Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior [1 ed.] 086543249X, 9780865432499

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Yurugu An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior /

by Marimba Ani (Dona Richards)

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Africa World Press, Inc. P.O. Box ! 892 Trenton, New Jersey 08607

IUPUI UNIVERSITY LIBRARl£S 755 W. MICHIGAN ST.

INDIANAPOLIS,IN 46202-5195

AfrlcaWorld Press P. 0. Box 1892 Trenton, NJ 08607 Copyrigh{~ Marimba Ani, 1994 Flrsl Printing 1994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a • retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise wthout the prior written permission of the publiser. Text Design by Jonathan Gullery Cover Concept and Design by Aziza Gibson-Hunter Cover Artwork by Amura Oi'laa Interior Mask Drawings by Smith-Chinyelu

I .lhrary of Congress Cataloging-ln-Publlcatlon Data Anl, Marimba Yurugu : an african-centered critique of European cultural thought ancl behavior / Marimba Ani. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN0-86543-248-1.- ISBN 0-86543-249-X(pbk.) I. Europe-Civilization. 2. Ethnocentrism-Europe. I. Title. Cl3203.RS 1992 940' .01-dc20 91-71027 CIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS Author's Note .............................................................................. Dedication ................................................................................ Introduction - John Henrik Clarke ............................................... Incantation ................................................................................ Acknowledgements .................................................................... Glossary ...................................................................................

xi .xiii .xv .xix .xxi .xxv

Charts The Process of the European Utamawazo ............................. .xxix European Utamawazo: Mind Control for World Domination (Chapter I) ........................................................................ xxx C. Christianity as a Core Mechanism of the European Asili (Chapter 2) ....................................................................... .xxxi D. European Aesthetic and European Dominance (Chapter 3) ....................................................................... .xxxii E. European Cultural Ego and World Domination (Chapters 4-5) ................................................................. .xxxiii F. European Behavior and Ethics in Racial and Cultural Domination (Chapters 6-8) .............................................. ..xxxiv G. The Ideology of European World Domination (Chapters 9-10) ........................................................... ....... xxxv 11. The Tangle of European Cultural Pathology Creates the System of European World Domination (Conclusion) ........ .xxxvi A.

B.

Introduction /Jolelwj(I/

....................................................................................

Th Psis ancl l)roccss ........................................................................ l•:vldrncT .....................................................................................

1 3

C'onn:pts and '!'Prins ....................................................................

9 I0

l'1•1i.p•·1·11v,·se) In Mississippi, and some travel in the MollH:rlnnd, I IH'~n11~rndualt• studies in ;=inthropology. That contraAfter

my experience

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xxii

YURUGU

diction led to a dissertation meant to uncover the roots of antiAfricanism and European imperialistic consciousness in the discipline of anthropology. The research began what has to become a 20 year sojourn through the bowels of European thought, leading to the conclusions of this work. Professor Clarke was later to come back into my life as a mentoring force. When I finished graduate school in 1975he brought me into the Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. He then advised me to write articles on aspects of my analysis and helped me to get them published. Perhaps, more than any single person in the African world community, Professor John Henrik Clarke has stimulated young people of African descent to search for an African-centered truth. I take this opportunity to express my love and gratitude, and to acknowledge the genius of this master teacher; this molder of minds. For a great teacher is one who can point in his sunset years to hundreds of younger African people who owe their ideological commitment and political development to his/her inspiration. Ase! The specter of continuing the research, indeed of developing an'African-centered paradigm within which to place Europe for critique, was awesome. 1 was certainly tempted to let this project go. And then in 1979,Molefi Kete Asante introduced himself to me, asking that I write an article for a book that he was doing. My acceptance of this task resulted in Let The Circle Be Unbroken. But his work Afrocentricity in 1980,gave me and countless others the affirmation we needed to move further towards the vision. It was the African-centered perspective stated boldly in print by an African author. Molefi articulated what others had implied and what their work had meant. He stated what we were feeling. It was this same Molefi Asante who, one day when he was visiting New York, pulled out a dusty manuscript and began to read. I subsequently mailed more chapters to him. He read all 686 pages, writing comments in the margins. When he finished he was enthusiatic, saying, "Marimba, you must publish this!" It was the first time that anyone had taken the time to read the entire work, and he made me·believe in the necessity of its completion. I n•wrole every c:hapt ol collt•c·tlv,· r11l1111 nl hk11' , II y

