Indexicality: An Africological Method of Inquiry

Indexicality: An Africological Method of Inquiry by Molefi Kete Asante presents a definitive methodological framework for Africology, strengthening the discipline's capacity to analyze African phenomena through a distinctly Afrocentric lens. Building on the foundational texts Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge and the evolving contributions of Africology scholars, Asante articulates the need for research methods that reflect the discipline's own epistemological and ontological principles.

Positioning Indexicality as a methodological cornerstone, Asante offers not only a theoretical model but also clear guidance on how to implement Africological methods in research practice. He challenges dominant assumptions about objectivity, prediction, and classification, and introduces tools for engaging African agency, cultural systems, and historical meaning. With focused instruction on the use of language, historical texts, and indigenous knowledge systems, Indexicality addresses the full arc of methodological design-from conceptual grounding to practical application. Drawing on the legacy of Yosef ben-Jochannon, Cheikh Anta Diop, and Jacob Carruthers, and building on the vision of The Little Black Book Series: Research, Methodology, Theory and Praxis, this work affirms Africology's status as a self-determined and conceptually robust field of study.