Afrocentric education in North America: An introduction

Abstract

This chapter investigates Afrocentric teaching and learning in Western classrooms, situating current efforts and offerings within a wider historical trajectory of struggle for equity for African-descended peoples in the United States of America (USA) and Canada. Many activists, scholars, and groups have long understood the importance of building awareness among African peoples of the ways in which racism, Eurocentricity, and race power work in order to resist the white supremacy facing Africans in the Diaspora. This chapter offers an introductory historical overview of the practices, literature, and movements surrounding Afrocentric teaching and learning in the USA and Canada, as well as an introduction to Afrocentric philosophy in an attempt to provide a scholarly context for contemporary debates about African-centered education. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges of its implementation in schooling contexts.