Dr. Gbadesgesin also discussed "Omoluabi," which gets into what are duties are as individuals. The research question was about transforming knowledge, and in doing so creating ideas and innovations to better the future. This is our responsibility to ourselves, as well as to our community. We build upon the traditions of our ancestors, create our own, and leave it all for the future generation to follow and build upon. This is both our communal responsibility, as well as what we owe to ourselves and those before us. Overall, the lecture was very interesting and i enjoyed it.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility
The lecture about " Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility" is self-explanatory, in my opinion. Self actualization is about realizing who one is within themselves. During the lecture, Dr. Gbadesgesin went on to break down the concept of self actualization. I took it to mean that self actualization is to recognize one's own strengths and weaknessesHe talked about Ijuba, which means homage. Paying homage is important, because it is shapes how the future is molded. By paying homage, you give respect and honor to your ancestors, as well as guidelines to keep those to come after you on the right path. When you don't pay homage, it is very easy to forget where you came from; my interpretation is that if you forget where you come from, you have no identity.
Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsiblity
Just by reading the title for this weeks lecture gave me an idea of what would be covered in class. "Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility", is deep to one's own definition and personal feelings. Personally, it means to achieve one's full potential.Further more it's not always one person that's responsible but something the entire community has to do together. The lecture was broken down in different categories to help answer the research question,"How have scholars across the various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition".
One of the things that was discussed was Ijuba, meaning homage. My understanding from this was that you have to give back or give honor to the ones before us and the ones after to keep traditions alive. One of the things that people forget about when they become successful is where they come from. Some times we get so caught up in our personal lives and forget about what we left behind. Its our responsibility to never forget because if we don't keep our "homage" alive, who will? That's where the title plays part in the lecture. Omoluabi, tells us our duties. We all know that we shoud be people of character who are disciplined to self improving. If we hold ourselves up to a certain standard our peers will began to gain the respect for us. We should use our wisdom and spread it through our communities so that they can gain knowledge from our eduacation. With that being said we should never get to caught up in ourselves because others need help too.
Another thing that Dr. Gbadegesin mentioned was acknowledging the human condition. What fell under this was racism and poverty. Racism and poverty are two things that we deal with daily. Dr. G mentioned that whites say that we as Africans don't have any history but what they didn't realize is that you have to have history before you can write it. So first thing is that we have to go through different situations until it can be apart of our history.
Dr.G and Dr.Carr's lecture relates because each gives us ideas about the research question. Each lecture feeds off each other giving us a better understanding in how to answer the question. The lecture for this week gave us an understanding for useful learning. I think we should all play apart in our society to be enthused to learn and maintain the developement of our society.
One of the things that was discussed was Ijuba, meaning homage. My understanding from this was that you have to give back or give honor to the ones before us and the ones after to keep traditions alive. One of the things that people forget about when they become successful is where they come from. Some times we get so caught up in our personal lives and forget about what we left behind. Its our responsibility to never forget because if we don't keep our "homage" alive, who will? That's where the title plays part in the lecture. Omoluabi, tells us our duties. We all know that we shoud be people of character who are disciplined to self improving. If we hold ourselves up to a certain standard our peers will began to gain the respect for us. We should use our wisdom and spread it through our communities so that they can gain knowledge from our eduacation. With that being said we should never get to caught up in ourselves because others need help too.
Another thing that Dr. Gbadegesin mentioned was acknowledging the human condition. What fell under this was racism and poverty. Racism and poverty are two things that we deal with daily. Dr. G mentioned that whites say that we as Africans don't have any history but what they didn't realize is that you have to have history before you can write it. So first thing is that we have to go through different situations until it can be apart of our history.
Dr.G and Dr.Carr's lecture relates because each gives us ideas about the research question. Each lecture feeds off each other giving us a better understanding in how to answer the question. The lecture for this week gave us an understanding for useful learning. I think we should all play apart in our society to be enthused to learn and maintain the developement of our society.
Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility
This lecture struck me, right off the top, as being a lecture that would require me to look deeply within myself. I greatly appreciated how the lecture started, with Ijuba ( homage). We payed homage to anything and everything that we should be grateful for. Dr. G. explained that " not paying homage will cause you to get tied up." I took that , not in it's literal meaning, but being tied up in life. We often times get caught up in our fast pace lives and forget to give thanks to where we come from. So before anything and everything we do we should stop and give homage.
This lecture discussed a topic we often do not think about, transforming knowledge. The majority of the time we think that merely gaining knowledge is what we should aim for in our lives, but why do we cut ourselves short? Dr. G. discussed in this lecture how simply acquiring knowledge is not what we should settle for. Knowledge is meant to be transformed and drawn away from the orthodoxy. He taught that in the past the Africans were seen to have no history because there was no writing history when in actuality there was history all along. "History must be lived before it can be written." He stated that there was thought to be "no black philosophy" when originally all knowledge and philosophy began in Africa with Africans. As a generation in today's world we are expected to go to the source of knowledge then transform it.
Dr. G. also told us the story of Iwa. he explained how Iwa was a wife who then left her husband and after her retreat his life was meaningless and everything went wrong. Although this was a story, we all have an Iwa that lives within us and when we lose our Iwa we are nothing. Our Iwa is our character and our being. Without those two things we merely are shells of human beings taking up space in the world.
In the end of the lecture Dr. G. discussed the importance of responsibility. First we have a responsibility to ourselves. That responsibility is to first remake ourselves through education. This means to gain all the knowledge we can possibly hold in our minds and use it to transform ourselves to be better, educated , and well rounded individuals. Our second responsibility is the to the community. We are to serve our community with education. What good is knowledge if it can not be shared? We must give back to the community what the community gave us and pay our homage.
Overall, I enjoyed this lecture and I am looking forward to the lectures ahead.
Jesseca Farr
Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility
The main topic of the lecture this week is answering the research question of how various fields have transformed academic knowledge of the human condition. To approach this issue, Dr. Gbadegesin broke down the into three main parts.
The first part is addressing the human condition. The human condition can relate to many things throughout our society; from our individual condition, to our communal or national condition. This question specifically relates to our social, moral, economic, cultural, political, etc. condition as a whole. Not just the state of our immediate community, but the entire world.
Secondly, the topic of academic knowledge was specified. The question addresses how different academic field have transformed knowledge. The fields cover a broad spectrum including fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and so on. All the fields have produced research and new knowledge which has influenced collective knowledge of the human condition.
Lastly, Dr. Gbadegesin defined exactly what constitutes a transformation. He described this as a challenged to orthodoxy and societal norms. Also, a new paradigm for the world to look through. In essence, it is a shift from one was of thinking, into a new, broader range of thought.
Dr. Gbadegesin and Carr's lecture related by taking the Mbongi, the place where knowledge is shared, and relating that knowledge to the transformation of thought. These Mbongi forums serve as a melting pot of new ideas which contributes to the defining and changing of the human condition.
Kristen Bailey
The first part is addressing the human condition. The human condition can relate to many things throughout our society; from our individual condition, to our communal or national condition. This question specifically relates to our social, moral, economic, cultural, political, etc. condition as a whole. Not just the state of our immediate community, but the entire world.
Secondly, the topic of academic knowledge was specified. The question addresses how different academic field have transformed knowledge. The fields cover a broad spectrum including fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and so on. All the fields have produced research and new knowledge which has influenced collective knowledge of the human condition.
Lastly, Dr. Gbadegesin defined exactly what constitutes a transformation. He described this as a challenged to orthodoxy and societal norms. Also, a new paradigm for the world to look through. In essence, it is a shift from one was of thinking, into a new, broader range of thought.
