Ivan van Sertima

Ivan van Sertima is a Guyanese historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University. [ [http://www.rutgersblackalumni.org/HallofFame/hof2004/inductees2004/vansertima.htm RAAA Hall of Fame Inductees (2004)] ] He is a noted proponent of theories of pre-Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas. He was born in Kitty Village, Guyana, South America on 26 January, 1935.

Biography

Van Sertima was an undergraduate at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, where he graduated with honors. From 1957 to 1959, he served as a Press and Broadcasting Officer in the Guyana Information Services. During the decade of the 1960s, he broadcast weekly from Britain to both Africa and the Caribbean. He came to the United States in 1970, where he completed his post graduate studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Career

Van Sertima began his teaching career as an instructor at Rutgers in 1972, and he is now Professor of African studies in the Department of Africana Studies. He is the editor of the "Journal of African Civilization", and the author of the book "They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America".

In 1983 he edited a book titled "Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern". He also treated that topic in his contribution to the volume "African Renaissance," published in 1999 as a record of the conference held in Johannesburg in September 1998 on the theme of the African Renaissance. His article (pp. 305-330) is titled "The Lost Sciences of Africa: An Overview". In it he presents early African advances in metallurgy, astronomy, mathematics, architecture, engineering, agriculture, navigation, medicine and writing. He notes that such higher learning, in Africa as elsewhere, was the preserve of elites in the centres of civilizations, rendering them very vulnerable in the event (as happened in Africa) of the destruction of those centers.

As a literary critic, he is the author of "Caribbean Writers," a collection of critical essays on the Caribbean novel. He is also the author of several major literary reviews published in Denmark, India, Britain and the United States. He was honored for his work in this field by being asked by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 1976-1980. He has also been honored as an historian of world repute by being asked to join UNESCO's International Commission for Rewriting the Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind.

As a linguist, he has published essays on the Gullah language of the Sea Islands off the Georgia Coast. He is also the compiler of the Swahili Dictionary of Legal Terms, based on his field work in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1967.

In 1994 they published his address in Race, Discourse and the Origin of the Americas: A New World View of 1492. On July 7, 1987 Van Sertima appeared before a United States Congressional committee to challenge Columbus's discovery of America. In 1991 Van Sertima defended his highly controversial thesis on African presence in pre-Columbian America before the Smithsonian.

Criticisms

Van Sertima has been criticized by academics. A lengthy 1997 "Journal of Current Anthropology" article states that Van Sertima has ignored the work of Central American researchers who stated they found no evidence of an African influence or presence in the New World. The reviewers also wrote that Olmec heads only superficially appear to be African. In addition, they accuse Van Sertima's cultural outlook of being disparaging to Native American achievements. In a "New York Times" review of Van Sertima works, British scholar Glyn Daniel called Van Sertima's work "ignorant rubbish”, concluding that the writings of Van Sertima (and Barry Fell, who he was also reviewing) “give us badly argued theories based on fantasies.” [ [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1981/6/1981_6_102.shtml Martians & Vikings, Madoc & Runes, "American heritage magazine"] ] . Van Sertima has sparred with some of his critics but he declined to respond to the 1997 "Journal of Current Anthropology" criticism. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/ivan-van-sertima Ivan van Sertima: Biography and Much More from Answers.com ] ]

Bibliography

* Malegapuru William Makgoba, ed., "African Renaissance," Mafube and Tafelberg, Sandton and Cape Town, 1999
* Runoko Rashidi and Ivan Van Sertima, ed., "African Presence in Early Asia", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1995 (1985)
* Ivan Van Sertima, ed., "African Presence in early Europe", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1985
* ____ "Black Women in Antiquity", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988
* ____ "Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern, Ancient and Modern", Transaction, New Brunswick, 1983
* ____ "Early America Revisited", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1998
* ____ "Egypt Revisited", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1993
* ____ "The Golden Age of the Moor" Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1992
* ____ "Great African Thinkers, Cheikh Anta Diop, Transaction, New brunswick, NJ, 1986
* ____ "Great Black Leaders: Ancient and Modern, Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988
* ____ "They Came Before Columbus", Random House, New York, 1976
* ____ "Early America revisited", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988
* ____"Cheikh Anta Diop", Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988

* ____"Van Sertima before Congress the Columbus myth" United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Subcommittee on Census and Population.; Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission.Publisher: Highland Park, NJ : Audio Division, Journal of African Civilizations : Legacies [distributor] , 1988.

References

ee also

* Runoko Rashidi
* John Henrik Clarke
* Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

External links

* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0411250 A Look Back at Slavery: Ivan Van Sertima On Cultural and Scientific Achievements in Africa - Democracy Now broadcast]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=p0jXzU1pT3YC&printsec=frontcover African Presence in Early Europe on Google Book Search] ISBN 0887386644
* [http://www.journalofafricancivilizations.com/ Journal of African Civilizations website]