Recently finished an initial draft of my first "academic" article. 
Even though my field of study is Software Engineering I plan to submit the article to a black studies journal when finished. I've been working on it all summer doing research, writing it up, etc.
After finally finishing it I need to now go back over it and do a couple things like...
Dingo-Dingo Dianzayila:
Constructing an African process for description and prescription of thought
(Draft)
Introduction:
Does the internal mental/spiritual composition of an individual effect how susceptible they are to external influence? This is the question arrived at after noticing distinctions in the success of 19th century colonial forces within Africa. On a societal level Internal access to contemporary weapons and cohesion between neighboring ethnic groups were the two identified factors moderating success of external colonial forces. When moving from the macro level of society down to the micro level of the individual does a similar pattern occur? Following this thread leads directly to the mental/spiritual arm of the colonial project; missionaries in general, Christianity particularly, and religion specifically.
With religion identified as the angle of approach for this investigation the problem of practicality immediately occurs. From historical political complexities of Abrahamic religions to the sheer size of Egypt’s pantheon, the investigation is hindered by excess moving parts. Practicality is resolved by researching the Saharan remains of a single deity(cattle complex) ethnic group in relative isolation.
Investigating the spiritual practices surrounding these cattle complex remains of the Saharan ethnic group, while also using the perspective of the initial question leads to illumination of overlap between four distinct spiritual practices related to cognition. Where the cattle complex ends overlaps with Egyptian temple complex priests measurement of the rising Nile, who’s data collection overlaps with Egyptian politicians & engineers administration of society, which overlaps with the daily lived experiences that serve as an impetus for the formation of values which manifest in religious expression such as the initial cattle complex. Given this overlap, along with the fact that the overlap folds back onto itself forming a circle; this pattern can be formalized into a single generic description and prescription for thought.
This foundational description and prescription for thought can be constructed by taking a subset of cultural expressions centered on cognition from unrelated African ethnic groups and unifying them where they overlap in function. With that said the established western intellectual canon as pertains to knowledge creation and propagation acts as a silent yet embedded barrier to the formation and acceptance of a distinctly African method of thought.
Proposed here is that African method of thought which is formed on the position that distinct behaviors of Dinka pastoralists, assumed motives for central Saharan cattle cult remains, survey of the Nile river by Ancient Egyptian priests, and use of math in the daily administration of society by Ancient Egyptians can be unified under the Kongo Dikenga concept of “dingo-dingo dianzayila” (Fu-Kiau, 133) which in English approximately translates to “cognitive process” (Fu-Kiau, 133). The end product of this unification is a method for describing and prescribing thought.
The core Stakeholders consist of African academics charged with understanding, describing, and prescribing actions to take in the environments various African ethnic groups reside in. The wider stakeholders include African students, businesses, and politicians who act on said knowledgebase and recommendations.
Contesting this position is the preeminence of western thought which implies by definition that the established western intellectual canon as rooted in platonic thought, through to the scientific method, propagated by Academia, and validated by the modern material world is not ethnic in nature nor application. This cannon of ideas is objective, neutral, and universal from its nature to application therefore suitable for all human contemplation of existence. As a result there is no need for the formation of a distinctly African method of thought because thought has already been defined.
The core Stakeholders consist of all academics charged with understanding, describing, and prescribing actions to take in the environments various human ethnic groups reside in. The wider stakeholders include students, businesses, and politicians who act on said knowledgebase and recommendations.
To understand how we got to a point of apprehension concerning such an proposal we must understand that as Africana studies and Black psychology cemented its place in academia an examination of the mental landscape of ideas and how they impact African peoples took hold. Yurugu a book by Dr. Marimba Ani becomes the major work detailing a subset of ideas that makeup the default western concepts African people utilize in maneuvering society and how those ideas pose a threat when left unchallenged.
Dr. Ani details how ideas a culture manifests’ work to organize thought of those subject to that culture. In this case those ideas are specifically the western intellectual canon; while the subjected focus group in question consists of African peoples.
“The ideological thrust of culture is inescapable. It boldly confronts us. Culture is ideological since it possesses the force and power to direct activity, to mold personalities, and to pattern behavior.”(Ani,5)
At the core of this molded personality and behavior is found a set of western concepts deeply rooted and presumed to be beyond question. Beyond question partly because they are deep rooted and partly because of the construction of the concepts themselves as being universal.
