Sankofa One (Week One): Everything You Need to Get Started the First Week
Special Instructions and Rubric for Sankofa One-Introduction DIscussion (60 poinrs)AFAM 1113 Welcome to the beloved community! (Start Here)
https://www.azquotes.com/author/45054-Pauli_Murray
Warm Greetings, Beloved Community!
Welcome to our learning journey together. Please read this Sankofa One Unit (Weekly One Unit) very closely. Each week, we will have a Sankofa Unit that will include everything you need on your journey, including assignments and due dates.
Beloveds, please make sure you review everything in this module (Sankofa One). I want you to be successful in the course.
In order to get an understanding of the readings and material, it is important that you are prepared by reading the material. It will also be important that you read closely our presuppositions, deep listening, group names, and ubuntu code of ethics information as well as review the Ubuntu told by Mandela video. All of these items are there to help us prepare for the material and build community.
My aspirations for this course are:
- To build community in a way that allows us to recognize our commonalities while acknowledging our differences.
- To create a space for cross-cultural dialogue to take place while building bridges of understanding and encouraging the value of linguistic diversity.
- To have students recognize social inequalities and injustices while being empowered to enact social transformation.
- To recognize the beauty of diversity in the world and our interrelatedness to one another.
- To demonstrate an increased ability to think relationally, improved writing skills, and enhanced holistic-critical thinking skills.
I really hope that you will engage with the material and join me on this learning journey so that we can meet these goals. I am aware that as a teacher I can present these goals, but it is really up to us as a beloved community to collaboratively make them a reality. I welcome you to open your mind and heart on our collaborative learning journey together. You are not expected to agree with all that you read, but I expect you to carefully read, engage with, and reflect deeply on what is presented.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me in the Beloved Community. Have a beautiful week and may everything good come your way.
In the spirit of ubuntu,
Dr. McNeal
Pronouns: she, her, hers
A Song of peace to start us on our learning journey: May you know peace as you enter our Beloved Community
Syllabus and Syllabus Attachment
Read: Syllabus (I strongly suggest you read these very closely); Canvas (C): Keating: “Dialogue: Some of My Presuppositions” and “Listening;” McNeal (C): “Ubuntu Code of Ethics,” Special Discussion Rubric Guidelines for Ceremony One Discussion Forum; All Kwanzaa Information (C); Review Purdue Owl Link for appropriate MLA and APA style for citing quotes: MLA https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html (Links to an external site.) and APA https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
Please read and review the following. I also include the order of items that are in this module:
1. AFAM 1113 Fall 2022 Syllabus (Dr. McNeal)-PDF-Revised.pdf Download AFAM 1113 Fall 2022 Syllabus (Dr. McNeal)-PDF-Revised.pdf
2 Download 2.Fall 2022 Syllabus Attachment Final.pdf Download Fall 2022 Syllabus Attachment Final.pdf
3. Review Purdue Owl Link for appropriate MLA and APA style for citing quotes: MLA https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html (Links to an external site.) and APA https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
4. Required Textbook and Films
5. Canvas and OSU Information for Technical Assistance
6. Virtual Office Hours
7. Discussion Board Due Dates
9. Discussion Groups: Based on the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa (Very Important you read this because you will need to understand your group name.)
10. Why Kwanzaa by Dr. Maulana Karenga (video)
11. Sweet Honey In The Rock – Seven Principles of Kawanzaa (Song on Your Group Names)
12. Keating: “Dialogue: Some of My Presuppositions” and “Listening” (These are posted separately in this Sankofa Unit)
13. McNeal (C): “Ubuntu Code of Ethics” (These are posted separately in this Sankofa Unit)
Required Text Book and Films: How to access them
As an instructor, my goal is to give you as many different ways as I can to access the material. I hope this is helpful! I want you to be successful in the course.
Required Book and Films (the book can be purchased at the OSU bookstore and Amazon) and all required items are reserved at the OSU library so students can access them.
