Analysis paper

Analysis paper

            I have opted to use two essential themes that we have studied so far, which I have extensively written on them. The two topics that I have chosen are lecture four and lecture 6. The two articles are centered on racism, particularly in Africa. I have made a broad description pf the two based on what we have studied in class.

Beginning with lesson lecture 4, which is about the introduction to Africana Studies. This article is about racism by Smedley and Smedley.  From the class video, racism started during world war 1, after Germany’s defeat (Lu et al. 2019).  By the 19^th century, it had spread in most parts of the world. During this time, most of the leaders in several countries started categorizing their people in higher and lower classes based on their race, religion, or the language in which they speak. Those who were affected started developing a feeling of hostility, which continued even after gaining independence.

The premise of this article is to describe that one’s race is something that is socially constructed but not a biological reality. This article is written from a theoretical perspective where authors state the reason why it is vital to know the academic context that an article is written. The central claim and purpose of the article are to describe how meaningful claims of scientifically reliable distinctions of race begun.

Smedley and Smedley discuses the origin and implications of race, culture, and ethnicity. He has also focused on how science has helped in constructing the history of the race. He also discussed the ideology of race. The doctrine of race has helped in explaining how racism has evolved and its impacts on black people. Woodson quoted that when you control the way a person thinks, you do not have to worry about his actions. Dr. Marti Luther king made another quote, and he stated that our life starts ending when we keep silent the things that matter.  He said that we should all acknowledge our past achievements as well as make strategies about the future.

The second topic I will discuss is the introduction to African studies and state of the art by Mario Azevedo. Mario defines and studies about the African origin (Pg. 6).  The chapter begins with Mario leading to the developments of the African studies and also the relationship between the African American studies and the African studies. The chapter also talks about the different components in the African studies and also the historical changes that have taken place.

According to Azevedo, Africa was not an object of systematic study back in the 1950s. This gives us an essential idea that serious African intention is very recent when compared to western scholarship. Azevedo mentions that Festus Ohaegbulam identifies a number of problems that make Africa be excluded. In this chapter, it is vital to highlight the discussion of the effect of political science in understanding the political and social developments of Africa. The dependency theory focuses on underdevelopment, economic culture, and also social inequalities in the African race. This theory, however, does not include important issues such as racism, nationalism, and ethnicity together with spiritual and intellectual aspects of life.

For a long period, it was said that Africa does not have a history. One of the reasons is because Africa did not have a written history.  This made it be believed that Africa does not have a history. Secondly, missionaries looked down on the African cultures.  Also, Africa was unable to make its destiny a success due to colonization and the Atlantic slave trade.  Harris discussed the five stages of intellectual and institutional development of African studies. These include early documentation of literature and the analysis of the African people. The second stage is studying black America. The third stage is the civil rights of moments in the 1966s, and the final stage is the period of theoretical refinement and the establishment of methodology and faculty within the institution.

References.

Lu, D., Palmer, J. R., Rosenberg, L., Shields, A. E., Orr, E. H., DeVivo, I., & Cozier, Y. C. (2019). Perceived racism in relation to telomere length among African American women in the Black Women’s Health Study. Annals of epidemiology, 36, 33-39.