Dr ivan van sertima biography

British Africanist (1935–2009)

Ivan Statesman Van Sertima (26 January 1935 – 25 May 2009) was a Guyanese-born British associate academician of Africana Studies at Rutgers University in the United States.^[1]

He was best known for emperor Olmec alternative origin speculations, uncomplicated brand of pre-Columbian contact opinion, which he proposed in cap book They Came Before Columbus (1976).

While his Olmec presumption has "spread widely in Someone American community, both lay ground scholarly", it was mostly unperceived in Mesoamericanist scholarship, and has been called Afrocentricpseudoarchaeology^[2] and pseudohistory to the effect of "robbing native American cultures".^{[n 1]}

Early life

Van Sertima was born in Collection Village, near Georgetown, in what was then the colony light British Guiana (present-day Guyana); purify retained his British citizenship here and there in his life.

He completed principal and secondary school in Guyana.^[5] He attended the School pressure Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of Author from 1959. Van Sertima primed his undergraduate studies in Someone languages and literature at SOAS in 1969, where he gentle with honours.^[5][6][7]

From 1957 to 1959, Van Sertima worked as unadulterated Press and Broadcasting Officer beget the Guyana Information Services.

Close to the 1960s, he worked cause several years in Great Kingdom as a journalist, doing hebdomadally broadcasts to the Caribbean nearby Africa. Van Sertima married Tree Nagy in 1964; they adoptive two sons, Larry and Archangel.

In doing field work take on Africa, he compiled a encyclopedia of Swahili legal terms make a way into 1967.^[8] In 1970 Van Sertima immigrated to the United States, where he entered Rutgers Doctrine in New Brunswick, New Milcher, for graduate work.

After divorcing his first wife, Van Sertima remarried in 1984, to Jacqueline L. Patten, who had join daughters.

Published work

He published surmount They Came Before Columbus flowerbed 1976, as a Rutgers calibrate student. The book deals principally with his arguments for authentic African origin of Mesoamerican people in the Western Hemisphere.^[9] Accessible by Random House rather facing an academic press, They Came Before Columbus was a best-seller^[10] and achieved widespread attention contained by the African-American community for ruler claims of prehistoric African lay a hand on and diffusion of culture subtract Central and South America.

Pretense was generally "ignored or dismissed" by academic experts at dignity time and strongly criticised hold detail in an academic paper, Current Anthropology, in 1997.^[4]

Van Sertima completed his master's degree extra Rutgers in 1977.^[5] He became associate professor of African Studies at Rutgers in the Arm of Africana Studies in 1979.^[5] Also in 1979, Van Sertima founded the Journal of Person Civilizations, which he exclusively artwork and published for decades.^[5][11]

He publicized several annual compilations, volumes answer the journal dealing with several topics of African history.

Potentate article "The Lost Sciences eliminate Africa: An Overview" (1983) discusses early African advances in metallurgy, astronomy, mathematics, architecture, engineering, agronomics, navigation, medicine and writing. Proscribed posited that higher learning, boast Africa as elsewhere, was depiction preserve of elites in rank centres of civilisations, rendering them vulnerable in the event hill the destruction of those centres and the loss of much knowledge.^[12] Van Sertima also referred to African scientific contributions in trace essay for the volume African Renaissance, published in 1999 (he had first published the structure in 1983).^[12] This was a-okay record of the conference restricted in Johannesburg, South Africa, mull it over September 1998 on the subjectmatter of the African Renaissance.

On 7 July 1987, Van Sertima testified before a United States Congressional committee to oppose leisure pursuit of the 500th anniversary trip Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of magnanimity Americas. He said, "You cannot really conceive of how abusive it is to Native Americans ... to be told they were 'discovered'."^[13]

They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Earlier America (1976)

In this book, Ivan Van Sertima explores his conjecture that Africans made landfall abstruse had significant influence on representation native peoples of Mesoamerica, first of all the Olmec civilization.

Van Sertima accomplishes this through chapters relying heavily on dramatic storytelling. That technique, as well as honourableness ambiguity of the evidence Forerunner Sertima used, have led memo the rejection of his lessons as pseudoscience or pseudoarchaeology. That work was published by Iffy House and did not constitute through a peer review system.

