hoteps

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Hoteps are members of an African American subculture that appropriates ancient Egyptian history as a source of Black pride.{{cite journal |last1=Lovett |first1=Miranda |title=Reflecting on the Rise of the Hoteps |journal=Sapiens |date=July 21, 2020 |url=https://www.sapiens.org/culture/hotep/ |access-date=July 7, 2021}} They have been described as promoting pseudohistory and misinformation about African-American history. Hoteps espouse a mixture of Black radicalism and social conservatism.{{cite web|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/dr-umar-johnson-psychology-license-discipline-20180102.html|title=Popular speaker Umar Johnson faces fines over lack of psychology license|author=Owens, Cassie|date=January 2, 2018|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}{{bettersource|date=December 2024}} Notable people who have promoted hotep ideas, or have been described as part of hotep subculture, include Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and Umar Johnson.

Etymology

The term "hotep" was originally used among Afrocentrists as a greeting, similar to "I come in peace",{{cite news |last1=Gaillot |first1=Ann-Derrick |title=The rise of 'hotep' |url=https://theoutline.com/post/1412/what-hotep-means |access-date=July 7, 2021 |work=The Outline |date=April 19, 2017}} but by the mid-2010s had come to be used disparagingly to "describe a person who's either a clueless parody of Afrocentricity" or "someone who's loudly, conspicuously and obnoxiously pro-black but anti-progress".{{Efn|Anthropologist Miranda Lovett wrote that "Pinpointing when and where this definition of 'Hotep' arose is difficult".}}{{cite news |last1=Young |first1=Damon |date=March 5, 2016 |title=Hotep, Explained |work=The Root |url=https://www.theroot.com/hotep-explained-1790854506 |access-date=July 7, 2021}}

Ideology

One of their more recognizable beliefs uses modern American racial and ethnic constructs to define the civilization of ancient Egypt, asserting that it was racially homogeneous and uniformly made up of a single ethnic group of Black people. This belief stands at odds with the mainstream and scholarly understanding that ancient Egypt was a diverse civilization consisting of people of various skin tones and backgrounds, including those who were indigenous to the Nile Valley and those who came from the surrounding deserts and regions, such as Libyans, Nubians, Greeks, and Arabs, to name a few.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PG6HffPwmuMC&q=bard,+egyptian,+race&pg=PA329 |title=Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |page=329 |access-date=May 28, 2016 |isbn=9780415185899 |editor1-last=Bard |editor1-first=Kathryn A. |editor1-link=Kathryn A. Bard |editor2-last=Shubert |editor2-first=Steven Blake |year=1999 |publisher=Routledge |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFrm19cZhugC&q=race,+egypt,+anachronistic,+bard&pg=PA136 |title=Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes |first=Stephen |last=Howe |page=19 |access-date=May 28, 2016 |isbn=9781859842287 |year=1999 |publisher=Verso |via=Google Books}}

Hoteps espouse a mixture of black radicalism and social conservatism, often through generating social media content on sites such as Twitter and Instagram. Members of the subculture promote conspiracy theories, often through internet memes, as well as inaccurate historical claims. Hoteps often denounce homosexuality and interracial marriage, promote the view that Black women should be subordinate to Black men, and oppose LGBT rights and feminism, which they view as inimical to Black liberation.{{cite news |last1=Bowen |first1=Sesali |title=What Dear White People Got Right About Hoteps |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/05/198583/hotep-meaning-dear-white-people-slang |access-date=July 7, 2021 |work=Refinery29 |date=May 8, 2018}} A substantial number of hoteps promote antisemitic conspiracy theories.{{cite news |last1=Sheffield |first1=Matthew |title=Laura Ingraham meets the Afrocentric "alt-right" — and it's every bit as weird as it sounds |url=https://www.salon.com/2018/04/23/laura-ingraham-meets-the-afrocentric-alt-right-and-its-every-bit-as-weird-as-that-sounds/ |access-date=July 7, 2021 |work=Salon |date=April 23, 2018}} Commentator Matthew Sheffield wrote in 2018 that "a significant portion of self-identified hoteps have so much in common with far-right white nationalism" that the subculture "has been dubbed the 'ankh right' by some of its black critics" (a play on the term "alt-right").

