Cultural War Rages on: Africa’s Civilizations Are Being Erased—who Will Teach African Artists?

AFRICAN AESTHETICS

Many universities in the West are developing core curriculum programs focused on “Western Civilization,” while increasingly purging African, African Diaspora, Asian, and other civilizations from their programs.

The West focusing on Western Civilization is appropriate.

The days of African and African Diaspora Studies seem numbered.

At the same time, Africana artists are producing contemporary works like never before.

What are these Africana artists going to read?

Are they going to study Western Civilization only, without any understanding of African aesthetics?

Then I remember there lots of materials for Africana artists to read.

Seven years ago, I posted some of these materials on social media as African Classics—focusing on the Yoruba Civilization that I am most familiar with.

But there are more than a thousand civilizations in Africa:

I would therefore construct three tiers:

Tier I — Fully developed intellectual fields:
Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Akan, Mande, Swahili, Amazigh/Berber, Somali.

Tier II — Very substantial corpora capable of functioning as fields:
Zulu, Kongo, Shona, Gikuyu, Ewe, Edo/Benin, Oromo.

Tier III — Exceptionally well-documented cultures but less institutionally constituted as autonomous “Studies” fields:
Dogon, Maasai, Fon/Dahomey, Mossi, Wolof, Fang, Kuba, Luba, Chokwe, Nuer, Dinka, Baganda, Sotho, Tswana, Xhosa and others.

You may share the names of important writers from these and other groups.

Lati Ọwọ Aworosaṣa Moyọ Okediji