The Church in African American Life - Lecture on October 3, 2011

1. The Church in African American Life
Monique Liston, MPA
October 3, 2011
THE MALE/FEMALE PRINCIPLE IN
TRADITIONAL AFRICA
10/3/2011 Liston 1

2. Ground Rules for Intellectual Work:
(Dr. Greg Kimathi Carr)
10/3/2011 Liston 2

3. African Diaspora
10/3/2011 Liston 3

4. Presentation Outline
Goals
Questions to Think About
Concepts & Definitions
Dispelling Myths of Antiquity
Pre-colonial Perceptions of
Manhood/Womanhood
Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
The Church in African-American Life
10/3/2011 Liston 4

5. Goals
You will…
 have an understanding of male and female relationships
in African antiquity.
 have an understanding of pre-colonial African
perceptions of the male/female principle in contrast with post-
colonial African diasporic perceptions of the male/female
principle
 have a basis for critiquing modern* ideas and
philosophies on the male/female principle
 have a list of resources to find out more information on
the male/female principle in the African diaspora
10/3/2011 Liston 5

6. African Women in World History
John Henrik Clarke (maa kherw) - Be present.
10/3/2011 Liston 6

7. Guiding Questions
• How does this relate to the church in
African-American life? (BEFORE)
• What is traditional Africa?
• What is the male/female principle?
• How was the male/female principle
changed over time and space?
• How does this relate to the church in
African-American life? (AFTER)
10/3/2011 Liston 7

8. Presentation Outline
Goals
Questions to Think About
CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS
Dispelling Myths of Antiquity
Pre-colonial Perceptions of
Manhood/Womanhood
Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
The Church in African-American Life
10/3/2011 Liston 8

9. Ontology & Epistemology
Manifestations
Ontology – What is Epistemology – What is of
being? knowing? Understanding
(Religion &
Spirituality)
• Concerned with the • Concerned with ideas • Ifa
natural world about the natural world • Santeria
• Defines the • How can we know and • Christianity
fundamental concepts reason REALITY? • Islam
of REALITY
10/3/2011 Liston 9

10. Why does REALITY relate to our discussion?
“Power is the ability to define reality and to convince other
people that it is their definition.”
- Dr. Wade Nobles
10/3/2011 Liston 10

11. Power of Language
Far more than princes, states
and economies, it is language
communities who are the real
players in world history,
persisting through the ages, Ways of
clearly and consciously Knowing
perceived by their speakers as
symbols of identity, but
nonetheless gradually
changing, and perhaps splitting Power and
or even merging as the Reality
communities react to new
realities.
- Nicholas Ostler, Empires of
the Word Language
as a Tool
Language is the means of
memory, the medium of
history.
10/3/2011 Liston 11

12. “Nommo”
• the creative power of
the word
• word creates life
• Masters of the Water
• The Teachers
10/3/2011 Liston 12

13. Africana Religion and Science
Dr. Ray Hagins is the Chief Elder
& Spiritual Leader of The Afrikan
Village and Cultural Center in St.
Louis, Missouri. He is also a
clinician, therapist, musician, and
a pilot. Dr. Hagins has attended
and completed studies in various
academic institutions such as:
Montclair State University,
Northeastern Bible College,
Lighthouse Christian College and
Trinity Theological Seminary and
holds a doctorate (C.C.D.) in
counseling and a Ph.D. with an
emphasis in Cognitive
Psychology.
10/3/2011 Liston 13

14. Presentation Outline
Goals
Questions to Think About
Concepts & Definitions
DISPELLING MYTHS OF ANTIQUITY
Pre-colonial Perceptions of
Manhood/Womanhood
Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
The Church in African-American Life
10/3/2011 Liston 14

15. "In Africa, the woman's
'place' was not only with her
family; she often ruled
nations with unquestionable
authority. Many African
women were great militarists,
and on occasion led their
armies in battle. The Africans
had produced a civilization
where men were secure
enough to let women
advance as far as their
John Henrik Clarke
“African Warrior Queens” in
talent, royal lineage and
Black Women in Antiquity prerogatives would take
Edited by Ivan Van Sertima
them.”
10/3/2011 Liston 15

16. Queen Hatshepsut
• “the first great woman
in history”
• Hatshepsut means
chieftain of noble
women
• Ruled as the “Living
Horus”
• Matrilineage key in
supporting her
authority
10/3/2011 Liston 16