You can access our main textbook three ways (I hope this is helpful):
Marable & Mullings, Let Nobody Turn Us Around (2nd edition, Rowman & Littlefield)
- Purchase the book at the OSU bookstore or Amazon.
- Access the book on reserve at the OSU main library in Stillwater by giving our course name and number.
Available at the Main Library Reserve Collection – 1st Floor – Edmon Low Creative Studios
- Access the book online through the Okstate library (keep in mind that only 6 students can access the book at a time online). For access, put the book name into the library data base, which will reveal accessibility to the book online and in the OSU reserves section in the library.
Here is the link to the online book at the OSU library (Please note: page numbers may be different, so you may have to look up the title of the reading):
ProQuest Ebook Central – Detail page
Please note: Both films for the course are on reserve at the OSU-Stillwater Main Library.
Both films are available at the Main Library Reserve Collection – 1st Floor – Edmon Low Creative Studios.
Black Panther movie: you can also rent or buy the movie at the following link:
500 Years Later documentary: you can also rent or buy the documentary at the following link:
The documentary is also on reserve at the library for you to check out for a couple of hours at a time to review it.
DISCUSSION BOARD DUE DATES (THERE ARE 3 DUE DATES, BUT ONLY THE LAST ONE WILL SHOW ON OUR CANVAS CALENDAR)
Beloved Community, you have been put into one of the following groups:
Umoja (Unity)
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
Nia (Purpose)
Kuumba (Creativity)
Imani (Faith)
Please note: You will see your group name when you go to our first discussion forum: Sankofa One: Introduction and Building Community. This is located in Discussions on our course menu. You can go directly to it by clicking on Sankofa One: Introduction and Building Community below.
Discussion Board Due Dates:
Please note: There are 3 due dates; however, only the last due date will show up on your student calendar because Canvas will not allow me to post all 3.
Special Discussion: Beloved Community, please make sure you review the special Instructions below for Sankofa One: Introduction Discussion
Due by Wednesday, August 24 at 11:59 pm CST:
Post a short introduction on the discussion board forum answering the following questions: (1) What is your major? (2) What made you interested in taking Intro to Africana Studies? (3) What are some of your expectations for the class? (4) What are two strengths you bring to our beloved community? (For example, you might refer to your ability to be open to diverse perspectives and worldviews or your involvement in promoting social justice issues.) (5) We are having a special gift offering for our Intro to Africana Studies course. That is, a gift offering that will assist us on our learning journey of Sankofa that will nourish our hearts-minds-emotions-spirits. So, what two gift offerings will you bring and why to enhance our interaction with the material in the field of Africana Studies while building community with each other? (For example, some gifts may be a flower of unique beauty so we recognize the unique beauty of each other or a quilt of understanding that we can cover ourselves with to remind us to practice deep listening.) If you would like, you can also paste a visual image of your gift offering into your post. (6) How does Keating’s “Dialogue: Some of My Presuppositions” and “Listening with Raw Openness” relate to some of our course objectives for Intro to Africana Studies? (7) Which of Keating’s presuppositions do you find most useful? (8) How do you think your group name and our Ubuntu Code of Ethics will influence our dialogue together? Please attach a picture of yourself or a picture that represents you to your introduction.
Due by Thursday, August 25 at 11:59 pm CST:
Post responses to all of your groups’ original posts. Remember to use MLA or APA style when quoting from the readings in your responses. This is a special discussion forum so your responses don’t have to be long.
Due by Friday, August 26 at 11:59pm CST:
Replies to the responses to your Original post
Special Instructions and Rubric for Sankofa One-Introduction DIscussion (60 poinrs)
DISCUSSION GROUPS: BASED ON SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF KWANZAA
Warm Greetings, Beloved Community!
Our discussions will be central to our learning journey. You will be placed into groups based on the seven principles of Kawanzaa.
What is Kwanzaa?
