 books!

The most prolific scholar of Africa is the Nigerian Toyin Falola. He has c/authored more 100 books!
Kojo! 12 years ago

Heresay.

Wa bon dodo

Heresay.

Wa bon dodo
LARYEAH 12 years ago

KOJOVI TOGOLESE FOOL!

KOJOVI TOGOLESE FOOL!
Ananse 12 years ago

HOW COME YOU GUYS NEVER MENTIONED OKOAMPA'S NAME? IS HE NOT A RESPECTED SCHOLAR?

HOW COME YOU GUYS NEVER MENTIONED OKOAMPA'S NAME? IS HE NOT A RESPECTED SCHOLAR?
Kojo T 12 years ago

We shall return ,Francis Kwarteng seems to irk Mr Figure it out as he says you have mixed with the wrong people. Surely can you see the parallels between what he sees of these " other" people and the West's idea of Africans a ...
read full comment

We shall return ,Francis Kwarteng seems to irk Mr Figure it out as he says you have mixed with the wrong people. Surely can you see the parallels between what he sees of these " other" people and the West's idea of Africans and Blacks? But we Blacks need to be defining ourselves more and doing it from Africa . In that we need UNITY because that way we can control more resources and disseminate our ideas through the media controlled by us . That will eliminate distortion .
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Kojo T,

Your crisp observation on our "tribalism" is why I write my kinds of articles, for the most part.

I want us to see the troubling paralles between "racism" and "trabalism." As for my friend, I am stiil waiting f ...
read full comment

Kojo T,

Your crisp observation on our "tribalism" is why I write my kinds of articles, for the most part.

I want us to see the troubling paralles between "racism" and "trabalism." As for my friend, I am stiil waiting for his email.

In fact, sometimes I think "tribalism" is more painful of an experience than "racism."

How can my own brother or sister discriminate against me on the basis of ethnicity? What happened to the commonality of our humanity?

I think you have some of the reasons behind why I specifically tailor my writings to certain ideologies.

I wish many who read this piece will see what you see. Unfortunatley, many take my ideas out of context.

I have seen some comments here which do not remotely reflect my intentions for writing this piece in the first place.

I enjoy reading comments (negative, postive) on other webstes than Ghanaweb.

Redears on other webites tend to disagree with an author's views with dignity, respect, and facts.

Again, one reader here talks about publishing books and scienfic/technological creativity, yet this reader does not know the strong connection between the humanities/liberal arts and scientific/technological creativity. In fact, the West makes good use of the connection than Africa.

It explains why I don't respond to them. Because the next thing someone who read it, your artcle, and didn't understand it will be insulting.

One word you used "Unity" explains it all.

Thanks.
C.Y. ANDY-K 12 years ago

Cousin Kojo T,

Why should Nyebro Francis keep away from "We shall return" because a jaded friend and KNUST mate of his objected to his usage cos Dr Bokor also uses it? After, it is Azar who could be said to owe the copyrig ...
read full comment

Cousin Kojo T,

Why should Nyebro Francis keep away from "We shall return" because a jaded friend and KNUST mate of his objected to his usage cos Dr Bokor also uses it? After, it is Azar who could be said to owe the copyright to that phrase in the Ghanaian cyberspace. He started using it in the early '90s on Okyeame.

Nyebro Francis, has obviously, transcended ethnic boundaries of his ethnicity just like the son of the Asante goldsmith I met here in Woolwich, London. The guy used to transverse the Anlo area to buy old golden jewellery (sika xoxo, hence his acquired nickname Sikaxoxo)in the hard years of the 1980s for smelting for new jewellery. I bet he knew the Anlo areas than you and I combined! And he is completely Ewe stereotypes free! "As for me, even those fetish houses they said you can't enter with your shirt on, I removed my shirt and entered," he said. You see, he and Nyebro Francis doesn't to the category "These Akans" I intend to devote an article to as a prelude to my next series on the ethnic imbroglio in Ghana.

As for the subject matter of this piece, I hope to complete my rejoinder to earlier ones which shall capture the rest. Only problem is that I've to be expanding it all the time in order to cover issues Nyebro Francis continue to raise at a frenetic pace!

Andy-K
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Nyebro Andy,

Tell our brother Kojo T like it's. But don't be too harsh with good brother Kojo T. He's one of my favorites.

As for my friend, I am still waiting for his email.I am going to give him some serious lashing. ...
read full comment

Nyebro Andy,

Tell our brother Kojo T like it's. But don't be too harsh with good brother Kojo T. He's one of my favorites.

As for my friend, I am still waiting for his email.I am going to give him some serious lashing. I am suspecting he may be one of my closest friends on campus, possibly my course mate.

Andy, I am still waiting for your critique of my work. It looks as if you have been very busy these days.

Andy, you know you are one of my heavy critics on Ghanaweb. I am waiting for your critique to put me in check.

And Dr. Bokor, he's a good brother. We have not communicated in the past two weeks or so. We used to communicate on a daily basis. I guess teaching responsibilities have cornered him.

Andy, I will shoot you an email this weekend. Anyway, have a great weekned, nyebro.

Bye.
BABANGIDA 12 years ago

AND BE PROUD OF OUR AFRICAN NAMES INSTEAD OF FRANCIS, JOHN, PETER, ERIC AND ETC ETC.........

