Course Syllabus
DEPARTMENT OF AFRICOLOGY & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Afrocentricity
AAAS 2242.701 – Howard (Fall 2025)
MWF 9-9:50am Mazur Hall 00026
Afrocentricity Fall 25 Syllabus.pdf
Instructor: Isaac Howard, M.A.
Office: 845 Gladfelter Hall
Email: tue65720@temple.edu
Office hours: Only by appointment (Please email in advance)
Course Description
This is an intellectual inquiry into the origin, critiques, and arguments surrounding African agency in social, political, psychological, and economic contexts. Consequently the course concentrates on the concepts of centeredness, cultural location, orientation, and historical disorientation. Students will study the origin and evolution of Afrocentricity and its relationship to Negritude, Quilombismo, Kawaida, Pan Africanism, and Postmodernism. Students engage in an expansive reading and location of theoretical and critical texts such as responses to forms of intellectual marginalization and cultural oppression. Authors such as Molefi K. Asante, Chinweizu Ibekwe, Cheikh Anta Diop, Maulana Karenga, and Ama Mazama are analyzed in the contexts of on-going African and African American struggles for liberation from all hegemony.
Course Goals
Students should expect full immersion into the intellectual, cultural and historical canon of Afrocentricity as a theoretical discipline within the field of Black Studies. By examining such works, students should anticipate learning about:
- The aspects of Afrocentricity that are discernable from other theoretical dispositions in Black Studies.
- The conceptual apparatuses of agency and location theory and their importance to both the theory and practice within Afrocentricity.
- The interrelatedness and incorporation of Black intellectual inquiries under the umbrella of Afrocentricity.
Additionally, through classroom discussions and coursework, students should expect development in scholarly development in areas such as, but not limited to:
- Research
- Healthy debate
- Writing
Disability Statement
This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation. Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability or medical condition should contact the instructor privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services (DRS) in 100 Ritter Annex (drs@temple.edu; 215.204.1280) to request accommodations and learn more about resources available to you. If you have a DRS accommodation to share with me, or you would like to discuss accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. I will work with you and DRS to coordinate reasonable accommodations for all students with documented disabilities. All discussions related to your accommodations will be confidential.
Online Class Needs
Secondary readings for the semester will be provided via Canvas Learning Management System along with any other pertinent course information (syllabus, guidelines for assignments, etc.) All students enrolled in this class have been automatically enrolled in Canvas. Please make sure to check Canvas and your Temple email accounts regularly for any announcements, information or changes that may be made to the class schedule. Based on concurrent events and new developments that may arise throughout the course, additional readings/commentaries/news stories will be sent via email or posted on Canvas.
Each student must have a Temple University e-mail account in order to receive e-mail announcements sent via Canvas. You are responsible for logging on to Canvas and reading the announcements and obtaining assigned material. To log onto the Canvas web page for this course, go to Temple's homepage, log into the TUPortal and click on the Canvas tab or simply type in Canvas in the search menu.
Required Books
Molefi K. Asante, An Afrocentric Manifesto: Towards an African Renaissance, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2007.
Students are expected also to read the articles, book chapters, and other secondary and/or primary information relegated to the students as required reading materials that is given in addition to the required book.
Course Requirements:
Attendance 20%
The attendance and participation grades are the easiest to obtain an exemplary grade. Students arriving after the 10 - minute mark of class will be considered absent. Students are permitted 2 unexcused absences before their grade becomes impacted. More than 2 unexcused absences will receive an automatic grade of “C” and egregious absences can result in a lower score.
Discussion Board Posts 15%
Discussion board posts are responses weekly assessed discussion questions that are directly related to the content that we discuss on a week-to-week basis. These posts are in-lieu of physical Friday course meetings and are due by 11:59pm. Because of the leash given to this assignment, posts submitted after the submission time will be given an automatic zero. Please do not wait until the last minute to complete. There is either full credit or no credit for participation-based assignments. An appropriate discussion response should have at about 250 words and account for all nuances of the discussion question.