A celebration of family, community, and culture created by DR. MAULANA KARENGA. Dr. Maulana Karenga is professor and chair of the department of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
As an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. The conception and practice of Kwanzaa is rooted in both ancient African harvest celebrations and the Black Freedom Movement and thus it calls for and urges an active and ongoing commitment to African and human good and the well-being of the world.
You can read this document for further information: Annual Founder’s Kwanzaa Message “KWANZAA AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE WORLD: LIVING AND UPLIFTING THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES” Links to an external site.
You have been placed in one of the following groups (one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa), which you will see when you go to Discussions on our course menu. You will need to know the meaning of your group to answer the questions. Make sure you read about each group closely:
The First Principle, Umoja (Unity), begins with ourselves, but expands outward to include others and the world. It reaffirms Anna Julia Cooper’s assertion that “We take our stand on the solidarity of humanity, the oneness of life, and the unnaturalness of all special favoritism whether of race, sex, country or condition.” Umoja urges a moral sensitivity and caring kinship with each other, other human beings, all living beings, and with the world itself. For as our ancestors taught, we are not only human beings (watu), but also world beings (walimwengu). And thus, they taught in the sacred text, Odu Ifa, that we must “take responsibility for the world and do good for the world.”
The Second Principle, Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), teaches us we must think and act for ourselves and define ourselves by the good we choose and do in the world. It speaks to our right and responsibility to be ourselves and free ourselves and make our own unique contribution to the radical reimagining and remaking of our societies and the world. And Kujichagulia stresses our moral obligation to reaffirm and support this right for others, especially those oppressed and struggling for freedom, those wronged and injured and struggling for justice, and those disempowered and struggling for power over their destiny and daily lives.
The Third Principle, Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), speaks to the ethical obligation and transformative practice of building together the good world we all want and deserve to live in and leave as a rightful legacy for future generations. It teaches us to recognize and respect the common good in and of the world, to cultivate and harvest it together and practice an ethics of sharing this and other goods of the world.
The Fourth Principle, Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), lifts up and promotes the values of shared work and shared wealth; the right of all people to a decent and dignity affirming life, and thus the right of all people to a just and equitable share of the common goods of the world. Indeed, as Wangari Maathai taught, “We must now rethink our relationship with the living world, (and) the way we manage resources.” And we must resolutely and continuously resist mindless consumerism and the plunder, pollution and depletion of the world by corporations and countries who ride roughshod over the earth and the vulnerable peoples in it.
The Fifth Principle, Nia (Purpose), teaches us the collective vocation of constantly building and developing the capacity of our people to be ourselves and free ourselves to pursue an expansive good and come into the fullness of ourselves. And it reaffirms the interrelatedness of the pursuit of African and human good and the well-being of the world. For it remembers and reaffirms the sacred teachings of our ancestors in the Husia, that the good we do for others and the world we are also doing for ourselves. For we are building the moral community and good world we all want and deserve to live in.
The Sixth Principle, Kuumba (Creativity), uplifts and promotes the practice of the ancient African ethical principle of serudj ta, the moral obligation to repair, renew and remake the world, making it more beneficial and beautiful than we inherited it. And it interprets this as both a social and environmental practice. For oppression is damaging and destructive to us and others as well as to the world. And as a moral and social vanguard, we must see ourselves in our ultimate agency, as injured physicians, who will heal, repair, renew and remake ourselves in the process and practice of repairing, renewing, and remaking the world. For as Mary McLeod Bethune taught “Our task is to remake the world. It is nothing less than this.”
