Black Athena examines Cornell Professor Martin Bernal's iconoclastic study of the African origins of Greek civilization and the explosive academic debate it provoked. This film offers a balanced, scholarly introduction to the disputes on multi-culturalism, "political correctness" and Afrocentric curricula sweeping college campuses today.

In Black Athena, Prof. Bernal convincingly indicts 19th century scholars for constructing a racist "cult of Greece" as a purely Aryan origin for Western culture. He accuses these classicists of suppressing the numerous connections between African and Near Eastern cultures and early Greek myth and art.

Leading classical scholars, on the other hand, contend that Bernal, like the 19th century classicists he attacks, uses evidence selectively, uncritically and ahistorically to support his own "Afrocentric" agenda. They argue that cultural diffusion alone can't account for the distinctive achievements of the Greeks during the Classical Period.

Black Athena can help students begin to distinguish between sound scholarship and cultural bias - whether inherited from the past or imposed by the present.




Historiography and Theory
Identity Formation

"A spirited and remarkably objective piece on a complex and volatile issue...A remarkable pedagogical tool."
-- Jack Peradotto, editor Arethusa

"Lively, instructive and enjoyable. Should be considered for any course dealing with Western society...Every institution should have it available for its students."
-- Anthony W. Bulloch, University of California, Berkeley

"Commendably balanced...Will motivate students to read Bernal."
-- Jack Cargill, Rutgers University

Producer: Bandung File, Channel Four (U.K.) 1991, 52 minutes

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