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Kemet and the African Worldview: Research, Rescue and Restoration
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197 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1986
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May 16, 2026
PAPERS PRESENTED AT TWO CONFERENCES (1984 & 1985) OF AFRICAN SCHOLARS
Co-editor Jacob Carruthers wrote in the Preface to this 1986 collection, “Dr. Maulana Karenga and I convened the First Annual Ancient African Egyptian Studies Conference in Feebruary 1984 at Los Angeles. The Conference was designed to go beyond the establishment of an annual intellectual homecoming celebration and the founding of another Black professional scholarly association. What was and is now needed is the organization of African people throughout the world toward the rescue of the African heritage and the restoration of African civilization. Such was the major objective of the Conference: the fruition of the dreams and visions of African people during the two thousand seasons of our distress. In the struggle to liberate African people throughout the world, it is necessary that we mobilize the resources of the African of the African heritage… The enthusiastic response of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke placed the seal of authority on the project. The response from scholars in the field who answered the call was also very encouraging… This renewal gave birth to the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC)...
“The spirit that made the First Annual Conference an overwhelming success… ushered in the Second Annual Conference in March 1985 at Chicago… ASCAC was formally organized and began its operation with a slate of dedicated officers and members. This volume presents the proceedings and some of the best presentations of the first and second ASCAC conferences… the selections reflect the most recent thinking among those who work from an African worldview… the major share of the work of editing this volume has fallen on the shoulders of Dr. Karenga…”
Maulana Karenga wrote in his Introduction, “The fundamental historical task becomes, then, one of rescuing and restoring the culture of Kemet and of exploring and expanding the human possibilities inherent in this process… Having established an authentic African framework for research and analysis, we cannot only reach out to explore other cultural centers in Africa, but identify and reject that which is intrusive and alien to the African human spirit and integrate that which is affirmative and expansive and contributive to human liberation and a higher level of human life. It is this framework which my colleague, Dr. Carruthers, proposes when he states in his ‘Essays In Ancient Egyptian Studies,' that the fundamental requirement for this kind of research, the task of restoration and the posing of an African paradigm, is an African Worldview… it is a creative challenge to reconstruct and to construct, pose and put in place an African paradigm for both our liberation and every higher levels of human life.”
Ife Jogunosimi notes, “In ancient Africa, the woman not only had a special place within the context of the family but often ruled nations wielding much power. One only has to look at the ancient nation states of Egypt, Kush, and Ethiopia to see women in positions of leadership and power.” (Pg. 32)
A. Joseph Ben-Levi notes, “Agreement among western scholars on the supposed white or Asian origin of the Hyksos does not mean that the ancient Israelites were so. The presence of the infamous Hyksos in ancient Kemetic history has proven to be a most convenient tool in the hands of Eurocentrics who were and still are bent on white-washing the true history of the African people. There are basically two ethnological hypotheses upon which the Hyksos-Israelite assumptions are made. The first comes from Flavius Josephus, which… still is defended to the present day by egyptologists and historians. The second hypothesis is suggested by the ancient Greek geographer Strabo and … Sigmund Freud.” (Pg. 61)
Maulana Karenga observes in an essay, “ben-Jocannan’s call was and remains an essential one, and Jacob Carruthers and his colleagues at the Kemetic Institute … marked an indispensable transition from simple and limited references to Kemetic texts while quoting extensively from the Bible to the actual study and teaching of the sacred texts themselves. At the same time, it was a critical transition from an almost exclusive dependence on secondary interpretative sources on Kemetic spirituality… to independent systematic exegesis of the sacred texts themselves in the context of an African worldview.” (Pg. 84-85)
Wade W. Nobles states, “as [Cheikh Anta] Diop has pointed out, the common denominator characterizing the study of ancient Egypt by white egyptologists has been their seemingly desperate pathological necessity and unrelentless attempt to refute ancient Africa’s Blackness. Consequently, information regarding [the] ancient African has been destroyed, distorted, falsified, suppressed and intentionally made unclear.” (Pg. 102)
Daima M. Clark points out, “Ancestors were and are a vital ambiance in the life or every living African whether he or she is aware of this reality or not. Centuries of traditions have been transmitted in their essence, to each successive generation as part and parcel of their cultural identity. Our Egyptian ancestors in their wisdom, perceived the value of cultivating functional unity between the body, mind and soul of their people. This heritage an African may ignore, but he/she cannot escape it.” (Pg. 122)
W.J. Hardiman reports, “After consulting with Dr. Jacob Carruthers… it became apparent to me that (1) Western literacy forms like the tragedy, comedy, farce, and melodrama had no comparative form in ancient Egyptian literature, and (2) if classical literature was to be taught from an Afro-centric perspective, I had to create an Afrocentric context and process and I had to use Afrocentric literacy forms/genres.” (Pg. 169)
Molefi Kete Asante observes, “In African thought, disharmony in the community must be quickly corrected. This why there was often a dependence on the consecration made to the vital function which a particular animal incarnated. We sometimes speak of animal worship which, by the way, occurs nowhere that I know in Africa. There are meditations, rhythmic meditations... that were used to clarify essential functions of nature. This was not a worship of animals, but a grasping for essentiality.” (Pg. 185-186)
This book will be of great interest to those seeking ‘academic’ perspectives on Ancient Egyptian/African studies.
