Dr. Christopher A. Brooks
Brooks recalls his father’s experiences in the Merchant Marines in the 1950s, visiting West Africa, and how the parental influence extends into his work as an anthropologist and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Both of my parents made their children aware of African history and geography when we were young,” reflects Brooks, during his most recent excursion to Kenya. “For example, I knew where the Zambezi River was along with the so-called ‘Zimbabwe ruins,’ now known as ‘Great Zimbabwe,’ in Masvingo.”
Brooks has been to both places, including 25 countries on the African continent to date.
“I visited the African continent for the first time as a Fulbright doctoral student in 1985,” he says. “Although I was based in Nigeria, I visited several countries, including Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Benin, and Cameroon. In the 1990s, I began exploring several southern African countries, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, and Botswana, among other countries.”
The Baltimore native studies and researches anthropology specific to the African diaspora.
“As an Africanist anthropologist, I had a keen interest in many continental traditions and practices and how those traditions manifested themselves in North and South America as a result of the trans-Atlantic enslavement experience,” he says.