The Seventh Principle, Imani (Faith), teaches us to believe in the good and our capacity to achieve it, share it, and leave it as a worthy legacy for those who come afterward. Let us have faith, then, in the sacred teachings of our ancestors which say to us across millennia: “Let’s do things with joy for surely humans have been divinely chosen to bring good in the world” and this is the fundamental mission and meaning of human life. Thus, chosen by history and heaven to constantly strive to bring good in the world, we must audaciously and ceaselessly dare to do so. So, let’s continue the struggle. Keep the faith. Hold the line. Love and respect our people and each other. Seek and speak truth. Do and demand justice. Be constantly concerned with the wellbeing of the world and all in it. And dare help rebuild the overarching movement that prefigures and makes possible the good world we all want and deserve to live in and leave as a legacy worthy of the name and history African.▲
DR. KEATING: “DIALOGUE: SOME OF MY PRESUPPOSITIONS” AND “LISTENING”
Everything is sacred . . . And at the seed of everything is relations. That anyone is really separate from anyone else or anything that is happening in the world is an illusion . . . This is true for all the kingdoms of nature, as well as for humanity. Every time a tree is felled in the Amazon, a tree in Africa responds.
The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
Course Presuppositions to Guide Our Class Discussions
Our class community will be guided by these presuppositions which can create a space where we honor our diversity and humanity and respectfully engage in dialogue with each other.
Dialogue: Some of My Presuppositions
Dr. AnaLouise Keating
Here are some of the presuppositions for our class discussions:
- Social injustice exists. People are not treated equitably. We live in an unjust society and an unfair world; the remarkable promises of democracy have yet to be fulfilled. Oppression (racism, classism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc.) exists on multiple seen and unseen levels.
- Our educations have been biased. The eurocentric educational systems, media outlets, and other institutions omit and distort information about our own groups and others. These hidden mechanisms sustain oppression, including an often invisible and normative white supremacy. This white supremacist thinking has affected all of us in various ways; we all have “blank spots,” desconocimientos (Anzaldúa), and so forth.
- Blame is not useful, but accountability is. It is nonproductive to blame ourselves and/or others for the misinformation we have learned in the past or for ways we have benefitted and continue benefitting from these unjust social systems. However, once we have been exposed to more accurate information, we are accountable! We should work to do something with this information–perhaps by working towards a more just future.
- “We are related to all that lives.” We are interconnected and interdependent in multiple ways, including economically, ecologically, linguistically, socially, spiritually.
- Categories and labels shape our perception. Categories and labels, although often necessary and sometimes useful, can prevent us from recognizing our interconnectedness with others. Categories can (a) distort our perceptions; (b) create arbitrary divisions among us; (c) support an oppositional “us-against-them” mentality that prevents us from recognizing potential commonalities; and (d) reinforce the unjust status quo. Relatedly, identity categories based on inflexible labels establish and police boundaries–boundaries that shut us in with those we’ve deemed “like” “us” and boundaries that shut us out from those whom we assume to be different.
- People have a basic goodness. People (both the groups we study and class members) generally endeavor to do the best they can. We will all make mistakes, despite our best intentions. The point is to learn from our errors. In order to learn from our errors, we must be willing to listen and to speak (preferably, in this order!).
Listening with Raw Openness
Dr. AnaLouise Keating
Listening is a crucial yet too often overlooked element in effective class discussions and other forms of dialogue. Below are some suggestions which, if we all practice, will enhance class discussions. I describe this process as deep listening, or “listening with raw openness.”
- Deep listening entails respect for each speaker’s “complex personhood” (Cervenak et. al.). As we listen, we remind ourselves that each individual we encounter has a specific, highly intricate history, an upbringing and life experiences which we cannot fully know. We don’t know the forces that shaped her and, at best, we can only partially ascertain her intentions and desires. Our understanding is always partial and incomplete.
- Deep listening entails vulnerability and flexibility. When we.re vulnerable, we can be open to others’ perspectives and willing to acknowledge the possibility of error. Vulnerability can facilitate transformation. As Paula Gunn Allen suggests, such vulnerability can be an important part of growth: “And what is vulnerability? Just this: the ability to be wrong, to be foolish, to be weak and silly, to be an idiot. It is the ability to accept one’s unworthiness, to accept one’s vanity for what it is. It’s the ability to be whatever and whoever you are recognizing that you, like the world, like the earth, are fragile, and that in your fragility lies all possibility of growth and of death, and that the two are one and the same” (65).
