Afrocentrists and the revitalization of Africa’s cultural heritage: a critical view

Abstract

Does Africa possess an impressive cultural heritage? If yes, what is the heritage? Can one really build on nothing or non-viability and expect great outcome? Several African writers, Afrocentrists, overglorify Africa’s cultural heritage. They argue that sustained western negative discourses and publicity and education of Africans in western culture and values cause Africa’s servility to Europeanism. This somewhat ill-orientation leads to self-alienation characterized by neglect and abandonment of Africa’s cultural heritage and values in preference to western culture. Afrocentrists believe that self-alienation is the ultimate cause of Africa’s backwardness, dearth of development and non-competitiveness with other races. They suggest that for Africa’s renaissance – that is, Africa’s rebirth or jumpstarting of prosperity, development and competitiveness with the first world – revitalization of Africa’s cultural heritage is the solution. The problem this article seeks to resolve is this: in this 21st century, is flight to the past for the purpose of revitalization of Africa’s cultural heritage truly a solution to Africa’s development backwardness? It is in view of this that this paper rejects the Afrocentrists’ ‘revitalist’ thesis, which it considers as ‘psychologistic-artisticism’ and recommends greater imbibing of the ‘epistemological- scientific and technologically orientated cultural order of the west. In doing this, the study employs the expository, critical analytic and comparative methodologies of scientific study to, respectively, expose  vital conceptions, critique Africa’s cultural heritage and values and compare Africa and western
cultural heritages and values.