Afrocentripetalism: an African Viewpoint in the Test Tube

Oct 12 , 2019
By Dejene Sakoume ( Dejene was a journalist and independent writer. He volunteers by contributing articles on various issues. The views expressed in this article are personal. He can be reached at dejeneseb@yahoo.com. )

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Most attempts that have been tried to analyse and solve African problems have not been based on African world views and intellectual conceptions. This may be one of the reasons why many have not been successful. Therefore, it is vital to pay attention to concepts that are African centered. Afrocentripetalism is one such concept that should be considered.

Afrocentripetalism is a heliocentric treaty on the conception of African sisterhood and brotherhood. It is Afro-centric, because it is entirely based on the signification of Africanness. It is centripetal, because it is a moral force of gravity at the centre. Just like Copernicus’s concept of the heliocentric against the geocentric, it is a self-evident existential truth. Afrocentripetalism asserts that African moral matrix is a self-evident command of the family, state and society.

Afrocentripetalism, therefore, is not a mere signification of feminine virtue, and neither is it gender nor sex. In fact, Afrocentripetalism views such concepts like feminism, gender and sex as unfit fragmentation alien to African standards. It relies on such units of analysis as sisters and brothers against women and men, sisterhood and brotherhood against gender, and Afrocentripetalism against feminism. Therefore, it avoids the dichotomy of geocentric, fragility-gender, sex feminism, and unites them into a single thought, heliocentric Afrocentripetalistic totality.

It is not a mere denial of the various deep-rooted oppression in Africa. It equally recognises the pervasive dehumanisation of Africans by Africans. It differs in identifying and diagnosing the problem and takes into account the essence of African sisterhood and brotherhood as a method and remedy for African issues. In other words, it solely relies on African concepts and empirical contents in dealing with African problems by exposing the gradual replacement of the heliocentric by the geocentric when in fact the heliocentric is yet at the centre of human activities. It is, therefore, a call for reducing the burden on the heliocentric, a call to abandon the geocentric, an attempt to decolonize African brothers and sisters from the un-African appendices, a clarification over disorientations of the base and dislocations of the apex through signification and Africanization of the self-Afrocentripetalism against sexism, gender and feminism.

It is, therefore, an essential virtue by creation, a moral - Copernican, a modality of benign and self-sufficient moral gravity unto which African family, state and society gravitate. It is not a category, and therefore, neither is it gender nor sex. It is an essence, a self-sufficing Afrocentripidalist emanating from the creation - having, loving, caring, nurturing and protecting.

It is an epistemic centre built on the bi-directionality of the formation of knowledge. Its metaphysics is alpha and omega of organised human existence aligned along with the conception of beingness embedding the pillar of existence and proper meaning of life. It is a moral domain stressing not only what is right but what is always right. It is cosmopolitan of the highest order embracing nature as an equal entity.

It is a graduated economic principle as it bases money making solely on the concept of “Genzeb” which means understanding and knowledge-based business. The philosophical translation of “Genzeb”, in this sense, carries with it business ethics, environmental ethics and other virtues undiscovered, the determination of their difference should invite linguistic intervention, and my imprudent translation might not be adequate.

Afrocentripetalism asserts moral behaviour shapes African thought process, and as such underpin what ought to be done for African problems. It begins with the body as a Cosmo-conscious element and analyses it as a moral organ beyond the natural and biological and grows into a clarification over what it means to have an African personality behind the dark colour. With such soteriological argument, Afrocentripetalism builds on a new perspective about African sisterhood and brotherhood and projects a wider intellectual bedrock for what is meant by Afrocentripetalist state and society. As such, it not only decolonises but also liberates the African thought process, and establishes it on a firm, Africanized base.

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PUBLISHED ON Oct 12,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1015]

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