uction:
“There is no doubt, that Africans are experiencing a rebirth. As Africans, fortified by the experiences on the continent and in the Diaspora, we are undergoing a thorough going process of re-inventing ourselves, of reclaiming our glorious past, of using that which is good and best for our development. Let us also rediscover those long hidden links, which have always bound us together, and use them in the new context, which faces us both on the continent and the Diaspora.”
No earthly force can smother the indomitable African spirit quest for more knowledge about the African world, and the desire for freedom from mental slavery.
This paper is predicated on the belief that a people's history, culture, identity, language and spirituality are the social fabric or foundation that keeps people centered and in equilibrium. If that foundation is tampered with, or if it becomes fractured because of interference, an imbalance occurs. This imbalance causes instability to the whole structure, and it may produce a ripple effect not only to that structure but to other structures. Slavery and colonization have tampered with the social fabric that held African people in equilibrium and centered, and this tampering continues in the postcolonial era. During slavery and colonization a crude form of social engineering was ruthlessly used to suppress and destroy that social fabric, that is, the history, culture, language, identity and spirituality of Africans. These twin evils - slavery and colonization - over the centuries have created an indelible rupture, as well as a wide divide between continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. The divide is exacerbated because information, knowledge and understanding that African people should have regarding each other have become very limited, and this has resulted in a feeling disconnectedness between Africans around the world.
It is incumbent upon Africa 's people across the globe to work assiduously to repair the incalculable damage done to them during eras of slavery and colonization, and the legacy of its affects in this post colonial era. They must debate and discuss this critical issue and develop strategies to close this wide divide that exists between Continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. There is another factor that must be put into context in order to emphasize the urgency of this matter. It is important to know that in this era of globalization and rapid technological changes, African people face a plethora of challenges, but the major challenge is to implement a course of action to close the information divide that exist between African people globally. The information divide is definitely problematic, in that, it has the tendency to hinder understanding, cooperation, collaboration and empathy among African people on a global level. I am of the opinion that until this problem is resolved, Africa and African people will continue to be relegated to a status of inferiority, exploited and dominated by other racial groups and nations. The quotation below serves to set the focus and purpose of this paper.
"We are engaged in an historic struggle for the victory of the African Renaissance because we are inspired by, among others, the Haitian revolution. We are engaged in struggle for the regeneration of all Africans, in the Americas , the Caribbean, Africa and everywhere, because we want to ensure the struggle of our people here in Haiti , in the Caribbean, in the Americas , Europe and Africa must never be in vain. …In this way, we will contribute to the renaissance of Africans everywhere in the world and ensure we are no longer an object of ridicule and pity, nor a tool of exploitation to be discarded at the fancy of the powerful, but that we become what we really and truly are: proud and confident human beings who occupy their pride of place as equals among the peoples of the world." (President Thabo Mbeki,)
The primary purpose of this paper is expanding the debate and discussion around the necessity of reversing the incalculable damage done to African people over the last five hundred years under the mantle of slavery, colonization and neo-colonization. The paper's intention is to stimulate and develop an interest in this crucial issue for further dialogue, research and action on how African educators, scholars and leaders could work collectively to bridge the information divide between Continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. The paper discusses how this information divide negatively impacts all Africans globally. The paper continues to explore some of the strategies that can be used to strengthen the connection between these two entities. The paper continues to argue that the information divide between continental Africans and Diaspora Africans must be strengthened and bridged so that they would be ‘inoculated' against contaminated ideas that are both unhealthy and destructive. If we are able to successfully bridge that divide, then we increase the potential for Africa and African people globally to be empowered and strengthened.
In this discourse, the paper focuses on a number of factors to support the argument of the importance of bridging the information divide between continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. It shows that this chasm allows for the distortion of facts and images about African people in different geographic areas. The paper infers that these distortions and omissions have the tendency to foster discord, dissension and disunity among Africans in varied countries and/or regions. It continues to shows that various strategies can be used to bridge the information divide. For example, there is a need to learn more factual and relevant information about Africa and African people globally from an Afrocentric perspective. Both Continental Africans and Diaspora African must be provided with the resources, the encouragement and the options to learn more about the lives, experiences, history and culture of Africans people in different regions and countries. Educators, teachers, scholars and leaders must come together and dialogue in order to explore and implement solutions that would rectify the resultant problems that Africa and its people face.
