Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Cultures

Description

This is a pioneer work in an area of African history and culture that is virgin territory for the researcher. Except for the unpublished manuscript of Frank E. Chapman, Jr., the lectures of Dr. Lonnie Shabazz, formerly head of the Department of Mathematics at Atlanta University, and several other sources listed in the bibliography of this book, I know of no extensive work on African mathematics. There is also a tendency on the part of most Western scholars to deny the existence of mathematical methods that are distinctly African. Therefore, Mrs. Zaslavsky's "preliminary survey of a vast field awaiting investigation" will put some old arguments to rest and create some new ones. It is impossible to write a book of this nature without some reference to the misconceptions about Africa in general. Fortunately, the book is being published at a time when information about African history and culture is increasing and many of the newand important books are coming from the pens of Black writers, in this country and in Africa. It will soon be difficult to ignore the impact of Africans on world history. Now that the field of mathematics, as it relates to Africans, has been opened up for investigation by Mrs. Zaslavsky's book, it will be difficult to stop the much broader investigation into the role of Africans in world history and culture. This book is important both for what it says and for how it implies what still needs to be sa;d. It is clear that the old concepts about Africa and the African people will die hard, but they will die.