Throughout the history of western academia, there have been scholars who have interpreted and examined various aspects of human history. Within their “objectivity,” European historians and other Eurocentric scholars make it a point to universalize their own interpretations of different people’s histories and cultures. This type of scholarship tends to ignore or omit the contributions and historical realities of Afrikan people. This case is especially true of the scholars who have interpreted the historiography around the Afrikan revolution in Ayiti (Haiti/Hayti). The purpose of this study is to provide an Afrocentric re-examination and interpretation around the historiography of the Afrikan Revolution in Ayiti. As a result, this study seeks to highlight several essential Afrikan aspects and their overall impact on the Afrikan revolutionary war's totality in Ayiti. How can Ayisyen Vodou/Vodun and the more extensive system of Afrikan spirituality help better shape the interpretation and the historiography around the Afrikan revolution in Ayiti? Secondly, how have Eurocentric historiographies about different Afrikan histories been used to minimize Afrikan agency? Specifically, how did Afrikan people's dislocation caused by the European plantation play into the minimization of Afrikan agency in Ayiti during and after the revolution? Other relevant questions posed include: what is the relevance of utilizing Afrocentric historiography to teach young black children the stories and victories of Afrikan people in Ayiti? Furthermore, how can Afrocentric historiography be used as an analytical tool to discuss the theoretical issue of agency reduction formation and cognitive hiatus in Ayiti? These are the major research questions this study will attempt to answer, with the hope that this work may potentially raise the consciousness of young Afrikan people in Ayiti and abroad. / African American Studies

Seizing the Power to Define!" Afrocentric Inquiry and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem Miciah Z. Yehudah Doctoral Dissertation Doctoral Committee Advisory Chair: Iyelli Ichile; Ph.D. Temple University, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, United States of America This dissertation critically examines the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, a group of African American Hebrews from Chicago that migrated to Liberia in 1967 and Israel in 1969. The greater part of the scholarship engaging the group since 1967 has consistently labeled them along four lines: as a people seeking constant external acceptance; as a cultic or "new religious movement"; as an oppressed and downtrodden people seeking success in any way in which it could be achieved; or as a people with a strange affinity towards Jewish people so extreme that they intend not only to emulate and eradicate them but to serve as their replacements. In the literature reviewed it was rare that the actual philosophy of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem was interrogated. In the rare cases in which their philosophies were examined they were situated only in regards to their relationship with an already assumed universal White normativity. In studying the group, methodological concerns arise, as do questions with regards to who the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem truly are. To investigate the methodological parameters of studying the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem the Afrocentric Paradigm is employed. Afrocentric inquiry's focus on agency and the privileging of the voice of the African subjects within its own narrative differs drastically from the methodology underlying those scholars that have studied the group previously. In order to explore who the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem identify with (orientation), how they navigate the issue of epistemology as both a people of African and Israelite heritage (grounding), and how they define freedom and its parameters in conversation with the larger African world they claim to be amongst (location) this dissertation analyzes major publications of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem since the 1980s. This work challenges the argument that the Afrocentric Paradigm is ill suited to appropriately study the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. / African American Studies

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Searching for the Womanist Within is a play about self identity and the daily experience of African-American women who are at the intersecting oppressions of race, gender and class. The unique life perspective of Afeican-American women is explored through the retelling of stories from the writer’s life as well as the lives of other black women. In Feminist, Black Feminist, Afrocentric and Womanist drama it is common to steer away from conventional theatrical structures, Solo drama, a less conventional structure, was selected for this play. In addition to the play is an essay about the writing process, as well as a literature review and a statement of significance about this creative thesis.

The purpose of this study is to explore cultural identity within African Americans. The primary construct of interest is African centered identity, which is comprised of two parts: 1) cultural values with origins in African cultures that have been unintentionally retained, and 2) a social and political ideology that intentionally incorporates elements of an African worldview. This study utilizes qualitative research methodology to investigate the lived experience of African centered identity, and incorporates a developmental perspective. Semi-structured interviews of 14 adults are analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The results reveal many themes in the participants’ lived experience of their cultural identity that are consistent with prominent descriptions of African centered worldview. Less consistent results regarding participants’ development of their cultural identity are discussed within the framework of racial and ethnic identity stage models. Finally, respondents’ narratives are discussed with regards to their implications for identity measurement, the social construction of identity, and the influence of environment on identity development.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how parents of African descent understand the African-centered school concept as an alternative education to the mainstream public school in Toronto. While we cannot ignore the success stories of some Black students in the school system, the reality remains that the academic performance of some shows a downward trend. Hence, concerned educators and members of the African-Canadian community suggest the need for the establishment of a Black focused or African-centered school as an alternative to the mainstream public school. This will allow students to learn more effectively because they are culturally grounded and will be able to link issues of individual or group identities with what goes on at school. This qualitative research relied principally on in-depth interviews with twenty African-Canadian parents who have children in the mainstream public schools in Toronto. It assumes that parents are important stakeholders in their children’s education so their views on problems and the need for an alternative form of schooling have significant implications for the academic performance of Black youth. The data from my study and available literature make it evident that despite the introduction of African heritage and multicultural programs and anti-racist education, profound problems still exist for Black youth in the mainstream public schools. The findings indicate that out of twenty, a majority of seventeen African-Canadian parents support the establishment of African-centered schools as an alternative to the mainstream public school. All participants interviewed agree that discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping in mainstream public schools are major problems for their children. The parents’ narratives show that the establishment of an African-centered school as an alternative to the mainstream public school is a way to combat the discrimination and prejudice Black youth encounter at school. The parents believe Black focused schools should be a major preoccupation of educational personnel, school boards and policy makers. Finally the implications of establishing an African-centered school to address the needs of Black youth and directions for future research are discussed.