“…Europeans have used their ‘cultural logic’ in an effectively aggressive manner: (1) The culture ‘teaches’ its ‘logic’ and world-view to the ordinary participants, who then assimilate it, assume it, and push it beneath the surface, from where it influences their collective behavior and responses, (2) Then ‘special’ members of the culture—regarded as ‘intellectuals,’ ‘scholars,’ ‘theorists’—retrieve the assumptions of this world-view and represent them as the tenets of a universal system of thought, one that presents standards of logic, rationality, and truth to the world. These are considered the seminal theorists of the culture, when actually their ideas simply reflect the assumed reality of the mainstream culture. The manner of their presentation is, however, authoritative. (3) In this way the European world-view takes on ideological force not only within, but outside the culture, since it can be imposed as universal, speculative, and self-conscious. (4) At the same time, its parochial and axiological character remains well-hidden and camouflaged beneath a pseudouniversalism. ”(Ani,7-8)
Understanding this is Important to African peoples because as long as the western intellectual canon can be used to assert both a universal application & universal relevance in regard to a given derivation; African peoples will have a lowered resistance to any argument that abides by the shared cultural logic propagated by the west via the Academy. The process for description and prescription of thought proposed here offers an alternative that actually helps to spotlight and avoid such pitfalls.
Distinct behaviors of Dinka pastoralists, assumed motives for central Saharan cattle cult remains, survey of the Nile river by Ancient Egyptian priests, and use of math in the daily administration of society by Ancient Egyptians can be unified under the Kongo Dikenga concept of “dingo-dingo dianzayila” (Fu-Kiau, 133) which in English approximately translates to “cognitive process” (Fu-Kiau, 133). The end product of this unification being a foundational method for describing and prescribing thought. As a result of this process African peoples have an enhanced ability to understand, describe, and prescribe solutions concerning issues inherent to their given environments. This extends to the ideological environment as well, which then allows for a break from the constraints inherent to the western intellectual canon. Constraints that setup politically naive choices indulged in because those positions make logical sense by western precepts of logic.
Ani, Marimba. “Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.” Trenton, N.J: Africa World Press, 1994. pp. 5-8. Print.
Banks, W. Curtis. “The Theoretical and Methodological Crisis of the Africentric Conception.”
The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 61, no. 3, 1992, pp. 262–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2295247.
Baumgarten, Albert I, Jan Assmann, and Guy G. Stroumsa. Self, Soul, and Body in Religious Experience. Leiden: Brill, 1998. pp.384 Print
Chace, Arnold B. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: Free Translation and Commentary with Selected Photographs, Transcriptions, Transliterations, and Literal Translations. Reston, Va: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1979, pp.49 Print.
Deng, Francis M. “The Cow and the Thing Called `What’: Dinka Cultural Perspectives on Wealth and Poverty.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 52, no. 1, Fall 1998, p. 104. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2722969&site=ehost-live.
di Lernia S, Tafuri MA, Gallinaro M, Alhaique F, Balasse M, Cavorsi L, et al. (2013) Inside the “African Cattle Complex”: Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56879. pp.25 Inside the “African Cattle Complex”: Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara
Eliasson, J. (2013). “Hydrological Science and Its Connection to Religion in Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs.” Advances in Historical Studies, 2, pp.152, doi: 10.4236/ahs.2013.23019.
Fu-Kiau, Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki. African cosmology of the Bântu-Kôngo: tying the spiritual knot: Principles of life & living. Athelia Henrietta Press, 2001, pp.133 Print.
Gundaker, G. Hist Arch (2011) 45: pp.180. Auburn University Libraries / Illiad @ Auburn Libraries
Lumpkin, B. “Mathematics Used in Egyptian Construction and Bookkeeping” The Mathematical Intelligencer (2002) 24: pp. 20. Auburn University Libraries / Illiad @ Auburn Libraries
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. History and Social Science Curriculum Framework –Public Comment Draft, January 11, 2018
Richards, Dona. “The Nyama of the Blacksmith: The Metaphysical Significance of Metallurgy in Africa.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, 1981, pp. 218–238. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2784243.
Williams, Robert. A History of the Association of Black Psychologists: Early Formation and Development. Journal of Black Psychology, AuthorHouse, 2008 , pp.6-7 Print
Even though my field of study is Software Engineering I plan to submit the article to a black studies journal when finished. I've been working on it all summer doing research, writing it up, etc.
After finally finishing it I need to now go back over it and do a couple things like...
- Add charts/graphics to better relay concepts.
- Rework the first half of my thesis statement which is effectively a place holder from my initial outline.
- Shorten it down a bit(it's currently sitting at 24 pages while in MLA)
- Get rid of some redundant statements that crop up.
