Africanisms in American Culture

by Joseph E. Holloway (Editor), Molefi Kete Asante (Contributor), George Brandon (Contributor)

An important work in the field of diaspora studies for the past decade, this collection has inspired scholars and others to explore a trail blazed originally by Melville J. Herskovits, the father of New World African studies. Since its original publication, the field has changed considerably. Africanism has been explored in its broader dimensions, particularly in the area of white Africanisms. Thus, the new edition has been revised and expanded. Joseph E. Holloway has written three essays for the new volume. The first uses a transnational framework to examine how African cultural survivals have changed over time and readapted to diasporic conditions while experiencing slavery, forced labor, and racial discrimination. The second essay is "Africanisms in African American Names in the United States." The third reconstructs Gullah history, citing numerous Africanisms not previously identified by others. In addition, "The African Heritage of White America" by John Phillips has been revised to take note of many more instances of African cultural survivals in white America and to present a new synthesis of approaches.

Genres: Nonfiction, African American, Essays

436 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

Reviews

[JRT · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Africanisms” is defined as the study of the elements of traditional, Indigenous African cultures that were transferred to the Americas (in this case North America / the United States). This book analyzes how African ethnic, linguistic, religious, and artistic practices have influenced and shaped “American” culture, and specifically, Black American culture.

Throughout these collection of essays, the authors emphasized the process that resulted in African cultural diffusion in North America, starting with identifying the specific parts of West-Central Africa that the given cultural practice came from. As the authors note, Central Africans (or the “Bantu”) were able to transport a more homogenized culture than their West / Coastal African counterparts, primarily due to the isolation that enslaved Bantus had with their white slave-holders. Relative isolation from Euro-American enslavers and settlers is at the foundation of cultural diffusion, which is why the book spends so much time examining the cultural impact of the Gullah Africans of South Carolina and the “low country.” The book asserts that it is the culture of the Bantus of Kongo and Angola that has had the largest and longest impact and influence on Black Americans and Americans writ large.

While the format of this book could have been better (it was a bit repetitive and lacking in continuity), it should put to bed any confusion about where Black Americans come from and where some of our most cherished cultural practices—including Ebonics, religion / spirituality, jazz, gospel, and hip hop—originate. Highly recommended.

[Mya Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

People often think that African slaves left all of their culture behind when they were taken to the New World. But this collection of essays reveals that that is simply not true. From religion to music to food, "Africanisms" were and are still very present in the Americas today.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review of the first edition of this work--perhaps obviously--may not reflect the quality of second edition Holloway produced of this book, so my thoughts here may not necessarily reflect viewpoints of those who have only read the second edition of Africanisms in American Culture. However, Goodreads groups these two editions together, so any critiques I provide may not apply to the 2005 edition.

In academia, older editions of a republished text may have less credibility than later iterations of the same text, but that does not always mean that the original texts become irrelevant. In the case of Africanisms in American culture, the original edition feels more dated than other scholarship from the early 1990s, and may not be as relevant as I hoped. Perhaps this is because most contemporary scholars in Black studies accept the central argument in this book--that African cultures did not disappear amongst the victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, that African cultures shaped both African American and white American identities during enslavement and its afterlife. This tenant could be revolutionary to newer scholars, i.e. those whose learning about the African diaspora in a global context is still at an early stage. However, even if I found myself learning less from this scholarship than I anticipated, I did discover some interesting insights throughout, especially in John Edward Philips's "The African Heritage of White America."

Some of the dated-ness in the 1990 edition has some problematic implications. Holloway surveys an excellent general history of terminology pertaining to Black identity in his introduction, but he and other writers also use the problematic term "Bantu," a term that a South African friend of mine once described to me as having the pejorative power we American's associate with the 'n-word." Similarly, this oversight, as well as the oversight that comes with using the spelling "voodoo" rather than preferred forms like vodun, makes me question the academic distance that exists between the scholars present here and the subjects they are writing about.