Revolutionary Pedagogy

Book excerpt: Molefi Kete Asante is the seminal theoretician of Afrocentric infusion into curriculum by virtue of four of his 82 books being directly related to examining and advancing an agency centered ideological position in the realm of education, culture, and science. In Afrocentricity, The Afrocentric Idea, An Afrocentric Manifesto, and The Pyramids of Knowledge. Asante's book are widely read and consulted and have become inspirational for educators in the United States, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, and Brazil. Born in Valdosta, Georgia, of Yoruba and Nubian DNA heritage, Asante studied communication and history at the University of California, Los Angeles where he received his doctorate at the age of 26. After teaching at Purdue, UCLA, Florida State, Howard University, SUNY-Buffalo, and the Zimbabwe Institute for Mass Communication, he moved to Philadelphia where he founded the first PhD program in African American Studies. Revolutionary Pedagogy is Asante's passionate appeal to teachers to take what George Dei has called a "transgressive" position toward the status quo of education. Since Molefi Kete Asante's first work with school districts in Baltimore, Maryland and Chester, Pennsylvania in the early 1990s he has become one of the most popular experts on teacher development and Afrocentric training of administrators, teachers and community leaders. Having worked for schools from California to New York and many districts in between, Dr. Asante knows the terrain as well as any one. Asante is currently professor and chair of the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University. He holds a Guest Professorship at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and is Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa. "The book, Revolutionary Pedagogy, is sure to become one of the most important weapons in the battle for the lives and minds of African American children. I believe that all stakeholders, including parents and community leaders, scholars and schoolteachers, will be well served by this provocative book." - George Sefa Dei, University of Toronto