Molefi Asante

1


[edit] Biography
Molefi Kete Asante was born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.[8] in Valdosta, Georgia, USA, one of sixteen children of laborers Arthur and Lillie Smith. His father worked first in a peanut warehouse and then on the Georgia-Southern Railways.

Asante changed his name because he considered his former name a slave name. The first member of his family to graduate from college, Asante received his B.A. from Oklahoma Christian University in 1964, his M.A. from Pepperdine University in 1965, and his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1968, all in communication studies. He was appointed a full professor at the age of 30 at SUNY Buffalo.

Asante holds an Afrocentric view and has described Africa and particularly Egypt, as the birthplace of civilization. He has been criticized for these views and also for his disparaging attitude "about the right of white professors to teach Black American history."[9] One of his main influences is the late Senegalese anthropologist-scientist Cheikh Anta Diop.

Asante has appeared in the documentary film 500 Years Later.[10] It was written and produced by his son, author and filmmaker M.K. Asante Jr., and he is appearing in its sequel, directed by Owen Alik Shahadah and titled Motherland, in 2009.


[edit] Partial bibliography