Abandonment and dismemberment blog (Khalil)

Dr. Mario Beatty had an interesting lecture, which made me think about hidden things and what is being covered up. The three main points in his lecture was that there is an underlying African presence in all things, we as a people need to avert our eyes from “the gaze of the colonizer to view the African side of things and the methodologies” and finally that the historical narratives on African culture and people are wrong.

Dr. Beatty stated that there is an underlying African presence in the Americas and all over the world. Many things in the Americas have an African background that is not known by everyone. However, from 1492 to 1776 millions of people were moved to the Americas, and Caribbean, and in most cases five out of every six people were African, so it should not be surprising to people that there is an overwhelming African presence in the Americas. Nor should it be a surprise that many things in the Americas have African roots or background. For instance, the cross for Christianity resembles the Kongo Cosmogram. This shows underlying Africanism in religion, and that many things originated in Africa or are based off of African ideologies.

The similarities of the two are very noticeable. This is just one of the many things that shows an African presence within. There is also a presence in science and technology. That is demonstrated through musical instruments that resemble ancient African instruments. However, even with this overwhelming evidence, there are attempts to hide the underlying Africanism in science, technology, and religion. Dr. Beatty also pointed out how it is necessary to stop things in the eyes of “the colonizer” or white people, so we can see the African influence and African history in the world.

Dr. Beatty mentioned the historical narratives of African history and how academic scholars use them to discuss the history of Africans. Most of the narratives are those of loss and emptiness. They do not celebrate the culture but rather say there is no culture because they count history as beginning for Africans once they got over to the Americas and were slaves. An example of a historical narrative is that “African’s lost their culture, voice, names etc.” ( Dr. Beatty power point ) This characterizes the emptiness within, which leads to the African people being filled with everything they encountered. This is called “acculturation”. Due to acculturation, or the adherence to societies rules and social behaviors by Africans, it led to a discontinuation of certain traditions and culture practices, which in turn led scholars to believe culture was lost. However, that is far from being the case. African culture is present in music, language/speech, arts, food, and religion. Also known as the five culture areas. For instance, in music, uses of antiphony, and pervasive funcuality show African roots/culture. The speech of Africans are distinctive and are shown in everyday speech patterns of African Americans. We take out the copula verb that links the subject noun and adjective. An example Dr. Beatty gave was instead of saying “she is bad or she is fine”, we say “she bad or she fine”. It is not proper English but it gets the point across and is clear speech.

Dr. Beatty’s lecture made me think about the underlying African presence in all things that I previously thought to be white or have Caucasian origins.

kongo cosmogram pic from (http://landofkam.wordpress.com/)

cross pic from (http://karenswhimsy.com/cross-symbols.shtm)

Steeve Pierre-Louis -- Something Torn and New

I must admit, as soon as I heard Dr. Beatty's accent, I sighed along with many of my fellow students. I figured that this lecture on Dismemberment and Abandonment would be something drawn out and quite frankly, boring. But throughout his lecture, Dr. Beatty brought up many peculiar historical analyses that managed to keep me awake. The things that spoke to me the most were his points on fulfillment when you experience loss and/or separation, the Q&A section, specifically the part where Dr. Beatty discussed the open-mindedness of Africans and how that allowed them to assimilate the Christian religion into their own, and the 5 areas that moved from Africa to America that influence today's society.

Unlike the previous lectures, Dr. Beatty focused more on a history and analysis of the black diaspora: the dismemberment, which is the middle passage and the transport of Africans to the New World, and the abandonment, which is the loss of culture and history the descendants will experience. The dismemberment process was so big that by 1776, 5/6 people in the new world were from Africa. And these Africans had to fill themselves with the new environment to escape total loss. Now my story compared to this may be trivial, but it covers the save fundamental principle of loss and fulfillment. When my bike was stolen over a month ago, I felt violated and essentially loss. I solemnly wondered what I was now to do with my free time. After a week or so of rarely going outside, I began to take walks. Then I began to run and walk, alternatively. Finally the habit evolved to jogging. I found something to fill and replace the hole in my heart and that relates to what the Africans had to do when they reached the Americas and the Caribbean.

One of the most important things that Africans absorbed was Christianity. At the end of the lecture, a student asked, 'why or how did Africans so easily adapt to the Christian faith if it was so heavily influenced by Europe?' Dr. Beatty's reply definitely satisfied me. He mentioned that Africans don't believe that just one faith holds the truth, and that the truth is somewhere among all these different faiths. That attitude allowed them to see certain parts of Christianity that went along with their own religions and so made sense to them in some way. That point of view closely matches mine. With so many religions in the world, I seriously doubt one has it all right. It's been this attitude that has allowed me to understand people very well, especially with matters concerning religion.