AND BE PROUD OF OUR AFRICAN NAMES INSTEAD OF FRANCIS, JOHN, PETER, ERIC AND ETC ETC.........
william 12 years ago

Our educational institutions and think tanks, our regional organisations(AU,ECOWAS,SADC, EAC,etc) our professional bodies, let's take this seriously!And what has happened to the AU project of the 6th region(the Diaspora)? A L ...
read full comment

Our educational institutions and think tanks, our regional organisations(AU,ECOWAS,SADC, EAC,etc) our professional bodies, let's take this seriously!And what has happened to the AU project of the 6th region(the Diaspora)? A LOT OF TALK AND LITTLE STRACTIGIC FOCUS? THE LENGHT OF THE ROAD TO, AND THE QUALITY OF, THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE HINGE ON THESE TWO CRITICAL CO-ENABLERS, INTER ALIA.

francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Akadu Mansema,

Toyin Falola is parentheically discussed in Part ll, which I sumbitted together with Part l on the same day.

You should write to the editor of Ghanaweb for futher confirmation.

In fact, it was Dr. As ...
read full comment

Akadu Mansema,

Toyin Falola is parentheically discussed in Part ll, which I sumbitted together with Part l on the same day.

You should write to the editor of Ghanaweb for futher confirmation.

In fact, it was Dr. Asante himself who mentioned Falola to me years ago. In fact, a good chunk of Falola's works are edited volumes (with contribitions from several authors).

This is somewhat different from Asante's or even Noam Chomsky's (who has also published more than 100 books though in different fields) . We need to clarify this for our readers.

Plus, I didn't say anywhere that Asante was the most published scholar on Africa. I made that claim in a particularist context, that's, in restrictive comparison with West, Appiah, and Gates.

Actually, you should have read the Part ll on modernghana, spyghana, and vibeghana, etc., all of which published the two parts on the same day.I have Falola there.

Or better still, you could have waited for Part ll to make your comment. That said, it still doesn't make any difference. Redears will see that in Part ll.

Impatient readers can also see Falola on modernghana, spyghana, and vivegnana. Media Mogul may have seen that already.

If I am not mistaken, Media Mogul sometimes reads my articles on modernghana before Ghanaweb publishes them. Maybe Media Mogul may have seen my mentioning Falola in Part ll.

Please check the publication dates and times when you wrote your comment here about Falola and see those on other the websites I have discussed--modernghana, spyghana, vibeghana.

You should realize that my brief discussion of Falola predates your comment here. Please check the publication dates/times when Ghanaweb published theirs and those of the the others.

I know the work of Falola very well to have excluded it entirely from the most influential thinkers in Black Studies.

Thanks
Tekonline.org 12 years ago

Oh Francis, so you mentioned Farley, Blackwell, and Imes. How could you possibly have missed the present day Einsteins: Sylvester James Gates and Neil DeGrasse Tyson?

Oh Francis, so you mentioned Farley, Blackwell, and Imes. How could you possibly have missed the present day Einsteins: Sylvester James Gates and Neil DeGrasse Tyson?
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Tekonline.org,

How are you doing?

Anyway, thanks for mentioning them.

I know you are one of our most important (science/technology) experts on Ghanaweb and that whenever I miss out on anything,
I know you will al ...
read full comment

Tekonline.org,

How are you doing?

Anyway, thanks for mentioning them.

I know you are one of our most important (science/technology) experts on Ghanaweb and that whenever I miss out on anything,
I know you will always be there to update us, that's, fill the gaps for us.

The other problem is that there too many names to mention in one essay.

Maybe in the future, I shal have to do an essay on our scientists and technologists. Tekonline.org, why don't we collaborate on such a project?

Besides, we have already touched on Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Mensah (fiber optics).

I know you will be here. And you still haven't told me how you came to know me.

You have given me some useful hints but not enough to identify you.

You and I are both alumni of KNUST, but that's not enough. I know we were in the same hall, Unity Hall, as well, but I need more info. Help me out here.

My regards to your family.

Please send me a meil (franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com).

Thanks.
Kawaanopaado 12 years ago

Nice essay on intellectualism. What about the author himself, Francis Kwarteng? We want to know your own contributions and not those of far-fetched coloureds or pseudo-whites

Nice essay on intellectualism. What about the author himself, Francis Kwarteng? We want to know your own contributions and not those of far-fetched coloureds or pseudo-whites
GENERAL DeGAULE 12 years ago

How many of those books led to the invention of an African widget? How many of those books led to increases in agricultural and industrial productivity in Africa? How many of those books led to the improvement of the Health S ...
read full comment

How many of those books led to the invention of an African widget? How many of those books led to increases in agricultural and industrial productivity in Africa? How many of those books led to the improvement of the Health Service and the reduction of poverty in Africa? How many of those books expounded on some deep philosophical thoughts to edified the minds of our politicians to assume the high standard of probity and accountability in public life?
"Consciencism" by Kwame Nkrumah is the only book that matters.
Nii Ashitey 12 years ago

Francis observation of Molefi Asante is spot on and his academic and literally works on African and African American history and culture especially on his published books on Afrocentricity can not be overstated. However th ...
read full comment

Francis observation of Molefi Asante is spot on and his academic and literally works on African and African American history and culture especially on his published books on Afrocentricity can not be overstated. However the one single achievement of both Kwame Appiah and Henry Gates was bringing to reality the dream work of Du Bois the great African American and Pan Africanist and comrade in arms of our own Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and especially his relationship with Ghana.

According to Amazon book review the Legendary scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois labored to complete an "Encyclopedia Africana" before his death in 1963. Just over 35 years later, two Harvard educators, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Ghanaian-born Kwame Anthony Appiah, have brought Du Bois' intellectual dream to life in Africana, the most complete and comprehensive record of the Pan-African diaspora compiled into one volume.

This singular achievements apart from their own literally merits were the the reasons why many seem to elevate them above Molefi Asante. Molefi Asante has himself been described as one of the most prolific African American author of his generation and that must speak volumes of the man.

