IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol 9 No.2, 2023 www.igwebuikeresearchinstitute.org/igwebuikejournals.php A Publication of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 49 GEORGE EKWURU’S AFRI-RACIOGENESIS: NEGATIVE DISCOURSES, WESTERN RACIALIZATION AND AFRI-ZEALOTISM: A REVIEW Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam, PhD Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri Department of Educational Foundations and Administration centiz@yahoo.com DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31621.83688 Abstract The givens of human existence are the same for all human beings in the world. The realities of birth, terminal sickness and death are immutable packages which are part and parcel of human existence. The realities of birth: choice of parents, choice of place of birth, choice of date of birth, choice of nationality, genotype (personality make-up) and phenotype (physical characteristics of personality) are givens that no human being was given any option of choice. The type of sickness which will lead a person to death is part of the package of each personality. Medical expertise can sustain life by prolonging death but not changing reality. From the inception of civilization, the West took up an aggressive position of ascribing negativity to the givens of birth and sickness to Africa. The given of death which is for all mortals has analogically been also ascribed to be African. The conception of death as black, as night, as evil, and attribution of death- dealing events as African are symbolic analogies to make death an African creation. The angel of death is painted in many Western pieces of literature as black and even in science fiction. The stigmatization of Africa via the givens of human existence is at the root of Afri-raciogenesis. The reaction of Africans is like the myth of Sisyphus. Can the stone ever be rolled over the hill? At most, the efforts of Africans at overcoming the negative labels of the West put Africans always thinking in terms of validating the past and not projective thinking in the present in order to reconstruct the future. Thus, Africa is like Prometheus in chains. Prometheus can be unbound through Afri-zealotism. Keywords: Afri-raciogenesis, negative discourses, racialization, Afri-zealotism Introduction The African question has become a key question not just among African scholars but also among Western scholars. It has become a matter of great concern. What is the African continent? Who are Africans? Why is Africa underdeveloped? When will Africa become George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 50 a developed nation? The African question is one that by merely raising the question places the questioner on either side of the coin. On the main, it still demands lots of courage to raise the African question amid the mirage of propaganda, doctored information, misinformation and tailored stigmatization of Africa. Raising the African question calls to being the very being of the questioner. It raises the question are you one of them by descent, ascent or sentiment? What is your name? My name is Africa. Who gave me this name and where did the name come from? These are questions that African scholars are raising today about African identity. When African scholars become too sensitive to the name Africa; the West shifted grounds by referring to Africa as the ‚third world‛. The underlying racial discrimination remains. One world which humans inhabit cannot be parcelled out into first, second and third. It is all invention to label and hold down Africa as an underdog. When the nomenclature underdeveloped was criticized as too negative for Africa, it was changed to developing nation. It could have been completed as a developing nation that never develops. It is a matter of sounding nice and reducing tension among Africans that it was just referred to as a developing nation. It seems that there is a big secret about Africa that the world is afraid to let out. Africans continue to strive to change the lumps and piles of negative imperatives hipped on their continent. Aime Ceasar came up with the philosophy of Negritude as a way out of the circle of doom in which Africa has found herself. Kwame Nkrumah suggested ‚Consciencism.‛ and Frantz Fanon suggested ‚revolution.‛ All these were within the context of the struggle for independence from colonialism. In the post- colonial period, colonialism and racialism have continued at the psychological level, African scholars are suggesting the African renaissance as a way of counteracting the negative labels on Africa. It is against this background that George Ekwuru, a scholar of great repute has put forward the thesis on Afri-zealotism as a philosophical tenet to curb the disturbing reality of Western racialization and stigmatization of Africans. Statement of problems The question of African roots, identity, the genesis of racialization, and enduring conscious structures which have nurtured racialization against Africans remain philosophically problematic. From the point of view of roots, the problems are enormous. From where did the too many tribes found on the African continent come? If we accept the thesis on hypothetical grounds that Africa is the ancestral home of Homo Sapiens that means other races are from Africa. Human secondary characteristics can account for colour and hair, but the question is how, when and where did other races start seeing themselves as different stock of humanity so that Africa is seen as another stock of Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 51 humanity. The problem of African roots must be sought in the debate between creationism and evolution; and arbitrary Western intellectual claims and classifications. There is a problem with African identity. Who are Africans? What characteristics mark Africans as distinctly Africans? In matters of identity, there is self-identity and