Co-editor Jacob Carruthers wrote in the Preface to this 1986 collection, “Dr. Maulana Karenga and I convened the First Annual Ancient African Egyptian Studies Conference in Feebruary 1984 at Los Angeles. The Conference was designed to go beyond the establishment of an annual intellectual homecoming celebration and the founding of another Black professional scholarly association. What was and is now needed is the organization of African people throughout the world toward the rescue of the African heritage and the restoration of African civilization. Such was the major objective of the Conference: the fruition of the dreams and visions of African people during the two thousand seasons of our distress. In the struggle to liberate African people throughout the world, it is necessary that we mobilize the resources of the African of the African heritage… The enthusiastic response of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke placed the seal of authority on the project. The response from scholars in the field who answered the call was also very encouraging… This renewal gave birth to the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC)...
“The spirit that made the First Annual Conference an overwhelming success… ushered in the Second Annual Conference in March 1985 at Chicago… ASCAC was formally organized and began its operation with a slate of dedicated officers and members. This volume presents the proceedings and some of the best presentations of the first and second ASCAC conferences… the selections reflect the most recent thinking among those who work from an African worldview… the major share of the work of editing this volume has fallen on the shoulders of Dr. Karenga…”
Maulana Karenga wrote in his Introduction, “The fundamental historical task becomes, then, one of rescuing and restoring the culture of Kemet and of exploring and expanding the human possibilities inherent in this process… Having established an authentic African framework for research and analysis, we cannot only reach out to explore other cultural centers in Africa, but identify and reject that which is intrusive and alien to the African human spirit and integrate that which is affirmative and expansive and contributive to human liberation and a higher level of human life. It is this framework which my colleague, Dr. Carruthers, proposes when he states in his ‘Essays In Ancient Egyptian Studies,' that the fundamental requirement for this kind of research, the task of restoration and the posing of an African paradigm, is an African Worldview… it is a creative challenge to reconstruct and to construct, pose and put in place an African paradigm for both our liberation and every higher levels of human life.”
Ife Jogunosimi notes, “In ancient Africa, the woman not only had a special place within the context of the family but often ruled nations wielding much power. One only has to look at the ancient nation states of Egypt, Kush, and Ethiopia to see women in positions of leadership and power.” (Pg. 32)
A. Joseph Ben-Levi notes, “Agreement among western scholars on the supposed white or Asian origin of the Hyksos does not mean that the ancient Israelites were so. The presence of the infamous Hyksos in ancient Kemetic history has proven to be a most convenient tool in the hands of Eurocentrics who were and still are bent on white-washing the true history of the African people. There are basically two ethnological hypotheses upon which the Hyksos-Israelite assumptions are made. The first comes from Flavius Josephus, which… still is defended to the present day by egyptologists and historians. The second hypothesis is suggested by the ancient Greek geographer Strabo and … Sigmund Freud.” (Pg. 61)
Maulana Karenga observes in an essay, “ben-Jocannan’s call was and remains an essential one, and Jacob Carruthers and his colleagues at the Kemetic Institute … marked an indispensable transition from simple and limited references to Kemetic texts while quoting extensively from the Bible to the actual study and teaching of the sacred texts themselves. At the same time, it was a critical transition from an almost exclusive dependence on secondary interpretative sources on Kemetic spirituality… to independent systematic exegesis of the sacred texts themselves in the context of an African worldview.” (Pg. 84-85)
Wade W. Nobles states, “as [Cheikh Anta] Diop has pointed out, the common denominator characterizing the study of ancient Egypt by white egyptologists has been their seemingly desperate pathological necessity and unrelentless attempt to refute ancient Africa’s Blackness. Consequently, information regarding [the] ancient African has been destroyed, distorted, falsified, suppressed and intentionally made unclear.” (Pg. 102)
Daima M. Clark points out, “Ancestors were and are a vital ambiance in the life or every living African whether he or she is aware of this reality or not. Centuries of traditions have been transmitted in their essence, to each successive generation as part and parcel of their cultural identity. Our Egyptian ancestors in their wisdom, perceived the value of cultivating functional unity between the body, mind and soul of their people. This heritage an African may ignore, but he/she cannot escape it.” (Pg. 122)
W.J. Hardiman reports, “After consulting with Dr. Jacob Carruthers… it became apparent to me that (1) Western literacy forms like the tragedy, comedy, farce, and melodrama had no comparative form in ancient Egyptian literature, and (2) if classical literature was to be taught from an Afro-centric perspective, I had to create an Afrocentric context and process and I had to use Afrocentric literacy forms/genres.” (Pg. 169)
Molefi Kete Asante observes, “In African thought, disharmony in the community must be quickly corrected. This why there was often a dependence on the consecration made to the vital function which a particular animal incarnated. We sometimes speak of animal worship which, by the way, occurs nowhere that I know in Africa. There are meditations, rhythmic meditations... that were used to clarify essential functions of nature. This was not a worship of animals, but a grasping for essentiality.” (Pg. 185-186)
This book will be of great interest to those seeking ‘academic’ perspectives on Ancient Egyptian/African studies.
March 22, 2012
Excellent collection of quality African American authors with a variety of subject matters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews