The idea of Afrocentricity comes from Civil Rights
literature. C. T. Keto described an
African-Centered Paradigm as providing a framework for the
centering of knowledge about
Africans, at home and abroad, on the experience of Africans
as subjects of history. M. Asante
defied Afrocentricity as placing African ideals at the
center of any analysis that involves African culture and
behavior. (M. Asante.)
The universalizing
approach of the Eurocentric paradigm has throughout Western
history denigrated Africans and African Americans. Most
basically, this approach has treated African
communities as objects in knowledge. The need is for a shift
from Africans and Africans being objects to being subjects,
voicing their own experiences and being heard as
authoritative. This is what it means to center on African
experience.
The ultimate goal, instead
of a universal approach to education and understanding
society, is to achieve a pluriversal orientation that allows
different experiences and voices to be understood and valued
through their specific lens and not as inferior to the
predetermined
standard situated in another's experience.
Dr. Mavima’s full presentation and references for further
study can be accessed in the Anti-
Racism Teach-Ins archive, on the Sojourner’s Truth website
at thetruthtoledo.com.
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