Africans didn't just accept Christianity exactly the way Europeans did. They added their own spice to it. Religion, along with music, speech, food, and art, were brought from Africa with them and those exports continue to affect us today, such as how African-American churches function; how we speak to each other, what we eat, and how we interpret and perform art. Dr. Beatty mentioned that to look at the African presence, however, we can't look at it the same way that it's in the books. The books don't use methods that research the African presence like Michael Gomez, who tried to see us through our entire history rather than our history since we were discovered and popularized in the 1500s. Tracing back our history, similarly mentioned in the last lecture, or otherwise coming up with entirely new methodologies to research African presence in today's society is our best bet to figuring out our cultural meaning. For example, looking back and attempting to "re-africanizing" Christianity, we could see that the cross resembles the Kongo cosmogram. Scholars are confident that many more historical and cultural discoveries await us, if we are simply willing to begin.

Dr. Gbadegesin (self Actualization)

Dr. Gbadegesin’s lecture was about self-actualization, and I feel the main points were education, knowledge, and character. Education was a point he brought up many times with quotes and connecting the word with different things. He pointed out that not only does education fall under many fields, but also it can improve the human condition. With education we can help contribute to the human condition. He closed out with a few quotes about education and how with it we can find our proper place in life. As quoted by Dr. G from his power point, ”When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ―proper place‖ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to go back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary- Dr. Carter G. Woodson”. When we are educated we know our place without needing to ask or be told. We understand where we fit in and how we can contribute to the world. I feel that this is true because without education we would not know our places or what to do. By using education as the determining factor we figure out exactly what we need to do with our lives.

Dr. Gbadegesin also spoke about knowledge and the certain distinctions there are with knowledge. There is academic knowledge which is what is learned through research and schooling. He also spoke about the key distinctions between being knowledgeable, having wisdom, and being an intellectual. The difference is that knowledge is “the acquisition of factual information without insight into their supporting reasons” (Dr. Gbadegesin ) while “wisdom is nothing but humanly oriented knowledge with an account” (Dr. Gbadegesin). This means that wisdom is having knowledge and having deeper insight into the subject you are knowledgeable about and knowing what to do with it to help humanity and serve the community, while knowledge is just facts that one has without deeper insight. However being intellectual is having knowledge and knowing how it can benefit society, but not having the skill or connections necessary to make it happen. I consider myself an intellectual because at my age I have knowledge but not enough skill or connections to make things happen. However, I feel the skill and connections will come later in life as I get older.

The final point Dr. Gbadegesin made was about character. He emphasized that as human beings character is our most important possession. He illustrated that point with the story of Iwa. Iwa being a woman and a metaphor for character, was mistreated by her husband Orunmila (meaning god of wisdom). Iwa then left Orunmila, and Orunmila’s life began to fall apart. This story translated into regular words is saying that when a man abuses his wisdom or and uses it improperly, he damages his character. Once a man loses his character he has nothing, because his character is his most valuable possession. That story and metaphor really made me think about how I portray myself and how I use my talents that God has blessed me with. I’ve always been careful about how I reveal myself to people and I always ensure it is in a dignified way that does not seem like I am conceited or looking down on others. This story made me realize that because of how I am, I have a lot in my life. I have many friends and loved ones that love and enjoy me because I do not abuse my talents and knowledge, but I am humble about it. That says volume to my character and provides inspiration to those that are not so humble about things.

Finally, I would like to talk about the similarities between Dr.Carr’s and Dr. Gbadegesin’s lectures. They both discussed how Ancient Kemet is where things started. Dr. Carr talked about how Kemet is where words, libraries, numbers, and many other things originated. While Dr. Gbadegesin touched on how before the bible and the philosphers of Europe there where the ancient texts and philosophers of Egypt/Kemet. A really interesting thing he brought up was that in 1962 time magazine published a story that suggested that moses was inspired by the coffin texts and that is where the ten commandments were derived from.

I found this lecture very interesting and it lead to a lot of deep critical thinking on my part. It made me do a little self reflection and analysis, and judge who I am, what my purpose is, and how I portray myself.

A Reflection on Omoluabi

Dr. Gbadegesin's lecture on omoluabi was actually much more interesting that I thought it'd be. He began talking about the term ashae and the significance of the research question and later began talking about what omoluabi essentially means and its ancient origins. But for me, the most interesting thing he mentioned was the yoruba poem and its emphasis character.

Ashae was a term first used in Dr. Carr's lecture last week. According to Dr. Carr, it means to "let it be." He went over it quickly but he gave us all the general idea of its meaning. This time, Dr. Gbadegesin spent much more time describing and giving us the essence of the word. He went down a list of paying homage to our ancestors, our environment, and, of course, the class of 2015, and with each statement, the students would answer ashae in acknowledgement. I really liked that the lectures were not isolated lessons on our history and the state of black culture because it makes it easier for the students to keep their thoughts attached and reinforced which would ultimately help them answer the research question. That question, "how have scholars across the various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition," was touched upon in the first week of Freshman seminar as well as this week's lecture. Dr. Gbadegesin again gave us some more insight into its relevance. what he mentioned that hit me the most was the bit about acknowledging the human condition. I immediately began to think about what I could do, in small or large, to relieve some of these enduring problems mankind has had to deal with since the days of Eve. You know you're listening to a good lecture when you start thinking about how you want to change the world.

