Afrocentrism: Definitions, Ideas, Development, and Features

Abstract:
 Dealing with the Afrocentrism ideology provokes various issues in relation to its wide range of definitions; taking into consideration the fact that these very definitions were also subject to consistent revisions and critics including by number of Afrocentrism advocates by the end of the 20th century. Accordingly, it is evident that exploring this ideology requires much critical focus on its original “textbooks”, ideas and debates, meanwhile putting them in the much possible correct contextual developments.
 The present paper is seeking to test the Afrocentrism’s originality, basing its approach on dealing directly with the term’s definitions, ideas, development and main features. The paper also tends to explore the Afrocentrism’s ideological roots within the contexts of main Africanism currents since early 19th century; and the historical mutual interactions between Afrocentrism and those currents which had led, in turn, to developing the overall development of intellectual, political and social aspects throughout the African continent and the diaspora (notably in the United States and the Caribbean region). 
 The paper also focused on providing a deconstruction-based reading of the whole structure of the Afrocentrism in order to put together several related perspectives and to explain current’s stands toward certain issues such as the negro/ black origins of the ancient Egyptian civilization, African criticism of the Eurocentrism’s core ideas, and certain political manifestations of Afrocentrism in the recent decades. In addition, the paper is paying special attention to the African- Arab relations according to some of notable “Afrocentric” assumptions since Wilmot Blyden’s visit to Egypt and Palestine in the second half of the 19th century.