Personally I think these three names with Cornel West are among the best writers in Diasporian and African American history and literature.
Brother 12 years ago

Now I am beginning to think that, Ghana web shall promote intellectual discourse not political noise.
Thanks Elder brother Francis for this line of ex posse.

Now I am beginning to think that, Ghana web shall promote intellectual discourse not political noise.
Thanks Elder brother Francis for this line of ex posse.
Media Mogul 12 years ago

Oh, how I hate multi-part articles, especially the ones that end on cliffhangers... I'll have to wait with my comments and questions, but still...

How did he get called Asante?

This African American studies, is it onl ...
read full comment

Oh, how I hate multi-part articles, especially the ones that end on cliffhangers... I'll have to wait with my comments and questions, but still...

How did he get called Asante?

This African American studies, is it only a US thing or can one also study it in universities in Canada and South America where there are huge numbers of people of African descent?

What kind of a person will get a Phd in A-A studies?

Excuse my ignorance...
KABI MA ME KABI 12 years ago

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THRU COLLECTIONS HAS DONE MORE IN BUILDING SCHOOLS,CLINICS,IN REMOTE PARTS OF GHANA,FOR OUR WELL-BEING THAN ANY OF THESE SO-CALLED SCHOLARS.WHAT USE ARE THESE THINKERS TO THE POOR GUY IN GHANA WHO SUFFERS ...
read full comment

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THRU COLLECTIONS HAS DONE MORE IN BUILDING SCHOOLS,CLINICS,IN REMOTE PARTS OF GHANA,FOR OUR WELL-BEING THAN ANY OF THESE SO-CALLED SCHOLARS.WHAT USE ARE THESE THINKERS TO THE POOR GUY IN GHANA WHO SUFFERS FROM RIVER BLINDNESS? HIS ONLY REMEDY IS IN THE CLINIC THE CHURCH BUILT IN DUA YAW NKWANTA OR TWEAPEASE.WHO CARES ABOUT USELESS PHD HOLDER SUCH AS AHOOFE,FROM SUNY UNIVERSITY.BY THE WAY,MR KAWRTENG,WHAT CAN THE ORDINARY AFRICAN DO ABOUT WHO GET GETS RECOGNITION,AND WHO DOESN"T?AN AFRICAN AMERICAN GUY CAME TO WEST AFRICAN SOMETIME AGO TO HELP FIGHT GUINEA WORM DISEASES,SADLY,I HAVE FORGOTTEN HIS NAME.THESE ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES WE WANT TO READ ABOUT.NOT SOUR GRAPES.THANK YOU.
KOLA THE IDIOT 12 years ago

All this brofo does not put food on the table, we have a crisis on our hands. We have one of the worst weak presidents in Mahama, schools are collapsing, NHIS caput, our roads are death traps, labour unrest left, right and c ...
read full comment

All this brofo does not put food on the table, we have a crisis on our hands. We have one of the worst weak presidents in Mahama, schools are collapsing, NHIS caput, our roads are death traps, labour unrest left, right and centre and you are talking all this jazz philosophy, master our are suffering give us some practical solutions

Mawuli 12 years ago

Some contributors think they have to comment on every topic being discussed whether they understand the depth of its brilliance.
Not all topics should be about "bread and butter. May be if one should be knowledgeable and con ...
read full comment

Some contributors think they have to comment on every topic being discussed whether they understand the depth of its brilliance.
Not all topics should be about "bread and butter. May be if one should be knowledgeable and confident in enough in who he is or what he can be, that so called bread and butter solution can be found.
Please allow this topic to be discussed by people who know what is being discussed Thank you.
MR ODI ASEMPA 12 years ago

OK MAWULI,TELL MR KWARTENG, TO WRITE HIS THESIS IN ACADEMIC JOURNALS FOR YOU LOT TO APPRECIATE.AT LEAST PREZ BUSH BUILT A LITTLE STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IN GHANA.OBAMA,ON HIS PART WANTS US TO LEGALIZE SODOMY.WHAT GOOD IS IT FROM A ...
read full comment

OK MAWULI,TELL MR KWARTENG, TO WRITE HIS THESIS IN ACADEMIC JOURNALS FOR YOU LOT TO APPRECIATE.AT LEAST PREZ BUSH BUILT A LITTLE STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IN GHANA.OBAMA,ON HIS PART WANTS US TO LEGALIZE SODOMY.WHAT GOOD IS IT FROM A SO-CALLED AFRICAN AMERICAN TO US? BREAD AND BUTTER SUSTAINS US,NOT SOME GODDAMN AFRO-CENTRIC HOGWASH BEING CHURNED OUT IN GOD KNOWS WHAT UNIVERSITIES.THANK YOU.
Akadu Mensema 12 years ago

You think tractors alone produce food!

You think tractors alone produce food!
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Dear Akadu Masema,

Thanks.

I hardly respond to such coemments. Because they neither add nor subract from progressive thinking.

Personally, I don't care if Bush built a bridge for Ghana. Our leaders should be doing t ...
read full comment

Dear Akadu Masema,

Thanks.

I hardly respond to such coemments. Because they neither add nor subract from progressive thinking.

Personally, I don't care if Bush built a bridge for Ghana. Our leaders should be doing that. That's not Bush's responsibility.

MR. ODI ASEMPA, see part ll to see Dr. Molefi Kete Asante has done for Africa. He has done more positive things for Africa than the Bush.

Second, many of these whites come to Africa to do things which they would otherwise for MR. ODI ASEMPA and other black folks in America.

Statistcally, MR. ODI ASEMPA does not know that in America Bush will put him/her, a black person, in prison for the rest of his life (while a white person with the same crime goes free).

A white man builds you a bridge and you are happy. You don't ask your corrupt president why he had refused to do what was expected of him.

Let me tell MR. ODI ASEMPA one more thing, the American Tea Party, most white institutional organizations, are making the job of doing a lot for the American poor, the disenfranchised, "most" of whom are "people of coloe," extremely difficult. This includes Africa.

An influential white conservative talk show host, Lush Limbaugh, publicly went on record as saying he wants Obama to fail. I will not even discuss Obamacare here.

If MR. ODI ASEMPA is reading this, I want him to know that "gay" pressure from mostly white American constituencies (maybe Europe as well) is what drives Obama's and Desmond Tutu's public position on gay rights in Africa.

And to Africans like MR. ODO ASEMPA who think Bush has done more on AIDS than any African resident or Western leaders for that matter, see Edward Hooper's "The River," one of the most authoritative insights into the epideomology of HIV/AIDS. People who have read it don't praise Bush.

Some people thnk, as you, Akadu Mansema, rightly noted in your insightful remarks to MR. ODI ASEMPA, believe that their kind of shallow thinking is what Africa needs.

MR. ODI ASEMPA probably doesn't know the role humanities/liberal arts play in a people's development. Science and technology are not the only ones.

Anyway, Akadu Mansem, thanks. I would not have responded directly to MR. ODI ASEMPA's "questionable" thinking if I had not seen your comments.

For instance, he, MR. ODI ASEMPA, would have wondered why most American presidents (even Ghana'S and Europe'S, everywhere) have come from the class of liberal arts/himanities.

Ben Franklin, one of colonial America's respected scientists and well-liked public figures, a signatory to most of America's colonial documents, could not become president.

Walter Isaacson, one of the respected biographers of Franklin, for instance, describes the mans as "one of the most fascinating of America's founders."

Thanks.
MR ODI ASEMPA 12 years ago

FRANK, THE AVERAGE GHANAIAN DOESN"T REALLY CARE ABOUT WHO GETS WHAT IN THE ACADEMIC WORLD.WITH ALL YOUR BRAINS AND YOUR ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS,YOU STILL CAN"T ABSORB THE FACT THAT THE AVERAGE GHANA MAN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT WH ...
read full comment

FRANK, THE AVERAGE GHANAIAN DOESN"T REALLY CARE ABOUT WHO GETS WHAT IN THE ACADEMIC WORLD.WITH ALL YOUR BRAINS AND YOUR ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS,YOU STILL CAN"T ABSORB THE FACT THAT THE AVERAGE GHANA MAN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT"KWAME APPIAH" SAID ABOUT HIS DAD "JOE APPIAH".HE CARES ABOUT HOW TO FEED HIS FAMILY. JUST WRITE YOUR INTELLECTUAL STUFF SOMEWHERE,SO MAWULI,AND CO WILL APPRECIATE IT MORE.DO WE CARE ABOUT THE SEXUAL PREFERENCE OF KWAME APPIAH,NO? YET YOU WENT TO THE EXTENT OF TELLING THE WHOLE WORLD ABOUT "APPIAH"S PARTNER,WHY? THOSE OF US WHO ARE NOT INTELLECTUALLY INCLINED WANT TO READ ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO HELP US.THANKS EVER SO MUCH. YOUR STUCK-UP UNEDUCATED GHANAIAN GUY.
Left Critic 12 years ago

What is wrong with this assessment? It betrays a characteristic AMERICAN obsession with size and numbers.

What is wrong with this assessment? It betrays a characteristic AMERICAN obsession with size and numbers.
Media Mogul 12 years ago

Left critic - I will have to agree with you on this. This obsession with size and numbers is VERY American!!! Add to it a relentless self-promotion and the selling of oneself! That's capitalism for you oooo...

And our coun ...
read full comment

Left critic - I will have to agree with you on this. This obsession with size and numbers is VERY American!!! Add to it a relentless self-promotion and the selling of oneself! That's capitalism for you oooo...

And our countrymen who have moved to that country have also taken after them. It shows a lot from the contributions to ghanaweb...
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Media Mogul,

How are you doing?

I only want to point out a few things:

First, look at the intellectual and methodological depth of Asante's scholarship. Don't look at the numbers, for numbers mean nothing to him.
...
read full comment

Media Mogul,

How are you doing?

I only want to point out a few things:

First, look at the intellectual and methodological depth of Asante's scholarship. Don't look at the numbers, for numbers mean nothing to him.

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante founded the peer reviwew "Black Journal of Black Studies," which, is, itself unparraleled. There is none like it in the entire world. Have you guys seen his and Ama Mazama's edited volume "Ecyclopedia of African Religion"? This brings scholars from the world working in several areas on African religion, historical and contemporary.

Therefore, scholars from around the world working in the African world have, a place to publish their work. The Indian mathematician, Dr. Chandra Kant Raju, a friend, one of the world's respected on Albert Einstein (he has worked on Einstein's theories, discovering some of the gretest miskates Einstein made, correcting them and developing mathematical concepts to solve and even winning a prestigioes award for them, has done some some serious historical work on Black Africa, which every white journal in the world has refused to publish. Asante's Journal welcomed them because most of Raju's arguments had already been by the ancient Greeks. But I tell you that both Gates and Appiah will reject them because whites have rejected them.

Unlike, Gates, Appiah, and others, Asante does these things without seeking financial or logotsical support from white America. So that gives him the intellectual independence every well-meaning individual scholar desires to his/or work.

