The Problem(s) of Theory and Theory Production in Africana Studies (original) (raw)
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Critical African Studies
In this introduction to the special issue on decolonizing African Studies, we discuss some of the epicolonial dynamics that characterize much of higher education and knowledge production in, of, with, and for Africa. Decolonizing, we argue, is best understood as a verb that entails a political and normative ethic and practice of resistance and intentional undoingunlearning and dismantling unjust practices, assumptions, and institutionsas well as persistent positive action to create and build alternative spaces and ways of knowing. We present four dimesions of decolonizing work: structural, epistemic, personal, and relational, which are entangled and equally necessary. We offer the Black Academic Caucus at the University of Cape Town as an example of how these dimensions can come to life, and introduce the contributions in this special issue (the first of a two-part series) that illuminate other sites and dimensions of decolonizing.
Francis Cress Welsing's Contributions to Africana Studies Epistemology
Francis Cress Welsing, a Black psychiatrist and medical school professor, advanced one of the most notable and controversial theories about the perpetuation of global White supremacy. The cress theory of color confrontation (CTCC) seeks to etiologically explain the varying degrees of White supremacist patterns of behavior that shape White interaction with Black people in particular and " non-White " people in general. White supremacy has been under-theorized in Africana Studies save for a few key scholars. The present investigation seeks to locate the CTCC within Africana Studies in terms of Christian's, McDougal's, Karenga's, and Banks's epistemological models, and to estimate the analytical value it adds to knowledge production in the discipline. This analysis concludes that CTCC both enhances and challenges Africana Studies. It offers a systematic scientific examination of White supremacist behaviors and psychology to equip Africana communities for the continuing needs of the freedom struggle. CTCC also challenges Africana Studies in that in order to move beyond a reactive posture toward racism, it is necessary to direct systematic attention, resources, and research toward studying White thought, in order to understand, anticipate, and defeat its efforts to oppress people of African descent.