Afrocentricity-the placement of African values and ideals at the center of the discussion surrounding African culture, discourse, and behavior-is an important framework that has emerged over the past decade. In this timely volume, editor Janice D. Hamlet has chosen essays that illuminate various aspects of African American culture, refracted through the lens of Afrocentric thought. In Part I, the basics of Afrocentric ideology and methodology are examined. Part II focuses on Afrocentric approaches to the dynamics of communication. The Afrocentric influence on the black aesthetic is covered in Part III, with an examination of language, literature, oral tradition, movies, and television. Part IV provides a glimpse into the future of Afrocentric visions.

In An Afrocentric Pan Africanist Vision: Afrocentric Essays, Molefi Kete Asante, engages the age-old debate on Pan Africanism by providing an innovative orientation to the established discourse developed during the twentieth century. Asante opens an interrogation of the Padmorian tradition of a socialist Pan Africanism by suggesting that a deeper entry into the histories and narratives of the literary, economic, social, and spiritual values of the thousands of African societies scattered throughout the world could sustain a different agency analysis of Pan Africanism without grafting an external idea on the unity of Africa. Using his vast knowledge of the history of Africa, Asante suggests that the African renaissance cannot take place unless there is a commitment to creating an African community conscious of its own myths, origins, and economic, cultural, and philosophical traditions.

"A rich Minnesota literary tradition is brought into the spotlight in this groundbreaking collection of incisive prose and powerful poetry by forty- three black writers who educate, inspire, and reveal the unabashed truth. Historically significant figures tell their stories, demonstrating how much and how little conditions have changed: Gordon Parks hitchhikes to Bemidji, Taylor Gordon describes his first day as a chauffeur in St. Paul, and Nellie Stone Johnson insists on escaping the farm for high school in Minneapolis. A profusionof modern voices-- poet Tish Jones, playwright Kim Hines, and memoirist Frank Wilderson-- reflect the dizzying, complex realities of the present. Showcasing the unique vision and reality of Minnesota's African American community from the Harlem renaissance through the civil rights movement, from the black power movement to the era of hip- hop and the time of America's first black president, this compelling anthology provides an explosion of artistic expression about what it means to be a Minnesotan. Alexs Pate, an award- winning novelist, playwright, and writing professor, is the president of Innocent Technologies, LLC. Pamela R. Fletcher is associate professor of English at St. Catherine University. J. Otis Powell!? is a poet, performance artist, and curator working in an aesthetic rooted in Afrocentric lore and culture"--

This comprehensive analysis of the complex relationship of black political thought identifies which political ideologies are supported by blacks, then traces their historical roots and examines their effects on black public opinion.

Kelley unearths freedom dreams in this exciting history of renegade intellectuals and artists of the African diaspora in the twentieth century. Focusing on the visions of activists from C. L. R. James to Aime Cesaire and Malcolm X, Kelley writes of the hope that Communism offered, the mindscapes of Surrealism, the transformative potential of radical feminism, and of the four-hundred-year-old dream of reparations for slavery and Jim Crow. From'the preeminent historian of black popular culture' (Cornel West), an inspiring work on the power of imagination to transform society.

There is a paradox about Africa: it remains a subject that attracts considerable attention yet rarely is there a full appreciation of its complexity. African historiography has typically consisted of writing Africa for Europe—instead of writing Africa for itself, as itself, from its own perspectives. The History of Africa redresses this by letting the perspectives of Africans themselves take center stage. Authoritative and comprehensive, this book provides a wide-ranging history of Africa from earliest prehistory to the present day—using the cultural, social, political, and economic lenses of Africa as instruments to illuminate the ordinary lives of Africans. The result is a fresh survey that includes a wealth of indigenous ideas, African concepts, and traditional outlooks that have escaped the writing of African history in the West. The new edition includes information on the Arab Spring, the rise of FrancAfrica, the presence of the Chinese in Africa, and the birth of South Sudan. The chapters go up to the present day, addressing US President Barack Obama's policies toward Africa. A new companion website provides students and scholars of Africa with access to a wealth of supporting resources for each chapter, including images, video and audio clips, and links to sites for further research. This straightforward, illustrated, and factual text allows the reader to access the major developments, personalities, and events on the African continent. This groundbreaking survey is an indispensable guide to African history.

Does Africa have a future? What are the visions, hopes, ambitions and fears of young Africans for the future of the world, the continent, their nation, and their communities? How do they envision this world and their roles within it? These issues have not previously been explored collectively by Africans because of the enormous challenges and the preoccupation with the present. But Africa must not allow the enormity of the problems to blind it to its past and future. Africa must chart its own vision of a desirable future, and therefore young Africans, born just before or after independence, were challenged to reflect on the future of the continent. This book presents the response to that challenge. In this book, the voices of a new generation of Africa are heard exploring the future from personal and diverse perspectives. The authors have enumerated the ills of Africa, analyzed the problems and explored the opportunities. Remarkably, despite the daunting nature of the challenges, they were all hopeful about the future. They provided their visions of the future, suggest numerous ideas on how to build a new Africa, and implored Africans to take responsibility for the transformation of the continent. Given the current emphasis on African renaissance and union, the ideas presented here could become the basis for a truly shared vision for the continent.

Mirella Ricciardi is one of the greatest photographers of the African continent; she is also best known for the classic book Vanishing Africa. This highly personal account of her life in Africa from the1920s to the present day is part diary, part reminiscence, and part photographic album. She shows you the great African characters from George Adamson to Peter Beard, plus Hollywood stars, animal trainers, models and fashion photographers. However it's her greatest love--the tribal warriors and the panoramic landscapes of Africa--that take center stage here.

An essential text to help to understand human behavior and the processes that guide human adaptation Social workers and therapists need to assess the full range of aspects of their client problems such as socioeconomic status, academic achievement, parental incarceration, psychopathology, and other risks. African American Behavior in the Social Environment: New Perspectives explores the latest empirical and theoretical findings of human behavior and resiliency in African American individuals, families, and communities. Leading scholars provide unique insights into African American mental health, gender relations, family interactions and dynamics, inequality, poverty, the balance between work and family, and nontraditional families. This important text discusses in detail the importance of understanding the processes that guide human adaptation and understanding the dynamics of how particular ethnic groups, cultures, and people use resources to adapt to certain circumstances that can be useful in assessment and treatment. African American Behavior in the Social Environment: New Perspectives presents the analysis and research of several individuals in order to provide an understanding of how the concept of protective factors, racial identity, and racial socialization has been approached, the direction their insights have taken them, and the results of exploring the dynamics of African American behavior in relationship to environments. Research discussed in African American Behavior in the Social Environment: New Perspectives include: socioeconomic status health disparity the impact of having incarcerated parents academic achievement gap kinship ties leadership development race identity and socialization suicide among African American adolescents Black churches impact in HIV/AIDS prevention culturally relevant mental health services gender and sexuality issues policy and practice and much more! African American Behavior in the Social Environment: New Perspectives is an invaluable resource for counselors, marriage and family therapists, educators, and students in African American studies.