public identity. How do we delineate self-identity qualities from public-identity qualities in the flood of imposed imageries, tags, labels, and propaganda on African identity from without? What criteria can be used to identify Africans all over the world? There are black people across most continents of the world and among white people. The slave trade and its consequent abolition scattered Africans across America and Europe. What precise identity should these Africans in the Diaspora claim? The African question must of necessity evokes the problem of the genesis of racialization. How did the idea of race emanate? And how did the small tribes of Africa come to be lumped together and referred to as a race? What are the characteristics of a race? It is either Africa is not a race or it is the universal race since her species are found amidst every other race while the species of every other race are not found within her. Race is a label, a structure of discrimination. The problem of racial structures cannot be overlooked. These are the myths about Africa, the negative significations and simplifications, and unscientific claims such as intelligence tests, language use and characterizations in books, films and social events. The core events are the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and post-colonialism. The fifty-four nations of Africa are products of Western unholy amalgamation which defies the cultural, traditional and even religious sentiments of the people. These nations are still being seen and referred to as colonies of big world powers. This is why decisions about such nations cannot be taken without due consultations with their colonizers. Thus, the problems of African development will remain as long as the structures for racialization and colonialism are in place. Explication of concepts The concept Afri-raciogenesis means ‚the gradually progressive convergence of the varied mythical and racial discourses of Africa as the unique frame of its collective socio- racial subjectivity and their uses as moral, philosophical and scientific axioms for the continual exploitative domination of the continent by the West.‛ (Ekwuru 23). The concept can also be seen as referring to the origin and beginnings of the processes- structures, and superstructures, which can be seen as policies and institutions, established orders employed to perpetually subdue and rape Africa. George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 52 The concept of Negative discourses is as well important to clarify. Discourse means the social production of knowledge through language. Discourse refers to a literary narrative (genre) or narrative or storytelling method of speech which has the evocative power of sustaining the point of discussion in consciousness from generation to generation. It is a thoroughly rehearsed practice for social communication and domination. When a discourse becomes negative as in the case of Africa then it refers to the use of narrative either literary or speech to convey wicked imagery, thought patterns, racial language, and stereotypes in describing Africa. The other concept to be considered is Afri-zealotism. This word is coined from the words Africa and zealot. The word zealot comes from zeal or burning love or passion for a course of action. Ekwuru George in his work Africa and the myth of sleeping Giant, towards the Age of Afrizealotism, described Afri-zealotism as a philosophical tenet which is existential and which calls for reconstructive-self-discovery and empowerment as tools for African reconstructive redemption. It is a philosophy of passion for the course of Africa. (Ekwuru, 22) Africa as Creation of Negative Discourse The idea that Africa is a creature of negative discourse is a distinct, indubitable and axiomatic truth. A discourse is a group of statements or speech which provides a basis or norm for talking, deliberations and discussions. It can also be seen as a literary or speech genre which a social group uses for communication purposes. It is like a narrative or storytelling pattern of speech. This is why it has enormous power and registers easily in people’s psyches without easily going away. Its power of maintaining knowledge lies in the fact that it is like a refrain in music. It does not need definitions or concept analysis. An important element of discourse is that every discourse has its ‚sitz-im-leben.‛ There is no discourse from space. Every discourse is therefore an expression of a life form. Discourse does not necessarily follow conventional language. It is the creation of knowledge through language. The knowledge does not need to be verified, justified, or tested. A typical example of discourse is the parables of Jesus Christ. The West made use of negative discourses to create Africa of their thoughts. The sitz-im-leben of western negative discourses about Africa can be traced back to the Greeco-Roman period of Western history. Before the Greeco-Roman period, Egypt occupied the centre of world civilization and the centre of ancient learning. The overrunning of Egypt by Arab barbers created the loophole the west needed to turn the hand of history and civilization. The West took up the project of erasing every known black civilization through negative discourse to rewrite the history of ideas as western. Thus, the first discourse is that the vast Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 53 continent is the land of ‚ifri‛ which means hot land. This land of ‚Ifri‛ has no past, no collective historical consciousness, and is home to primitive people, the Alps and wild beasts. The negative discourse is further seen in the invention of the name Africa by the Greeks who divided the world into three using the Mediterranean sea as a point of departure. The Greeks conceived the south of the Mediterranean sea as Libya, the East as Asia, and the North as Europe. The name Libya was used as a racial tag and discriminatory to distinguish the white-skinned from the Ethiopians (burnt-faced). It was the Romans who called the part of Libya which is present-day Egypt as Afri and added the suffix ‚ca‛ which put together becomes Africa- land of Afri and means land of no cold. When the Arabs defeated the Romans, they called the region ‚Ifriqiya.