Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge

African Interiors

The concept of interior is linked to that of place, which refers to a person's location in time and space, no matter where that person is. The idea of place, as Asante sees it, is fundamental to any intellectual [Page 296]pursuit, as a person always begins speaking from some psychological, cultural, economic, social, or moral place. This person is not without a location, and therefore any discourse on intellectual issues is a statement of the speaker's place. A corollary idea Asante sets forth is the idea of centeredness. The centrality of African ideals takes a presumptive position over the form or constitution of African ideals. In this context, Asante explores the idea of place as location, challenging Afrocentric researchers to locate and root themselves in African ideas and values while daring to establish the perspective as a legitimate response to the human condition. Asante's definition of location involves the purposive placement of a person's self or position rather than the mere factor of place as a neutral idea. Thus, a person has to have a place, but that person can definitely choose a location, that is, choose to be located in some place. For Asante, the advantage of the Afrocentric perspective is that it gives scholars an intellectual tradition other than that of the Greeks to root themselves in, which may lead to new kinds of valid knowledge.

Asante also undertakes an analysis of what may be called the European study of Africa. He concludes that African Studies demonstrates that where neither race nor biology is problematic, perspective on data may be. African Studies rarely employs an African methodology or philosophical outlook. In fact, historically, it tends to atomize African people. In contrast, Asante posits Africology to counter the Eurocentric perspective represented in that discipline. Africology, he explains, is not merely a collection of courses on African subjects but a methodological discipline with a definite African location. It unifies the concerns of social science with those of the humanities using a methodology rooted in Afrocentricity. Also important is the fact that it presupposes that science is an attitude toward imagination and creation, not simply a series of methodical steps.

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