Dr. Gbadegesin and Carr's lecture related by taking the Mbongi, the place where knowledge is shared, and relating that knowledge to the transformation of thought. These Mbongi forums serve as a melting pot of new ideas which contributes to the defining and changing of the human condition.
Kristen Bailey
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Learning, Wisdom,and The African World Experience
The first lecture that was brought before my class this week was the best lecture I've ever heard. From one lecture my eyes were open to a broader knowledge of my culture and the African tradition. But one thing that I can talk about all day is Dr. Greg Carr. He's an amazing professor that had me engaged throughout the entire lecture. Dr.Carr made me feel amazing because I knew that my work is not done when I finish college. It's a must that I give back to the black community because we lack in so many areas.
One of the key points was the description of the "Mbongi".Since there isn't much time in class to discuss our feelings on a particular point, the Mbongi allows us students to elaborate on several ideas and questions from the lecture. The word Mbongi is not a word that I was familar with until I started Freshman Seminar. I think the creation of the Mbongi is one of the greatest creations ever made. Like I mentioned earlier the Mbongi gives everyone the opportunity to participate and give their opinions.
Also we examined the contribution to global traditions and innvotions in teaching and learning from the classical, medieval, and contempory African experience. This section gave the class the insight about inventions made centuries ago. One thing I noticed was that African Americans don't get enough credit for the inventions they made that changed the world. An example was the creation of hierglyphics which began as an African symbol for writing. This was another way that they learned to communicate with other people. The greatest words used was the word "amen", which mean the unseen one. As I started thinking about innovations and other things similar to that I was informed that all things weren't invented by whites. They fed off the African experience. From this lecture African Americans should have a push to keep creating because our ancestors started it. Things are so much easier for us because they paid the way for us. Now that we have so much technology we have no excuse to keep the innovations going.
Another thing was call to action. This gave us the insight to help others and to keep our heritage and traditions alive. We should spread our wisdom to help others in places that they are lacking. One of the main things is to pass down the tradition down to the youger generations. Passing down our heritage and tradition down helps keep the African experience alive. And this isn't something that we want to ever die. With out this we can't strive to better ourselves or our people.
I'm glad that the Freshman Seminar class exists because it's going to help us all the way through college. It allows us to be more open to ideas and discuss things that are important to us students. While some people may think the class is pointless I see it as an creation to better our African tradition.
Niesha Bush
One of the key points was the description of the "Mbongi".Since there isn't much time in class to discuss our feelings on a particular point, the Mbongi allows us students to elaborate on several ideas and questions from the lecture. The word Mbongi is not a word that I was familar with until I started Freshman Seminar. I think the creation of the Mbongi is one of the greatest creations ever made. Like I mentioned earlier the Mbongi gives everyone the opportunity to participate and give their opinions.
Also we examined the contribution to global traditions and innvotions in teaching and learning from the classical, medieval, and contempory African experience. This section gave the class the insight about inventions made centuries ago. One thing I noticed was that African Americans don't get enough credit for the inventions they made that changed the world. An example was the creation of hierglyphics which began as an African symbol for writing. This was another way that they learned to communicate with other people. The greatest words used was the word "amen", which mean the unseen one. As I started thinking about innovations and other things similar to that I was informed that all things weren't invented by whites. They fed off the African experience. From this lecture African Americans should have a push to keep creating because our ancestors started it. Things are so much easier for us because they paid the way for us. Now that we have so much technology we have no excuse to keep the innovations going.
Another thing was call to action. This gave us the insight to help others and to keep our heritage and traditions alive. We should spread our wisdom to help others in places that they are lacking. One of the main things is to pass down the tradition down to the youger generations. Passing down our heritage and tradition down helps keep the African experience alive. And this isn't something that we want to ever die. With out this we can't strive to better ourselves or our people.
I'm glad that the Freshman Seminar class exists because it's going to help us all the way through college. It allows us to be more open to ideas and discuss things that are important to us students. While some people may think the class is pointless I see it as an creation to better our African tradition.