‛ (Parker and Rathbone 5). Thus, part of the negative discourse is the invention of the name Africa. The second life form within which negative discourse about Africa grew was the slave trade. In course of Africa’s history, the west using brute force descended on Africans and charted away more than 12 million people to work in their plantations. Africans were dehumanized as slaves and underdogs with guns. This African experience is as bad as the Jewish holocaust. To be exiled forcefully from one's home is as bad as being abandoned to die. Trans Atlantic slave trade gave a death-dealing shock to Africa and scattered her human resources all over the world. It was a humiliation of the first order which distorted and is still distorting the image of Africa abroad. On the other hand, it also distorted the image of the west as a violent, brute, and crafty race ever ready to kill, main and torture fellow human being on the altar of development and civilization. This imperialistic attitude of the west provided another matrix for the formation of negative discourses to justify the slave trade. Africans were labelled as closest linked with primates and without rational souls. Africans belong to the farm and should not be educated because they are ‚towel heads.‛ The Rising Tide of Western Imperialism and Afri-racio-genesis The West gradually moved from negative discourse on Africa to a practical negative attitude towards Africans. They constituted themselves into western hegemony to rule over the world. This is the idea behind the North/ south divide. The North Atlantic saw herself as the great Leviathan, Prometheus unbound, and the Octopus sea monster that spreads fear around the world. The imperialistic posture of the West finds expression when they pounced on Africa and in a round table conference parcelled out Africa among themselves without any reference to the people of the continent. Adiele Afigbo insists that there were three levels of the scramble for and partition of Africa. The first scramble and partition took place around 1100 B.C and 800 B.C when the Phoenicians African territories of Utica (modern Tunisia) and Carthage respectively. Within these periods, George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 54 there were conquest and counter- conquest over the control of Egypt and the whole of North Africa. The second level of scramble came in the 19th century which is the real humiliating landmark in Afri-raciogenesis. The third level is a scramble for and partition at the psychological and consciousness levels between the West and East. This was the scramble for the planting of political ideologies of socialism, communism, and democratic-capitalism in Africa. (Okere and Njoku 12-25). Africans were now referred to as Western colonies. The word colony is in itself the fundamental word of Afri- raciogenesis. A colon is an imitation copy, the result of a laboratory experiment, and a robot so to say. Africans are colons, but what is the original copy out of which Africans were colon? If Africans are the colonies while the West is the colonizers then there is a problematic of otherness. The west must take responsibility for the concept of otherness or negation of it which they created. It must be noted that the west lack sensitivity to the other. Rene Descartes captured this western ideology when he stated ‚cogito ergo sum‛ ‚I think therefore I am‛. This was re-emphasized by Sartre when he insisted that the look of the other wants to annihilate him. It is this philosophy of the self that is behind western imperialism. The Decline of a Great African Civilization The historical evolution of civilizations is a reality. Civilizations rise and fall. This is true of the fall of the great Egyptian black civilization that gave rise to Greece civilization. Western racists, however, try to deny that Egyptian civilization was a black African civilization and try to attribute great Egyptian civilization to western civilization. This thesis was put forward by Champollion the younger and has become a normed reference point for western scholars on Africa. (Ekwuru 29). The argument is based on the colour of the skin of Egyptians in the days of Pharaoh. In the years before Christ, Egyptians were black Africans. The many wars of conquest by western powers over the control of Egypt and North Africa were responsible for wiping out the population of black Africans and the repopulation of the area with a white-skinned population. The great civilization of Egypt is not a matter of dispute. It is a black civilization. This denial amounts to saying that black Africans are incapable of a great civilization which is another form of Afri- raciogenesis. The Rising of Power- Impulse of the Imperial Culture of the West The power impulse of the imperial culture of the west means the thirst, the unbridled desire for power and the exercise of same within a particular social situation which is rightly referred to as ‚the culture of the west.