Yosef Ben Jochannan, Africa, Mother of Western Civilization. (Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1971) 700 Pages. A Book Review By Ozodi Osuji It seems that many African people (in Africa and in the Americas) during the post second world war world were immensely affected by what they believed was Europe’s concerted effort to put Africans down. Ware Vst Host more. They perceived themselves attacked by the mere presence of Europe and went on a warpath to defend their selves. Filepost Without Premium. Africans are a proud people; colonialism induced subordinate relationship between Africans and Europeans pricked Africans egos, pride and vanity; they felt narcissistic injury; in fact, many Africans felt narcissistic rage and sought combative ways to assuage perceived European attacks on their sense of manhood.

Part of this defense is to show that almighty Europe owed its very existence to Africa. Science has proved that all human beings evolved in Africa and later moved to other parts of the world; it is now generally accepted that people as we currently know them to be were so fifty thousand years ago and were in Africa and later migrated to other continents. In that sense all people are Africans and all developments elsewhere were initiated by Africans, but that is not what our current object of interest, Dr. Ben meant by Africa, Mother of Western Civilization. Ben (as I will hereafter call our current protagonist) went to war writing on how everything good in Europe derived from ancient Africa. Europe, he believes, owes its intellectual, scientific and technological achievements to Africa.

If Africa had not existed and accomplished the great things, he believed that it did, Europe would not have done anything. It is all glory to Africa the initiator of human civilization! I have to say that this book is very annoying; its claims are so outrageous that it takes enormous patience to wade through the hundreds of pages of verbiage the man spilled out.

He tells us that ancient Greece derived everything it did from Africans (Egyptians and Ethiopians). Ben, like many of the writers of this genre, such as Cheikh Anta Diop, seems to believe that most contemporary Africans descend from ancient Egyptians/Ethiopians. Apparently, rooting their origin in Egypt and its great civilization makes these Africans kind of feel civilized; otherwise they would probably feel that they are not civilized, are the naked folks running around African jungles that certain European anthropologists depict Africans as on the pages of National Geographic magazine. Africans were presented as primitive and some Africans felt offended and wanted to show the world that they are civilized, in fact, prove to a skeptical world that they were the first civilized people on earth, Egyptians. Just out of curiosity, are there those living in present Egypt, some of whom are descendants of ancient Egyptians before the Arab conquest and takeover of Egypt in the seventh century of our common era, going about clamoring that they are Africans, or is it the case that only Africans clamor that they are Egyptians? Ben is doing is obvious: his pride probably felt belittled by almighty Western civilization and is trying to seem grand by attaching himself to the alleged grandeur that was ancient Egypt. In doing so he went overboard and claimed everything good in Europe as derived from Egypt, Africa. Kodak All In One Ps Driver Mac on this page.