Ashe, the Power to Make Things Happen

December 12, 2021 4:24 PM

A giant in the study of African art has left us. Yale art historian Robert Farris Thompson - also known as "Funky Bob" and "Master T" - has died at 88. A legendary scholar as well as lecturer, Thompson coined the phrase "Black Atlantic" civilization and was widely known for decades for his advocacy of the importance of the arts of Africa and its diaspora.
posted by PhineasGage (10 comments total)

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posted by praemunire at 5:17 PM on December 12, 2021

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posted by evilDoug at 5:21 PM on December 12, 2021

I saw one of his lectures when I was a teen-ager, I still remember huge chunks of it. It was - disruptive, to say the least - to see this very, very 'white' guy speak so passionately about African culture and then so clearly and persuasively about its influence on modern American culture.

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posted by From Bklyn at 3:27 AM on December 13, 2021 [2 favorites]

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posted by RobinofFrocksley at 4:32 AM on December 13, 2021

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posted by jcrcarter at 8:11 AM on December 13, 2021

A great one!
posted by johnasdf at 8:47 AM on December 13, 2021

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:36 AM on December 13, 2021

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posted by Kattullus at 10:24 AM on December 13, 2021

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posted by socialjusticeworrier at 3:50 PM on December 13, 2021

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posted by allthinky at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2021