‛ What theoretical framework can explain Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 55 away this power intoxication of the west? Ali Marzui as cited by Ekwuru put forward the idea of three basic imperatives of God, Gold, and Glory. According to Marzui, these three imperatives form standards that constitute the prime motives for imperial conquest and domination. He theorized that men are inspired by the search for religious fulfilment (the God standard), by yearning for economic status (the Gold standard)’ or by the quest for renown (the Glory standard). The theoretical position of Bertrand Russell seems to differ so much from that of Marzui. According to Russell as cited by Ekwuru the highest desires of men are power and glory. Power and glory are the propelling force behind human actions for greatness and conquest. In the case of the west, the cultural context of their society must be taken cognizance of. The Life situation of European society and culture is that of wars and counter-wars. The culture of war and conquest seems to be a dominant character of the average European. This culture of war and aggressiveness can be found in every segment of European history: Indo-European Prehistoric Period. Marimba Ani agrees with H. R. Elis Davidson that violence and battle characterized the lives of the heathen period in the North- Western Europe. The culture of war was sustained by the social value ‚cult of nobility‛ reserved only for the warriors. Thus becoming a warrior was one of the greatest achievements of men of the period and was highly valued by society. On the contrary, African culture values non-violence, dialogue and peace. These values of African culture account for the colonizability of the Africans by the West. The Classical Greco-Roman World. The Greeco-Roman world owes its existence and civilization to military power. Civilizations are said to be built on the blood of men and new cities are built on the ruins of ancient cities. The famous Greece Empire was built on the great African Egyptian civilization; just as the great Roman Empire was built on the ruins of the Greece Empire. The socio-cultural ideology of war and conquest dominated the social value of the period. The ancient Greek philosophers and writers reflected the ideology of war in their philosophy. Homer rejected war and strife, wishing for the end of strife among gods and men. Heraclitus attacked Homer saying that war is that through which things come into being and go out of being. In the Republic, Plato justified ‚the law of might is right and just.‛ Aristotelian philosophy of civilization centred on the idea of the ‚natural right of conquest‛ and the West capitalized on this Aristotle’s philosophy to continue their civilization by conquest. Alexander the great, a disciple of Aristotle, applied the philosophy of the natural right of conquest to conquer and dominate the world. Alexander George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 56 the Great founded seventy cities and wanted to expand Greek learning beyond bounds. The Great Julius Caesar took after his role model Alexander the Great and was also influenced by Napoleon Bonaparte. Adolf Hitler was inspired and influenced by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Roman Imperial Spirit. The spirit of conquest exhibited by Greece as seen in the life of Alexander the Great was taken over by the Romans. The Romans conquered Greece and dominated the whole world over a long period of history. The Roman Empire extended throughout the world. At a time civil and ecclesiastical authorities came together to form what is regarded as Ceasareo-Papism- the Emperor of Rome and the Holy Father (Pope) ruled the world. The idea behind this was to realize one world family, one catholic religion, one universal culture and one world-wide-state. Rome dominated world civilization for more than 500 years. This is why the Roman imperial conquest was extensive and more enduring in the minds of men. Thus, Rome set the stage for imperial conquest which other European nations were to copy in the future. Medieval Period By the time of the medieval period, the influence of Rome was on a steady decline. It was during this period that the fusion of two intellectual cultures of Greco-Roman culture and Judeo-Christian cultures of Jerusalem took place and bonded together. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, there was no European power to take over from Rome; instead, the Roman states started wars of supremacy against each other. The Germanic tribes dominated the scene and established states in Spain, Germany and France. Around the 7th century, the rise of the Islamic religion with its spirit of conquest created problems for the Christian states of Rome and the rest of Europe. Only the Germanic tribe of Franks was able to defend their people and land against Islamic invaders. In the Medieval era, there was a paradigm shift from power-impulse- imperialistic civilization to power-impulse inter-tribal conquest and domination. The power play of the period produced two concepts of monarchies: 1. Absolutist monarchies as exemplified in Spain, Prussia, Austria, France, Sweden, and Russia. 2. Constitutional monarchies as seen in England and Holland. (Ekwuru 68). The Medieval period saw notable achievements in spirituality, music and arts. It must be noted that at this period the catholic church played the role of unifying people on the grounds of religion. The whole effort and activities of the church were met with a wave of intellectualism which swept across Europe at the time discrediting the efforts of the Catholic Church and labelling the medieval period as the dark ages. Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 57 The Age of Expansion and Exploration This period is located between the end of the Medieval period and the beginning of the Modern period and the period of scramble and partition for Africa in the Nineteenth century. It was Petrarch who through his revivalist writings called Europe back to a sober reflection on its antiquity as a way forward. He divided the whole of European history into two: European antiquity as the zenith of civilization and creativity and the dark ages. And the dark ages referred to the period of Ceasaro-Papism when the Catholic Church and the Emperor especially Constantine ruled over the world. It was a period when the church controlled science and knowledge. The revivalist spirit gave rise to three movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment celebrated secularism by liberating science and knowledge from the influence of religion and promoting human reason over and above faith. It was the spirit of the Enlightenment that gave rise to the Modern period. The height of the Medieval period was the age of discovery when Europe again converged its spirit of domination of others and went out in search of other nations to conquer and dominate. These nations already existed though Europe claimed to have discovered them. European voyagers again demystified the fear associated with seas, rivers and long-standing forests. The driving force of Europe’s conquest in this period is knowledge is power. This is the term ‚Imperialistic Epistemology.