Presents the basic principles of two systems for notating African music and dance: Labanotation (created to record and analyze movements) and Greenotation (created to notate musical instruments of Africa and to parallel Labanotation whereby both music and dance are incorporated into one integrated score). (KH)

Describes the development of Afrocentricity, the study of African peoples from an Africa-centered viewpoint. Discusses aims, objectives, and concerns in Afrocentric scholarship. (DM)

Argues that Black families must be judged on their own terms, not by White, western standards. Discusses Africanism in Black kinship networks and extended family structure under slavery and the contemporary Black family. Emphasizes the importance of these characteristics as a source of strength among Blacks. (CMG)

Criticizes Herskovit's "Myth of the Negro Past" and Turner's "Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect" for their emphasis on trait diffusion, lack of any index of relative linguistic significance of specific items, failure to assess the importance of the dominant White culture, and failure to maintain historical and cultural…

Discusses the effect of liberalism on the African understanding of education, community, and religion. Describes ways in which the European intrusion, that is, colonial governments, schools, and churches, undermined traditional African life and thought. (DM)

Defines and describes Afrocentricity, suggesting that Afrocentricity within the academic context is best understood as a paradigm. Explains how Afrocentricity meets the definition of a paradigm, examining the affective, cognitive, and conative aspects of the Afrocentric paradigm (metaphysical and sociological) and looking at the structural and…

Reviews the recent attempts of Black psychologists and social scientists to formulate a conceptual-operational framework for the study of psychological phenomena as they bear on the cultural-survival conditions of Black-African people. Outlines issues and problems in the attempt to define African (Black) psychology and discusses its relation to…

Traces the historical development of the Jerusarema, a traditional dance of the Shona of Zimbabwe, from its origins as a form of military defense to its present role in recreation and ceremony. Describes the Jerusarema, classifies it in relation to other African dance forms, and discusses how it is learned. (KH)

Reviews the debate between Herskovits, Turner, and Johnson on Africanisms in Gullah. Suggests that Whinnom's approach, which considers pidgins and creoles under the rubric of "linguistic hybridization," is a more appropriate model with which to view Gullah, making irrelevant the question of whether it is an African or European language.…

Describes the role of movement and dance in the lives of Blacks living on the Sea Islands off the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. Claims that the isolation of this area helps preserve its Africanicity and culture. Focuses particularly on the uses of rhythmic chanting in worship and in children's games. (KH)

Examines some themes in the work of the African surrealist poet, Aime Cesaire. The elements in his poetry are found in the natural world. Filled with tension, his work demonstrates cultural liberation, independence and dignity, and the desire to reclaim nature, salvation, God, and peace. (BJV)

Discusses similarities in the contemporary crafts from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Sea Island region of the United States as evidence of African cultural survivals. (GC)

Examines the economic activity, language, world view, kinship patterns, and religion of contemporary Sea Islanders in order to illustrate the Islands' cultural conservatism and, thus, their appropriateness for the study of Africanism in the United States. (GC)

Contends that "disillusionment novels" are characterized by a circumscribed vision of the world which itself is a function of limits set upon the authors by the historical situation of their position in society. Analyzes two Nigerian classic examples of the genre, Chinua Achebe's "A Man of the People" and Wole Soyinka's…

Analyzes the social function of spirituals in relation to African culture and the slavemasters' language restrictions. Describes the role of secret meetings in traditional African cultures and slave society, and the Bible as metaphor. Focuses on themes of freedom and escape, redemption and salvation, and judgment and punishment. (KH)