WOW, I'm still running this work through my head!

It's an anthropological break down of the entire core of the Western institution.*Note: I didn't say people* because the institution is what reproduces and perpetuates the western mind set which in turn automates the body/actions of the people. It's similar to how Europeans sit in African villages and try and tell us why the people do what they do yet in this case the mirror is turned around.

Though to be fair I think it's one of those things that derives much of it's value from being versed in the subject. The subject in this case being intellectual history with a focus on philosophy, religion, science, academia, etc *note that I emphasized cultural thought forms and not any specific people* that distinction is important or you'll miss the importance IMO.


Here is a great review of the work!

Let me start off by saying that I am Turkish, and this is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have lent it and gifted it to many people I care about! Though this is a book by a Black Studies scholar of Afrikan descent, written for a Black audience, you don't have to be Afrikan to get something out of it. The tensions and polarities she describes so eloquently (reason v. emotion, objectivity v. subjectivity, holism v. reductionism, linear v. cyclical thinking, science v. spirituality, etc.) are at the root of significant social trends in every culture, inform behavior between individuals, and influence the direction and nature of one's own personal growth. I am of Turkish descent, and this book helped me understand my culture (and more importantly MYSELF) better than it did Afrikan culture! It changed my life and influenced me to make many positive changes in the way I viewed myself and the world and related to others and my environment!

Dr. Ani's controversial, seminal, and highly misunderstood work fills a gaping crevice in academia: a CRITICAL survey of Western Civilization written with the intellectual tools of the Afrikan-Centered/Afrocentric movement of the late 20th century. I read this book in my last year of college as part of my capstone course for my degree in Black Studies, but I would say that this text is probably more appropriate for grad students...or those who are very passionate about the topic. One would probably need a background in history, philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, etc. Just as Europeans have been able to gain a critical (though sometimes very pejorative) understanding of the world through "objectivity" or rational dis-identification with the subject of study, Dr. Ani attempts to analyze Western Civilization (not the day-to-day habits of White people) without assumptions about spirituality, progress, morality, social organization, normality, objectivity, logic, etc. which are usually taken for granted by Western authors. In fact, she challenges these concepts directly, and illustrates the way that these ideas have been co-opted by the engine of Western Civilization for political convenience.

She questions the validity of "The West", "Europe", and "Whiteness", as social constructs, explores the political reasons for which they were constructed in the first place, and shows how those identities have been invoked more for purposes of domination or aggression than for inter-communal goodwill.

This is a book about "The West" as an INSTITUTION, which is a phenomenon that has a quality distinct from the sum of its individual elements (specific individuals, specific cultures, specific governments). The accusations in this book might not apply to your milkman, the Amish people, or the Polish government...but they do apply to "Western", that is, transnational, transcultural, institutions like "Christendom," "The Free World," "The Civilized World," "Developed Countries," "The G8", "The Francophonie," etc.

To clear up some of the criticisms leveled toward this book and others like it, let's talk about what this book is not:

It is NOT a guide to White people as individuals and the evil things they do. It is NOT a guide to the atrocities committed by White people or Europeans. It is NOT claiming that objectivity, logic, progress, or any of these things are BAD, nor is it claiming that their corruption and exploitation is something specific to Western Culture. It is NOT a criticism of any individual European culture (Irish, German, Italian, etc.)

It DOES however, point to general trends in the history of Western Civilization: concentration of power and wealth, usually at the expense of the masses; rapid industrialization for its own sake, usually at the expense of a constructive connection with nature; increasingly abstract and linear thinking, usually at the expense of holistic thinking; increasing universalism and evangelism in the propagation of those abstract and linear ideas, usually at the expense of the ideas of other cultures and the people who subscribe to them. Unlike Western authors, she does not sugarcoat these trends and the massive levels of destruction (human and environmental) as blips on the screen; she describes them as essential, consistent, and growing trends in Western Society. She highlights the way in which many of the social ills that are a part of human nature, and certainly not exclusive to Europeans, are manifested in an unprecedented scale in the West, in a way that sets the West apart from the rest.

To stray from academics and quote my favorite bumper sticker: "Never before have so few taken so much from so many for so long."

This book is, quite possibly, the best explanation I have ever read as to why.

Interview regarding the book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkkNa7eMyF0

A talk to covering the material in the book.
(the video time is wrong the talk's not really that long)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPgHHysSzhM

Workshop discussing the book in depth.


1 of 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_NwaHQsOA

2 of 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQGXSr4R5Mw

3 of 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k9-qSdjaqk

4 of 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8qAE4WM9nU


The rest are in this playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4B5C71D66F674B0F