‛ This materialistic knowledge made the Greeks and Romans bold, assertive and forceful in dealing with people and events. Modern Period: The modern period saw the rise of secularism, materialism and science. It was a period marked by renewed vigour of the west towards a renewed culture of the conquest of other nations. By this period the European monarchies of the Medieval period had consolidated into big nations and are now ready to undertake expansion projects. The British took up the imperialistic culture of civilization to colonize other nations. Other nations of Europe took after the British and the new wave of European conquest started. This imperialistic domination was fuelled and sustained by the culture of the west, the spirit of conquest and domination. It needs to be noted that the negative discourses on Africa result in a racial Africa and draws its vigour from the Archives of European history: classical knowledge, religious and biblical sources, artistic stereotypes and traveller’s tales. From these archives, the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment discourses of the Modern concept of otherness were formulated and expanded. George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 58 Afri-mythology: The Western Construction of the African Black Image of Otherness The term Afri-mythology refers to the mixture of myths and facts in designating Africa. It is the production of cultural knowledge based on stereotypes of discourses from mythical reality about Africa, the first of which is with the name Africa. The name Africa is presented by the News media across the globe as if Africa is a town. The recurring theme is inside Africa. The mythical reality of Africa as conceived by the West is such that Gov. Sarah Palin of the United States of America does not know that Africa is a continent. The concept of Africa is a paradox, a polymorphic, a polysemic or even anamorphic nomenclature to be used as it pleases the user to celebrate the stereotypes of racism. At this point, it is pertinent to understand what myth is all about. Mary Magoulick defined it in this way: ‚Myths are symbolic tales of the distant past( often primordial times) that concern cosmogony and cosmology (the origin and nature of the universe). May be connected to belief systems or rituals, and may serve to direct social action and values.‛ (Magoulick 98) The point is that myth performs a social function in a society depending on the use to which they are channelled. There are two facts about myths. Myths contain known facts and mysterious elements. They know facts are the story conveying the myth, but the mysterious element is the essence of the story. It has also been argued that myths are sacred as well as profane. Malinowski insists that myths must be sacred, but he underlined the fact that myths act as a charter of action for society. (Malinowski 111). William Hansen in his study of ancient Greek myths disagrees with Malinowski. He insisted that myths are secular stories that do the work of a world-forming or world-view- forming function. (Hansen 22). From the foregoing, it is clear that myths are powerful tools which can be used in discourse to maintain falsehood as reality in the consciousness of society from generation to generation. This is the effect of Afri-mythology on Africans as well as the world. Afri-mythology has produced cultural false knowledge about Africa and has been the work of the Western elite and western media. Afri-mythology has had the following effects: 1. It has turned the Western consciousness and worldview of Africa into a belief system, a religion with immutable articles of faith. 2. It has given Africa a stinking label. 3. The myths have produced a psycho-unconscious disorder in the average black African. 4. Afri-mythology has an enslavement effect on Africans. They form an encapsulation of thought and consciousness that the zeal to break the effect is even lost. 5. Afri-mythology forms the basis for Western inaction and lip service concerning Africa. What are these myths about Africa? Giles Bolton listed five of these myths: 1. Famine is due to food shortages. This myth ignores the fact that drought, war, and lack of irrigation and fertilizer can lead to famine and food shortage. 2. Africa is overpopulated and they keep having many children. This myth overlooked the fact of the African landscape and failed to consider that lack of good economic policy and political will are responsible for Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 59 presenting the African population as a problem. Why are the population of India and China not a problem for the International community? 3. Africa has many killer diseases. This myth failed to realize that there killer diseases on many other continents. These diseases kill people on those continents. If the case of Africa is pathetic, it is because of poverty and not because of the continent. 