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Introduction

5

of prescriptive authority. 6 To its members, culture re-presents values (which they themselves have created together out of shared experiences) as a systematic set of ideas and a single coherent statement. 4. It provides the basis for commitment, priority, and choice, thereby imparting direction to group development and behavior; indeed, it acts to limit the parameters of change and to pattern the behavior of its members. In this way culture helps to initiate and authorize its own creation. 5. It provides for the creation of shared symbols and meanings. It is, therefore, the primary creative force of collective consciousness, and it is that which makes it possible to construct a national consciousness. 6. For all the above reasons, it impacts on the definition of group interest and is potentially political. Willie Abraham's understanding of the nature of culture is helpful in our study, and he perceptively acknowledges its applicability to the exatnation of European development: Culture is an instrument for making ... cooperation natural. Its success depends on the extent to which it is allowed to be self-authenticating. Though it allows for internal discussion ... the principles of decision in such discussions are themselves provided by the culture. By uniting the people in common beliefs and attitudes ... culture fills with order that portion of life which lies beyond the pale of state intervention .... It fills it in such a way as at the same time to integrate its society, on the basis of common reactions, common actions, common interests, common attitudes, common values. It creates the basis of the formulation of a common destiny and t·ooperation in pursuing it. If one looks at the West one finds that this use of culture is well-developed. It is what is involved, when one hears it said that this or that belief will destroy a certain way of life, and that that way of life must be defended no matter what the cost. 7 The ideological thrust of culture is inescapable.

It boldly con-

ft 11ntsus. Culture is ideological since it possesses the force and power 111din•ct activity, to mold person1lities,

and to pattern behavior. This nF{nition i111pliesa theory of culture. Raymond Betts puts it this w,1y: "Ideology is lwre used in a cultural sense, to denote the verbal 11111wgr..1phyhy wlikh a pc-ople represents itself in order to achieve 1 11111m1111al p111 pnse." 11Leonard Bnrry the stronH for their own protection. 1111• d;111J,l1•1 or ~:wh tl'arllll1w: to ~O('lll sancl years later in the same tradition, Saint Simon and others would echo Plato's edicl. They wo1Jlcl say LImt llw ll('W sostrnctlvc,,ontrnntntionnl nature of the 1:11rop1•,11111/ur111,ro/11 111 111-{lil n 1!1111~ lltS 11:IVl' In co111111rn1to 1111·1•xclw,lu11 of l·.11111p1•,111tll111tl{hl, All ol tll, vl,:w!'-.111111fl11111•d1111·•1pl1lt1t,ll 11111,1l1111•, 111,11I, tlwy l1,1v1•.,pldltl.il 11,1•t''t

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Utamawazo: The Cultural Structuring of Thought

99

objectification as valued epistemological modes. Obviously, they do ltave rationalistic and pragmatic aspects but these do not dominate. These views generate an authentic cosmology, the interrelatedness of all being. They reject Aristotelian logic as the primary path to ulti111atetruth, while recognizing the symbolic and not the literal mode ;1s appropriate for the expression of meaning. Most clearly these peo1,les share a vision of a harmonious order achieved through balance, ,\s they seek to understand and maintain that order. We who have l>1wnk srntcnwnt of what can be callec;I the th1•havior,which their own culture does not generate, support, motivnt ia is definitely an c11tn•11dwd trait of l-:urnpca11 cullun's from way bal'k. I thl11k t'Vt'll E111op1•1111 -:lyr,•prc•Sl'l11sIlw apogee or t l1