Curator's Notes:

The items in this collection reflect on Afrocentricity and Pan-Africanism. Afrocentricity is a weighty term. It is both philosophy and practice. It is a challenge to the modern (since the 15th century or so) idea of a white Europe as the center of all that is noteworthy — all that is human. Afrocentricity is related to Pan-Africanism, its older cousin that sees a shared struggle and works for a shared future for people of African descent. Alongside their aims and aspirations, Afrocentricity and Pan-Africanism have their contradictions and both show up in everyday practices like naming traditions, language, music, dress, and, of course, politics.