Talk:Tukufu Zuberi

Name origin

I removed the sentence "Swahili is spoken in East Africa, whereas most black Americans are the descendants of slaves taken from West Africa, making it unlikely that any of his ancestors would have had that name." as it seems to be a tangential comment that adds nothing to the article. The quote in the previous sentence, "I took the name because of a desire to make and have a connection with an important period where people were challenging what it means to be a human being", makes no claim that any of his ancestors spoke Swahili. If he were to do that I'd say the above comment may be appropriate (assuming a quote of that nature was included for reference). Quite honestly, he probably wouldn't make such a claim anyway since I'd assume that someone with his degree of expertise on Africa and slavery knows which ethnic and linguistic groups make up the majority of slaves brought to North America. Mantisia (talk) 18:55, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

"Embracing" a name

A few months ago, the entry read "Born Antonio McDaniel to Willie and Annie McDaniel, and raised in the housing projects of Oakland, California in the 1970s, he embraced the name Tukufu Zuberi - Swahili for 'beyond praise' and 'strength.' 'I took the name because..." I Wikified that phrase to "...he changed his name to Tukufu Zuberi...", since one cannot "embrace" a name until one first assumes it. Apparently, an anonymous editor didn't appreciate my more prosaic language and reverted it to the more poetic "embraced". This editor's IP address (130.91.95.68) resolves to the University of Pennsylvania, where Professor Zuberi works, and of the 12 edits in this person's WP history, no less than 10 have been to this entry, so I suspect the anonymous editor to be Prof. Zuberi himself. Regardless, I'm going to change it back to "...changed his name to..." and hope that the anonymous editor can grasp the fact that WP is an encyclopedia, not a PR organ. Flowery language about "embracing" something that one first has to make up, has no place here. Bricology (talk) 07:29, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

International Activities

The section "International Activities" reads like a Curriculum Vitae. I don't think that we need to have every workshop and panel listed that Prof. Zuberi attended or participated in over the past 21 years, as the large table in that section includes. I'd like someone (Prof. Zuberi perhaps?) prune this down to its most significant contributions, or remove it entirely. Thank you. Bricology (talk) 07:41, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

I agree entirely. A few sentences ought to do it. Anyone game to make the change? 75.13.69.27 (talk) 03:42, 18 August 2011 (UTC)