THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION - Myth or Reality By Cheikh Anta Diop
THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION - Myth or Reality By Cheikh Anta Diop
Now in its 30th printing, this classic presents historical, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to support the theory that ancient Egypt was a black civilization.
Diop did his most significant work under the tutelege of Professor Frédéric Joliot in Paris. This culminated in (Diop’s) seminal work “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality” (1974) is one of the seminal works on African proto history and history. It argues that Ancient Egypt was largely Black African in race and culture during the first 2,000 years of its civilization. When Diop first put forward his thesis his work was resoundingly debunked by white Egyptologists and anthropologists, notably Bruce Trigger and other Europeans. But Diop was persistent and his theories were brilliantly defended by him.
Diop’s work has posed important questions about the cultural bias inherent in scientific research. After 1960, Diop went back to Senegal and continued his research and political career. He established and was the director of the radiocarbon laboratory at the IFAN (Institut Fondamental de l’Afrique Noire). Diop dedicated a book about the IFAN radiocarbon laboratory “to the memory of my former professor Frédéric Joliot who welcomed me into his laboratory at the College de France.”