4. Africa has many dangerous animals. While watching a television program in New Jersey, this myth was presented by showing a snake attacking a lion and the broadcaster added Africa is a dangerous zone. This myth is aimed at halting tourist activities in Africa. If Africa has many animals it should be a blessing. The animals could be tamed and given a reserved area for tourist activities. The fact is that animals do not attack people on the streets or in their homes. No tourist has been known to devour wild animals in Africa. Instead, pet animals in the West are known to have grown wild and attacked their owners.5. The climate is not conducive to development. This myth is aimed at preventing the International Community from assisting Africa in the struggle for development. The fact is that most African nations are in the rainfall zone and enjoy year-round green vegetation. It is a continent most suited for development. The sun has been discovered as a source of electricity and can power electric cars and other electrical appliances. Solar energy can help to power machines for mechanized farming. The problem is not the African climate, but poverty. (Bolton 22-24). The worst of the myth is that the West holds the keys to African development. It is false because in every field of human endeavour in the world, for every ten best, an African will be counted. In many universities in the West, Africans are lecturers, helping to shape the mind of Western youths. How many whites lecture in Africa? Instead, without the blacks, Western development will crumble. African Geographical Identity Confusion The concept of Africa is rightly conceived as a sculpted work. The west as artists carefully assembled their tools, matrix, and colours to sculpt Africa. Different Western nations contributed to the sculpting this is why Africa has identity confusion. This identity confusion is first in the etymology of the word Africa. In the words of Ekwuru, the Greeks used the name Ethiopia, Libya, ‘Afer’ respectively to designate the geographical space called Africa. The Romans called it Africa which is a derivative form Latin ‘aprica’ ‘sunny’ or from the Greek ‘aphrike’ ‘without cold’. The term was used by the Romans to refer to the North African coast which was regarded as the southern extension of Europe. The Romans also used the name ‘Afriga’ to refer to the southern area of their settlement which is the name of a barber community south of Carthage. (Ekwuru 88) The point is there is etymological confusion about identity. The concept of Africa does refer to North Africa or South Europe or South of Carthage. In the concept, there is no inclusion of East George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 60 Africa, central Africa, West Africa or South Africa as it is today. The concept of Africa is therefore a conjecturing of ideas to designate a geographical area. The encounter between Africa and Europe introduced identity confusion such that Africans lost self-identity for the identity of otherness. The African wants to be a white man. Izu Onyeocha in his work titled ‚Africa: The Question of Identity‛ cited Walter Rodney who expressed this otherness in the sense of’ the more Africans are Europeanized, the more they are de- Africanized’ (Onyeocha 31). Frantz Fanon captured the identity confusion of otherness in the title of his work ‚Black Skin, White Masks‛. He wrote: ‚The black man has two dimensions: one with his fellows, the other with the white man. A negro behaves differently with a white man and with another negro.‛ (Fanon 17). The worst level of identity confusion is in the black man’s preference of becoming a white man instead of remaining black which is the reason behind the masking. The Depiction of Africa with Images of Blackness The West in their cultural consciousness painted Africa with negative images of blackness and darkness. These representations of Africa started from Historical books on Africa as works of Herodotus, stories about Africa and notes on Africa by European Explorers. The negative representations moved from the conjecturing of ideas to mental realities, then to conscious entities that have now fossilized in the deep unconscious. Thus, the average European reacts to issues about Africa from the deep unconscious frame of reference which appears immutable and justified true belief. The vocabularies of discrimination, of distinction and isolation, were originated in the Greco-Roman period. The words barbarians and slaves were used to discriminate between a Greece and a non-Greece. Thus, the foundation for racial discrimination was laid by the Greco-Roman civilization. This is clear from the idea that Greece was the civilized race and master race, while other races were uncivilized. This is a brand of raciology. In the Medieval period, the vocabularies of discrimination and raciology. The Greco-Roman world continued as a transferred tradition. With its heavy dose of religious climate, the waters of Christian baptism came to be an added phenomenon to the charter of discriminatory words. This difference was expressed in terms of the baptized and pagans. Ample evidence of medieval involvement in racial differentiation and discriminatory classifications is seen in theological categories, literature and arts. The arts depicted images of semi-human and semi-animal beings, infrahuman beings without heads and eyes in the chest. These were regarded as monsters and were found at the southwestern edges of the Libyan desert. (Ekwuru 106). In the Medieval period, words for discrimination and difference among men increased. The word Moors or Saracen used for Arab Muslims was contrasted with Negro and black Africans, believer contrasted with an unbeliever, white for angel, and Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 61 black for the devil. During the age of exploration and expansion, the vocabulary for racial discrimination and differences did not abate. The words civilized and uncivilized, normal and abnormal, structured society and unstructured society, and superior and inferior race came on board. In this period, the ‘discovered new world’ population came to be regarded as savage. Savage stood for violence, sexual license, incivility and lack of civilization, and lack of