Ivan Van Sertima’s lecture They Came Before Columbus presents a summary of arguments from his book of the same name on the African presence in ancient America. The lecture provides a significant evidence base on the African presence in America, which ultimately makes Columbus’ discovery of America a story of global deception. Van Sertima suggests that there are several distinct traces of African navigation and African presence in ancient America.
The presenter’s main argument is that other evidence can serve as a basis for knowledge besides written evidence, such as biological traces and creative objects. The author draws an example of Olmec’s colossal heads discovered in Tres Zapotes to illustrate how the presence of African people in America left traces in art objects. Van Sertima emphasizes that instead of objectively acknowledging African features of statues, the scientists made steep guesses. For example, they even pointed to the statues’ child-like features while ignoring the hair texture and other details people pictured in the statues (They Came Before Columbus). Thus, Van Sertima’s lecture points to the inability of scientific society to go against conventional theory in the complex subject of history.
The lecture draws attention to the problem of subjectivism and cultural biases in history. Van Sertima’s theories were claimed as Afrocentric in the scientific society, even though they correctly pointed to the ack of objectivism in ancient history. Therefore, the history presents a complex intersection of culture and different perceptions, and it will be difficult to achieve full objectivity in history.
Work Cited
“Ivan Van Sertima – They came before Columbus.”YouTube, uploaded by fajeetas, 2012.