The paper argues that the Eurocentric dogma, which usually portrays Africa and Africans people in a negative way, has caused indelible damage to perceptions and images of Africa and African people universally. Hence, those negative perceptions usually determine how African people are treated by other racial groups. Therefore, it is imperative that these negatives be debunked and destroyed with more scholarly research, writings and publications from an African perspective by African people. The paper proposes that African people globally must be provided with more factual information about each other at all levels of the learning continuum. The learning continuum should be at the formal and the informal levels/settings. The formal level will be the school through its programs and curriculum; the informal setting could be through the home, community, clubs, fraternities, and religious organizations. The printed and electronic media must be used as an effective vehicle for the transmission of information about African people at both the formal and informal levels. The paper concludes by proposing the development and implementation of curriculum as an effective instrument for the transmission of positive information about Africa and African people. This is one of the methods that can be used to strengthen the ties between African globally, and it will diminish the information divide between continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. The quotation below highlights some of the obstacles that African face in their struggle to establish their rightful place in an ever evolving and complex world.
“No matter where Africans are—on the continent or in the Diaspora—our condition is the same. We are on the bottom and descending…We Africans, however, have not viewed our problem holistically. After years of living under conditions of extreme oppression, we have settled for limited definitions of our problem …. First, we must see ourselves as an African people, or we will be unable to develop this critical framework…Second, we must understand not only the role that white supremacy has played in our subjugation, but also the role that we ourselves have played by not practicing self-determination in our struggle to counter the MAAFA…To reawaken the African mind we must ensure that the goal of our educational and socialization processes is to understand and live up to the principle of MAAT.”
There are a number of social factors that could be stumbling blocks to closing the divide between continental and Diaspora Africans, but those obstacles can only be over come by employing the right strategies. The stumbling blocks in this case are the distortions and omissions of important information that African people should know about each other. There is a general assumption that one of the issues that inhibits effective cooperation and collaboration between continental and Diaspora Africans is the ignominious disjunction that exists between them. If this assumption is true, then it should be obvious that there will be some hindrance to cooperation and collaboration between Africans. In this case then the information divide will work against the collective interest of African people globally. It tends to foster division, suspicion, animosity, jealousy and xenophobia, which predictably could stifle progress and development. Those social phenomenons will allow for the consolidation of artificial barriers to develop between these Continental African and Diaspora Africans, and hinder cooperation and collaboration that could be beneficial to the African people at a global level.
Another important factor in the African equation is the impact of globalization and rapid technological changes where nations are coming together into economic and political blocks. In my opinion, The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one example in this equation, because new formulas are being introduced to control and dominate economies and resources. These blocks are in a position to economically marginalize and exploit disenfranchised countries. Therefore, it is now imperative that African people globally become both knowledgeable and vigilant about existing situations that could negatively impact them on a global level. African people must ensure that they do not become entrapped again in being colonized, exploited and dominated by other racial groups and/ or nations. It is important for African people globally to develop strategies to bridge this information divide, which could strengthen and empower their communities and countries to effectively resist outside intrusion. Strength and empowerment are possible if African people develop a better understanding and broaden their knowledge of the historical connections that bind them.
It should be emphasized that the relationship between continental Africans and African in the Diaspora stretches back for over five hundred years. It has its roots in the unsavory European slave trade, which did incalculable and inconceivable damage to Africa and Africans people on a number of levels, including the suppression of cultures and languages. It is most important that African people strengthen and develop their understanding of the dynamics and the interconnectedness of that historical relationship that should bring them closer together. By understanding their historical connection, it could become the catalyst for developing and strengthening the relationship between Continental and Diaspora Africans.
There are historical facts that should be contextualized so that prevailing conditions in the African world is better understood. For example, if we analyze how Africa and African people have been and are portrayed in literature and in the established popular western media, we will notice that the portrayals are overwhelmingly negative. The media usually show Africa and African people as a problem, which is manifested in images of extreme poverty, social and political instability, corruption, violence and any other kinds of negative stereotypes that can be conceived. The media also show that Africa and African people have to depend on white/European peoples to come and rectify those perceived social maladies, as the cliché goes “the White Man's Burden.” A significant number of books written by Europeans about Africa and Africans usually infer that African development and civilization was initiated by Europeans. Therefore, it is comprehensible why Diaspora Africans who have been exposed to and indoctrinated with this erroneous doctrine do not understand the dynamics that are being played out in the subtle denigration of Africa and African people. We could surmise why a significant number of Diaspora African may tend to be ashamed of and denial of their African background/heritage. Similarly, Continental Africans who may not recognize that the same dynamics are use to disparage the image of Diaspora Africans, might in turn view Diaspora Africans in the negative. In essence, we are conditioned by the same doctrines to be resentful and suspicious of each other, and the divide continues to widen.