Dr. Gbadegesin eventually gets to the definition of the main word in title of the lecture: Omoluabi. The history of the word was pretty funny to me. A Yoruba entity, Orunmila, the God of Wisdom was married to Iwa, the entity of character and existence. But eventually, out of impatience, Orunmila lost Iwa. Losing the good of existence and character, Orunmila lost everything he had and desperately tried to get her back. The point of the story is that character is indispensable. Being an omoluabi, meaning a child begotten of the source of Iwa, is essential to fulfilling ourselves; to be a person of character. I was so interested in the Yoruba people's emphasis on character that I decided to look up the entire Yoruba poem mentioned by Dr. Gbadegesin:

Maintain your character my friend

Honor can leave from the house of a person

Beauty can leave from the body of a person

However a person’s character will go with a person to the grave

Character is like smoke, eventually it will rise (to the surface)

A person lives off in the distance in honor

But with closeness we learn of a person’s actions

Character will not leave its owner alone

It is a child’s character that gives the child a name

Even if the child seems fine, there is still a need for character

Even if the body looks fine, there is still a need for clothing

Even if the feet work fine, there is still a need for shoes

If a person seems fine but doesn’t have character

He/She is missing something very valuable indeed

Good character is a person’s bodyguard

Patience is the progenitor of character, Character is the progenitor of blessings

(Kambon, O. (2009, August 16). abibitumi kasa afrikan language and liberation institutes. Retrieved from http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/yoruba-language-resources/36993-toju-iwa-re-yoruba-poem.html)

To the Yoruba, character was everything; without it, you have nothing. So the only word I can think of that is appropriate to reflect my thoughts on this beautiful poem is "ashae."

Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Blog Post: Gladys Creppy-Hetherington

     Dr. Carr's lecture was very fascinatining to me. I felt that he addressed issues that i feel no one really talks about amongst the African American populations. People seem to want to forget their roots instead of embracing it and using it to put themselves ahead of the rest. I especially appreciate the fact that he is letting people know that the history of the African race goes way beyond what we are thought in schools. There is a more positive and graceful side to our culture than advertised in the media.
    The first point of the lecture that i felt as key was the part about African American thoughts/intelect. I agree that even the greatest African American intelectuals were limited to what was thougt to be the furthest people were suppose to think. They never really actually went beyond the norm. I believe that maybe it was because they lacked the education of prior Africans and their culture and way of thinking.
    The next point that i found to be key was how the history of the African race goes further back than people actually admitt. But no one reall focuses on it because our history is overshadowed by other events such as Christopher Columbus. The way they teach history in schools, you would think that African history didn't start until slavery begin.
    The last and finall key point i found was African American union. Dr. Carr used a metaphor of rooms without walls to show that the African race needs to unite in order to better us as a whole. I believe that if we all came together, we would be able to tackle issues facing our race such as the increasing number of incarserated African American males and the increase in the HIV rate in Washington, DC.
   The lecture opened both my eyes and mind to things that i had never thought about before. Now i am interested in finding ot exactly when the African race begin and how people thought back then. I believe that now days were just trying to fit in with the populaion instead of creating our own paths and being rpoud of who we are. Physically our race has come very far, but intelectually, we still have a distance to go.

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.

Khalil's Learning, Wisdom, And the African World Experience Entry

This lecture was quite interesting. The lecture “Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience” was mainly about cultural unity, African origins in Humanity and intellectual work, and reflecting on African Foundations. This lecture was done by Dr. Greg E. Carr, and was very informative as well as interesting. I was actually focused and listening intently to everything he said and discussed. Dr. Carr’s energy is one that keeps you focused and hanging on his every word.

The aspect of culture unity is very important to me, because I feel we should all be united as one in certain if not all aspects. As for the African origins in Humanity, it is no secret that all life started in Africa which means most if not all intellectual stuff began in Africa as well. I feel it is important to know ones origins and foundations to have a better quality of life.

In this lecture I learned many words such as : Boko, yemba, Lusanga, Kioto, Mbongi, sankofa, and Ashae. The words that spoke to me the most were Kioto, Mbongi, and Sankofa. In the case of Kioto ,which means to inhale or intake a healing property, I think of taking in a breath of fresh air or to get a clean start. I feel that everyone needs kioto every now and then. Sankofa might be my new favorite word because I like what it means and it somewhat stands for my life. Its meaning “go and get it” is my type of attitude. Finally with the concept of an Mbongi is very intriguing to me. “A room without walls, or where privacy has no room” is a very cool idea. A place where everything is shared and nothing is secret. When I connect the concept to every day life I realize there are so many forms of an mbongi like : cyphers, barbershops, beauty shops, mma rings and much more. We are all part of Mbongi’s whether we realize it or not. I look forward to being apart of Howards Mbongi and contributing everything I possibly can to it.

The final things I found interesting is that “amen” has Egyptian roots and literally means ‘hidden one’. I never thought that the word originated there, it’s just something I accepted as coming from Europe or some other place.