Literature Reviews 15% (3 Reviews)
The literature review assignment is a short paper that both synthesizes and critiques the course content. Students should be defining important terms and determining the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas and histories discussed within the reading assignments as well as their importance in understanding the Afrocentric theory. The reviews should be grounded in Afrocentric methodology. Ideally, they should be 3-4 pages total and meet the citation requirements of either APA or Chicago Manual Style. Cover pages and bibliography pages will not be counted towards page count but should be included as well for precise organization. These short papers should be an original critical response not generated using A.I. assistance tools such as ChatGBT. Students are encouraged to expound on and integrate the ideas generated on their discussion board posts to further develop these reviews. They are due end of week (Sundays) by 11:59 PM.
Midterm 25%
The midterm exam is a series of essay questions related to the content and themes that we have discussed throughout the course material up until the middle of the semester. The assessments direct interpretations will be subjective to each student but they should be able to display an overall quality understanding of the course materials.
Final Exam 25%
The final exam is a series of essay questions related to the content and themes that we have discussed throughout the course material after the middle of the semester. The assessments direct interpretations will be subjective to each student but they should be able to display an overall quality understanding of the course materials. Students should not expect curveball type questions and adequate and critical details pertaining to questions comes directly from the readings.
Rubric For Written Assignments
|
Grade |
Criteria |
|
0-5 |
- No course readings referenced - Below page count/word count |
|
6-7 |
- Referenced Course Readings - Page count met - Identified central argument(s) |
|
8-9 |
- All of 6-7 criteria - Engaged with the central argument or question(s) raised - Uses Afrocentric analytical tools - Uses their own words |
|
10 |
- All of 6-9 criteria - Clear and in-depth analysis - Grammatically sound and well written. |
Grading Scale (based on 100 points)
A = 94-100 B+ = 87-89 C+ = 77-79 D+ = 67-69 F = 59-0
A - = 90-93 B = 83-86 C = 73-76 D = 63-66
B- = 80-82 C- = 70-72 D- = 60-62
WEEKLY CLASS SCHEDULE
*Discussion posts due weekly on Friday’s by 11:59pm* Professor reserves the right to make revisions to this syllabus.
Week 1 (8/25/25)
Syllabus day and introductions
(8/27/25)
Read (Asante 2007) “Introduction,” & “Afrocentricity: Notes on a Disciplinary Position”
(8/29/25)
Read Consciencism (Nkrumah 2009) “Introduction.”
Discussion posts due.
Week 2 (9/1/25)
Read (Asante 2007) “Ama Mazama” and “The Afrocentric Paradigm: Contours and Definitions” Mazama (2001)
(9/3/25)
Read Asante (2009) “Africology and the Puzzle of Nomenclature”
(9/5/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 3 (9/8/25)
Read Mazama (2021) “Africology and the Question of Disciplinary Language”
(9/10/25)
Read Consciencism (Nkrumah 2009) “Philosophy and Society” p29-38.
(9/12/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 4 (9/15/25)
Read Asante (2007) “In Search of an Afrocentric Historiography
(9/17/25)
Read Allen (2008) “Cheikh Anta Diop’s Two Cradle Theory Revisited”
(9/19/25)
Discussion posts due.
Literature review 1 due
Week 5 (9/22/25)
Read Asante (2007) “In Search of an Afrocentric Historiography
(9/24/25)
Read Allen (2008) “Cheikh Anta Diop’s Two Cradle Theory Revisited”
(9/26/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 6 (9/29/25)
Read Asante (2007) “The Africanness of Ancient Egypt”
(10/1/25)
Read Winters (1996) “Foundations of the Afrocentric Ancient History Curriculum”
(10/3/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 7 (10/6/25)
Read Mazama (2002) “Afrocentricity and African Spirituality”
(10/8/25)
Read Tillotson (2010) “A Critical Location of the Contemporary Black Church”
(10/10/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 8 (10/13/25)
Read Nobles (2015) “From Black Psychology to Sakhu Djaer”
(10/15/25)
Read Nweke (2020) “The Revival of African Spiritualities
(10/17/25)
Midterm Due. No discussion board.
