Sekhmet Maat (McAllister), PhD
A proud graduate of Temple University’s Department of Africology and African American Studies, the first Ph.D. program in the discipline, Sekhmet Maat is an African-centered theorist and educator concerned with transforming the consciousness of students. As ancestor Nana Baffour Amankwatia II (Asa Hilliard) reminds us, the education process for humanity must be about the business of preparing students to understand themselves as divinely inspired beings who have the capacity to create their reality and transform themselves; and by doing so, bring about justice in the universe. Education, especially within the discipline of Africana Studies, is therefore a sacred process. Instructors and students begin to understand themselves in relationship to the universe for the sole purpose of recognizing their creative potential through which to fulfill our life’s destiny as agents of change for the liberation of humanity.
Contact
207 Elliott Hall, cmcalli1@tnstate.edu
Education
PhD, Africology and African American Studies, Temple University
MAR, Religious Thought, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
MA, Africana Studies, State University of New York-Albany
BA, Film Studies/African American Studies, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Courses Taught
Introduction to Africana Studies, African Spiritual Philosophy I & II, African Diaspora, Psychological Impact of Enslavement and Colonization
Research Interests
Africana religion and philosophy; African-centered theory and methodology; Asantean Afrocentric philosophy; Africana queer theory; African/Black psychology
Selected Publications
Maat, Sekhmet., ed. A College Introduction to African-centered Theory: Selected Readings in Africana Studies. San Diego: Cognella, 2022.
Maat, Sekhmet. “Bruce Nugent.” In The Harlem Renaissance: An Encyclopedia of Arts, Culture, and History, edited by Venetria K. Patton and Kwakiutl L. Dreher. Santa Barbara, CA.:ABC-CLIO, Inc., accepted and forthcoming, 2024.
Maat, Sekhmet. “Toward Africana Queer Theory in Africana Studies: The Case for African Cosmology.” In Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory and Epistemology, edited by Adebayo Oyebade. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Ringer, Andrea, Sekhmet Maat, and A. Hannibal Leach. “A Century of Africana Studies Programs on Black Campuses: Creating a Multimodal Collaborative Africana Studies Digital Project at HBCUs.” In Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory and Epistemology, edited by Adebayo Oyebade. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Adebayo, Oyebade and Sekhmet Maat. “Africana Studies and Theory Building: Selected Bibliography on Afrocentricity.” In Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory and Epistemology, edited by Adebayo Oyebade. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Ringer, Andrea, and Sekhmet Maat. “(Re)establishing the Bachelor of Science Degree in Africana Studies at Tennessee State University: An Institutional Report.” Siyabonana: The Journal of Africana Studies. 1, no.1 (Winter/January 2023)
Maat, Sekhmet. “Anunian Cosmology.” In A College Introduction to African-centered Theory: Selected Readings in Africana Studies, edited by Sekhmet Maat. San Diego: Cognella, 2022.
Maat, Sekhmet and Shelby Ray Pumphrey. “The Origins of Africana Studies: A Brief History of a Scholar Activist Tradition.” In Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience, 2nd edition, edited by Joshua Farrington, Norman Powell, etal., 283-326. Richmond: Eastern Kentucky University Libraries OER, 2022.
Maat, Sekhmet. “Development of the Field of Africana Studies.” In Africana World in Perspective: An Introduction to Africa and the African Diaspora, edited by Michael Mwenda Kithinji. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, 2020, 2021.
Maat, Sekhmet. “Looking Back at the Evolution of James Cone’s Theological Anthropology: A Brief Commentary.” Religions 10, no. 11 (October 2019).
Maat, Sekhmet. “Towards an African-centered Approach to Africana Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersexed, Identities and Desire: The Kemetic Model of the Cosmological Interactive Self.” Critical Sociology, 40, no. 2. (online 2012, volume March 2014): 239-256.
Maat, Sekhmet and Karanja Keita Carroll. “African-centered Theory and Methodology in Africana Studies: An Introduction.” The Journal of Pan African Studies, 5 no. 4. (June 2012): 1-11.
Maat, Sekhmet. “Words of Wisdom: An Interview with African-centered Psychologist Linda James Myers.” The Journal of Pan African Studies, 3. no. 8. (June 2010):194-203.
Maat, Sekhmet. “An Essay on God as the Bicameral Mind: Implications for Africological Research.” The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2 no 2. (March 2008): 28-43.