I will advise you do the same with the linguist and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky (author of over 100 books). Yet it takes unparalleled genius, like Asante's and Chomsky's, to produce what they have gifted to humanity.

Second, I am not a capitalist (I am not saying any of you said so or implied that), neither is Dr. Molefi Kete Asante.

In fact, Asante is very respected in the publishing industry (America's Text and Authors Association, for instance, has acknowledged his outstanding contributions to America's knowledge economy. See part ll).

Then again, Asante, unlike Gates, West, Appiah, and several others, does not pander to white publishing outfits which want black authors to write in certain ways. He's stubbornly independent. He believes in rigid intellection rather that "politically correct" servile intellection.

Let's deal with my concerns: In matters as sensitive as this, this article, I tried as much as possible to avoid using capitalist methodologies to explore the non-capitalist orientation of one of the world's most influential thinkers, Dr. Molefi Kete Asante.

A disclaimer: I accept that we live in a capitalist and, whether consciously or inconsciosuly, capitalist ideas influence us in many clever and devious ways.

If you want to see Dr. Molefi Kete Asante's position on this matter, his iideological/intellectual position on capitalism, etc., please see his essay in Herb Boyd's "By Any Means Necessary: Malcolm X, Real, Not Reinvention."

Boyd's book is an edited volume with significant contributions from more 30 leading figures in African and African American studies (as well as outside of it).

In fact, the book reacts to the late Manning Marable's (Columbia University) controversial distortions on Malcolm's legacy, which he captured in "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention," a Pulitzer-winning book.

Even without being an expert in the African and African American Studies field, I found so many shameful distortions and historical errors to make me wonder why such a book should be given Pulitzer in the first place. Ironically, many of Marable's sources came from organizations, individuals, and institutions (state, federal, religious) which hated Malcolm with passion!

Then I later partially understood why. Books which tend to "dismantle" the great legacies of Africans (diasporic and contiental) get more attention in the white community.

William Styron's Pulitzer-winning historical fiction, "The Confessions of Nat Turner," is a good example.

Let me say one more thing: Styron, whom many saw as a probably "racist," purposefully used the device of historical fiction to deconstruct the legacy of Nat Turner (See John Henrik Clarke's edited volume "William Styron's Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond"), Nat Turner being the man who single-handedly put fear in 19th century white America.

Over time I also came to understand why the greatset slave revolt in the entire history of colonial America is suppressed by white America (See Daniel Basmussen's "America's Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt"). Of course, Daniel is white. But he's rare.

This is the trick white America has adopted: Either these legacies are not taught in American schhols or white America looks for scholars (like Gates, West, Appiah, or Styron) to discredit them.

On the other hand, Asante looks at hard facts and presents them as such. He does not allow white folks to decide for him.

In fact, many black folks began attacking West for pandering to white intellectual oversight over black scholarship. Yet White scholars hardly respect or acknowledge black critiques of their work (See more on this in part ll).

Interestingly, now we see West gradually adentifying publicly with black intellectualization.

Also, we see him, West, appearing more with Asante publicly these days than before, before white folks began attacking him during his public fallout with Larry Summers.

In fact, Summers publicly treated him like a high school teacher, though West bore the prestigious title "Harvard Univeristy Professor," much like Summers himself and Gates.

This treatment is similar to what white folks (including President Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt) did to WEB Du Bois.

Eleanor Roosevelt worked behind the scenes to have Du Bois dismmissed from the NAACP (though Du Bois was a founding member the organization and Eleanor was one of the organization's patrons). His editorship at "The Crisis," his paper, did well to fight for Black America.

Let's continue: White America has done the same with the legacy of Marcus Garvey. For instance, instead of going to respected world-class authorities on Marcus Garvey, like the late Wellesley's Tony Martin, who published more on Garvey than any living scholar (and acknowledged by both blacks and whites as America's leading authority on Garvey), even today, or, University of West Indies' Rupert Lewis, white America went to West and Gates.

None of these, Gates and West, has any expertise on Garvey, his thouhts, and institutions, though West, for one, has been heavily influenced by Garveyian thought.

What the television program (a documentary)ended up doing was giving the American public glaring distortions (See Asante's "Marcus Garvey: Look For Me In The Wind").

Wole Soyinka, Ali Mazrui, and several others took umbrage at Henry Louis Gates' television series "Wonders of the African World," in the late 90s. I watched every single piece of the series and read the book,too, same title.

The distortions in both the books and in the documentary will kill you. Asante, Soyinka, Mazrui attacked the series. Yet white America heaped praises on Gates.

There is one big lie Gates told about Ghana that will shock you. But I shan't tell you. Get the book. I want you to experience the surprise. In fact, this particular lie angered most of the elderly Ghanaians I worked with in New York.

Then there is another shameful lie by Gates which most scholars don't like to hear. He claimed he discovered and authenticated Phillis Wheatley's book of poetry (See more on her in part ll).

Wheatley's poetry had been known and discussed by America's first president, George Washington, and among several of the Founding Fathers. Europeans like Voltaire knew about Wheatley and her poetry.

In fact, many libraries in America had copies of them and most, if not all, African American scholars knew of the existence of Wheatley's poetries. So why is Gates claiming he discovered them?

I read Marable's book, "Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention," when it came. I shared my critiques of it with Asante. Marable is loved by white America, you know.

Yet this is one of the institutions (the Pulitzer Committe) promoting the likes of Appiah, Gates, and West. All three, in addition to Georgetown Eric Michael Dyson, endorsed Marable's book.

Actually, Dyson himself incurred the anger of the black community with his "I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., an unauthorized biography of King, which I read in 2001.