17. African Origins of Life
Kemet: Ausar, Auset, & Yorubaland: Ifa and the
Heru Orisa
10/3/2011 Liston 17

18. Matriarchy & Kingship
• Patriarchal Theory
– Henry Maine, Ancient Law (1861)
– Concluded that individualism and social contract
were the highest form of civilization and superior
to kingship based systems
– Forms the basic patriarchy paradigm in European
philosophical and political thought
• Cheikh Anta Diop
– The Cultural Unity of Black Africa (1989)
– Traces patriarchy to the Kurgans (Indo-
Europeans)
– African structure was essentially matriarchal
10/3/2011 Liston 18

19. Ancient Women’s Rights
• Hypatia, the great
scientist and martyr
• Egypt v. Rome
• Equal Pay for Equal
Work
• Legal Rights
• Property Rights
10/3/2011 Liston 19

20. Presentation Outline
Goals
Questions to Think About
Concepts & Definitions
Dispelling Myths Of Antiquity
PRE-COLONIAL PERCEPTIONS OF
MANHOOD/WOMANHOOD
Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
The Church in African-American Life
10/3/2011 Liston 20

21. Oyo-Yoruba*
“Gender is a construction of
two categories in hierarchal
relationship to each other;
and it is embedded in
institutions. Gender is best
understood as “an institution
that establishes patterns of
expectations for individuals
[based on their body
type], orders the social
processes of everyday
life, and is built into major
social organizations of
society, such as the
economy, ideology, the
family, and politics. (p. 39)”
10/3/2011 Liston 21

22. Igbo (Nnobi)
• Myths of Origin
– IDI UCHU
– ITE UBA
• Production
– Female crops: cocoyam
and cassava
– Women did not own land
but the symbols of
wealth were similar,
including the taking of
wives.
• Male Daughters
• Female Husbands
(Ekwe title)
10/3/2011 Liston 22

23. Presentation Outline
 Goals
 Questions to Think About
 Concepts & Definitions
 Dispelling Myths of Antiquity
 Pre-colonial Perceptions of
Manhood/Womanhood
 CRITICALLY ANALYZING MALE/FEMALE
PRINCIPLES
 The Church in African-American Life
10/3/2011 Liston 23

24. Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
“Mainstream Western
characterizations of the
social world tend to be
unilinear and
universalistic in ways
that arrest critical
theorizing about the rest
of the world…” –
Oyeronke Oyewumi
10/3/2011 Liston 24

25. Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles: Colonialism and Beyond*
• Sex v. Gender
– What‟s the difference?
• Universals v. Particulars
– Is this true for everyone or just a sample of the
population?
• Language (again!)
– What power does language bring to the situation?
• Epistemology (again!)
– How can we know and reason reality?
• Religion & Spirituality (again!)
10/3/2011 Liston 25

26. Presentation Outline
Goals
Questions to Think About
Concepts & Definitions
Dispelling Myths of Antiquity
Pre-colonial Perceptions of
Manhood/Womanhood
Critically Analyzing Male/Female
Principles
THE CHURCH IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN
LIFE
10/3/2011 Liston 26

27. The Church in African American Life
• How does this relate to TODAY?
• How does this relate to the church in
African-American life?
10/3/2011 Liston 27

28. Review
What was the male/female principle like in
antiquity?
What is the difference between the
male/female principle in pre-colonial African
societies and post-colonial African societies?
How and why should we be critiquing
„modern‟ ideas of gender?
10/3/2011 Liston 28

29. Assignment
Pass in a maximum two-page analysis of the
presenter‟s thesis as it relates to African
spiritual systems and their impact on
Africans in the Diaspora. Due next class.
10/3/2011 Liston 29

30. Resources
Thiong‟o, N. w. (2009). Something Torn And New An African
Renaissance.. New York: Basic Civitas Books
Amadiume, I. (1987). Male daughters, female husbands: gender and
sex in an African society. London: Zed Books.
Diop, C. A. (1978). The cultural unity of Black Africa: the domains of
patriarchy and of matriarchy in classical antiquity. LA: Third World
Press.
Oye , O. (1997). The invention of women: making an African sense
of Western gender discourses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.
Oye , O. (2005). African gender studies: a reader. New York:
Palgrave.
Sertima, I. (1984). Black women in antiquity. New Brunswick:
Transaction Books.
10/3/2011 Liston 30