Molefi Kete Asante facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Molefi Kete Asante
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Arthur Lee Smith Jr.
August 14, 1942 Valdosta, Georgia, U.S.
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| Occupation | Professor Author |
| Spouse(s) | Ana Yenenga |
Molefi Kete Asante (born Arthur Lee Smith Jr. on August 14, 1942) is an important American thinker. He is known for his work in African-American studies, African studies, and how people communicate. He teaches at Temple University, where he started a special program for advanced students in African-American Studies. He also leads the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies.
Asante is a big supporter of a way of thinking called Afrocentricity. He has written more than 66 books and started the Journal of Black Studies. He is also the father of the writer and filmmaker M. K. Asante.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Molefi Kete Asante was born Arthur Lee Smith Jr. in Valdosta, Georgia. He was the fourth of sixteen children in his family. His father worked on the railroad, and his mother worked in homes. During the summer, Asante would go back to Georgia to work in fields. This helped him earn money for school. His aunt, Georgia Smith, encouraged him to study. She gave him his first book, which was a collection of stories by Charles Dickens.
Smith went to Nashville Christian Institute, a boarding school for Black students in Nashville, Tennessee. He finished high school there in 1960. While still in high school, he joined the Civil Rights Movement. He took part in a student march at Fisk University in Nashville.
After high school, he first went to Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas. This was another historically Black school. There, he met Essien Essien from Nigeria. Meeting Essien made Smith want to learn more about Africa.
Smith earned his first college degree from Oklahoma Christian College in 1964. He then got his master's degree from Pepperdine University in 1965. He later earned his PhD from UCLA in 1968. His PhD was in how people communicate. He worked at UCLA for a while, leading the center for Afro-American Studies. When he was 30, he became a full professor at the University at Buffalo. He also became the head of their Communication Department.
In 1976, Asante legally changed his name. He felt that "Arthur Lee Smith" was a name connected to slavery.
Asante's Career and Ideas
At the University at Buffalo, Asante helped develop ideas about how people from different cultures communicate. He wrote a book with others called Handbook of Intercultural Communication. This was the first book in this field. In 1976, Asante was chosen to be the president of a group called the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research. His work helped many students earn their PhDs in this area. Asante has guided over one hundred PhD projects.
Asante published his first study about the Black movement in 1969. It was called Rhetoric of Black Revolution. Later, he wrote Transracial Communication. This book explained how race makes human interactions more complex in American society. Soon, Asante started focusing on African-American and African culture in communication. He paid attention to how African-Americans speak and present ideas.
What is Afrocentricity?
Asante wrote Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change in 1980. This book introduced a new way of thinking. It suggested that African-Americans had been seen as less important in history and culture. Asante believed they needed to feel central to their own story. He wrote about the struggle between white culture and African culture. He also wrote about Africans not feeling victorious enough. These ideas are found in his main philosophical book, The Afrocentric Idea (1987). Other books on Afrocentric theory include Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge (1990) and An Afrocentric Manifesto (2007).
The Utne Reader magazine named Asante one of the top 100 thinkers in America. They said he was a kind and determined person. They noted that his books, like Afrocentricity, offer a strong African-focused path. This path helps Black Americans gain confidence in their culture and ideas.
In 1986, Asante suggested creating the first advanced degree program in African-American studies. This was at Temple University. The program was approved, and the first students started in 1988. Over 500 people applied to join this program. Temple University became a leader in African-American Studies. It was ten years before another similar program started at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1997. Graduates from Temple's program have made big contributions around the world. Many now lead African American Studies programs at major universities.
Asante's Core Ideas on Afrocentricity
According to The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Historical Writing Since 1945, Asante has built his whole career on Afrocentricity. He continues to defend it, even with strong criticisms.
In 1980, Asante's book Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change started a discussion. It was about how Africans should be seen as active participants in history and culture. He argued that Africans had been pushed aside in terms of their identity, culture, and history. Afrocentricity aimed to put Africans at the center of their own stories. It also wanted to reclaim the teaching of African-American history. This history had been pushed to the side by European viewpoints.
For about four to five hundred years, European ideas and philosophies were dominant. Africa and Asia were seen as less important under European rule. If a war happened between European powers, it was called a World War. Africans and Asians often ended up on the side of one European power or another. There was a strong sense of European culture spreading with Europe's trade, religion, and military forces.
Asante's book The Afrocentric Idea was a more academic book about Afrocentricity. After its second edition came out in 1998, Asante appeared on many TV shows. These included The Today Show, 60 Minutes, and the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. He discussed his ideas on these programs.
According to Asante's Afrocentric Manifesto, an Afrocentric project needs at least five things:
- It needs to care about where people feel they belong psychologically.
- It needs to find the African viewpoint.
- It needs to protect African cultural parts.
- It needs to make sure words are used correctly.
- It needs to fix mistakes in African history.
I chose the word Afrocentricity to show that African people had been pushed off center for the past five hundred years. This means Africans were not just moved from Africa to the Americas. They were also separated from their ways of thinking, languages, religions, stories, and cultures. These separations are harsh and cause many changes in people and groups. Finding a way to put our thinking back in place was key to showing African cultural reality. Without this new way of thinking, Africans would have nothing to offer humanity except the experiences of Europeans. These were the people who first moved Africans off their social, cultural, and psychological center.
Honors and Recognition
- In 1995, he was given the royal name Nana Okru Asante Peasah. He also received the chieftaincy title of Kyidomhene of the House of Tafo, Akyem Abuakwa, Ghana.
- In 2012, he was given the chieftaincy title of the Wanadoo of Gao. This was in the court of the Amiru (Paramount Chief) Hassimi Maiga of Songhai.