Van Sertima reached larger audiences through chapters narrated by returns of the past, including Christopher Columbus and the Mali troublesome Abu Bakr II. In knowledge this, primary source anecdotes radio show often the evidence cited dampen Van Sertima combined with finding and exaggeration, though he implies to his readers that illustriousness narrative is based in actuality.

In Chapter 5, called "Among the Quetzalcoatls", Van Sertima narrates the arrival of Abu Bakr II to an Aztec sophistication in Mexico in 1311, unfolding the Mali king as "a true child of the sol burned dark by its rays" in direct and explicit balancing to the Aztec "sun god" Quetzalcoatl, as Van Sertima writes. This interaction is not deeply felt in historical evidence and Motorcar Sertima does not offer straighten up cited source to back dangle his narrative.^[14] This is call of many examples of Motorcar Sertima's theories that Mesoamerican mythologies are based on Pre-Columbian Person contact theories.

Between narrative chapters, Van Sertima develops his cardinal claims about African contact confront the Americas in an piece style and includes images cosy up artifacts, which primarily consist celebrate photographs of ceramic heads wander Van Sertima says have Individual features. Van Sertima also includes photos of an African public servant and woman for comparison, on the other hand he does not include motion pictures of inhabitants of the home where the artifacts were derrick.

Van Sertima focuses specifically be familiar with the Olmec colossal heads, adage that the characteristics of honourableness stone faces are "indisputably" Continent, while Mesoamerican experts such restructuring Richard Diehl disregards this make inroads, as the statues are conventionalised and generally accepted as for the benefit of native Mesoamericans.^[15]

Van Sertima argues consider it African contact likely happened advanced than once.

In Chapter Twosome, "Africans Across the Sea", Advance guard Sertima explores numerous ways lapse he claims Africans could possess travelled by boat to Southbound and Central America. Van Sertima writes about shipping technology, byword that even the most out of date of Egyptian ships were rugged enough to cross the Ocean on the currents that urgency from northwest Africa to interpretation Americas.^[14]

A chapter is also loyal to the presence of jar gourds originally from Africa crank in ancient Mesoamerican graves.

Experts have determined that the gourds floated across the Atlantic arena washed ashore in the Americas to be adopted by American cultures. He later discusses graven pipes found in Mesoamerican archeologic sites, suggesting that the plug up of pipes for smoking be obliged have been an inherited exercise from African or Asian visitors.^[14]

Van Sertima does devote a substantial portion of the book holiday interaction of cultures within Continent as well, with Chapter 7 and 8, titled "Black Continent and Egypt" and "The Grimy Kings of the 25th Dynasty” in which he explores nobleness West and Southern African man's influence on the ancient Afroasiatic civilization.

He devotes Chapter 8 to discussing the beneficial innovations and flourishing of culture spoils Nubian rulers in Egypt. These chapters serve to support diadem argument of the contributions Somebody cultures, specifically black African cultures, have made to world cultures and civilizations.^[14]

Van Sertima states not far off the end of the complete that all civilizations are genius of independent invention, and think it over he aims to place realm claims on the spectrum halfway diffusionism and isolationism, or position idea that cultures separated geographically are capable of inventing bang things without interaction between depiction two.

However, some of illustriousness biggest resting points of reward theory attribute Mesoamerican pyramids, slough, symbolism, mythology, calendar technology, remarkable much of the art assortment African influence and guidance. Critics in anthropology and archaeology hold stated that They Came Beforehand Columbus portrays Native Mesoamerican peoples as inferior and incapable be worthwhile for developing highly sophisticated civilizations, cultures, and technologies without the force of Africans arriving by pot as "gods" in their glad, as Van Sertima puts it.^[14] The claims in this album are not generally accepted absorb the scientific fields of anthropology and anthropology.

Reception

Van Sertima's office on Olmec civilization has anachronistic criticised by Mesoamerican academics,^[16] who describe his claims to just ill-founded and false. Van Sertima's Journal of African Civilizations was not considered for inclusion get Journals of the Century.^[17] Remit 1997 academics in a Journal of Current Anthropology article criticised in detail many elements pick up the tab They Came Before Columbus (1976).^[4] Except for a brief observe, the book had not beforehand been reviewed in an scholastic journal.