To understand the dynamics that are used to keep Africans divided, Africans should know that tens of millions of strong, able bodied men and women were kidnapped from their respective lands in Africa , and illegally transported thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean . They were transplanted in countries in the Americas and the Caribbean and forced to work under the most inconceivable inhuman conditions for the economic enrichment and development of Europe and Europeans in the Americas and the Caribbean . It must be emphasized that Africans were not only forced to endure these oppressive conditions for over three centuries for the economic benefit of Europe and Europeans, but they were further dehumanized by Europeans' ruthless attempts to suppress and eradicate their culture, language, identity and history. Recently Diaspora Africans have been referring to the slave trade as a holocaust , that is the wholesale slaughter destruction of a people - and comparisons have been made with the fate of Jews under the Nazi regime, as well as the original inhabitants of the Americas at the hands of the first European explorers. So dramatic has been the affect of slavery on African people, that there are now international organizations demanding compensation in the form of reparations from countries and organizations that were involved in that despicable endeavor.
Culture, language, identity, spirituality and history are interlinked as these are the social elements that nurture human stability and development. During eras of slavery and post slavery, these elements were ruthlessly suppressed, and /or destroyed, and replaced with meaningless Eurocentric doctrine. Diaspora Africans were indoctrinated with an erroneous Eurocentric dogma about Africa and African people, which places them on the periphery of human civilization and development. This dogma depicts Africa and African people as being irrelevant to the world's development and human civilization.
It is important for Africans across the globe to know the negative impact that this type of indoctrination could have on the psyche, and how it could affect their perception of themselves and other Africans in the scheme of things. Scholars have surmised that the horrors of slavery perpetrated against Africans under the mantle of slavery still adversely affects the Africans' psyche, and that this is more evident in Africans of the Diaspora in particular . These atrocities also impacted the stability and development of Africa . As inferred previously, the information about our past and present conditions must be contextualized. The legacy of slavery and colonial domination in Africa during this period has helped to, and continues to shape the universal misperception and global image of Africa and Africans today.
The legacy of the slave trade continues to manifests itself in pervasive forms of racism, disempowerment, marginalization, stigmatization, poverty, domination, exploitation and Africans disconnectedness from each other. This disconnectedness serves as a fertile incubator for the entrenchment of distrust, disrespect and xenophobia. This in turn allows other racial groups to create hostility, animosity, division, and consequently the inevitable domination and exploitation of African people on a global level.
The argument presented in the previous paragraphs of this paper shows that the information divide between continental African and Diaspora Africans is a hindrance to their cooperation and collaboration. Therefore, it is now imperative that African people must develop strategies and solutions to reverse this trend, repair the indelible damage caused by slavery and colonization, and reclaim their power and rightful place among all other nations and people:
“There is a need to look holistically at African history, good and bad. If African people are to be educated to face a new reality on the eve of the twenty first century, we must know about the good times as well as the bad times…We made the terrible mistake of thinking some foreigners could settle our internal "family" disputes. Instead of settling our family disputes, the foreigner turned us, one against the other, and conquered both. This is the great mistake we made in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries at the end of Africa 's third golden age. It is the greatest mistake we are making right now”.
If African people are to save themselves, they must first know themselves. They must first know where they have been and what they have been, where they are, and the significance of what they are .
The theme of this conference focuses on the need for African people to strengthen their knowledge about African people on a global level, and to build on the foundations that were laid by generations of African visionaries and leaders. There were African people who knew what needed to be done to develop and strengthen Africa , and to empower African people. So that they would be able to stand as equal with and against all other racial groups and nations. Those African leaders took the initiative and set out the framework towards the building of a strong and powerful Africa and to empower African people. The framework for empowerment took many forms such as Pan-Africanism, the cooperation and collaboration by and between African people from different countries and regions.
It should be emphasized again that African people on the continent and in the Diaspora have always resisted slavery, colonization and other forms of domination, and that they were always seeking solutions to remedy the situation. For more than one hundred and fifty years, there were initiatives to established closer ties between Continental African and Diaspora Africans. The goal was to establish a Pan African framework and strategy, with an African centered outlook and focus to accelerate decolonization and to empower African people on a global level. The names of the principal people who were involved in developing and implementing policies to accomplish these goals are far too many to list in this type of paper. However, what must be mentioned is that those people were both continental and Diaspora Africans, that they became the voice of the voiceless, and that they articulated the aspirations of the large majority of the oppressed, exploited, dominated and colonized African people.
We should never loose sight of the historical reality that Africans on the continent and Africans in the Diaspora were engaged in collaborative, protracted struggles against slavery, colonization, domination and racism. This should be put in context, because too often when we become despondent about existing situations, we tend to focus on the present and overlook the successful efforts of the past. There were many times in African people's history when Africans came together to dialogue, discuss and strategize on how to bring about changes to challenges and unfavorable conditions.
