Summary of I Am Because We Are pg 338-pg356 - Essay Example

number I Am Because We Are - pg 338 - pg356 This section of the book talks about the Afro-centric idea in education. It was initially established by Carter Woodson in 1933 in his book The Mis-Education of the Negro. He talks about the problem that the education of an African person in America encounters. It shows how African Americans have been taken away from the teaching of their own culture to adoption of the European culture. One thing that Woodson notes if that if the African American would hold the same position as the European American, there would be a lot of psychological and cultural death of the population that consist of the African American (338).

Woodson claims that more than fifty years ago at his time, something was wrong with the path that the African American were being educated, and this provided an impetus for the Afrocentric approach to the education in America. In this article, Molefi examines the scope and nature of this approach by Woodson. He shows its necessity and further suggests how it can be developed and disseminated all through the levels of education (340). The two guide propositions that this article makes use of are the definitions of education and school.

Education is defined as a fundamentally social phenomenon that purposes to socialize a learner. School is a reflexive of societies and develops from them. Afrocentricity is defined as a frame of reference that enables someone particularly a researcher to develop of phenomena in regards of the African person. Molefi emphasizes that the afrocentricity should not be mistaken to a black version of Eurocentricity. Eurocentricity is generally based on the notion of white supremacist that purposes to protect white privilege and the importance in economics, education and politics among others (347.

The issue of Multiculturalism has also been featured illustrating that education must begin with a proposition that diverse people have contributed to the development of education. The American education does not include the African ethnic groups showing how the systems have victimized the teaching force (344). However, Afrocentricity gives the Americans an opportunity to examine the African person perspective in the society and globally. Afrocentricity is not anti-white like some people claim but is pro-human.

The Afrocentric curriculum aim is not to divide America, but to make it flourish. 348. In the second article, Learning to talk the race, Cornel west talks about an event that happened in Los Angeles explaining why it is neither a race riot nor a rebellion associated with a class. It includes more than thirty-six percent blacks, and Cornel explains this as the consequence of a probable lethal linkage for cultural decay, economic decline and political lethargy presence I the American Life (350).

The emergence of such Black Nationalist sentiments within the blacks’ society particularly for the young people portrays a revolt against the sense of having to adapt and fit in. Afrocentrism which is a contemporary link of Black Nationalism is a misguided yet gallant attempt used to define the African identity within a white society perceived to be hostile (354). It is regarded as a gallant because it instills black doings and sufferings at the centre of the discussion and not the white fears and anxieties.

Works CitedHord, Fred L, and Jonathan S. Lee. I Am Because We Are: Readings in Black Philosophy. Amherst, Mass: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995. Internet resource.