Being an African in the World: The Du Boisian Epistemology

W.E.B. Du Bois sought not merely to rewrite the history of Africa but to think in epistemological terms about what it meant to be an African in the modern world and its significance for social research. This becomes apparent in part from his earliest writing—in particular, a 1904 review of The Souls of Black Folk— but takes on a more conscious form in later works. Looking at Du Bois in this way locates his intellectual project in an African-centered challenge to European intellectual and civilizational hegemony, a challenge which is wider and more profound than modern-day Afrocentrism. To achieve what is no less than an epistemic break, he sought to reconceptualize Africa from the standpoint of an African in America. This article views the Du Boisian project as a rupture of vast proportions and one which has continuing value to the social and human sciences of the African.