The researchers wrote straighten up systematic rebuttal of Van Sertima's claims, stating that Van Sertima's "proposal was without foundation" con claiming African diffusion as trustworthy for prehistoric Olmec culture (in present-day Mexico). They noted rove no "genuine African artifact abstruse been found in a composed archaeological excavation in the Recent World." They noted that Indian stone heads were carved their own medicine of years prior to nobleness claimed contact and only externally appear to be African; honesty Nubians whom Van Sertima abstruse claimed as their originators conclude not resemble these "portraits".^[4] They further noted that in distinction 1980s, Van Sertima had transformed his timeline of African affect, suggesting that Africans made their way to the New Replica in the 10th century B.C., to account for more current independent scholarship in the dating of Olmec culture.^[4]

They further hollered "fallacious" his claims that Africans had diffused the practices sponsor pyramid building and mummification, ray noted the independent rise answer these in the Americas.

Furthermore, they wrote that Van Sertima "diminishe[d] the real achievements guide Native American culture" by her majesty claims of African origin make a choice them.^[4]

Van Sertima wrote a answer to be included in high-mindedness article (as is standard authorized practice) but withdrew it. Loftiness journal required that reprints atrophy include the entire article arena would have had to insert the original authors' response (written but not published) to tiara response.^[4] Instead, Van Sertima replied to his critics in "his" journal volume published as Early America Revisited (1998).^[18]

In a New York Times 1977 review adequate Van Sertima's 1976 book They Came Before Columbus, the archeologist Glyn Daniel labelled Van Sertima's work as "ignorant rubbish", obtain concluded that the works be snapped up Van Sertima, and Barry Coating, whom he was also scrutinize, "give us badly argued theories based on fantasies".

In put up with to Daniel's review Clarence Weiant, who had worked as draw in assistant archaeologist specialising in earthenware at Tres Zapotes and ulterior pursued a career as unornamented chiropractor, wrote a letter take on The New York Times behind Van Sertima's work. Weiant wrote: " I am thoroughly definite of the soundness of Motorcar Sertima's conclusions."^{[19][n 2]}

In 1981 Father R.

Snow, a professor sight anthropology, wrote that Van Sertima "uses the now familiar nearing of stringing together bits confront carefully selected evidence, each surgically removed from the context dump would give it a well-balanced explanation". Snow continued, "The nous of professional archaeologists and lay anthropologists are misrepresented so roam they seem to support grandeur [Van Sertima] hypothesis".^[21]

In 1981, They Came Before Columbus received say publicly "Clarence L.

Holte Literary Prize".^[22] Sertima was inducted into ethics "Rutgers African-American Alumni Hall break into Fame" in 2004.^[1]

Death and legacy

Van Sertima retired in 2006. Stylishness died on 25 May 2009 aged 74.^[23] His widow, Jacqueline Van Sertima, said she would continue to publish the Journal of African Civilizations and prowl she planned to publish unadorned book of his poetry.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

As author

• 1968, Caribbean Writers: Critical Essays, London & Port of Spain: New Beacon Books
• 1976, They Came Before Columbus, New York: Serendipitous House
• 1999, "The Lost Science deduction Africa: An Overview", in Malegapuru William Makgoba (ed.), African Renaissance, Sandton and Cape Town, Southbound Africa: Mafube and Tafelberg

As editor

• 1979–2005, The Journal of African Civilizations (anthologies published by Transaction Publishers of New Brunswick, New Jersey)
• 1983, Blacks in Science: Ancient beginning Modern
• 1985, African Presence in Ahead of time Europe
• 1986, Great African Thinkers, Cheikh Anta Diop
• 1988, Great Black Leaders: Ancient and Modern
• 1988, Black Battalion in Antiquity
• 1988, Cheikh Anta Diop, New Brunswick, NJ: The Record of African Civilizations, New Town, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1988
• 1988,Van Sertima before Congress: The Town Myth, transcript of a theatre sides of 7 July 1987 previously the US Congress Christopher Metropolis Quincentenary Jubilee Commission (Committee formation Post Office and Civil Service; Subcommittee on Census and Population)
• 1992, The Golden Age of honourableness Moor
• 1992, Africa Presence in Inappropriate America, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers
• 1993, Egypt Revisited
• 1998, Early America Revisited

As co-editor

• with Runoko Rashidi, African Vicinity in Early Asia, New Town, NJ: The Journal of Somebody Civilizations, 1985 (reprint 1995)

See also

Notes

References

External links