Dyson's book also drew the ire of King's wife, Coretta Scoot King, and their children. Even Standford Univeristy's Clayborne Carson, the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Research and Education Institute, had his own reservations. The King's Estate has charged Clayborne with a great responsibility and he has all the King's papers.

I have personally met Herb Boyd, an American Book Award winner, and we have briefly explored some of these questions.

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is not self-promoting, like Gates, West, Appiah. In fact, Gates, West, and Appiah will tell you how humble Asante is.

Asante and I communicate most of the tim, yet this man refuses to respond to those of my emails which shower praise on (for his work).

He, Asante, only responds to those of my emails which does not praise. I have persitently asked him why. And his response has been that I should gie praises and thanks to our ancestors instaed.

Yet West and the others have been "attacked" for media "self-promotion." West has persistently been blames for seeking media attention.

Even Harvard ex-President Larry Summers once said West writes books he expects The New York Times, rather than scholarly peer review journals, to review. You can never associate Asante with these attention-seeking characterizations.

The question is his: Why does white America tends to promote gullible scholars like West, Appiah, Gates, and Dyson?

Another question: Why does white America cite West, Appiah, Gates, as the leading authorities on African and African American Studies, when Asante has done more in the field than all of them?

My good friend Nii Ashitey mentioned the encyclopedia (I bought a copy of the first edition and has since read it in its entirety). New editions have since appeared on the market.

But Asante has covered every single thing (in much more intellectual and methodological depth than the encyclopedia did) than the encyclopedia even before it came into existence.

The only plus is that the encyclopedia brings everything about the black world in one place. Yet, here, too, Gates and Appiah, particaularly in the first edition, played with politics rather than with scholarship.

Those influential scholars in the African and African American Studies field whose scholarship essentially disagreed with Gates' and Appiah's had their influential works and even their entire personal/intellectual biographies excluded from encyclopedic entries and discussions.

The reasons were simple: Gates and Appiah didn't want to "offend" the white patron behind the project (I have forgotten his name. You can google it).

Even they, Gates and Appiah, decided to adopt a name for the encyclopedia, a name, which, they believed, will not make it seem as if they were in ideological collision with "Encyclopedia Britannica" or "Encyclopedia Americana." One wonders what they were afraid of!

Others blamed Wole Soyinka (who presided over the consortium of reserhers, scholars, scientists, archivists, etc., working on the encyclopedia) for allowing Gates and Appiah to trade lies and historical distortions.

In fact, Asante's persistent critique of the encyclopedia forced both Gates and Appiah, both editors of the encyclopedia, to effect radical changes. This is why the encyclopedia has improved over the years (As an aside, both Gates and Appiah have refused to publicly engage in public debates on matters affecting Black Studies. I quite recall Appiah and Gates unaccountably disappeared from campus, Harvard, whenever students in Harvard's Back Studies invited Asante to deliver talks on the field.)

For more, see Asante's "Microsoft Encarta Africana Edited By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. And Anthony Appiah" and "Improvements To Microsoft Encarta Africana 2000 Edited By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. And Anthony Appiah."

Finally, Media Mogul, what Asante and I do have nothing to do with capitalism and numbers.

I have read nearly all of Asante's 74 books, read most of his five hundred articles, read Appiah, West, Gates (as well as follow their television documentaries, etc) and, therefore, know what I am taliking.I have even been physically and intellectually involved with Asante and Mazama in a couple of projects to address issues in the black world.

This is not say I may have all my analysis and facts right or even familar with the corpus of their thoughts. This is merely to show that I have relatively enough ideas about their thinking patterns to draw my conclusions.

But I know their politics. In fact, some white scholars have blamed West for being more interested in his for-profit organizations than real scholarship.

In the late 90s, New York,I happened to know Ghanaian scholars, both PhDS, who published a magazine which essentially dealt with many issues confonting the African world.

The anthropology of white racism, tribalism, political economy, African literature, etc., were a few of the topics the magazine dealt with. Very resourceful mouthpiece for the African world.

I became interested in the topics and called them up. We became friends. I was "surprised" when they admitted to me that Appiah was indeed very very stupid.

At the time I had my own reservations about Appiah and his work and therefore the remark did not come to me as a shock. Anyway, I have since lost contact with magazine's owners. I shall send you the name of the magazine if the name comes up.

Thanks for your contributions, anyway.
Adenyo 12 years ago

Your attempt to put down the works of other great intellectuals like Appiah and Gates and promote your idol, Molefi is just mind boggling. Can't you promote your idol without taking these other great intellectuals to cleaners ...
read full comment

Your attempt to put down the works of other great intellectuals like Appiah and Gates and promote your idol, Molefi is just mind boggling. Can't you promote your idol without taking these other great intellectuals to cleaners?

Others can also say negative things about Molefi, who keeps on churning out PhD degrees for any stupid African who will bow down to him at Temple.
Media Mogul 12 years ago

Thanks, Francis, for your exhaustive response. I must say that I am not familiar with Asante's work (the way you are) but I have heard enough of him to know that he is a real giant in the field. In fact, you didn't need to go ...
read full comment

Thanks, Francis, for your exhaustive response. I must say that I am not familiar with Asante's work (the way you are) but I have heard enough of him to know that he is a real giant in the field. In fact, you didn't need to go to so much extent to convince me of that. All the same, your answer brought up new info that I was not aware of and I am thankful for that.

My particular observation about America is without any prejudice to Asante's scholarship or your descriptions of such.

It seems you have to live in Europe to see that America, generally, is, indeed, "obsessed with size and numbers". This is really what pricked me. Forget about the capitalist thing. It really does seem that in America, everything has to be long and big and huge (including the size of the people). This is really the land of plenty... lol. On the trains in Europe in the summer full of tourists, the people you are most likely to hear talking at the top of their voices are ... Americans!