While often confused with a splinter of Afrocentrism, Molefi Kete Asante argues that hoteps lack a grasp of Afrocentric academic theory and philosophy and thus cannot be termed Afrocentric.{{cite web|url=https://metrophiladelphia.com/divisive-dr-umar-johnson-accused-of-misrepresentation-by-state-psychology-board/|title='Divisive' Dr. Umar Johnson accused of misrepresentation by state psychology board|last=Newhosue|first=Sam|date=January 5, 2018|website=Metro|access-date=April 4, 2024}}

Origin

In the 1930s, hotep ideology originated in the Islam-inspired teachings of Wallace Fard Muhammad, a door-to-door salesman and founder of the American black nationalist organization Nation of Islam. Claiming he was the incarnation of Noble Drew Ali, Muhammad "borrowed from traditional Islamic behavioral practices" to create "a myth designed especially to appeal to African Americans".[https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/kanye-west-american-antisemite-hotepism How Kanye West Became America's Leading Antisemite]. Tablet. Adjei-Kontoh, Hubert. Accessed May 23, 2023. Prominent members included Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad.{{Cite web |title=Wallace D. Fard {{!}} American religious leader {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wallace-D-Fard |access-date=May 23, 2023 |website=britannica.com}}

Although its members are not always called "hoteps", the community originated in response to early 20th-century Egyptomania within the American black community as well as in response to the emergence of Afrocentrism following the civil rights movement (with a later resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s).

In popular culture

In 2018, the Netflix series Dear White People featured a hotep antagonist, Trevor, played by Shamier Anderson.

In 2019, comedian Robin Thede portrayed a recurring hotep character on multiple segments of A Black Lady Sketch Show.{{Cite news |last=Ifeanyi |first=KC |date=April 23, 2021 |title=How HBO's 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' beat the worst of odds for season two |work=FastCompany |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90628477/how-hbos-a-black-lady-sketch-show-beat-the-worst-of-odds-for-season-two}}{{Cite web |last=Touré |date=December 8, 2022 |title=These hoteps must be stopped, y'all |url=https://thegrio.com/2022/12/08/these-hoteps-must-be-stopped-yall/ |access-date=May 23, 2023 |website=TheGrio}}

Reception

Critics have argued that hotep beliefs are too narrow-minded (they only focus on Ancient Egypt, as opposed to Sub-Saharan Africa and other aspects of African history).{{cite news |last1=Bastién |first1=Angelica Jade |title='Insecure' Season 1, Episode 2: Failure to Change |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/arts/television/insecure-season-1-episode-2-failure-to-change.html |access-date=July 7, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 17, 2016}} Black feminists argue that hoteps perpetuate patriarchy and rape culture by policing women's sexuality and tolerating predatory black men.

Anthropologist Miranda Lovett, writing in the online magazine Sapiens, critiqued Hotep-promoted internet memes that "juxtapose incongruous elements of African culture and contemporary life" and present Black women as "Nubian queens" or "mothers of civilization" who "are expected to serve primarily as support to their Black husbands". Lovett argues: "The Hoteps movement is a testament to the uniquely painful and complicated history of African Americans. It is anchored in a long tradition of looking to Africa for points of needed pride. Yet it also risks propagating false histories and conventions, and, ironically, disparaging Black women and those who are LGBTQ in the service of elevating Black identity."

=Notable adherents=

Notable people who have promoted hotep ideas, or have been described as part of hotep subculture, include Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and Umar Johnson.

hoteps

Etymology

Ideology

Origin

In popular culture

Reception

=Notable adherents=

See also

Notes

References

Further reading