- Deep listening entails asking for clarification. Before we respond, we should clarify the speaker’s message, to make sure that we.ve understood as fully as possible what s/he’s saying.
- Deep listening entails frequent pauses and the ability to remain silent. Sometimes it’s best simply to listen, and not respond verbally (especially if those responses would involve offering solutions, drawing analogies with our own experiences or those of others, or speaking without first self-reflecting).
- Deep listening enables us to challenge the ideas, not the speakers: We can respectfully, but forthrightly, challenge desconocimientos, misunderstandings, and expressions of falsehoods and stereotypes about our own groups and other groups. When doing so, it is vital that we challenge the stereotypes/racism/ideologies/etc. not the speaker herself.
Sources
Allen, Paula Gunn. Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons. Boston: Beacon P, 1998.
Anzaldúa, Gloria E. “now let us shift….the path of conocimiento….inner work, public acts.” this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. Eds. Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating. New York: Routledge, 2002. 540-78.
Cervenak, Sarah J., Karina L. Cespedes, Caridad Souza, Andrea Straub. “Imagining Differently: The Politics of Listening in a Feminist Classroom.” this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. Eds. Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating. New York: Routledge, 2002. 341-56.
Hogue, Cynthia; Parker, Kim Miller, Meredith. “Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Ethical Pedagogy in the Multicultural Classroom.” Feminist Teacher 12 (1998): 89-
Keating, AnaLouise. “Women of Color and Feminism: Twenty Years after This Bridge Called MyBack.” Paper presented at New York University.WS/SOCI 5463. Fall 2002.
Ubuntu Code of Ethics
(these Ubuntu Code of Ethics will guide our class conduct)
Dr. Reanae McNeal
Our code of ethics will be guided by Ubuntu, an ancient code of ethics often used throughout the continent of Africa as a means of relating that encompasses the well-being of the whole community. This ancient code is embedded throughout the world across diverse cultures. Ubuntu is a value system that has existed for a long time in traditional Indigenous cultures and is a way of being in the world that includes kindness, sharing, generosity, compassion, inclusiveness, and a deep concern for all of creation.
We can find Ubuntu at the foundation of every culture, which makes it so widespread. Helen Sayer points out:
The word Ubuntu originated in the local languages of South Africa. For example one key concept of Ubuntu derives from the Zulu/ Xhosa (South African) saying:“umuntu, ngumuntu, ngabantu” which means “a person is a person through other persons” – otherwise expressed as : “I am because you are” or “I exist because you exist.” It acknowledges the value of each individual or group, the acceptance of our differences while recognizing our common spirituality, our responsibility for the well-being of others, and a sense of being one human family and being deeply connected with nature and with the universe. (8)
There are words from diverse languages that express Ubuntu such as:
Mitakuye Oyasin (Lakota-We Are All Related
Harambee (Swahili –Let’s Pull Together)
Terranga (Wolof-Hospitality)
Ethiad (Arabic –Cooperation, Union)
In Lak Ech (Mayan-I Am Another Yourself)
Ahimsa (Hindu-Non-violence)
European phrase (One for all and all for one)
As we come together, we have an opportunity to learn and grow from each other by building bridges across our differences while recognizing our commonalities. By practicing an Ubuntu Code of Ethics, we can become more aware of how each one of us can learn and grow from each other through our candid discussions. By practicing Ubuntu, we can more clearly see our connections to other living beings while practicing deep listening of other people’s experiences, perspectives, and worldviews. We can become aware of what happens to other living beings impacts us because we are all connected.
Works Cited
Sayers, Helen. Introducing Ubuntu! Re-ignite the Spirit of Humanity!: Rediscover the Art of Living Together in Harmony. Self-published, 2010. Print