This on the funny side: when I observed that this "obsession" has rubbed off our countrymen who have moved there, I couldn't help noticing the length of your response... (lol)

To be sure, I like the info you're spreading around here, which is why I read every bit of it. I was going to ask you to post your review of Cosmopolitanism here but realised it would be "too much" for ghanaweb. I know you left your email address but some of us just love the anonymity of the virtual world and monikers (not to insult others, anyway). And I love your critical stance on, otherwise, very well respected and "famous" scholars, not for any subversive reasons but for the sole reason that it expands our knowledge and tells us the alternatives that we didn't know to think about. Take, for instance, the fact that Wole Soyinka, sometimes, makes some silly remarks and comments you will want him to leave politics alone and concentrate on the things that he does so well...

But, Francis, you have not answered my questions in my first post: how did Asante get to be called Asante and what is the status of African-American studies? (Ref my first comment for that).

Thanks

Nii Ashitey 12 years ago

I have to associate myself with your sentiment about the in depth analysis of Francis in response to a subject that he has absolute mastery on our comments.I have so much respect for Asante's academic and scholarly credential ...
read full comment

I have to associate myself with your sentiment about the in depth analysis of Francis in response to a subject that he has absolute mastery on our comments.I have so much respect for Asante's academic and scholarly credential and all that Francis is saying about the man is true perhaps the difference between him and Appiah is methodology which will make a lot of difference in their reviews. Having said that like Appiah, Asante has a root in Ghana. In 1995 he was made a traditional Chief, Nana Okru Asante Peasah, Kyidomhene of Tafo, Akyem Ghana, and therefore he is one of our own and we are proud of him.I look forward to the sequel you promise us on this subject.Have a good day.
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Dear my good friends,

I left out the name of the conservative African American economist who wants Black Studies abolished.

He's Dr. Thomas Sowell. Another accomplished and prolific intellectual. He's extremely contreov ...
read full comment

Dear my good friends,

I left out the name of the conservative African American economist who wants Black Studies abolished.

He's Dr. Thomas Sowell. Another accomplished and prolific intellectual. He's extremely contreoversial.

And as I said, he was a very good friend of Milton Friedman. I hope I have covered that part very well.

About the sequel, I sent both Parts l and ll to Ghanaweb at the same time, same day.

Modernghana, vibeghana, and spyghana published both the same day. In fact, both articles went to Ghanaweb and the other three websites the same time, same time.

We can wait for Ghanaweb and then go from there. Now I have only one slot left to post a comment.

Thanks.
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Dear my good friend Media Mogul,

Thanks for the reply. In fact, you were very generous in your criqique.

First, I will beg of you to read Asante's essay "The Creation of the Doctorate in African American Studies at Tem ...
read full comment

Dear my good friend Media Mogul,

Thanks for the reply. In fact, you were very generous in your criqique.

First, I will beg of you to read Asante's essay "The Creation of the Doctorate in African American Studies at Temple University: Knocking at the Door of Eurocentric Hegemony."

On why he became Asante, I address that in Part ll. I want you to read it, please. Don't get mad at me, my good friend.

I am not going to tell you because you are one of the few serious critics on Ghanaweb who gives me objective or construcive criticism of my writings.

I want to have the benefit of enjoying your fresh or untainted critiques (in their rawness).

On the status of African and African-Americans Studies in America, I shall also not say a lot here because I touch briefly on in Part ll.

However, let me say a word or two about the status of African-American Studies.

There has been some attempts in certain constituencies (particularly in the American South, Arizona (Southwestern), for instance) have banned minority studies (Mexican Studies) in some parts of the state.

Usually, it starts that way and moves slowly to engulf African/African American Studies. This is a long stretch, however.

Moreover, some white conservaties and liberals have called for the abolition of Black Studies.

Even the African American conservative economist, a very close of the late liberal economist Milton Friedman, a Nobel laurate, has also called for the abolition of Black Studies.

Plus, the present bad state of the American economy has forced the federal government and most states to cut down on the funding they give to educational institutions.

Usually, in hard times like these it's minorities, their interests, and programs like Black Studies which receive the bulk of the shock.

And the "dubious" scholarship of individuals like Appiah's make many whites think why must there must be excluivist programs like Black Studies in
post-racial" America. Appiah gives white the wrong impressions that "race" and "racism" doesn't matter anymore in America.

I believe you still remember my piece on Appiah where I addressed the question of eliminitavism.

Some have complained I like to talk too much about race. But you can't live in America without talking about race. Can we live in Ghana and Africa and not talk about "tribalism"? Race and racism affect many things in America.

Could you believe one white American scholar reffered to Cornel West in the Chronicles of Higher Education as "an empty-headed intellectual"?

I have been googling to see this piece which I read somewhere in New York between 20o6-2008. I was hoping to find it and send it to you once you respond to my comments. I couldn't find it.

Even at Temple University where Asante presently chairs the department, past and present students in Black Studies had to demonstrate to have Asante made the chair.

Because the department keeps bringing in white scholars who know practically nothing about the field or servile blacks who pander to white hegemony (from Temple University).

Yet Asante practically "built" the department. Departmental members ganged up against him and took the chirmanship from him. These students had to fight for his restatement.

In addition, Asante had been asked by Temple University to relocate every institution he had created on campus to help in advancing Black Stidies out of Temple University.

Yet Gates is given wide latitude to do as he wishes at Harvard. Of course, Harvard and Temple are different in many ways. Finally, Asante has contributed immensely to creating new Black Studies across America, helping them write syllabi, serving as external reader of doctoral dissertations, etc. You hardly find Gates, Appiah, or West doing any of these.