To give this argument context, I have decided to select the names of a few African people who have made significant contributions through their work and activities over the last hundred and fifty years to close the divide between continental and Diaspora African. Included among these names are many visionaries, leaders and heroes, who unselfishly gave to this noble cause: Edward Wilmot Blyden 1832-1916, author, educator, journalist, Father of Pan Africanism; Martin Delany, 1812 -1885, author, doctor, explorer, thinker; W.E.B. DuBois, 1868 – 1965, educator, scholar, journalist, activist; Henry Sylvester Williams, 1869 – 1911, lawyer, writer, activist; George Padmore 1902 – 1959, doctor, political theorist, activist; Marcus Garvey 1887 – 1940, publisher, entrepreneur, black nationalist; Carter G. Woodson,1875 – 1950, author, historian, journalist; C.L.R. James, 1901 – 1989, writer, socialist theorist, journalist; Kwame Nkrumah, 1909 – 1972, President of Ghana, scholar, Pan-Africanist; Walter Rodney, 1942 – 1980, scholar, historian, writer. Frantz Fanon , 1925 – 1961, philosopher, author, and psychiatrist. Many more names could be added, but circumstances do no permit it. However, I believe that all of the above mentioned names, are people who have made invaluable contribution towards promoting, strengthening and developing better understanding and ties between continental and Diaspora Africans. There is much that can be learned from the contributions that these heroes have made in their lifetimes. A sampling of a few will give insight into the actions that set the framework upon which others have built structures that continue to empower Africans globally.
Edward Wilmot Blyden : a West Indian immigrated to and lived in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the mid 1800s. He initiated numerous enterprising projects and programs to help develop and empower Africa and Africans. His writings and lectures greatly influenced the early ideas and actions of Pan-Africanists. As early as 1872, he proposed the establishment of an independent West African University to be run solely by Africans, teaching African languages, culture, and values. He was considered to be one of foremost intellectuals and thinkers of the nineteenth century. He wrote many reputable books on Africa , and recognized the importance of cooperation and collaboration between Continental African and Diaspora African to breaking down barriers, strengthening ties, and empowering Africans. As a result of his vision and insight, h e called on ‘American Negroes' to come to Liberia and help develop the country, the same way they had help develop America. It is said that few men of his era were able to "learn to unlearn" the complex of European constructions and misconstructions of the meaning of Africa .
Marcus M. Garvey : a Jamaican born was a leader and visionary who emphasized the importance of developing and enhancing racial pride among African people globally. In the early half of the 1900s, he established and developed two organizations that had great appeal to Diaspora Africans in the Americas , Caribbean regions and some African countries. His primary goal was to establish the mechanism to work towards the total and complete redemption and liberation of African people around the world. He set out to accomplish this goal by establishing the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and the African Communities League ( ACL ) in different countries and regions. The clarion call that he used to attract and motivated his followers was “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.” The call pledged itself to the redemption of Africa and the uplift of Black people everywhere. Garvey's philosophy was race pride, self-reliance and economic independence. He believed that the restoration of those basic fundamental human elements was taken away from both continental and Diaspora Africans, and they should be reclaimed. He established and published ‘The Negro World Newspaper' in English, Spanish and French languages, and distributed them throughout in the African world. This paper emphasized unity, cooperation, self-reliance race consciousness, business accruement and pride. Scholars have surmised that his philosophy influenced many leaders in Africa involved in the movement for independence from colonial domination.
Carter G. Woodson could be considered as among the original thinkers, who argued for the teaching of African history to African American so that they would learn about their African heritage, culture and history. He argued the reason for this approach quite convincingly in his 1933 book the Miseducation of the Negro . In this book, he argued that African Americans were not educated about their own culture, tradition and history, but more so about European's. This type of education tends to create confusion in their thinking. Woodson argues that education must address the historical and cultural experiences of Africans in Africa and in America . It could be surmised that Woodson's philosophy may have influence the current proponents of Afrocentricity in the curriculum. The proponents of Afrocentricity, like Woodson, argue that the traditional curriculum which reflects and emphasizes white/European history, culture and values, and disregards African history, culture and values, has the tendency to alienate African American learners. Some scholars imply that the type of education creates a double consciousness in the individual, that is that the individual is Black/African and wants to be white.
W.E.B. DuBois is among a long line of Africans who have made significant contributions towards closing the information divide between continental and Diaspora African. His contribution in the literary arena is outstanding, as is his diversification as a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, sociologist, historian, and journalist. He wrote 21 books, edited 15 other books, and published over 100 essays and articles. His diverse activities indicate that he was concerned about improving the conditions of African people in the Diaspora and on the continent. His contributions include: founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the USA in 1909. In 1900 he attended the First Pan-African Conference held in London , and was elected a vice president. In 1911 DuBois attended the First Universal Races Congress in London along with black intellectuals from Africa and the West Indies . In 1919, 1921, 1923, and 1927, he organized a series of pan-African congresses around the world, with delegations comprised intellectuals from Africa, the West Indies, and the United States . His final pan-African overture is when he became a citizen of Ghana in 1961 at the request of President Kwame Nkrumah, and began to work as director of the Encyclopedia Africana. He envisioned that the publication of the Encyclopedia Africana would symbolically unite the fragmented world of the African Diaspora that was created by the slave trade.
“It is critical for African scholars on the continent to become more engaged in Diaspora studies, to help in mapping out the histories and geographies of African global migrations, dispersals, and Diasporas which are so crucial to deepening our understanding of both African history and world history for intellectual and ideological reasons, developmental and cultural considerations. African migrations to the North, especially Western Europe and North America , are increasing”
This paper argues that slavery and colonization have done immeasurable damage to the development of Africa and disempowerment of African people on a global level. This argument is supported by two distinguished scholars: Dr. Walter Rodney in his book How Europe Under Developed Africa, and Dr. Eric Williams in his book Capitalism and Slavery . In these two books the authors analyze and explain the detrimental impact that slavery and colonization has had on Africa and African people globally, and the legacy that still lingers today . Scholars have also surmised that Africans in the Diaspora still suffer from the trauma of slavery and racism. Joy Degruy Leary put forward a convincing argument in her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome , in which she postulates that the institutional horrors of slavery has lasting effect on Diaspora Africans:
“The institution of slavery traumatized the slaves, and that, as with other traumatized groups, such as victims of the Holocaust, the effects of trauma have been passed from one generation to another.”
The early part of this paper went into some details as to how slavery and colonization negatively impacted Africans on a global level, and how the process has shaped their thinking and image of who they are. It infers that that because of the negative experiences imposed upon African people by the twin evils of slavery and colonization, they may have loss some of their equilibrium, and this could cause some imbalance. Therefore, to counter that imbalance and re-center themselves, Africans must come up with strategies to rectify the situation. The paper implies that developing and strengthening our knowledge about African people from an African centered or Africentric perspective could be the primary solution. Formal and informal education could the vehicle to be used to expand the information base about and to African people on a global level.
“In a lot of African societies, culture and education have always occupied a very central place in the formation of the individual, his or her socialization and the overall progress of the collective group”
The inclusion of the quote above is an indication that the term curriculum should be put in context in general and in particular as it applies African learners. The literature on this topic indicates that the general purpose of curriculum is to develop successful, confident learners, who will become responsible citizen, and make significant contributions to society. The development of these stated capacities and capabilities depend to a large extent upon a number of factors, including the curriculum content, the learning environment, the professionalism of the teacher and the pedagogy. These lofty ideals usually do not apply when dealing Black/African learners in a Eurocentric dominant paradigm. Therefore, if the goal in this case is to develop and implement a curriculum that broadens the information and knowledge base about Africa , and of Africans, then there must be a decisive paradigm shift away from the Eurocentric domain.
This part of the paper proposes to expand the debate and discussion around the necessity of reversing the Eurocentric pedagogic model and focusing on a paradigm shift of African centered/Africentric pedagogic approach. The Eurocentric model has ignored and/or marginalized Africa and African people to periphery of the curriculum. The paper proposes that African educators, teachers and scholars should collectively collaborate on the development and implementation of curriculum that provides Africans learners at all levels of the educational continuum with stimulating learning experiences. African scholars in the Diaspora have argued that the Eurocentric pedagogic model creates pathology of problems for African learners, which is manifest disengagement from school and learning and a high failure rate. The term stimulating learning experiences is predicated on the fact that in many situations, especially in the Diaspora, most African learners, especially young learners in the public school systems are exposed to and indoctrinated with a Eurocentric perspective through the curriculum. The quotation below indicates the negative impact that a Eurocentric curriculum could have on African learners.
“In my 17 journeys to Africa during the past 20 years, I have visited schools and colleges in all parts of the continent and been impressed with the eagerness of the children to learn. Back home in Philadelphia , I wanted to explore why children in Africa seemed more motivated than African-American children here. Why did Africans on the continent learn four and five languages, when in some schools African American children were often not encouraged to take even one foreign language? To say the least, I have been disturbed by the lack of direction and confidence that plagues many African-American children. I believe it is because they are not culturally centered and empowered in their classrooms.”
In predominantly white countries were there is an entrenched Eurocentric doctrine in the curriculum there is evidence that young Black/African learners in those public school systems have dismal failure rates. Not only are they failing academically, but their self-esteem, self-confidence and identity are eroded, and they do not feel any connection to their African roots. Learning about the history and culture of African/Black people from an Africentric perspective may be one of the viable alternatives to repairing the damage done by Eurocentric influence, dogma and miseducation. If Africans people in general and young learners in particular are exposed to a positive learning experience about Africa and African people from an Africentric perspective, then this could be one of the ways helping to close the information divide.
A cursory review of the literature on this topic shows many examples indicating that over the last hundred and fifty years there were discussions and initiatives to introduce African studies in the curriculum at the higher education levels in colleges and universities in America , but that same emphasis was not shown for education at elementary and secondary/high school levels. I believe that the earlier the learners are introduced to knowing about and appreciating their African history the easier it would be for them to become oriented to and feel connected to African people globally. However, in recent times emphasis is also being placed for a paradigm shift at the elementary and secondary public school levels in the Americas . Diaspora Africans in Canada , England and the USA are now demanding a paradigm shift in the development and implementation of curriculum in the public education systems. In Canada , Africans developed have developed and used some successful strategies in lobbying school systems to make the curriculum more inclusive and reflective of schools' demographic. African Canadians are aware that the Canadian school systems will only change the status quo in relation to the education of African Canadian students by applying good strategies and community lobby/pressure groups. The rigidity of Canadian school systems is reflective in the quote below.
“Developing an “inclusive curriculum” that highlights Afrocentric knowledge will be a difficult task in Canadian schools. Nevertheless, the educational stories and experiences of Black/African-Canadian high school students demonstrate the need for a very different approach to both curricular offerings and pedagogic practices”
The underlying principle of this curriculum is to recognize the intrinsic value that African-Black learners globally would derive from learning more positive things about Africa and African people, their history and culture from an Afro-centric perspective. For the purpose of clarification, the terms Afrocentric, Afrocentrism, Afrocentricity and African centered may be used synonymously or interchangeably in this paper, because in the literature these terms mean an African centered approach to pedagogy as opposed to the traditional European centered approach to pedagogy. Internationally renowned scholar, Professor, Molefi K. Asante argues in his writings that Afrocentricity means treating African people as subjects instead of objects , which means putting Africans in the middle of their own historical context as active human agents instead of being on the periphery in any discourse. Therefore, I am proposing that an African centered philosophy or perspective should be central in the development and implementation of this type of curriculum at all education levels for African/Black students.
The curriculum must be structured with content material that would expose all African people irrespective to their geographic location, to the intellectual, scientific, artistic and cultural contributions that have been made to the world by African people through the ages up to the present time. Emphasis should be placed on the many innovations and inventions contributed to the world by Africans/Blacks people in diverse areas of agriculture, industry, medicine, arts, music, mathematics and science. It is necessary to highlight these facts to African learners globally, because they are seldom mentioned in the Eurocentric schools' curriculum. In addition to highlighting those lofty and marvelous endeavors, the curriculum should also be infused with materials and information that highlight the social, economic and political obstacles that these people had to circumvent to triumph against the odds. The curriculum must be infused with content material that stimulates, motivates and reinforces the growth of African learners at all age levels.
The development of this curriculum framework is intended to meet the diverse needs and criteria of a diverse population group in different countries, and regions, who have different backgrounds and interests. Therefore, many factors must be taken into consideration to balance out this complex equation, but the critical factor is flexibility. Flexibility should be built into this type of curriculum that would allow for innovative approaches to the different methods of teaching, learning, assessing and evaluating the processes. Foremost, would be how to approach the content, standards, delivery methods, implementation and evaluation? These are some of the critical issues that would have to be dealt with in planning this endeavor. To overcome this dilemma I would suggest that a curriculum model be develop that can be easily modified in accordance with the needs and conditions of different communities, localities and/or countries.
In developing this curriculum framework, which is intended to meet the needs and criteria of such diverse population group on a global level a variety of factor must be taken into consideration. Flexibility should be built into this type of curriculum that would allow for innovative approaches and methods to the teaching, learning, assessing and evaluation processes. Foremost, is some kind of consensus on the content, standards, delivery methods, implementation and evaluation? To overcome this dilemma I would suggest that a curriculum model be developed that can be easily modified to meet situations in accordance with the needs and conditions of different communities, localities and/or countries.
This Curriculum Framework could be used by formal educational institutions such as schools and colleges, or by informal institutions such as, community centers, clubs, fraternities, social organizations, religious organization and study groups, to develop and implement their teaching and learning programs according to the needs and characteristics of the students/learners. The formal education model the framework should establish specific expected learning outcomes and take into account the educational levels of the students or learners. The framework should establish and set out the areas of study to be covered, and the expected knowledge and level of understanding of the content material that the students should acquire, and the criteria for accreditation. As stated above on the informal education aspect of this type of curriculum, more flexibility will be built into all aspects of the teaching learning processes, but it could be structured to allow for future evaluation and accreditation. The primary goal of the development and implementation of curriculum by and for African is to get Africans more engaged into learning more about all African people irrespective of geographical locations. Both continental Africans and Diaspora Africans should be exposed to curriculum that teaches them about the history and the culture of African peoples globally, one that enlightens and empowers through information and knowledge of their diversities, commonalities and roots.
