Theophile Obenga
Encyclopedia
Théophile Obenga is a professor emeritus, formerly at San Francisco State University
, in the Africana Studies
Center. He was born in 1936 in Brazzaville
, French Equatorial Africa
(today in the Republic of the Congo
).
Obenga is a politically active proponent of Pan-Africanism
. In 2009 he publicly promoted Denis Sassou Nguesso
as presidential candidate for the Republic of the Congo.
Obenga holds a PhD in Letters, Arts and Humanities from Montpellier University, France. He contributed as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program, to the writing of the General History of Africa and the Scientific and Cultural History of Humanity. He was, until the end of 1991, Director General of the Centre International des Civilisations Bantu
(CICIBA) in Libreville, Gabon. He is the Director and Chief Editor of the journal Ankh.
From January 28 to February 3, 1974 at Cairo, Egypt, Obenga accompanied Cheikh Anta Diop
as Africa's representatives to the UNESCO symposium on "The Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic Script".
(négro-égyptien), which includes all languages of Africa
, an approach which he shares with Cheikh Anta Diop
.
This idea has been criticised by other scholars as politically motivated pseudolinguistics.
Other works by Obenga have been criticized as based on a confusion of race, cultural identity and political agenda.
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, in the Africana Studies
Africana studies
In United States education, Africana studies, or Africology is the study of the histories, politics and cultures of peoples of African origin both in Africa and in the African diaspora....
Center. He was born in 1936 in Brazzaville
Brazzaville
-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
, French Equatorial Africa
French Equatorial Africa
French Equatorial Africa or the AEF was the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River to the Sahara Desert.-History:...
(today in the Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
).
Obenga is a politically active proponent of Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community". Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity...
. In 2009 he publicly promoted Denis Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso is a Congolese politician who has been the President of Congo-Brazzaville since 1997; he was previously President from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as President, he headed the single-party regime of the Congolese Labour Party for 12 years...
as presidential candidate for the Republic of the Congo.
Obenga holds a PhD in Letters, Arts and Humanities from Montpellier University, France. He contributed as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program, to the writing of the General History of Africa and the Scientific and Cultural History of Humanity. He was, until the end of 1991, Director General of the Centre International des Civilisations Bantu
Centre International des Civilisations Bantu
The Centre International des Civilisations Bantu is a cultural organization based in Libreville, Gabon. Established at the initiative of Gabonese president Omar Bongo on January 8, 1983, it is the world's primary organization dedicated to the study of the Bantu peoples.CICIBA's member nations...
(CICIBA) in Libreville, Gabon. He is the Director and Chief Editor of the journal Ankh.
From January 28 to February 3, 1974 at Cairo, Egypt, Obenga accompanied Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. He is regarded as an important figure in the development of the Afrocentric viewpoint, in particular for his theory that the ancient Egyptians were...
as Africa's representatives to the UNESCO symposium on "The Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic Script".
Linguistic ideas
Obenga has advocated a number of ideas such as a "Negro-Egyptian" language familyLanguage family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
(négro-égyptien), which includes all languages of Africa
Languages of Africa
There are over 2100 and by some counts over 3000 languages spoken natively in Africa in several major language families:*Afro-Asiatic spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel...
, an approach which he shares with Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. He is regarded as an important figure in the development of the Afrocentric viewpoint, in particular for his theory that the ancient Egyptians were...
.
This idea has been criticised by other scholars as politically motivated pseudolinguistics.
Other works by Obenga have been criticized as based on a confusion of race, cultural identity and political agenda.