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The discussion of reparations for the Atlantic slave trade among H-Africanists has not addressed the issue from my perspective, so I offer it for further discussion on our list. How to achieve some resolution to this difficult issue has been an ongoing project in my History of Africa class for about ten years. While there is a slight bias towards the topic of reparations for African Americans in this project, which is based on primary sources, historical fiction and film, an important section of the project addresses the topic of this thread, reparations for African countries. The centerpiece for that part of the class discussion is Ali Mazrui’s Abiola address on reparations given to the African Studies Association. Over the years, my students have concluded that the discussion about reparations should continue and that reparations are best expressed through Western initiatives related to education and development in Africa rather than “writing a check.” In class we attempt to work on reparations from a homocentric perspective which, broadly speaking, celebrates and recognizes the common African ancestry of humanity. In other words, we are all brothers and sisters, or at most, no further away from each other than cousins (different ethnic groups). If a family member is angry with you or harms you in some way, you are more likely to discuss the problem and reach some kind of resolution than you would if a stranger were to point a finger in your face. You are more likely to listen carefully to a family member than you are to “the other” whose predicament you believe you did not directly cause and whose demands on you are unwarranted. This pedagogy, the evidence, and the conclusions will soon be published as part of an edited collection. Seeing life through the eyes of others has long been important in conflict resolution. I believe that the growing awareness that we are all African brothers and sisters will convince most of us on and off this list that the important question is not about the merit of reparations — that is a given, all family matters considered. The problem to be solved is agreeing on their elusive form, whatever that might be. Since this class project began, both my state (North Carolina) and government (the Senate and House) have apologized for their involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. We Africanist Africans, describing us all here from the homocentric perspective of our shared African origins, need to take these important steps to their logical conclusion. We must work together to heal our festering family wound, so apparent even on H-Africa. Kenneth Wilburn East Carolina University Web Editor, H-Africa
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