The Entanglement of the Disciplines: Why an Afrocentric Methodology to Advance Humanizing Research on People of the African Diaspora

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jinte.5.1.0004
• Published date: 14 October 2022
• Date: 14 October 2022
• Pages: 28-40
• Author: Ifetayo M. Flannery
• Subject Matter: afrocentric methodology,academic disciplines,African diaspora,cultural location

28 Volume Five, Number One

“The Entanglement of the Disciplines” — Flannery

The Entanglement of the Disciplines: Why an Afrocentric Methodology to

Advance Humanizing Research on People of the African Diaspora

Ifetayo M. Flannery, Ph.D.

Temple University

Abstract: This reviewidenties someof  thepitfalls in assumingthe dominanttheories, constructions

of race andpower,and methodologicaltools scholars areleft toinherit in theirtraditional disciplinary

training.Inaquest foranew epistemeforBlack life,AfricanaStudies createdspacefor methodological

frameworkssuchasAfrocentricity.Thisanalysisoers examplesthroughanAfrocentricmethodolog yto

confrontandrepairresearchonBlackpopulationsthatassumeothering,permanentdislocationfrompower,

land,andauthority-particular toAfricansindiaspora, andmethodologicalconstraintsaround language

andconceptual construction inresearch onBlack life.An Afrocentricmethodology can andshould be

advancedbeyondscholarshipproliferatingwithinAfricanaStudies.Researchconsiderationsandquestions

that distinguish disciplinary method from methodology are discussed. Additionally, a new conceptual

framingisoeredhere —cultural location,asatheoretical toolforhistoricaland culturalexaminationsof 

Africandiasporicgroupsthatappliestheaforementionedreorientationtowardhumanizingresearch.

Keywords: afrocentricmethodology,academicdisciplines,Africandiaspora,culturallocation

Introducon

When I entered Africana Studies as an undergraduate student I had not yet discovered the

languagetodescribemyrealityaccuratelyorwithgroundedconviction.Priortomycommitment

to AfricanaStudies I driftedin and out of vapid periods of regimented education. Itwas only

throughintentionalre-educationfromwithinanAfricanaStudiesparadigmthatIcouldarticulate

my simultaneous prociency and dysphoria within my academics as the consequence of the

deliberateandlong-termdominationbyEurocentricepistemologies.IunderstandtheEurocentric

indoctrinationof  peopleof  Africandescent toprimarily bea processof  disinheritingpeople of 

Africandescent fromAfrica, andthus worldhistory.Thisdisinheritance hasbeenmost eective

at the psychologicallevel and maintained through the construction of  de-centered educational

narrativesintraditionaldisciplinesabouttheroleandimpactof Africanpeopleallovertheworld.

Thispaper seeks topresent someof  thepitfalls and intellectualconsequences sueredby Black

scholarswhoare attemptingtoadvance radicalworkwithin theconnesof  learnedEurocentric

valueswhicharepresentedasobjectivesciences.Ialsoprovideasampleof researchquestionsand

pairedargumentstopresentreaderswithwhyandhowyoucanre-orientyourresearchtowardsa

morehumanizingoutcomeparticulartopeopleof Africandescentregardlessof yourdisciplinary

location.AnAfrocentricmethodologyisadvancedhereasanalternativetoadoptingEurocentric

epistemologies.Lastly,I presentanew concept - cultural location,as a possibletheoretical tool to

advanceresearchonAfricandiasporicpeoplesconsistentwithsolutionsforbettersocialscience.