Molefi Kete Asante (born August 14, 1942) is a contemporary African American scholar in the field of African studies and African American Studies. He is currently Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University,[1][2] where he founded the first[3] PhD program in African American Studies. Professor Asante is known for his theories of Afrocentricity and transracial, intercultural, and international communication.[4][5] He is the founding editor of the Journal of Black Studies.[6] He is the author of more than 65 books.
Biography
Molefi Kete Asante was born Arthur Lee Smith, Jr.[7] in Valdosta, Georgia, one of sixteen children of laborers Arthur and Lillie Smith. His father worked first in a peanut warehouse and then on the Georgia-Southern Railways.
Asante changed his name as he considered his former name a slave name. The first member of his family to graduate from college, Asante received his B.A. from Oklahoma Christian University in 1964, his M.A. from Pepperdine University in 1965, and his Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1968, all in communication studies. He was appointed a full professor at the age of 30 at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
Asante holds an Afrocentric view and has described Africa and particularly Egypt, which he interprets as the "land of the blacks", as the birthplace of civilization. He has been criticized for these views and also for his disparaging attitude "about the right of white professors to teach black American history".[8]
Asante has appeared in the documentary films The Faces of Evil and 500 Years Later.[9] The latter was written and produced by his son, author and filmmaker M.K. Asante, Jr. And is appearing in the sequel directed by Owen Alik Shahadah Motherland (film) in 2009.
Book List (partial)
- African American History: A Journey of Liberation (Peoples Publishing Group, 2001, 1995)
- Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change (African American Images/Africa World Press, 2003, 1988)
- An Afrocentric Manifesto: Toward an African Renaissance (Polity Press, 2007)
- Cheikh Anta Diop: An Intellectual Portrait (University of Sankore Press, 2007)
- Classical Africa (National Press Books, 1994)
- Contemporary Black Thought: Alternative Analyses in Social and Behavioral Science (Sage, 1980)
- Contemporary Public Communication: Applications (Harper & Row, 1977)
- Culture and Customs of Egypt (Greenwood Press, 2002)
- Egypt vs. Greece and the Ameican Academy (African American Images, 2002)
- Encyclopedia of Black Studies (Sage, 2004)
- Erasing Racism: The Survival of the American Nation (Prometheus, 2003)
- Handbook of Black Studies (Sage, 2006)
- Handbook of Intercultural Communication (Sage, 1979)
- Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication (Sage, 1989)
- Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge (Africa World Press, 1990)
- Language, Communication, and Rhetoric in Black America (Harper & Row, 1972)
- Malcolm X as Cultural Hero and Other Afrocentric Essays (Africa World Press, 1993)
- Mass Communication: Principles and Practices (Macmillan, 1979)
- 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia (Prometheus, 2002)
- Race, Rhetoric, and Identity: The Architecton of Soul (Humanity Books, 2005)
- Rhetoric of Black Revolution (Allyn & Bacon, 1969)
- Socio-Cultural Conflict between African American and Korean American (University Press of America, 2000)
- The African American Atlas: Black History and Culture (Macmillan, 1998)
- The Afrocentric Idea (Temple University Press, 1998, 1987)
- The Book of African Names (Africa World Press, 1991)
- The Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten (African American Images, 2000)
- The Global Intercultural Communication Reader (Routledge, 2008)
- The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony (Routledge, 2007)
- The Painful Demise of Eurocentrism: An Afrocentric Response to Critics (Africa World Press, 1999)
- The Scream of Blood: Desettlerism in Southern Africa (Sungai Books, 1998)
- Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa (Africa World Press, 1992)
- Transcultural Realities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Relations (Sage, 2001)
- Transracial Communication (Prentice-Hall, 1973)
Film List
References
- ^ "Molefi Kete Asante, Professor, Department of African American Studies" (html). Temple University faculty page.
- ^ Jon Spayde (1995). ""Utne Visionaries: People Who Could Change Your Life."" (html). Utne Magazine.
- ^ Molefi Kete Asante
- ^ Ronald Jackson and Sonja Brown Givens, Black Pioneers in Communication Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007.
- ^ Dhyana Ziegler, ed. Molefi Kete Asante: In Praise and Criticism. Nashville: Winston Derek, 1995.
- ^ Molefi Kete Asante at Sage Publications.
- ^ Diane D. Turner. "An Oral History Interview: Molefi Kete Asante" (html). Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 32, No. 6 (July 2002) pp. 711-734 (Abstract).
- ^ Damian Thompson, How Da Vinci Code tapped pseudo-fact hunger, Daily Telegraph, 2008-01-13.
- ^ Faces of Evil at the Internet Movie Database. 500 Years Later at the Internet Movie Database.
External links
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