Canada 's First Black Focus School :
I believe that including the developments that brought about this action is important to this paper. It may provide Africans in other jurisdictions who are encountering similar problems of negotiating the complex political pathways could learn about and from the strategies used by Africans here in Toronto . It could also bridge the information divide which too often is an impediment to cooperation and collaboration. January 30, 2008 was history in the making for African Canadians and also for Canada 's largest school system, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). The TDSB has a student population of approximately 278,000, and it also has the largest concentration of Black/African Canadian in the country. It finally came to a sensible decision on the prolong issue of supporting a Black Focus-Africentric School . This date is important to the African Canadian leadership in Toronto , because on that day the trustees of the Board voted to accept the proposal and implement the recommendations from the African Canadian leadership, to establish alternative school/schools that would be Africentric in focus. It is assumed that this type of school would repair some of damage caused by the existing Eurocentric curriculum and pedagogy, and that it would reengaged the disengaged African Canadian students who are dismally failing to succeed and/or achieve in the in the public school system. For over thirty five years the African Canadian leadership in Toronto has been involved in a protracted struggle with TDSB around the issue, education of African Canadian students. During that period the African Canadian leadership was engaged in developing and implementing different strategies to force the power brokers in the TDSB and other levels of government to make that paradigm shift from that a rigid Eurocentric approach to education, toward a more inclusive curriculum and a pedagogy that would meet the learning needs of African Canadian students.
It should be noted that a number of studies commissioned by the government in the early nineties (1990s) recommended that special black focus schools may be a start to solving the problem of African Canadian students failure in the system. For more than thirty five years African Canadian scholars, educators, teachers and community leaders have used different forums to resonate their concerns about the indelible damage done to African Canadian students in the public school system by the entrenched Eurocentric curriculum. They develop different strategies and used a multi prong approach to try to repair the damage and rectify the situation. One of the most important factors to the equation was to ensure that African Canadian students would be empowered by learning about there African roots, that is, their history and culture. Therefore, it was necessary that after school Black-African Heritage programs were developed and taught by African teachers and educators after the formal school time. African scholars did research on the social inhibitors that were adversely affecting African Canadian students' success. They published their findings to educate and inform the broader community and society about this malignant problem, and its effect on the African communities in particular and Canadian society in general.
This paper does no have the scope to go into detail of the many organization and names of people that were involved in the process, but if we reflect on an earlier entry in this paper of how the early Pan Africanists establish the groundwork for the later Pan-African movement, then it would be remiss if some mention was not made to contextualized the argument. Therefore, to give some context to the development would mention a selected few. The Black Education Project and the Black heritage organization were the trail blazer community organizations in the 1960 that identified the problem and set in motion mechanisms to effectively address them. Their original approach was to get young African Canadian students interested in, and teach them about their African roots/heritage. This approach was to make them proud of Africa their African roots and not to be ashamed of it. Out of those organizations morph the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators (1980) in Toronto , and this broadened the scope of dealing with the problem of education and African Canadian learners.
To conclude this part of the paper, it is important to mention the names of two other individuals who contributed to the process, and may have influenced the power brokers' decision. In 2004 Donna Harrow and Angela Wilson, of Jamaican background brought another approach to dealing with the Board bureaucracy. They mobilize the community grassroots, navigate the around the inner working of political process, and dealt effectively with the senior administers of the system. They effectively covered all the bases to ensure that the votes would be favorable to redress the inequity in the education of African Canadian students.
We believe that students in this type of learning environment will be educated to be proud of their African heritage, history, and culture, and that the cycle of being embarrassed to be associated with Africa and/or African will be forever broken and that the information divide will also be broken.
The central premise of the arguments in this paper is based on the fact that there is a ‘divide' between continental Africans and Diaspora Africans, that this divide is disconcerting and problematic, and that it must be address and solved by African people. If it is not addressed and solved, then it will continue to linger and hinder cooperation and collaboration, which could retard progress and development in Africa and the empowerment of African people globally. The paper argues that the information deficit between Africans globally is the major contributing factor to the ‘divide'. It discusses the historical ramifications of slavery, colonization and domination, and the social ramification of racism and Eurocentric indoctrination, which have continues to negatively impact the lives of African people. The paper proposes a number of strategies to rectify the situation including; learning from the strategies used by previous generations of African people in their struggles; expanding our knowledge, and understanding about African people, and broadening our information base of African people globally. It proposes that African educators and scholars should develop and implement curriculum that could be used in the formal and informal education process to enlighten and educate all people especially African people with Knowledge, understanding and information about Africa and African people. Finally, the curriculum should be African centered.
I believe that it is appropriate to conclude the lyrics to this popular song by the Jamaican Artist Bob Marley which captures the theme of this conference and the thesis of this paper.
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some just say its just part of it:
We have got to fulfill the book.”