- Add a counter argument to account for any accusation of it being a "post modernist" derived work.
- Perform obvious things such as additional grammar, spelling, fact checks, layout improvements, etc.
The entire paper is 24 pages currently but I'll post the the Introduction & Thesis statement below.
(While I still have to change it, the point of the paper is made clear enough)
(While I still have to change it, the point of the paper is made clear enough)
Dingo-Dingo Dianzayila:
Constructing an African process for description and prescription of thought
(Draft)
Introduction:
Does the internal mental/spiritual composition of an individual effect how susceptible they are to external influence? This is the question arrived at after noticing distinctions in the success of 19th century colonial forces within Africa. On a societal level Internal access to contemporary weapons and cohesion between neighboring ethnic groups were the two identified factors moderating success of external colonial forces. When moving from the macro level of society down to the micro level of the individual does a similar pattern occur? Following this thread leads directly to the mental/spiritual arm of the colonial project; missionaries in general, Christianity particularly, and religion specifically.
With religion identified as the angle of approach for this investigation the problem of practicality immediately occurs. From historical political complexities of Abrahamic religions to the sheer size of Egypt’s pantheon, the investigation is hindered by excess moving parts. Practicality is resolved by researching the Saharan remains of a single deity(cattle complex) ethnic group in relative isolation.
Investigating the spiritual practices surrounding these cattle complex remains of the Saharan ethnic group, while also using the perspective of the initial question leads to illumination of overlap between four distinct spiritual practices related to cognition. Where the cattle complex ends overlaps with Egyptian temple complex priests measurement of the rising Nile, who’s data collection overlaps with Egyptian politicians & engineers administration of society, which overlaps with the daily lived experiences that serve as an impetus for the formation of values which manifest in religious expression such as the initial cattle complex. Given this overlap, along with the fact that the overlap folds back onto itself forming a circle; this pattern can be formalized into a single generic description and prescription for thought.
This foundational description and prescription for thought can be constructed by taking a subset of cultural expressions centered on cognition from unrelated African ethnic groups and unifying them where they overlap in function. With that said the established western intellectual canon as pertains to knowledge creation and propagation acts as a silent yet embedded barrier to the formation and acceptance of a distinctly African method of thought.
Proposed here is that African method of thought which is formed on the position that distinct behaviors of Dinka pastoralists, assumed motives for central Saharan cattle cult remains, survey of the Nile river by Ancient Egyptian priests, and use of math in the daily administration of society by Ancient Egyptians can be unified under the Kongo Dikenga concept of “dingo-dingo dianzayila” (Fu-Kiau, 133) which in English approximately translates to “cognitive process” (Fu-Kiau, 133). The end product of this unification is a method for describing and prescribing thought.
The core Stakeholders consist of African academics charged with understanding, describing, and prescribing actions to take in the environments various African ethnic groups reside in. The wider stakeholders include African students, businesses, and politicians who act on said knowledgebase and recommendations.
Contesting this position is the preeminence of western thought which implies by definition that the established western intellectual canon as rooted in platonic thought, through to the scientific method, propagated by Academia, and validated by the modern material world is not ethnic in nature nor application. This cannon of ideas is objective, neutral, and universal from its nature to application therefore suitable for all human contemplation of existence. As a result there is no need for the formation of a distinctly African method of thought because thought has already been defined.
The core Stakeholders consist of all academics charged with understanding, describing, and prescribing actions to take in the environments various human ethnic groups reside in. The wider stakeholders include students, businesses, and politicians who act on said knowledgebase and recommendations.
To understand how we got to a point of apprehension concerning such an proposal we must understand that as Africana studies and Black psychology cemented its place in academia an examination of the mental landscape of ideas and how they impact African peoples took hold. Yurugu a book by Dr. Marimba Ani becomes the major work detailing a subset of ideas that makeup the default western concepts African people utilize in maneuvering society and how those ideas pose a threat when left unchallenged.
Dr. Ani details how ideas a culture manifests’ work to organize thought of those subject to that culture. In this case those ideas are specifically the western intellectual canon; while the subjected focus group in question consists of African peoples.
“The ideological thrust of culture is inescapable. It boldly confronts us. Culture is ideological since it possesses the force and power to direct activity, to mold personalities, and to pattern behavior.”(Ani,5)
At the core of this molded personality and behavior is found a set of western concepts deeply rooted and presumed to be beyond question. Beyond question partly because they are deep rooted and partly because of the construction of the concepts themselves as being universal.