sense of morality. The reports of explorers added to make the racial distinction and difference much more pronounced. Afri-raciology: The Dynamics of the Western Racialization of Africa. The word race was invented as a ‚regulative category‛. This means it was to serve the purpose of adjusting, controlling, and ruling; directing, and arranging social, biological, and cultural humanity. With time it came to be applied in the classification of human beings according to race. This classification followed the science of genetics which sought to give the biological and physical basis for differentiation and variations among humanity. The theory of evolution played a major role in helping the west perfect the notion of race and racism. Areoye Oyebola observed in his book ‚Black Man’s Dilemma‛ that as far back as 1738, the Swedish Naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus had assigned all men to the species of Homo Sapiens and divided human beings into four categories: Americanus—(American Indians)—Tenacious, contented, free, ruled by custom. Europaeus—light, lively, inventive; ruled by rites. Asiaticus-stern, haughty, stingy, ruled by opinion. After (African)-cunning, slow, negligent, ruled by caprice. (Oyebola 1). This classification is based on the workings of the mind. The question is what instrument of the study did Linnaeus use to arrive at his conclusions? How did he arrive at the name After for Africa which literarily means After the other races then came to Africa? This classification placed Africa at the receiving end of other races. Africa as negro race is the opposite race or the alterity of the West. The word race etymologically understood means a concept to describe the nature and reality of otherness. The Western race and the other race, which is Africa. The West considered itself a ‚high race‛ under rationality and physical prowess while Africa was considered a ‚low race‛. The claims of high race being based on rationality demand proof, the proof was provided by Francis Galton’s intelligence test. Galton’s intelligence test is an instrument for measuring the intelligence quotient of a sample of a population or subjects based on the G-factor theory of intelligence. According to this instrument when administered to the black population, the index of the result was poor. It was concluded that the blacks had a low intelligent quotient while the whites had a high intelligent quotient. There are several flaws in the intelligence test. It was based on a G-factor theory of intelligence which is not acceptable today. Psychologists are of the view that there multiple factors of intelligence. The George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 62 intelligence test instrument of Galton contains cultural bias. It is unfair to test Africa on the Geography, topography, and historical facts of the West. The validity and reliability of the test instrument are thus called into question. On the Philosophical platform, the ideology of racism was laid by some philosophical tenets in the history of Philosophy. The ideology of racism and discrimination remain embedded in the ideas of John Locke who despite his ideas on human right did not extricate himself from the institution of slavery. He, instead, relegated the right of slaves and made slaves properties of their masters. David Hume found himself at the centre of discriminatory ideology. He distinguished between Negro and white while insisting on the superiority of the white race. There has also been found in the thoughts of Immanuel Kant some traces of racial anthropology and geography. In the sphere of Politics, racial-politics of colour variation dominate international politics. The colour was made to signify goodness or badness. The colour black became a symbolization of negativity and underdevelopment. The colour was also made the basis of racio-aesthetics. Aesthetic choice and decision are based on the identification of the colour as white. The colour black is a disadvantage and leads to disqualification. Colour as a racist factor has led to the negation of the essence of the African as a human being. It has constituted a basis for aggression towards the Africans and a criterion for rejection. The colour black speaks much about the quality of an African, no matter, the level of discipline exhibited by Africans. Afrizealotism: A Philosophy of Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Africanness Afrizealotism is a philosophical current aimed at eliciting passion for Africa, and a thorough deconstruction of the pyramid of racism and discrimination at the levels of words and meanings, significations and symbolifications, arts and representations, history and historicizing, and ideological currents. It is a philosophy for the positive reconstruction of values to bring out the real unbiased African values without devaluing humanity even in the so-called West. Otherwise, Afrizealotism will fall into the same loophole which the West has found itself. The Afrizealot philosopher is first and foremost called to a vocation of appreciating the total humanity of the whole of humankind. It is holistic humanism, perfect humanity, not viewed from the prism glass of ideology or any socio-cultural or scientific imperatives. The Afrizealot philosopher is called to begin philosophy of Africa from the genesis of ideas. The racial genesis of Africa is a collection of historical, cultural, sociological, and pseudo-science inventions over many years. This is why the Afrizealot philosopher has enormous work in his hands to delve into archives of history unlock the past and unconceal the concealments based on which the truth about humanity has been distorted. Doing philosophy for the Afrizealot demands hermeneutics, dialects, phenomenology, and existentialism. The genesis of Afri-racialism began with the Izuchukwu Innocent Emeam 63 invention of the name Africa. This is the same problem which many