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Molefi Kete Asante (born August 14, 1942) is an African American scholar. A professor at Temple University, Asante has done work on the theory of Afrocentricity and in transracial, intercultural, and international communication. Asante, the author of over 65 books and more than 300 articles, is considered to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars in the field of African and African American Studies.

Asante created the world's first Ph.D. program in African American Studies at Temple University in l988, co-founded the Journal of Black Studies, co-authored the Encyclopedia of Black Studies with Ama Mazama, co-authored the Handbook of Black Studies with Maulana Karenga, wrote the two most important works of theory in the field, named the field Afrology which was later called Africology by Winston Van Horne, established the first conference for graduate students in the field of African American Studies, and launched an international movement to gain international credibility for the field in Brazil, Ghana, Senegal, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, China, France, Norway, England, and other nations, speaking to the people, the politicians, and media in those countries and expounding the theory of Afrocentricity in community, art, and social venues. Asante has received more than one hundred awards for scholarship and activism against racism.

Biography

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Molefi Kete Asante was born Arthur Lee Smith, Jr. in Valdosta, Georgia, one of sixteen children. His maternal mitochondrial DNA is traced to Nubian heritage in Sudan and his paternal Y-Chromosome ancestry goes back to the Yoruba in Nigeria. Asante is married to Ana Yenenga and is the father of a daughter Kasina Eka, who writes poetry and paints, and a son, M.K. Asante, Jr., a filmmaker, author, and professor. His parents, Arthur and Lillie Smith, were laborers. His father worked first in a peanut warehouse and then on the Georgia-Southern Railways. Asante’s parents named him Arthur Lee Smith, Jr., but were pleased when he later changed his name to Molefi Kete Asante to reflect his African heritage and a rejection of a slave name. When Asante graduated from college he was the first member of his family to complete a college degree. Asante got his BA from Oklahoma Christian College in l964. He received his Master’s degree from Pepperdine University in l965; this degree was followed by the Ph.D. degree from UCLA in l968.

Education

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, one of sixteen children, he was originally named Arthur Lee Smith Jr. He changed his name to reflect his claim to be descended in part from the Asante people of West Africa. He received his B.A. from Oklahoma Christian College in 1964, his M.A. from Pepperdine University in 1965, and his Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles, in 1968, all in communication studies.

Career

- He was appointed a full professor at the age of 30 at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In the distinguished academic career that followed, Asante published 61 scholarly books, more than 300 papers and articles, and directed more than 125 Ph.D. dissertations. He has published more scholarly books than any contemporary African author and has recently been recognized as one of the ten most widely cited African Americans. In addition, Black Issues in Higher Education recognized him as one of the most influential leaders in the last 15 years. Asante's greatest contribution is generally considered to be his theory of Afrocentricity, a re-examination of traditional scholarship from the perspective of African and African diasporal peoples and their interconnectedness with all the peoples of the world. In 1969, Asante became the founding editor of the Journal of Black Studies, a central publication for Afrocentric theory.

Filmography

Asante has appeared in many documentary works, including "The Faces of Evil," "Marshall Keeble," and the award-winning film, "500 Years Later", alongside Maulana Karenga, Kimani Nehusi, Paul Robeson Jr, and others. The latter film was written and produced by M.K. Asante, Jr. and directed by Owen Shahadah. In addition to these films, Asante has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs including top programs on BBC, NBC, ABC, CNN, TNT, MSNBC, and CBS.

References

1. "Molefi Kete Asante, Professor, Department of African American Studies" (html). Temple University faculty page.
2. Molefi Kete Asante at UNESCO in Paris, 21 September 2006. "The World of the African Writer and Artist Fifty Years After the 1956 Conference" (html). AALBC.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. Diane D. Turner. "An Oral History Interview: Molefi Kete Asante" (html). Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 32, No. 6 (July 2002) pp. 711-734.

Ronald Jackson and Sonja Brown Givens, Black Pioneers in Communication Research. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2007.

Jon Spayde, “People Who Could Change Your Life: 1995 Visionaries” Utne Magazine (Profile).

Christopher Williams, “In defence of materialism: a critique of Afrocentric ontology,” Race and Class, Vol. 47, no. 1, 2005

Dhyana Ziegler, Molefi Kete Asante: In Praise and Criticism. Nashville: Winston Derek, 1995.

External links

• Official Web site
• Molefi Asante at IMDb
• Selected Work of Molefi Asante

• Misplaced Pages articles needing reorganization from June 2007
• 1942 births
• Living people
• African American writers
• American academics
• Pan-Africanism
• African-American studies scholars
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Temple University faculty