African Roots/American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas / Edition 1

by Sheila S. Walker, Michael L. Blakey, Tomas Olivera Chirimini, Yvonne Daniel, Howard Dodson

Overview

Africans and their descendants constituted the majority of the population of the modern Americas for the first three hundred years of their five centuries of existence. Yet their fundamental roles in the creation and definition of the new societies of the "new world," and their significance in the development of the Atlantic world, have not been acknowledged. This multidisciplinary volume highlights the African presence throughout the Americas, and African and African Diasporan contributions to the material and cultural life of all of the Americas, and of all Americans. It includes articles from leading scholars, and from cultural leaders from both well-known and little-known African Diasporan communities. Privileging, although not limiting itself to, African Diasporan voices, it offers new perspectives, data, and interpretations that challenge prevailing understandings of the Americas. Its fundamental premise is that the story of the Americas can only be accurately told by including the foundational roles played by Africans and their descendants in the Americas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742501652
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/21/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Sheila S Walker, PhD is a cultural anthropologist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. A professor of Anthropology, she also directed the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the African Diaspora and the World Program at Spelman College. She is the CEO of Afrodiaspora Global LLC that shares with the public information about the Global African Diaspora based on her field research and participation in intellectual and cultural events in most of Africa and its worldwide Diaspora.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 List of Figures Chapter 2 Translator's Notes Chapter 3 Orthographic and Terminological Notes Part 4 The Africanity of Blackness and the Blackness of Whiteness in the Americas Chapter 5 Reclaiming the Black Presence in “Mainstream Culture” Chapter 6 Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance Chapter 7 Introduction: Are You Hip to te Jive? (Re)Writing/Righting the Pan-American Discourse Part 8 Global Africa and the Creation of the Modern World Chapter 9 The African Diaspora in World History and Politics Chapter 10 The Slave Trade and the Making of the New World Chapter 11 Africans and Economic Development in the Atlantic World, 1500-1850 Part 12 African Pasts/Pan-American Presents Chapter 13 Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Transamerican Intellectual Chapter 14 Same Boat, Different Stops: An African Atlantic Culinary Journey Chapter 15 Roots and Branches: Historical Patterns in African Diasporan Artifacts Chapter 16 The West Indian Carnival: International Dimensions Chapter 17 The Study of New York’s African Burial Ground: Biocultural and Engaged Chapter 18 It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing: Relationships between African and African American Music Chapter 19 Candombe, African Nations, and the Africanity of Uruguay Chapter 20 “Catching Sense” and the Meaning of Belonging on a South Carolina Sea Island Part 22 Re(Dis)Covered Histories, Recreated Nations, Reconstituted Communities—Then and Now Part 22 African Diasporan Presences, Resistance, and Ways of Knowing Chapter 24 New African Diasporic Communities in the United States: Community-Centered Approaches to Research and Presentation Chapter 24 Demystifying Africa’s Absence in Venezuelan History and Culture Chapter 25 African Concepts and Practice of the Nation and their Implications in the Modern World Chapter 27 Ìfaradà/Ìfarigà: Black Resistance and Achievement in Brazil Chapter 28 Quilombos and Rebellions in Brazil Chapter 29 Stories and Images of Our People: Propositions for a Future Chapter 30 Embodied Knowledge: Articulate Movement of African American Dance Performance Chapter 33 The Afro Populations of America's Southern Cone: Organization, Development, and Culture in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay

Editorial Reviews

This is an exciting and imaginative volume, as Sheila Walker has succeeded in stimulating an insightful and provocative conversation among scholars and cultural leaders from all over the African Diaspora, uniquely informed by both recent research as well as lived experience. Topics both historical and contemporary, from Burial Ground to Carnival, are often explored through the lens of multidisciplinarity, bringing the African Diaspora into much sharper focus. A splendid and much-needed contribution.

Michael A. Gomez

This is a highly recommended text for its ability to provoke a productive dialogue of enormous interest to scholars and non-academics alike.

Ethnic and Racial Studies

As cultural leaders and artists from African Diasporan societies are finally allowed to speak for themselves, adding their perspectives to those of internationally known scholars, Walker gives her readers a rich array of fresh voices in an anthology certain to redefine contemporary understandings of the African Diaspora. The new data and new theoretical perspectives offer readers a forward-looking vantage point from which to assess and understand the Americas.

Gloria Harper Dickinson

This book not only breaks 'new ground,' but lays the foundations for a new and more open consideration of the full impact of the African experience within the Americas.

J. Michael Turner

These essays make us 'hip to the jive' while revealing dimensions of the African Americas—exhilarating in their importance.

Choice Reviews

These essays make us 'hip to the jive' while revealing dimensions of the African Americas—exhilarating in their importance.

Choice

As cultural leaders and artists from African Diasporan societies are finally allowed to speak for themselves, adding their perspectives to those of internationally known scholars, Walker gives her readers a rich array of fresh voices in an anthology certain to redefine contemporary understandings of the African Diaspora. The new data and new theoretical perspectives offer readers a forward-looking vantage point from which to assess and understand the Americas.--Gloria Harper Dickinson, president, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History

This is an exciting and imaginative volume, as Sheila Walker has succeeded in stimulating an insightful and provocative conversation among scholars and cultural leaders from all over the African Diaspora, uniquely informed by both recent research as well as lived experience. Topics both historical and contemporary, from Burial Ground to Carnival, are often explored through the lens of multidisciplinarity, bringing the African Diaspora into much sharper focus. A splendid and much-needed contribution.--Michael A. Gomez, New York University

This book not only breaks 'new ground, ' but lays the foundations for a new and more open consideration of the full impact of the African experience within the Americas.--J. Michael Turner, Hunter College, CUNY

From the Publisher

These essays make us 'hip to the jive' while revealing dimensions of the African Americas—exhilarating in their importance.

CHOICE

Anthropologists, historians, and other scholars and artists from across the Americas discuss the Africanity of blackness and the blackness of whiteness in the Americas; global Africa and the creation of the modern world; African pasts and pan-African presents; recovered histories, recreated nations, and reconstituted communities; and African diasporan presences, resistance, and ways of knowing. The 23 essays were presented at the February 1996 African Diaspora and the Modern World conference held in Austin, Texas. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews