Zenosbooks

The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality by Cheikh Anta Diop. Chicago. [1974]. Lawrence Hill Books. . Edited and translated by Mercer Cook. 317 pages. paperback. Photo cover credit: British Museum.  

9781556520723DESCRIPTION - Laymen and scholars alike will welcome the. publication of this one-volume translation of the major sections of C. A. Diop’s two books, Nations negres et culture and Anteriorite des civilizations negres, which have profoundly influenced thinking about Africa around the world. It was largely because of these works that, at the World Festival of the Arts held in Dakar in 1965, Dr. Diop shared with the late W. E. B. Du Bois as award as the writer who had exerted the greatest influence on Black thought in the 20th century. THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION: MYTH OR REALITY, edited and translated by Mercer Cook and prepared with the author’s cooperation, presents Dr. Diop’s main n thesis – that historical, archeological and anthropological evidence supports the theory that the civilization of ancient Egypt, the first that history records, was actually Negroid in origin. The present volume contains over fifty illustrations, many of them newly selected for this book, which further document Dr. Diop’s theories. The author has written a new preface and conclusion for this edition, which also includes a preface by Mercer Cook, an index, bibliography, biographical notes on the authors and authorities citied, and a glossary of archeological terms used in the book.

Diop Cheikh AntaAUTHOR BIOGRAPHY - Cheikh Anta Diop (29 December 1923 – 7 February 1986) was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. Diop's work is considered foundational to the theory of Afrocentricity, though he himself never described himself as an Afrocentrist. The questions he posed about cultural bias in scientific research contributed greatly to the postcolonial turn in the study of African civilizations. Diop argued that there was a shared cultural continuity across African people that was more important than the varied development of different ethnic groups shown by differences among languages and cultures over time.[6] Some of his ideas have been criticized as based upon outdated sources and an outdated conception of race. Other scholars have defended his work from what they see as widespread misrepresentation.Cheikh Anta Diop University (formerly known as the University of Dakar), in Dakar, Senegal, is named after him.

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