Africana Studies and Research Methodology: Revisiting the Centrality of the Afrikan Worldview (Essay‪)‬

I. Introduction Africana Studies, as a product of the 1960s Black Liberation Movement is currently flourishing throughout many institutions of higher education within the western world. In doing so, it has provided students and scholars a dynamic means to investigate the current conditions and future prospects of Afrikan people. However, at the same rate, in many instances the original mission and intention of Africana Studies has been confused with certain scholarly projects which are only "Africana Studies," in name. (3) One principal mean of truly touching the heart of Africana Studies, is to investigate questions of research methodology, or as some would argue the philosophical assumptions specific to Africana Studies and the investigation of Africana people, history and cultures. Through the investigation and clarification of the philosophical assumptions (ie. research methodology) specific to Africana Studies, the Africana Studies practitioner etches out a discipline-specific space which grounds those scholarly projects that can rightfully be referred to as Africana Studies.