Ancient Egyptian Studies Movement

Why Egypt?

The stress on the study of ancient Egypt in particular, and classical African Studies in general, then, grew out of several processes within the Black Studies or Africana Studies movement. Since the 1960s this movement has emphasized a return to the source, that is, to African culture, to extract and engage paradigms of excellence and possibilities and use them to enhance African understanding and assertion in the world. This focus on the study of ancient Egypt and related activities evolved as a movement as a result of several factors. First, it evolved from the intensification of the study of works focused on classical African Studies in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Part of being both educated and informed was to be conversant with works such as George James's Stolen Legacy (1976), John Jackson's Introduction to African Civilizations (1980), Yosef ben-Jochannon's Africa: Mother of “Western Civilization” (1971), Chancellor Williams's The Destruction of African Civilization (1974), and Cheikh Anta Diop's The African Origins of Civilization: Myth or Reality (1974). The study of such works was conducted in both the academy and the community and reflected an increased interest in ancient Egypt and in classical African civilization generally.

The Afrocentric Initiative

Also important to the development of the ancient Egyptian studies movement was the emergence of the Afrocentric initiative put forth by Molefi Kete Asante. Asante outlines his intellectual thrust first in Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change (1980), then in The Afrocentric Idea (1987), and finally in Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge (1990). In these and subsequent works, Asante argues that Africans must be understood and approached as the subjects of their own history, that African ideals must be placed at the center of any analysis that involves Africa, and that these ideals must be gleaned from African culture—starting with classical African culture, especially but not limited to ancient Egypt, or Kemet. This philosophical initiative, offered as a methodology and theoretical framework for critical research, evaluation, and exchange, created a national and international dialogue in the academy, community, and society. Moreover, Asante evolved as a major Diopian scholar and adherent, and thus contributed not only to the discourse on ancient Egypt but also to the embrace and critical understanding of Diop's work and its emphasis on Kemet as Africa's major paradigmatic civilization.

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