Locating Du Bois, a Product of His Time, Ahead of his Time: Du Bois’ Contributions to Development of an Afrocentric Discipline

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate Du Bois’ contributions to the development of an Afrocentric paradigm, the discipline of Africology, and his academic relationship with Africa; as both conceptual idea and as the ancestral motherland to Black people around the world. Furthermore, this article seeks to investigate the cultural location, or the paradigm in which Du Bois operates out of politically and academically, his role in the creation of Black Studies as a discipline, his methodology, and the intergenerational responsibility of African descendent academics. This article will utilize a plethora of Dubois’ work. Principally, the writings and speeches collected in Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Edmund Abaka’s book W.E.B. Du Bois on Africa; as well as Dubois’ 1947 book The World and Africa: An Inquiry into the Part Which Africa has Played in World History.