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In this ground-breaking book, Stephen C. Ferguson addresses a seminal question that is too-often ignored: What should be the philosophical basis for African American studies? The volume explores philosophical issues and problems in their relationship to Black studies. Ferguson shows that philosophy is not a sterile intellectual pursuit, but a critical tool to gathering knowledge about the Black experience.

Cultural idealism in various forms has become enormously influential as a framework for Black studies. Ferguson takes on the task of demonstrating how a Marxist philosophical perspective offers a productive and fruitful way of overcoming the limitations of idealism. Focusing on the hugely popular Afrocentric school of thought, this book´s engaging discussion shows that the foundational arguments of cultural idealism are based on a series of analytical

and historical misapprehensions. In turn, Ferguson argues for the centrality of the Black working class-both men and women-to Black Studies.

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Introduction

Chapter 1: Class Struggle in the Ivory Towers: Revisiting the Birth of Black Studies in ´68

Chapter 2: The Afrocentric Problematic: The Quest for Particularity and the Negation of Objectivity

Chapter 3: Old Wine in a New Bottle? The Critique of Eurocentrism in Marima Ani´s Yurugu

Chapter 4: The Heritage we Renounce: The Utopian Worldview of Afrocentricity

Chapter 5: What´s Epistemology Got to do with it?: The "Death of Epistemology" in African American Studies

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"Stephen C. Ferguson II convincingly presents a fivefold argument, focusing his critique on Afrocentricity as articulated by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante ... . Philosophy of African American Studies is essential and significant reading for persons deeply committed to overcoming the bourgeois specifications and ideological weaknesses Ferguson analyzes, and to moving the field forward." (Charisse Burden-Stelly, Science & Society, Vol. 83 (1), 2019)

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Stephen C. Ferguson II is Associate Professor in Liberal Studies at North Carolina A & T State University, USA. He is the co-author of Beyond The White Shadow: Philosophy, Sports and the African American Experience with John McClendon. He has written for Socialism & Democracy, Cultural Logic, and The Black Scholar, among other journals.

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