MolefiKete Asanteis professorin theDepartment
ofAfricanAmericanStudiesat TempleUniversity.
Dr.Asante haspublished 67 books;amongthe
most recent are Afrocentric Manifesto (2008);
The History of Afr ica: The Quest forEternal
Harmony (2007); Cheikh Anta Dio p: An
Intellectual Por tr ait(2006); Spear Masters: An
Introduction to Afr icanReligion (2006), coau-
thored with Emeka Nwadiora; Ha ndbook of
Black Studies (2005), coedited wit hMaulana
Karenga;Encyclopediaof BlackStudies (2005),
coeditedwithAmaMazama;Race,Rhe toric,and
Identity:TheArchitectonof Soul(2005);Erasing
Racism : The Sur vivalof theAmerican Nat ion
(2003); Ancient Egyptian Philosophers (2000);
Sc attered to th e Wind(2002); Custom and
Culture of Egypt(2 002);and 100 Greatest
AfricanAmericans (2003).
Hehasrecentlybe enrecognizedasoneofthe
mostwidelycit edsc holars.Inthe1990s,hewas
recognizedasoneofthemostinfluentialleaders in
American education. Dr. As antecompleted his
MAatPeppe rdineandreceivedhisPhDfr omthe
UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,at theageof
26,andwasappointed a fullpr ofessorattheage
of 30 at the State University of NewYork at
Buffalo.AtTempleUniversity,hecreatedthefirst
PhD pro gramin African American Studies in
1987.Hehasdirectedmorethan 140 PhDdisser -
tations.Hehaswrittenmorethan 300 articl esfor
journalsandmagazines andis thefounderofthe
theoryofAfr ocentricity.
Dr.Asa ntewasbornin Valdosta, Georgia,in the
United States,ofSudane seandNi gerianheritage,
1 of 16children.He is a po et,dra matist,andpa inter.
HisworkonAfricanla nguage,multic ulturalism,and
humancultur e andph ilo sophyhasbeen cited by
journals such as the Africalo gic al Perspectives,
Quarterly Jour nalof Speech,Journal of Black
Studies, Jou rnalof Communic atio n, American
Scholar,Daedalus,We sternJo urn al of BlackStudies,
andAfricaological Pers pec tiv es. TheUtne Reader
call edhimone ofthe“100LeadingThinkers”in
America. Dr.Asante hasap pearedonmorethan 50
TVpr og rams. In 2002, he receivedthedistinguished
DouglasEhningerAwardforRhetoricalScholarship
fromtheNationalCommunicationAssociation.He
regularly consultswithth e Af ricanUnion.In2004,
hewas askedtogiveoneofthekeynoteaddressesat
the Conference of Intellectualsof Africa an d the
DiasporainDakar,Se negal.Hewasinduct edinto
theLiteraryHallof Fame fo r Writers of African
Descentat theGwendolynBrooksCenterat Chicago
StateUniversityin20 04,an d heis therecipientof
morethan 100 nationalandinternationalawards,
includingthreehonorarydegrees.
Dr.Asanteis thefoundingeditoroftheJo ur nal
of BlackStudies (1969)andwasthepr esiden t of
the civil rights organization, the Student Non-
Violent Coord inating Committee chapter at
UCLA,in the1960s.In 1995,hewas made a
traditional king, Nana Okru Asante Peasah,
KyidomheneofTa fo,Akyem,Ghana.AmaMazama is associateprofessor of African
AmericanStudiesatTempleUniversity.Shewas
born and grew up in Guadeloupe, Eastern
Cari bbean.Shereceived her PhD inLinguistics
fromtheUniversityofLaSorbonne,Paris,atthe
ageof26,withHighestDi sti nction.Before jo ining
Te mple,Dr.MazamataughtattheUniversityof
Te xas,Austin,andPennState,Colle gePar k,an d
wasa visitingprofessoratGeorgetownUniversity
andHowardUniversity.xv