“…Europeans have used their ‘cultural logic’ in an effectively aggressive manner: (1) The culture ‘teaches’ its ‘logic’ and world-view to the ordinary participants, who then assimilate it, assume it, and push it beneath the surface, from where it influences their collective behavior and responses, (2) Then ‘special’ members of the culture—regarded as ‘intellectuals,’ ‘scholars,’ ‘theorists’—retrieve the assumptions of this world-view and represent them as the tenets of a universal system of thought, one that presents standards of logic, rationality, and truth to the world. These are considered the seminal theorists of the culture, when actually their ideas simply reflect the assumed reality of the mainstream culture. The manner of their presentation is, however, authoritative. (3) In this way the European world-view takes on ideological force not only within, but outside the culture, since it can be imposed as universal, speculative, and self-conscious. (4) At the same time, its parochial and axiological character remains well-hidden and camouflaged beneath a pseudouniversalism. ”(Ani,7-8)
Understanding this is Important to African peoples because as long as the western intellectual canon can be used to assert both a universal application & universal relevance in regard to a given derivation; African peoples will have a lowered resistance to any argument that abides by the shared cultural logic propagated by the west via the Academy. The process for description and prescription of thought proposed here offers an alternative that actually helps to spotlight and avoid such pitfalls.
Thesis
Distinct behaviors of Dinka pastoralists, assumed motives for central Saharan cattle cult remains, survey of the Nile river by Ancient Egyptian priests, and use of math in the daily administration of society by Ancient Egyptians can be unified under the Kongo Dikenga concept of “dingo-dingo dianzayila” (Fu-Kiau, 133) which in English approximately translates to “cognitive process” (Fu-Kiau, 133). The end product of this unification being a foundational method for describing and prescribing thought. As a result of this process African peoples have an enhanced ability to understand, describe, and prescribe solutions concerning issues inherent to their given environments. This extends to the ideological environment as well, which then allows for a break from the constraints inherent to the western intellectual canon. Constraints that setup politically naive choices indulged in because those positions make logical sense by western precepts of logic.
Works cited
Ani, Marimba. “Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.” Trenton, N.J: Africa World Press, 1994. pp. 5-8. Print.
Banks, W. Curtis. “The Theoretical and Methodological Crisis of the Africentric Conception.”
The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 61, no. 3, 1992, pp. 262–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2295247.
Baumgarten, Albert I, Jan Assmann, and Guy G. Stroumsa. Self, Soul, and Body in Religious Experience. Leiden: Brill, 1998. pp.384 Print
Chace, Arnold B. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: Free Translation and Commentary with Selected Photographs, Transcriptions, Transliterations, and Literal Translations. Reston, Va: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1979, pp.49 Print.
Deng, Francis M. “The Cow and the Thing Called `What’: Dinka Cultural Perspectives on Wealth and Poverty.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 52, no. 1, Fall 1998, p. 104. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2722969&site=ehost-live.
di Lernia S, Tafuri MA, Gallinaro M, Alhaique F, Balasse M, Cavorsi L, et al. (2013) Inside the “African Cattle Complex”: Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56879. pp.25 Inside the “African Cattle Complex”: Animal Burials in the Holocene Central Sahara
Eliasson, J. (2013). “Hydrological Science and Its Connection to Religion in Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs.” Advances in Historical Studies, 2, pp.152, doi: 10.4236/ahs.2013.23019.
Fu-Kiau, Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki. African cosmology of the Bântu-Kôngo: tying the spiritual knot: Principles of life & living. Athelia Henrietta Press, 2001, pp.133 Print.
Gundaker, G. Hist Arch (2011) 45: pp.180. Auburn University Libraries / Illiad @ Auburn Libraries
Lumpkin, B. “Mathematics Used in Egyptian Construction and Bookkeeping” The Mathematical Intelligencer (2002) 24: pp. 20. Auburn University Libraries / Illiad @ Auburn Libraries
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. History and Social Science Curriculum Framework –Public Comment Draft, January 11, 2018
Richards, Dona. “The Nyama of the Blacksmith: The Metaphysical Significance of Metallurgy in Africa.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, 1981, pp. 218–238. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2784243.
Williams, Robert. A History of the Association of Black Psychologists: Early Formation and Development. Journal of Black Psychology, AuthorHouse, 2008 , pp.6-7 Print
The above are the first 5 of 24 pages.
(while not finished I figured this would make a decent root addition since I haven't contributed in awhile)
(while not finished I figured this would make a decent root addition since I haven't contributed in awhile)
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