Africana Studies
As noted by Brent Edwards the term Diaspora is under-theorized in the present world where recourse and politics are used in identification of ethnicity which is revoked regularly. This is mainly because Diaspora theory is weighted down with political denotation as well as surrounding. Brent Edwards makes the suggestion that Diaspora can be termed to be less of a situation that is historically set than just a set of several ethnic practices. This involves all the correspondences, claims as well as collaboration via which the intellectuals of blacks pursue a range of global alliances (Gomez, 2005). Edwards explicates the general operation of the Diaspora through black wealth tracking of the print culture that is transnational that exists amid all world wars. The theory of Diaspora considers all highly and divergent ways of race imaging which works beyond language and nation barriers. This therefore works to reveal the significance of translation which argues that Diaspora politics are legible beyond everything in negotiating the efforts of the differences that exist among the African descent population in the world (Gomez, 2005). The strength of the Diasporas definition is that throughout the exploration the author tries to resist racism by embracing modernity and incorporating African descendant’s culture. It is characterized by unity as well as modernity as it explanations are derived from the world practices from previous to the current living. It is limited by the fact that it attempts to embrace a single race of the African descent thus increasing bias chances (Rodney, N.p). This is equally similar with the theory of the blacks which attempts to exclude and explain the living of the blacks thus excluding other races. This therefore illustrates racism at the highest order due to the focus that is given to a single group.
African studies are a research field and the scholarship that is generally about black individuals. This is thus aimed at advancing the blacks interests and in order for this to be accomplished fully it must therefore be footed in the experience of Africans, the world views, values, norms, perspectives and so on. This therefore implies that the origin was based on considering Africa as the measure of everything. African studies began in the 16th and 15th century with the start of slave trade approach (Klein, 2001). Africans as well as the individuals who belong to Africa are the most understood and written about in regard to all the individuals in the world. The Europeans therefore cannot only involved on colonization of most worlds parts but they were also involved in colonization of information about people and the world. The Africana studies were mainly influenced by the social setting of Africans cultures and background. Through the strain of colonialism and slavery this failed in breaking the connection amid the Africans who were living in African and those that had been taken as slaves and were living in the western nations. The African studies involved five major configurations which involved nationality, hemispheric of the African American who was living in the western nations, African Diaspora, global blacks as well as African Diasporas research (Klein, 2001). The studies were aimed at addressing several issues faced by Africans in the western nations which include the argument on whether the equality emphasis should be fully devoted to the three hemispheric locations. The first four models proponents were mainly concerned of the African continent omission as this focused on Diasporas community’s dissimilarities of their floating and unstable identities. The demands of those activists who called for the Africana studies were to raise awareness among the African individuals, to increase knowledge in regard to their rights as well as earn equality as well as identity. The condition was mainly influenced by colonization as well as slavery which made the living conditions of the Africans undesirable.
African studies pattern inherited the black studies movement legacy of the belatedly 1960’s and early 1970’s which led to the development of Africana and Rican Puerto department. The black studies have evolved to African or even African studies as individuals of the descendants of Africa have comfortably identified with political and intellectual energy of the African continent (Aldridge, & Young, 2000). The Africana studies is a discipline or a program that attempts to research, explain, interpret, provide a cultural articulation, political, social, and economic as well as a spiritual experience of individuals of the individuals in Africa. The Africana studies can thus be termed as pan-Africans in its strategy and focus as it seeks to emphasize the existing connection amid African individual’s as well as their culture. This therefore attempts to knowledge the dissimilarities which have evolved due to historical actualities colonial oppression, geographical situation and cultural interaction. The evolution of African studies to African American was an attempt to try and explicit the differences that are between the Africans and the Americas in terms of identity as well as culture. The black studies was mainly purposed at addressing the issues that the Africans who are viewed as blacks faces due to lack of a clear perspective as well as identity (Aldridge, & Young, 2000).
The Atlantic slave trade was crucial in impairing the capability of Africa in developing in terms of social, political and economic stability. The European arrival on the West African as well as their general establishment of the ports for slaves in different regions of the African continent was crucial in triggering a process that was continuous for the exploitation of Africa’s labor, human resources as well as commodities (Eltis & Engerman, 2011). This was thus an exploitative commerce which influenced the African religious and political aristocracies, biracial elite and warrior classes who were able of making gains from the trade of slaves for participating in the oppression of their own persons. On the other hand the Europeans obtained huge benefits from the Atlantic trade system because it permitted them to obtain raw materials in masses which were crucial in feeding the industrial revolution. This was a detriment of all the African communities as their capability of transforming their individual production modes into entrepreneurial economy was halted seriously by the exploitation (Eltis & Engerman, 2011).
The Atlantic slave trade played a crucial part in the development of capitalism emergence as the slaves were utilized as the western machinery and financial production systems. The slave trade led to the emergence of capitalism as well as racial superiority (Klein, 2001). The whites considered themselves superior thus exploiting the potential of the Africans who held no authority over their lives. The slave trade period hoped the white race to affirm their racial superiority over the black people which made it easier to understand why the blacks were treated as slaves. This made the African communities to consider themselves as inferior because they lost the capability to develop, their culture, identity as well as confidence. This later resulted in destructions as the efforts to procure slaves resulted in wars. The trade led to the arrest and death of many individuals as the African culture’s ability to improve was distorted. This distracted the general meaning that individuals gave to the world as well as the surrounding as uncertainty increased. In the modern era when industrialization took over in the western nations the relationship between the Africans and the African Diasporas was affected. This is mainly because the slave trade created a psychological impact which was crippling (Gomez, 2005). This caused a constant anxiety among the Africans communities. The anxiety was caused by the fear of being a victim and being herded away to the western nations like animals which meant that they were never to return home. Several Africans developed the fear and belief that the whites captured the slaves so that they would eat them which destroyed their relationships.
References
Aldridge, D. P., & Young, C. (2000). Out of the revolution: The development of Africana studies. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books.
Eltis D., & Stanley L. Engerman. (2011). The Cambridge World History Of Slavery. Cambridge university press. Pdf
Gomez, M. A. (2005). Reversing sail: A history of the African Diaspora. New York [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Martin A. Klein. (2001). The Slave Trade And Decentralized Societies. Cambridge university press. Pdf
Rodney W. (N.p). The West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade. East African Publisher. Pdf
