Black Nations and Culture (Nations nègres et culture)

Introduction

Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese historian and physicist, published the book in 1954 with Présence Africaine; his doctorate at the Sorbonne followed only in 1960. Using linguistic comparisons between ancient Egyptian and Wolof, ancient Greek descriptions and cultural parallels, he argues that ancient Egypt was a Black African civilisation and a cultural source for much of Africa, and that European scholarship had denied this for racist reasons. He also argues that African languages should become languages of science and culture. At a UNESCO symposium in Cairo in 1974 his thesis was debated with Egyptologists; most specialists reject its strong form, while it remains influential in Afrocentric historiography.

Connections

Taken up in

• The Afrocentric Idea1987 · Molefi Kete Asante