Bantu Roadmaps… Random Connections
Desmond Tutu
“Africans believe in something that is difficult to render in English. We call it UBUNTU… It means the essence of being human. You know when it is there and when it is absent. It speaks about humaneness, gentleness, hospitality, putting yourself out on behalf of others, being vulnerable. It embraces compassion and toughness. It recognizes that my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” ~ Desmond Tutu Read More
Heru/Horus… Hero
When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land. ~ Kenya’s post-colonial Father: Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Prime Minister of Kenya (1963-64), President (1964-78), and author of “Facing Mount Kenya.” These words are sometimes attributed to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Winner: Nobel Peace Prize, 1984; Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, 1986; Pacem in Terris Award, 1987; Sydney Peace Prize, 1999; Gandhi Peace Prize, 2005; and Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009). Read More
Trees of Dreaming, Songlines, Story, Life…
Deep in the rain forest of western Kenya, there lived a special tree that many considered mystical. Once upon a time, her dwelling place was part of the great Equatorial African forest that once spanned the continent from east to west like a magnificent green belt that went through present-day Guinea. Her name was Mama Mutere, Read More
“An African Renaissance is Possible.” Guest Blogpost written by Molefi Kete Asante, Ph.D.
Renaissance carries with it the idea of a rebirth. Over the past ten years this term has gained ascendancy in the rhetoric of Africans who seek to restore and reconstruct societies based on the classical traditions. It was the young Cheikh Anta Diop, still in his twenties, who asked in 1948 “When shall we be able to speak of an African Renaissance?” Read More
Malaika Mutere 