West VirginiaUniversitys Center for Black Culture and Research (CBC&R) is hosting a Kwanzaa celebration Tuesday, Dec. 3, with featured guest Molefi Kete Asante, the founder of the theory of Afrocentricity. Everyone is invited to attend the 6:30 p.m. presentation in the Mountainlair Rhododendron Room, with a reception to follow.
Dr. Asante is considered by his peers to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars. Sought after as a speaker and consultant, nationally and internationally, he has published more scholarly books than any other present-day African author and has recently been recognized as one of the 10 most widely cited African Americans.
Recognized by Black Issues in Higher Education as one of the most influential leaders in the last 15 years, Asante has also made scores of national television appearances. In April 2000, he was prominently featured in the TNT documentary”Faces of Evil.”
“Dr. Molefi Asante is one of the most important figures in African American Studies,”said CBC &R Director Katherine Bankole.”His conceptualization of Afrocentric and African-centered research and scholarship has impacted not only the academy, but has significantly influenced our intellectual, popular and national culture globally.”
Asante created the first Ph.D. program in African American Studies at TempleUniversity and is the founding editor of the Journal of Black Studies. He served as president of the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee chapter at UCLA in the 1960s and was made a traditional king, Nana Okru Asante Peasah, Kyldomhene of Tafo, in Ghana, in 1995.
“Dr. Asante is a man who believes in positive social change for all,”Bankole said.”The profundity of his scholarship has impacted us all in one way or another for more than two decades. In the discipline of Africana Studies we will view his work with the same depth as other major social and intellectual movements of our time.”
Kwanzaa, a non-religious celebration, is an African American holiday observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. An agricultural celebration called”the Harvest of the First Fruit,”the holiday focuses on seven basic values that build and strengthen community.
The Kwanzaa celebration and Asantes visit are being sponsored by the WVUCenter for Black Culture and Research. It is co-sponsored by WVU African and African American student organizations, The Africana Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Council on African and African American Affairs (CAAA).
For more information, call the CBC &R at 293-7029 or visit their Web site athttp://www.wvu.edu/~cbcr/home.html.