In this thesis I explore performances of empowerment in the work and artistic persona of Londonbased hip hop duo Poetic Pilgrimage. By using intersectionality, critical race and performance theories, I sketched a possible reading of their performance of religion in the complex context of their positionality as black, british, women, muslim converts and performing artists. I looked specifically at how performance shapes possibilities of cultural and religious interpretations of race, religion, nationality, gender and the arts. The question that guides me is: how do they shape their Empowerment with their Performance? After becoming familiar with the material, I realised that one way of answering this question is by looking into how they relate to an intersectional idea of Empowerment, namely how they relate to race and gender in their islamic art (religion/occupation/class) and how Empowerment is directly connected with Performance, it is the Performance that enables their Empowerment: artistic Performance that shapes their ethnographic Performance of muslimness, womanhood, black womanhood, muslim womanhood, women artistry, britishness, etc. So in this text, it is their Performance of categories and themes that constitute strategies and processes or Empowerment. My focus of Empowerment is on representation, which makes me define Empowerment as the act of learning to Love yourself and others in positive ways. This is inspired in the work of Audre Lorde. And it is reflected in Poetic Pilgrimage's own stance, as revealed by the opening statement of this thesis, We have no LOVE OF SELF. My focus on Performance means that I distance myself from constructs of identity markers that are not sensitive to construction and deconstruction. My underlying approach is to reflect on how Poetic Pilgrimage are and have been constructed by deconstructing them, question them. Taking into account that I cannot not think intersectionally, all themes under scrutiny here deal with ways in which Poetic Pilgrimage expose, explore and create islam and the arts of Performance to forge possibilities of Empowerment, in a way that I attempt to research all categories intersected. In the first thematic chapter (black european islam), emphasis is put on race and in the second thematic chapter (modesty is the new cool), focus turns to gender, though understood in relation to each other and to other categories, such as nationality, class, occupation, ethnicity. In terms of material, I focus on the final product (on stage/videoclips), having Poetic Pilgrimage's Performance on facebook as public artistic persona as a framework for the event of artistic Performance itself. Performing self, or everyday life Performance using artistic means is the trade mark of hip hop culture, which Poetic Pilgrimage are a part of.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how parents of African descent understand the African-centered school concept as an alternative education to the mainstream public school in Toronto. While we cannot ignore the success stories of some Black students in the school system, the reality remains that the academic performance of some shows a downward trend. Hence, concerned educators and members of the African-Canadian community suggest the need for the establishment of a Black focused or African-centered school as an alternative to the mainstream public school. This will allow students to learn more effectively because they are culturally grounded and will be able to link issues of individual or group identities with what goes on at school. This qualitative research relied principally on in-depth interviews with twenty African-Canadian parents who have children in the mainstream public schools in Toronto. It assumes that parents are important stakeholders in their children’s education so their views on problems and the need for an alternative form of schooling have significant implications for the academic performance of Black youth. The data from my study and available literature make it evident that despite the introduction of African heritage and multicultural programs and anti-racist education, profound problems still exist for Black youth in the mainstream public schools. The findings indicate that out of twenty, a majority of seventeen African-Canadian parents support the establishment of African-centered schools as an alternative to the mainstream public school. All participants interviewed agree that discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping in mainstream public schools are major problems for their children. The parents’ narratives show that the establishment of an African-centered school as an alternative to the mainstream public school is a way to combat the discrimination and prejudice Black youth encounter at school. The parents believe Black focused schools should be a major preoccupation of educational personnel, school boards and policy makers. Finally the implications of establishing an African-centered school to address the needs of Black youth and directions for future research are discussed.

Little is known about Black Americans' experience with and attitudes toward the police. For Black Americans and the police to improve their relationship, police need to understand the factors that influence Black Americans' perceptions. Asante's concept of Afrocentric theory assisted with exploring the attitudes of Black Americans about police misconduct in a Southeastern United States urban area. The purpose of the qualitative ethnographic study was to understand the attitudes of Black Americans towards the police and the factors that influence those perceptions. This study precisely addresses three main questions: (1) how has media coverage impacted Black Americans' perceptions of officer behavior in the urban area; (2) how has the community environment impacted Black American perceptions of officer behavior in the urban area; and (3) how have officers' informal and formal behaviors impacted Black Americans' perception of police conduct in the urban area. A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit 30 Black Americans for the semi-structured interviews who discussed their thoughts and opinions about factors that are associated with the Black American community. The data were coded resulting in 12 themes. Results from this study indicated that the majority of Black Americans had overall negative views about the police. The findings suggest that social change can only happen when the police and Black Americans work together to understand each other and address issues that come with a lack of understanding. Promoting good relationships through media, the community environment, and improving police encounters with the Black American community is critical to enhancing community relations.

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