Molefi Kete Asante

Molefi Kete Asante is a cultural scientist who is currently Professor in the Department of Africology at Temple University.  He is also President, Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies. Asante has published 104 books, among the most important are Being Human Being: Transforming the Race Paradigm, Africology and African Diaspora, The History of Africa, and Revolutionary Pedagogy. Asante has published more than 500 articles and is considered the most published African American scholar as well as one of the most distinguished authors in the African world. Asante received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was appointed a full professor at the age of 30 at the State University of New York at Buffalo. At Temple University he created the first Ph.D. Program in African American Studies in 1988. He has directed more than 140 Ph.D. dissertations. He is the founder of the theory of Afrocentricity. Asante was born in Valdosta, Georgia, of Nubian Mehasi and Nigerian Yoruba heritage. He is one of sixteen children. He is married to Ana Yenenga, a Costa Rican, with Akan ancestry via Jamaica and Ghana.  He has three children, Mario, Eka, and MK, Jr. who was born in Zimbabwe. He is a poet, novelist, dramatist, and a painter. The Utne Reader called Asante one of the “100 Leading Thinkers” in America. Asante has received over 125 citations, awards and honors for scholarship. He has consulted with African heads of state and has become one of the most sought-after lecturers on the United States of Africa. Dr. Asante is the founding editor of the Journal of Black Studies (1969) and in 1995 he was made a traditional king, Nana Okru Asante Peasah, Kyidomhene of Tafo, Akyem, Ghana. He was made a Wanadu of the Court of Hassimi Maiga, the Amiru of Songhay in 2016. Asante trained journalists in Zimbabwe immediately after the 2nd Chimurenga and was the mentor to the first group of liberated journalists from Zimbabwe Institute of Mass Communication. Asante is one of the major professional trainers of teachers. He holds honorary doctorates from several universities. His website is:  molefiketeasante.com