tribes and towns in Africa face. There was Amalgamation along non-existent boundaries, to the defiance of cultural identity and sociological entity of tribe. The name Africa needs to be reinvented. The name Africa can be collapsed to give way to independent nation states, while the umbrella name can be Trans-Atlantic nations. In this, the whole error of the etymology of Africa as the genesis of racial discrimination will be laid to rest. The same approach can be applied to the tribes forcibly fused together as one nation. Each of the tribes can be separated and recognized as a nation-state. This will foster a sense of patriotism and oneness based on which development can thrive. Conclusion At the turn of this century, Philosophy encountered a linguistic turn. Afrizealot Philosophy is a philosophy of language aimed at unravelling the etymology and roots of racial language which has provided the foundations for the continued spreading of Afri- raciological currents. The history and origin of words and the meanings which are ascribed to words at different epochs of history cannot be overlooked on the philosophical path of establishing and justifying the truth about Africa. There is a need to study those words which establish distinct, differences, and classifications among humanity. Such a study aims to purify the words of negative and derogatory meanings and usage; and set their usage on the right part. This philosophical mission is akin to what feminism is doing today about the meaning and use of words. The power of myths in social value and function cannot be over-emphasized. Thus, Afri-zealot philosophy has the onus of providing a counter-myth based on which the social effects of Western myths on Africa can be counteracted. Africa is the home of myths, but African myths have not been put to constructive use to counter negative ideas and biases. Adiele Afigbo narrated how the myth of Obaraedo was used to counter the indictment of the Igbo as a disobedient race. (Afigbo). Philosophical demythologism is needed to counter the horrible effects of Western myths on Africa. This process demands an evaluative thought process to fish out and eliminate mythical elements which have been incorporated into the depiction of Africa by the West. The process of demythologization may call for the book burning of notes and diaries of Western explorers of Africa, historical books heavily laden with myths, discriminatory vocabularies, and racial inclinations. These books are not educating humanity but de-educating humanity. These books are enemies of humankind and should not be allowed to continue to enjoy being read by the present generation. The argument can be raised that they are restricted to the archives. One day an unsuspecting mind can pick them and read; whereby getting the mind of such a fellow filled with racial ideology. George Ekwuru’s Afri-Raciogenesis: Negative Discourses, Western Racialization and Afri-Zealotism: A Review 64 Afri-raciogenesis thrived on the dialects of discourse. This is why the Afrizealot should employ the narrative method of discourse to propel the Afrizealot ideology. Thus, it is worthwhile for the study of African philosophy to be introduced in primary and secondary schools as ‚Elementary Philosophy‛. The elementary philosophy should utilize heavily the power of storytelling to undo the effects of negative discourse on the African consciousness. The importance of Mass media: the press, the radio and television cannot be ignored. These are the propaganda machines of the West in sowing the seed of negative discourses. These same means of communication can be used to correct the falsehood reigning supreme in the minds of humanity about Africa. Afrizealot philosophy should come up with a curriculum for Elementary Philosophy for African nation’s school systems at primary and secondary levels. Afri-zealotism should elaborate on the African philosophy of arts. This is to help in establishing solid criteria on which to base evaluation arts, and not just on colour and transient qualities. Thus, the arts which before now have formed part of the structure of racism and discrimination against Africans based on colour can be re-represented. There is a need to establish principles for the African philosophy of aesthetics and the philosophy of values. The central aim is to be alert and ready to counter any ideological current that aims at enslaving any part of humanity on the altar of racialization and discrimination. Afrizealotism must promote record keeping, history, archaeological records, reports, diaries of African heroes, and monuments as these are important elements of discourse in the life of a people. References Afigbo, A. E., Scrambles and Partition in African History, in The scramble for Africa: The Scramble Continues, Edited by Okere, T., and Njoku, C. A., Owerri: Whelan Research Academy, 2004. Bolton, G., Africa Does not Matter, New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008. Ekwuru, G., The Dynamics of Afri-raciogenesis And The Dialects of Afrizealotism, Owerri: Totan Publishers, 2011. Fanon, F., Black Skin, White Mask, New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1952. Hansen, W. F., Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. Malinowski, B., Magic Science and Religion and other Essays, Prospects Heights: Waveland Press, 1992. Onyeocha, I. M., Africa: The Question of Identity, A philosophical Reflection on Africa, Owerri: Urekweson Press, 1997. Oyebola, A., Black Man’s Dilemma, Ibandan: Board Publications, 1976. Parker, J., and Rathbone, R., African History: A Very Short Introduction, London: Oxford University Press, 2007. Magoulick, M., What is Myth? Retrieved from: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~mmagouli defmyth.htm 04/07/2012. http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~mmagouli/defmyth.htm http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~mmagouli/defmyth.htm