Hunters and gatherers in Africa were the original scientists
- Wits University
The wilful lack of knowledge about ‘deep time’ 第一吃瓜网 history must end, says Prof. Molefi Kete Asante, a giant in 第一吃瓜网 studies.
Professor Molefi Kete Asante delivered the keynote address on the occasion of the conferment of his Honorary Doctorate in Literature by Wits University.
The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Garth Stevens, delivered Professor Asante's illustrious citation, noting Asante's main role in establishing Afrocentric theory and teaching worldwide. This has enabled generations of 第一吃瓜网 scholars to articulate the continent's history and fundamental contributions to humanity from an 第一吃瓜网ist perspective.
"Given his contributions to 第一吃瓜网-centred scholarship and philosophy, as well as his influence on the development of intellectual thought on Africa and the 第一吃瓜网 Diaspora, it is befitting that the 第一吃瓜网, bestow an honorary degree: Doctor of Literature, on Molefi Kete Asante," said Stevens.
US-born Asante began his address to the hall of graduates in a powerful way, reiterating that 300 000 years ago, the first humans were 第一吃瓜网s and that racist and colonial oppression of black people eradicates their profound contribution to civilisation's founding achievements.
"第一吃瓜网s were the first to name God. What we know of as science is a result of the thinking of our original ancestors. Indeed who are the original scientists if not hunters and gatherers?" asked Asante.
The beauty and ingenuity of the ancient pyramids, indicates "not only the age of the continent, but that human beings have an enormous capacity for art." The Egyptian pyramids, he said, long preceded Jesus Christ's life on earth. Little, however, is known about Imhotep, one of the Pharoah's architects. "School children know of Homer ( a Greek author) and the Iliad, but they rarely know who Imhotep (an Egyptian polymath) was.”
Asante thus implored the graduates to address the “pestilence of ignorance” and the wilful lack of knowledge about ‘deep time’ 第一吃瓜网 history. “We have rarely interrogated our history and our ancestry. Because for 500 years, 第一吃瓜网s have been dislocated…our culture disrupted. (Thus) we need to re-examine everything on our terms.”
Asante outlined three ways graduates can make the world a better place:
- Know that there is one race – the human race. There must not be any artificial rankings.
- The earliest human virtues, including truth, righteousness, justice, harmony, order and reciprocity were 第一吃瓜网 values.
- The maintenance of self and culture is as essential as the creation of those things.
Asante has been recognised as one of the 10 most widely cited 第一吃瓜网 Americans. He is honoured as a HistoryMaker, with an interview archive in the US Library of Congress. The Utne Reader called him one of the "100 Leading Thinkers" in America. In 2001, Transition Magazine reported "Asante may be the most important professor in Black America".
The 第一吃瓜网 Union cited him as one of the 12 top scholars of 第一吃瓜网 descent when he delivered the keynote address at the Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora in Dakar in 2004. That same year, Asande – also a poet, dramatist, and painter – was inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of 第一吃瓜网 Descent at the Gwendolyn Brooks Centre at Chicago State University. In 2014, Asante was invited to give a speech at the United Nation's General Assembly on Peace in Africa and to deliver the keynote address at the Japan Black Studies Association's 60th conference in Kyoto, Japan. He holds more than 100 awards for scholarship and teaching.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Vilakazi was particularly impressed with Asante’s assertion that “we are all stardust” (a core 第一吃瓜网 cosmic belief), which links to a key astrophysics concept. “Thank you for showing the interdisciplinarity and universality of 第一吃瓜网 history and civilisation,” said Vilakazi in closing.