• African Diaspora in the 21 st Century, An address by Thobo Mbeki, University of the West Indies, Jamaica , 30 June 2003
• Divide and Rule-Part 2, African Identity “black Identity and the British Media Ola Ayonriende. 21 May, 2006 .
• Asa G. Hilliard lll, Reawakening of the African mind, Revised edition, September 1998
• Rudyard Kipling: The Whiteman's Burden, 1899.
• John G. Jackson: Introduction to African Civilization.
• Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery.
• W.E.B. DuBois: The World and Africa .
• Joy DeGruy Leary: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (Uptone Press, 2005).
• John Hendrick Clarke: Educating for a new Reality in the African world .The
African Holocust – The African Slave Trade.
• John Henrick Clarke:
• From Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown , Aug 3, 2006 , 18:48 .
• Edward Blyden: Liberia , Pass present and Future 1862; Africa and Africans,
1903.
• Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.
• Tony Martin, Marcus Garvey, Hero, A First Biography
• Carter G. Woodson: The Miseducation of the Negro.
• W.E.B. DuBois, The Soul of Black Folks; and Franz Fanon, Black Skin
white Mask.
• Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates : Africana . The Encyclopedia of African and African American Experiences. Page ix
• Paul Tiyambe Zeleza: African Labor and Intellectual Migrations to the North: Building New Transatlantic Bridges.
• Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdevelop Africa . Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery.
• Joy DeGruy Leary Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (Uptone Press, 2005),
• Micere Githae Mugo: African Culture in Education for Sustainable Development.
• Molife Kente Asante : Afrocentric Curriculum.
• Dr. George Dei, Anti Racist Research Methodologies: Edited by George I. Dei 2005 .
• Dr. George Dei, Critical Pedagogy; and Petronilha Beatriz Goncalve e Silva. Nation Council of Education, Teaching of Afro-Brazilian and African History and Culture.
• Dr. George Dei: Anti Racist Research Methodologies: Edited by George I. Dei 2005
• The Royal Commission on Learning, Ontario , 1994
• George Dei. Critical Pedagogy
Author Title
• Beckles Hilary Black Rebellion in Barbados (1627-1938)
• Brown, Godfrey Conflict and Harmony in Education in Africa
• Cruse, Harold The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual
• Curtin, D. Phillip African History
• deGraft-Johnson, J.C. African Glory
• Diop, Cheikh Anta Civilization or Barbarism
• Du Bois, W. E. B. The Emerging Thought
• Fage & Oliver Papers in African Prehistory
• Goncalves, Petronilha National Curricular Guidelines, Brazil
• Globe Fearon Educational Focus on Africa
• Hiskett, Mervyn Tropical Africa
• Jackson, John G. Introduction to African Civilizations
• Makgoba, M. William African Renaissance
• Rodney, Walter How Europe underdeveloped Africa
• Rogers, J.A. World's Great Men of Color
• Williams, Eric Capitalism and Slavery
• Williams, Eric From Columbus to Castro
African Diaspora in the 21st Century, An Address by Thabo Mbeki, University of West Indies Kingston
Jamaica , 30 June 2003
Divide and Rule-Part 2, (Politics Show) African Identity “black Identity and the British Media,
Lola Ayonriende, 21 May, 2006
Asa G. Hillard 111,
Rudyard Kipling: The Whiteman's Burden, 1899
John G. Jackson: Introduction to African Civilization
Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery.
W.E.B. DuBois: The World and Africa .
Joy DeGruy Leary: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome ,( 2005),
John Hendrick Clarke: Educating for a new Reality in the African world . The African Holocust – The African Slave
Trade.
John Henrick Clarke:
From Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown , Aug 3, 2006 , 18:48 .
Edward Blyden: Liberia , Pass present and Future 1862; Africa and Africans, 1903.
Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.
Tony Martin: Marcus Garvey , Hero. A first biography
Carter G. Woodson: The Mis-Education of the Negro.
W.E.B. DuBois, The Soul of Black Folks; and Franz Fanon, Black Skin white Mask
Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates : Africana . The Encyclopedia of African and African
American Experiences. Page ix
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza: African Labor and Intellectual Migrations to the North: Building New Transatlantic
Bridges"
Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery.
Joy DeGruy Leary Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (Uptone Press, 2005),
Micere Githae Mugo: African Culture in Education for Sustainable Development.
Molife Kente Asante : Afrocentric Curriculum
Dr. George Dei. Anti-Racist Research Methodology
Dr. George Dei, Critical Pedagogy; and Petronilha Beatriz Goncalve e Silva., Nation Council of Education,
Teaching of Afro-Brazilian and African History and Culture.
Dr. George Dei: Anti- Racist Research Methodology
The Royal Commission on Learning, Ontario , 1994
Dr. George Dei: Critical Pedagogy; and Brathwaite & James Educating African Canadians
