Home Invites Members Groups Events Careers Videos News Photos Blogs Polls Singles Forums Chat
Home > Blogs > Post Content

Dr. Butler Announces New Book on African American Political Thought (787 hits)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Rev. Melvin Mack
Morris College
Office of Public Relations
mmack@morris.edu (803) 934-

Dr. Jacob Butler
Division of Social Sciences
jbutler@morris.edu (803) 934-3433

DATE: May 20, 2016

Dr. Jacob Butler Releases New Book
As was indicated in a previous article on his receipt of an “Excellence in Teaching” award several weeks ago, Dr. Jacob E. Butler, Jr., and Outskirts Press of Denver, CO have announced the release of his book titled Political and Social Thought Within the African American Intellectual Tradition: A Summary Interpretation. This work provides an overview and analysis of major ideas, themes and characteristics associated with political and social thought among African Americans throughout history and puts them inside an intellectual tradition that is distinctly unique to them as a group. A Charleston native and graduate of Burke High School, Dr. Butler is Professor of Political Science at Morris College and Chair of its Division of Social Sciences.
In discussing the origin of the book, Dr. Butler notes that the project started as a simple effort to deal with a common classroom problem today. He states “…a major issue we face with this generation of students is getting them to read extensively. Rather than utilize books and written works for information, even for more complex assignments, many of them will simply go to Google, wikipedia or some other computer application looking to get quick answers to questions. While that may help you get facts quickly, it doesn’t really teach you what to do with information once you have it, or figure out what makes it meaningful. That’s where the thinking part comes in. During the summer of 2014, I was trying to come up with a process that would take the multitude of ideas, personalities and significant books that I deal with in my Political Thought class and boil them down to a single outline. After a few weeks, I had put together so much material until organizing it into one fairly short, easy-to read book made a lot of sense. It took about another year to get the finished manuscript together.”
Among the major points that Dr. Butler’s book makes is to emphasize that African Americans have had distinct ways of thinking about political and social matters in society that can be traced from ancient Africa through to our present time. In his view, “…we as African Americans have a distinct intellectual tradition that is older than the United States itself. Therefore, rather than accepting what typical history and philosophy classes teach that the great ideas on politics and society basically come from European thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, etc. and their descendants in the United States like Madison, Jefferson, etc., it is important for us know that we bring our own tradition of thinking to these questions that is also quite substantial. Our challenge today is to refine and use the elements of that tradition to deal with the issues we confront now. You cannot possibly do this unless you are familiar with what that tradition is.”
Among the major points that Dr. Butler’s book makes is to emphasize that African Americans have had distinct ways of thinking about political and social matters in society that can be traced from ancient Africa through to our present time. In his view, “…we as African Americans have a distinct intellectual tradition that is older than the United States itself. Therefore, rather than accepting what typical history and philosophy classes teach that the great ideas on politics and society basically come from European thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, etc. and their descendants in the United States like Madison, Jefferson, etc., it is important for us know that we bring our own tradition of thinking to these questions that is also quite substantial. Our challenge today is to refine and use the elements of that tradition to deal with the issues we confront now. You cannot possibly do this unless you are familiar with what that tradition is.”
While the book was first conceived for students in college, Dr. Butler considers it as possibly being useful to others who have a casual interest in the subject of African American political thinking as well. Copies may be purchased through Amazon.com or the publisher’s direct bookstore at outskirtspress.com.
Posted By: jacob butler
Monday, May 23rd 2016 at 9:33PM
You can also click here to view all posts by this author...

Report obscenity | post comment
Share |
Please Login To Post Comments...
Email:
Password:

 
More From This Author
Dr. Jacob E. Butler, Jr. South Carolina Excellence in Teaching Award 2016
Forward This Blog Entry!
Blogs Home

(Advertise Here)
Who's Online
>> more | invite 
Latest Photos
>> more | add
Most Popular Bloggers
agnes levine has logged 68806 blog subscribers!
cheer leader has logged 51811 blog subscribers!
tanisha grant has logged 27421 blog subscribers!
rickey johnson has logged 6981 blog subscribers!
robert walker has logged 825 blog subscribers!
>> more | add