Race Matters Cornel West (ISBN: 978-0-679-74986-8) Afrocentric

¶ … Race Matters Cornel West (ISBN: 978-0-679-74986-8)

Afrocentric Perspectives?

Some fairly prominent similarities exist between Molefe Kete Asante's The Afrocentric Idea, and Cornel West's Race Matters. Both manuscripts were published within a year of each other (West's was published in 1993 while Asante's was published in 1994). Furthermore, both books are largely non-fictional accountings of (what was at the time) contemporary ramifications of race and culture. Both authors have also pursued careers within academia, as West spent some time at the Afro-American studies program at Princeton while Asante has spent a considerable amount of time engaged as a professor within the African-American Studies department at Temple University However, some fairly eminent dissimilarities can also be found within these works, not the least of which is directly related to the scope of the author's respective books. Race Matters is largely about America and the consequences and implications of African-Americans within this country. The Afrocentric Idea is significantly more global in its focus. Although the author dedicates some attention to African-Americans and their home country, the overall motif of this work is dedicated towards presenting an ideological (and somewhat cosmological) viewpoint of Africa, which is most frequently contrasted with that of Europe.

Still, other similarities do exist between the two works, such as their reliance on events that were contemporary at the time of the writing to elucidate and demonstrate more universal concepts. West does so from a perspective that is decidedly political and one which is of more than a passing interest to Asante and his work -- it is directly related to the Afrocentric perspective which the latter widely propagates. The Afrocentric perspective, as defined within The Afrocentric Idea and as commonly understood, refers to the notion of viewing the world and all in it from a cultural standpoint that is rooted within Africa and its people's history and traditions. Most frequently, Asante compares the Afrocentric vantage point with what amounts to the hidden Eurocentric perspective which most of the world, and certainly the United States, commonly adheres to.

Whereas Asante champions the Afrocentric point-of-view with several examples that were current in the 1990's (such as the U.S.'s involvement in Somalia and its tempered efficacy there due to ignorance of certain cultural concerns that were central to the issues at work at that time), West somewhat challenges this perspective through examples that were timely during the book's publication. He utilizes the examples of both Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill (the one a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and the other an attorney who was employed by the former, and who were embroiled within a detailed hearing regarding charges of sexual harassment in the early 90's) to demonstrate that an Afrocentric point-of-view actually provides a narrow evaluation of ideas of race and its importance. With this example, West posits that the Afrocentric viewpoint would have supported Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court as well as Hill's status as an attorney. However, the reality of this situation is that both of these people were highly conservative Republicans who actually supported a number of causes that were substantially disadvantage to the majority of African-Americans in the lower and middle classes. Therefore, while the Afrocentric perspective has value for being primarily concerned with the tribulations and difficulties endemic to African-Americans, it can actually limit their vantage points and result in negative ramifications for them.

Asante, however, spends the duration of his manuscript widely extolling the value and the virtue in an Afrocentric viewpoint that is somewhat refreshing, especially when compared to the predominance of the Eurocentric perspective that is found within most of the Western world. However, the author does so by primarily contrasting global concerns or global conceptions that are germane to both of these ideologies. Such comparisons involve not just contemporary issues, but attenuated historical evaluations of the contributions of classical societies such as those found in Greece and in Rome during antiquity -- and by noting the copious amount of aid (whether it was given willingly or not) that Africa supplied such civilizations. In doing so, the author is constantly reinforcing and asserting the degree with which the Afrocentric viewpoint is legitimate, and should ideally be shared by the world's denizens, at least in a capacity that is equal to that of the Eurocentric point-of-view. Doing so, of course, would put Africa and its contributions and methods with which it has produced its contributions as "the total use of method to affect psychological, political, social, cultural, and economic change" (Asante 125).