This is why I don't understand why white America talks about Gates, Appiah, and West, as if Asante doesn't exist. I have seen this in several publications.

Even Transition Magazine which Gates established at Harvard said in 2001 or so that "Asante is the most important prophessor in Black Studies." Transition Magazine used to be based in Uganda.

Ghana had its own version of Transion where Gates used to have some of his essays published when he was a student at Cambridge University.

All these black scholars like Appiah and Gates who seem to attack Asante owe a lot to Asante's (and others') aggresiviness in making Black Studies what is it today.

In fact, white America is using the likes of Appiah and Gates to counter or minimize Asante's intellectual power in the field.

Finally, there were Africans in the department, Temple University, who had been trying to create the Black Studies department at Temple, but were either purposefully frustrated or forcd to seek early retirement.

Asante's essay which I mentioned in the second paragraph was written in 2009. The same challenges are still here with us today as I write. Please google it and read it. And let me what you think.

On the other hand, feel free to send me emails with your questions (franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com). I shall not hold it against you if you insist on anonymity from me.

Thank you, my good friend.

Thanks.
Adenyo 12 years ago

Your attempt to put down the works of other great intellectuals like Appiah and Gates to promote your idol, Molefi is just mind boggling. Can't you promote your idol without taking other great intellectuals to cleaners? A typ ...
read full comment

Your attempt to put down the works of other great intellectuals like Appiah and Gates to promote your idol, Molefi is just mind boggling. Can't you promote your idol without taking other great intellectuals to cleaners? A typical African mentality; crabs in a bucket; always jealous and pulling down others who are at the top.

Others can also say negative things about Molefi, who keeps on churning out PhD degrees for any stupid African who knocks on his door and willing to bow down to him at Temple.

WHAT A SHAME.
kofi nsia 12 years ago

Adenyo, do not waste your time.He knows it all.

Adenyo, do not waste your time.He knows it all.
francis kwarteng 12 years ago

Hello,

I have told you all I need to tell you. Therefore, I shall not bother to read your latest comment, let alone answer it. You have already made me aware of your line of thinking.

There are others making useful sug ...
read full comment

Hello,

I have told you all I need to tell you. Therefore, I shall not bother to read your latest comment, let alone answer it. You have already made me aware of your line of thinking.

There are others making useful suggestions here and I have to deal with them. Besides, I have only 10 slots. And I am writing other articles.

Others who have read the same articles on other websites have written to ask me where they can get Asante's books to read or buy or how to personally meet him.

One reader described Asante as "this is a true son of Africa."

People like Asante have made more impact in our lives than you think. The only problem I have with our educational system is that we are not trained to do critical reading.

In Ghana, for intsnace, I had and read thousands of volumes before my relocation to America. I was surrrounded by relatives and friends who enjoyed reading.

Critical reading improves critical thinking in general and those lead to breakthroughs in technology.

In fact, I had one of the largest private collection (good books) od books in Dansoman, Sahara, among my friends and their families.

When you read well, mathematics, logic, science become relatively easier. Discoveries may then follow. Our educational system has to take this in cosideration.

In America, for instance, I had Asian and White mates. Their reading capabilities surprised me. Yet most of my African mates, mostly Ghanaians, were always complaining about the materials we had to read.

The reading habit of Asians and Whites is one reason they do so well on computerized exams like GRE/GMAT, etc.,than us. It may also explain why they are able to take multiple courses and graduate on time than us.

Our poor reading habits, consciously or unconschiously, affect our social, cultural, and political thinking. Our poor reading habits is part of the poor analytic judgment we sometimes make in our economic lives.

One of the reasons I wrote this piece, my friend, is to encourage people to read. For you to write 100 books, you need to have read a million books.

Yet I am equally surprised to see people wo don't appreciate the value of advanced degrees (like PhDs).

As part of America's immigration currently in the US Congress, any person with a PhD anything, I mea, in ANYTHING, must be given green card. America values the weight of PhD, even if that PhD can be used in cleaning toilets. A university or college will take good care of you.

Check the list of Nobel laureates in physics, medicine, chemistry, and even in economics and see how many have PhDs and how many don't.

See how many advanced degree holders Microsft, for instance, hires as opposed to non-advanced holders.

Check how many PhD economists the American federal government hires to advise and research for the federal bank. Do you know how many PhD holders advised Allan Greenspan duting his tenure?

Despite the fact that Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs, to name just two, graced the face of their successful companies, the real guys doing the real work are advanced degree holders (many of whom are PhDs). That is not to say PhD answers all the questions.

Among other things, people like Asante and Black Studies have fought hard to improve race and ethnic relations. Black Studies also contributed to the succcees of Obama's becoming a President. The problem is that we don't read (or even listen to "good" news) to know these things. All we know is making shameless sarcasism or casting aspersions (and tribalism) on people who are making positive contributions to human soociety.

Do you how many Africans Asante has trained and who are positively contributing to society?

The ignorance on Ghanaweb is very sad, unfortunate, and painful. I mean this.

Please let others answer you. I don't have the time.

Thanks.

36 Comments

Welcome,

SIGN IN

Welcome,

RESET PASSWORD

Hello,

Terms and conditions

REGISTER

How another scholar portrays us in the west

Read Comments .st0{display:none;fill:#14BDD3;} .st1{display:none;} .st2{display:inline;fill:#FC0F0F;} .st3{display:inline;fill:#FFFFFF;} .st4{display:inline;fill:none;stroke:#000000;stroke-width:6;stroke-miterlimit:10;} Comments (36)

Read Comments Comments (36)