THE WHAT AND THE WHO OF US
Yesterday , I noted that men tend to focus upon the "what" of things, while women tend to focus upon the "who" of the same things. What and who define all known "things."
Self-definition is foremost. "Who am I? what am I ?" Are 2 of life's most compelling questions. "Where did I come from? When? Why?" Are 3 derivative questions that we are called upon to inquire answers of, in our transit through life for clarity.
Fortunately, Ghanian author, Ayi Kwei Armah while asking and answering such questions about his own Akan ancestry, in THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES (2006), has also answered questions of my own, of our own, African American ancestry and purpose. He writes:
"Grown to adulthood, I was undertaking life journeys of my own, inside our larger history, moving into the future as a writer. I knew that if I wanted to write, I would have to study our social history seriously, since all evidence indicated that history was central to the art of poets, storytellers and spokespersons.
"The trail of historical evidence led me to the oral traditions. The oral traditions took me back to traditions of migrations. Those traditions in turn referred me to an earlier place of departure. Sometimes the reference was simply to the Great River or the Great Water . More frequently, they mentioned Misri, Msiri, or Luti, traditional names for Egypt, though in ancient times it went by other indigenous names: 'Ta Meri,' Beloved Land, 'Tawi,' the Two Lands, and, more often, 'Kemet,' the Black Nation.
"Under European rule , it was difficult for Africans to assess evidence contained in the migratory traditions. After independence, colonial taboos against self-knowledge began to lose their authoritarian rigidity. I have benefited from the new flexibility. Thanks to it, I found documentary evidence that enabled me to connect my own Akan background to Sahelian oral traditions naming the Soninke' as the people of old Wagadou and Ghana . The migratory traditions of the Soninke' and their neighbors agree on a more ancient migration from the Nile valley.
"My focus was on the content and form of the verbal arts in all these societies across time. To follow where the trail of tradition pointed, I would have to examine the written records of the Nile valley, the oldest and most substantial corpus of literary , scientific, administrative documents anywhere in Africa. I held open the possibility of meeting experts in the language in my travels. If that happened, I wanted to be in a position to be a willing and able learner, not a nuisance wasting time and energy of an expert with my hollow ignorance. In the hope of making rational use of contacts with potential guides should I happen to meet any, I looked for manuals and guides."
P. 192-193, "Reconnecting the Disconnected."
The WHAT and the WHO of African American identity is encapsulated here, in the investigations of Dr. Ayi Kwei Armah, since our migrations are his, and his are ours; before the massive transshipment of millions of us, who were ferried across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, over centuries, as slaves who were commingled within a vast vortex, without regard to tribes, languages, religions, at all; becoming just one!
Thursday, March 2, 2017
THE "WHAT" AND THE "WHO" OF US
THE WHAT AND THE WHO OF US
Yesterday , I noted that men tend to focus upon the "what" of things, while women tend to focus upon the "who" of the same things. What and who define all known "things."
Self-definition is foremost. "Who am I? what am I ?" Are 2 of life's most compelling questions. "Where did I come from? When? Why?" Are 3 derivative questions that we are called upon to inquire answers of, in our transit through life for clarity.
Fortunately, Ghanian author, Ayi Kwei Armah while asking and answering such questions about his own Akan ancestry, in THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES (2006), has also answered questions of my own, of our own, African American ancestry and purpose. He writes:
"Grown to adulthood, I was undertaking life journeys of my own, inside our larger history, moving into the future as a writer. I knew that if I wanted to write, I would have to study our social history seriously, since all evidence indicated that history was central to the art of poets, storytellers and spokespersons.
"The trail of historical evidence led me to the oral traditions. The oral traditions took me back to traditions of migrations. Those traditions in turn referred me to an earlier place of departure. Sometimes the reference was simply to the Great River or the Great Water . More frequently, they mentioned Misri, Msiri, or Luti, traditional names for Egypt, though in ancient times it went by other indigenous names: 'Ta Meri,' Beloved Land, 'Tawi,' the Two Lands, and, more often, 'Kemet,' the Black Nation.
"Under European rule , it was difficult for Africans to assess evidence contained in the migratory traditions. After independence, colonial taboos against self-knowledge began to lose their authoritarian rigidity. I have benefited from the new flexibility. Thanks to it, I found documentary evidence that enabled me to connect my own Akan background to Sahelian oral traditions naming the Soninke' as the people of old Wagadou and Ghana . The migratory traditions of the Soninke' and their neighbors agree on a more ancient migration from the Nile valley.
"My focus was on the content and form of the verbal arts in all these societies across time. To follow where the trail of tradition pointed, I would have to examine the written records of the Nile valley, the oldest and most substantial corpus of literary , scientific, administrative documents anywhere in Africa. I held open the possibility of meeting experts in the language in my travels. If that happened, I wanted to be in a position to be a willing and able learner, not a nuisance wasting time and energy of an expert with my hollow ignorance. In the hope of making rational use of contacts with potential guides should I happen to meet any, I looked for manuals and guides."
P. 192-193, "Reconnecting the Disconnected."
The WHAT and the WHO of African American identity is encapsulated here, in the investigations of Dr. Ayi Kwei Armah, since our migrations are his, and his are ours; before the massive transshipment of millions of us, who were ferried across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, over centuries, as slaves who were commingled within a vast vortex, without regard to tribes, languages, religions, at all; becoming just one!
