How Can African Pjilosophy Help the Orphan in Class
The African Philosophy of Origins and its Impact on the Evolution of African National Consciousness
Self knowledge shall set you free Paper delivered at the University of Zululand, KZN, Empangeni in celebration of Africa Week (19th – 24th May 2008) Date: 19 May 2008 Kara Heritage Institute No. 70 Ga-Motlhe Building Cnr Potgieter & Church Streets Pretoria 0001 Tel: (012) 328 5028 Fax: (012) 328 5037 E-mail: admin@kara.co.za Website: www.kara.co.za P.O. Box 2442 Pretoria 0001
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The Cradle of African Humanity Many attempts have been made by western scholars to establish the origins and cradleland of African humanity. Many of these attempts were inspired by racism. For instance, the bible account of creation accepts the common origins of all humanity but along the way uses a spurious curse to assign African people an inferior or subhuman standing in the community of nation. More specifically it reduces Africans to hewers of wood and drawers of water for Europeans and Asiatic people. Some Greek and Roman scholars made negative descriptions of indegeneous Africans. For instance, Herodotus (IV,IAL) wrote that Africans had “speech that resembles and shrieking of a Bat rather than the language of men”, lacked “individual names”, and even “headless beings”. In the first century AD, even after direct Roman Contact with indegeneous Africans, the Roman scholar Pliny the elder would confirm that “by report [Africans] have no heads but mouth and eyes in their breasts”. Founders of the Protestant Movement, Martin Luther and John Calvin, considered Africans as a subhuman species which was created on the six day with the rest of the animal kingdom. The twentieth century both inherited, and contributed to, the generally, shared opinion that Africa is a benighted place completely lacking in civilisation. The period of enlightenment which derived its arts, sciences and philosophy from Africa through Egypt is associated with the view that Africa lacks “history” and
Self knowledge shall set you free Paper delivered at the University of Zululand, KZN, Empangeni in celebration of Africa Week (19th – 24th May 2008) Date: 19 May 2008 Kara Heritage Institute No. 70 Ga-Motlhe Building Cnr Potgieter & Church Streets Pretoria 0001 Tel: (012) 328 5028 Fax: (012) 328 5037 E-mail: admin@kara.co.za Website: www.kara.co.za P.O. Box 2442 Pretoria 0001
Page 1
The Cradle of African Humanity Many attempts have been made by western scholars to establish the origins and cradleland of African humanity. Many of these attempts were inspired by racism. For instance, the bible account of creation accepts the common origins of all humanity but along the way uses a spurious curse to assign African people an inferior or subhuman standing in the community of nation. More specifically it reduces Africans to hewers of wood and drawers of water for Europeans and Asiatic people. Some Greek and Roman scholars made negative descriptions of indegeneous Africans. For instance, Herodotus (IV,IAL) wrote that Africans had “speech that resembles and shrieking of a Bat rather than the language of men”, lacked “individual names”, and even “headless beings”. In the first century AD, even after direct Roman Contact with indegeneous Africans, the Roman scholar Pliny the elder would confirm that “by report [Africans] have no heads but mouth and eyes in their breasts”. Founders of the Protestant Movement, Martin Luther and John Calvin, considered Africans as a subhuman species which was created on the six day with the rest of the animal kingdom. The twentieth century both inherited, and contributed to, the generally, shared opinion that Africa is a benighted place completely lacking in civilisation. The period of enlightenment which derived its arts, sciences and philosophy from Africa through Egypt is associated with the view that Africa lacks “history” and