Week 9 (10/20/25)
Read Asante (2007) “The Afrocentric Idea in Education”
(10/22/25)
Read Shockley and Frederick (2008) “Constructs and Dimensions of Afrocentric Education”
(10/24/25)
Discussion posts due.
Literature review 2 due
Week 10 (10/27/25)
Read Shujaa (1993) “Education and Schooling”
(10/29/25)
Read Dove (1996) “Education and Culture”
(10/31/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 11 (11/3/25)
Read Burbanks (2020) “The Biological Necessity”
(11/5/25)
Read Mazama (2020) “Afrocentric Instructional Practices: An Assessment”
(11/7/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 12 (11/10/25)
Read Nantambu “Pan-Africanism vs Pan-African Nationalism: An Afrocentric Analysis”
(11/12/25)
Read Clarke “The New Afro-American Nationalism”
(11/14/25)
Discussion posts due.
Literature review 3 due
Week 13 (11/17/25)
Read Asante (2007) “Race, Brutality, and Hegemony”
(11/19/25)
Read Galafa (2018) Negritude in Anti-Colonial African Literature Discourse
(11/21/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 14 FALL BREAK (11/24/25)
Week 15 (12/1/25)
Read Mazama “The Nature of Language Contacts in Guadelupe”
(12/3/25)
Read Nehusi (2001) “Medew Netjer to Ebonics”
(12/5/25)
Discussion posts due.
Week 16 (12/7/25)
Last day of classes. No class but Final due 11:59pm.
Late Work Policy
There is no makeup work for participation assignments. In particular, discussion board posts that are marked “late” will receive no credit. As a general rule, neither major papers nor Canvas assignments will be accepted after the due date without penalty. Writing assignments are due at the designated time, after which the submission portal will be closed. All assignments submitted after the due date either via email or reopening of the portal will be subjected to a staunch grade penalty of one letter grade per day (an assignment turned in a day late cannot be graded above a “B”). Be sure to note that all submission times are p.m. and Eastern Standard Time. Under extenuating circumstances, extensions may be granted provided that the student contacts the professor no less than three days before the assignment is due and both parties work out an appropriate arrangement.
Incomplete Policy
Incompletes are very rarely given and only in emergency situations when an Incomplete Agreement has been negotiated and signed ahead of the submission of final grades. Incompletes are reserved for situations where you have completed most of the course and an emergency prevents you from completing a small portion of the course. You cannot disappear from the course and receive an incomplete!
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's words, and another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses -- papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations--is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources--journals, books, or other media--these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources--suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language--must be cited.
Students must assume that all graded assignments, quizzes, and tests are to be completed individually unless otherwise noted in writing in this syllabus. I reserve the right to refer any case of suspected plagiarism or cheating to the University Disciplinary Committee. I also reserve the right to assign a grade of “F” for the given assessment.
All written work for the course must be your own. Be sure to cite any works you use, including web sites, books, and articles. Presenting anyone else’s work as your own is considered plagiarism. Please follow this link to see Temple University’s Policy on Academic Honesty:
http://www.temple.edu/bulletin/Responsibilitiesrights/responsibilities/responsibilities.shtm
Statement on Academic Freedom
Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no+03.70.02.
Online Etiquette
Your instructor and fellow students wish to foster a safe online learning environment. All opinions and experiences, no matter how different or controversial they may be perceived, must be respected in the tolerant spirit of academic discourse. You are encouraged to comment, question, or critique an idea but you are not to attack an individual.
Our differences, some of which are outlined in the University's nondiscrimination statement, will add richness to this learning experience. Please consider that sarcasm and humor can be misconstrued in online interactions and generate unintended disruptions. Working as a community of learners, we can build a polite and respectful course atmosphere.