Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience

Dr. Greg Carr was phenomenal with his presentation. Without his unending enthusiasm, Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience: An Mbongi would have been a dragging lecture that I would most likely be complaining about, not praising, in this reflection. It was easy to focus and naturally listen and learn about the many things Dr. Carr spoke about, such as the status of the African American intellect, aspects of an Mbongi, and African ties to common things we have and do today.

"The most serious threat to our [African] dignity is the domain of our intellectual ability" (Carruthers, Mdw Ntr, p. 1). That statement really hit home for me. Dr. Carr emphasized that the negro's current foundation of knowledge is based on conventional American and European Society and that we must reach beyond that to our African roots in order to achieve intellectual freedom. E. Franklin Frazier found that we needed not reflect the safe, restricted thinking of American Society but reflect the thinkers who seek to answer the fundamental questions that concern humanity, such as the meaning of existence. The meaning behind this for me is that my attained knowledge has been biased. My African history has been shrouded over with 2nd-generation ideas and teachings. I want to aim beyond what I've been taught and go back to the roots of humanity, which is essentially the rich roots of African history. I want to have the "divine conversations" Dr. Carr spoke of by connecting with my ancestors and figuring things out like, "what is the fundamental orientation of people."

Those roots exist today through many of our actions and habits. For example, our church congregations, routines and habits reflect aspects of an mbongi, a common shelter; in this shelter, we create a shared experience and thus we eliminate privacy. What you think belongs to you, but what you say belongs to the public. Some other words Dr. Carr mentioned were Boko and kioto. These words are related to mbongi and the aforementioned shared experience. Using boko, we attempt to break things down and come up with a solution to our problems to benefit and strengthen our community. Through kioto, we inhale and heal ourselves, as we would in a church when we come together in communal and the like to heal. Even words like Amen, meaning "the Hidden One" and one of the oldest words in the human language, are tied to Egyptian-African roots. I would normally think that the word has roots in Latin culture of perhaps be Hebrew related; but I would never think it came from Egypt.

This revelation and many more from Dr. Carr naturally made wonder and entertain many interesting thoughts that range from what I think my goals could do to aid in recovering deep thought, and how genealogy will now play significant a role in my life.