Niesha Bush
Learning,Wisdom,and the African World Experience: An Mbongi
First and foremost, I must say that this lecture exceeded my expectations to the fullest. Dr. Carr is a very powerful speaker and just in this one lecture alone, opened my eyes and mind to want to explore my culture in a more deeper and serious manner. Dr. Carr explained to us how everything we are ever taught traces back to our African roots. Many people place ideals in the hands of the British or the Greek when in actuality they start in Africa.
Dr. Carr stressed the ideal of the Mbongi. In our introduction to Freshman Seminar, Dr. Williams explained that " Mbongi" meant a house with no rooms, meaning that we are to be open with our surroundings and our people. Dr. Carr opened this definition to a more deeper explanation. Mbongi is not solely about being open with the people around you, but it is a force. It is a force that can not be broken nor challenged. When a group of people are gathered in a mbongi they are one, no matter the number. At that particular time, no matter where they have come from they all share one common bond and mind. Mbongi doesn't have to always be a spoken gathering. Body language can also be included in a mbongi.
I really enjoyed how Dr. Carr spoke about intelligence in the African American community. We as blacks must be proud to be intelligent individuals in a society that expects us to be uneducated, not wealthy, and quite frankly unidentified as human beings.
This lecture has me pumped for the lectures to come. I want to study more on my culture and make an impact on the world as an African American woman.
Jesseca Farr
The African World Experience
This week's freshman seminar lecture explored the concept of the Mbongi. My initial impressions were that a Mbongi is simply a discussion among a group; however, after participating in this lecture I find that it is not only just a gathering, but a strong-held tradition in which brothers and sisters come together to exchange knowledge.
The first point of this lecture is exploring how the world has progressed in teaching and learning through multiple facets of the African experience. To examine this we pondered classical, medieval, and contemporary African tradition and how each of them has affected the way we learn and teach today. What surprised me most is seeing how prevalent ancient Africans are in the sciences of mathematics, writing, astronomy and much more. It also saddens me that many don't give African's due credit for these innovations.
A second key concept of this Mbongi is self-actualization. In essence, once cannot truly learn and teach unless he or she is aware of his or herself as a person. This comes down to character and civil duties to the community. At Howard university it is our civil duty to participate in deep learning and with that learning to educate and share knowledge with others.
A third point of discussion of this lecture is a call to action. In order to keep learning and teaching, we as African American students must continue to grow and share our wisdom with others. The Students of Howard University carry a grave tradition and without our sharing of knowledge with others, this tradition will die. The best forum for distributing this knowledge would be by keeping the Mbongi alive.
In all, this Mbongi has defined our responsibilities and growth of knowledge for all future Mbongi's and has called us to action to take what we learn in this forum and share it with the community.
Kristen Bailey
The first point of this lecture is exploring how the world has progressed in teaching and learning through multiple facets of the African experience. To examine this we pondered classical, medieval, and contemporary African tradition and how each of them has affected the way we learn and teach today. What surprised me most is seeing how prevalent ancient Africans are in the sciences of mathematics, writing, astronomy and much more. It also saddens me that many don't give African's due credit for these innovations.
A second key concept of this Mbongi is self-actualization. In essence, once cannot truly learn and teach unless he or she is aware of his or herself as a person. This comes down to character and civil duties to the community. At Howard university it is our civil duty to participate in deep learning and with that learning to educate and share knowledge with others.
A third point of discussion of this lecture is a call to action. In order to keep learning and teaching, we as African American students must continue to grow and share our wisdom with others. The Students of Howard University carry a grave tradition and without our sharing of knowledge with others, this tradition will die. The best forum for distributing this knowledge would be by keeping the Mbongi alive.
In all, this Mbongi has defined our responsibilities and growth of knowledge for all future Mbongi's and has called us to action to take what we learn in this forum and share it with the community.
Kristen Bailey
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