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to Africa!

Many of the early anthropologist and scientist, with deeply held western biases against any form of African contribution to modern civilization, would not even entertain this connection for years. However after one lays eyes on the huge seemingly African featured relics discovered, its very hard not to make this connection.

A respected member of the international anthropology community Dr. Ivan Van Sertima believes that certain cultural features of the Olmec civilization show strong connections to their African origins, for example he says certain facial adorations, tattoos, specific hairstyles, and certain gestures, reflect its deep rooted connections to West African culture.

Van Sertima is also an expert linguist regarding indigenous African languages and goes on to assert that West African meanings to smoke are dyamba and dyemba. He believes that these words can account for Indigenous Mexican words such as the Guahiba, sema, Baniva, djeema, scema, and others. His final closing argument is that the physical features of the Olmec found heads show an overwhelming evidence of African ancestry.

The vast majority of modern archeology does not agree with the theory of early African seafarers sailing halfway across the world to set up a new civilization. The most widespread theory concerning this is named the "isolationist" theory which asserts that oceans are barriers, not highways, and that the Olmec culture is completely homegrown. This suggest that the so called Negroid features are merely stylized images of the Siberian hunters that created all of the so called indigenous tribes of the Amazon, the Andes, North and Central America.

Another perspective has been taking by British archeologist Nigel Davies. Davies is also a critic of the theories of ancient seafaring Africans settling in ancient Mexico. He on the other hand believes that the Olmec relics are of African origin, he asserts however that there are Negroid civilizations that are indigenous to Asia and believes in the possibility that some of these Negroid peoples joined other migrant groups coming across the Bering land that connected Asia to North America.

The mystery of the African influence on Olmec culture will remain a mystery with the question put to modern day archeologist: Why do so many of the Olmec figures look so much like Africans? How can the figures that look so obviously Negroid not actually be connected to Africa? This is surely a debate that needs to be seriously looked at by both historians and modern cultural anthropologist. Its within this context that we must view Mexico's African legacy.

Mexico's African legacy runs the danger of being exoticized, of being brought to the surface in order to highlight their "Otherness" while ignoring their "Mexicanness. The cultures of this wonderful mixture should remind us of the preceding generations, however must not simply regulate them to an isolated fixture in history. As always they remain dynamic participants in their world view. To understand the culture and history of the people of Yanga and other Afro-Mexican communities, we must transcend simply physical appearances and cease determining the extent of Africa's influence simply by how much one "looks" African, and seriously examine the cultural dynamisms which influence certain sections of the country at large.

Lastly, there are people of African decent in Mexico. Many may marvel at these relatively isolated communities that can still be found along its Pacific and gulf coasts. Of more significance is understanding the myriad forms that mark the African presence in Mexican culture, both past and present, and critically examining the many African mysteries within Mexico that still need to be explored.

Learn more about this author, Hassan Ansah.
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