Mapping an accurate conception of the Western hemisphere in envisoning a post-MAGA reconstruction informed by historical African wisdom practices

January 13, 2026

During the January 2026 U.S. incursion into Venezuela, federal U.S. officials referred to their intent to dominate the Americas as being equivalent to dominating the “Western hemisphere.” We could understand the administration’s hegemonic (mis)use of the term “Western hemisphere.” But the use of the term by noted journalists, political analysts, and other pundits baffled us because we thought it should be obvious to them that the Western hemisphere includes western Europe as well as the Americas. Why would open-minded, well-informed, moderate-to-left leaning observers affirm this hegemonic usage with their own unquestioning use of the term?

For example, New York Times contributing Opinion writer and former Obama administration official Ben Rhodes wrote that: “Mr. Trump’s belief that he can wield military power and economic leverage to control the Western Hemisphere speaks to an even more necessary lesson.” He was far from alone in this geographic elision. On an episode of Pod Save the World that same week, former NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor observed that the President “genuinely believes that he is the emperor of the Western hemisphere,” effectively defining that realm as the place where the U.S. “gets to decide who runs Central and South America.” Likewise, Time magazine journalists framed the invasion as a means of “asserting U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere,” treating the hemisphere as if it contained only the New World.

When we researched the precise span of the Western hemisphere, we learned that geographically, the Western Hemisphere is defined by the Prime Meridian (0° longitude), which passes directly through Greenwich, England. Everything west of that line (up to 180°) is the Western hemisphere.

We were surprised to learn that the Western hemisphere even includes a significant area of West Africa.

Here’s the breakdown: The Americas: North, Central, and South America; Western Europe: Including Ireland, Portugal, and significant parts of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom; and Western Africa (see listing below).

It’s useful for many reasons to know that West Africa and the Americas are in the same hemisphere. In our view, the cultivation of rice in the South Carolina coastal plain ceases to be merely a story of "New World" plantation economics and becomes a narrative of hemispheric continuity. The "Rice Coast" of West Africa (spanning from Senegal and the Gambia down to Sierra Leone and Liberia) and the coastal plain of South Carolina and Georgia share an ecological history.

The Western Hemisphere has been deeply African in its agriculture (cotton, peanuts, yams, greens, okra, in addition to rice), its cuisine, music, arts, crafts, religion, and its physical landscape. However, while the United States readily absorbed African agrarian labor, it rejected African social technologies.

After the destruction wrought by Far Right demagogues to make it “Great Again,” West African ‘best practices’ of community, justice, economic exchange, and spiritual affinities with the natural world can provide healing energies in, and working models for, the second Reconstruction in this country.

For example, African communities historically managed disputes and maintained public safety through what we now call restorative justice, a principle prioritizing social harmony and the repair of relationships over punitive incarceration. Instead of jails, these systems relied on communal participation, mediation, and reparation to reintegrate offenders and prevent future conflict. The first Reconstruction (the decade following the Civil War) was sabotaged by a return to punitive racial control. The second Reconstruction could draw from African wisdom models of repair.

In discussing how Trump is restructuring the United States on Stacey Abrams’ January 13, 2026 podcast, legal scholar Melissa Murray considered a riveting, post-Trump reconstruction. "We really have to think about whether this is the constitution we need," she said because it is compromised in various ways including in its support of minority rule.

From the current ICE disruptions in Minneapolis, we learning that if the state of Minnesota charges the agent who shot Renee Good, the U.S. Constitution makes it difficult for state authorities to prosecute federal officers for actions taken while on duty.

In conclusion to her discussion with Stacey Abrams, Melissa Murray said, “I think there are structural impediments to a truly democratic system in society that we have to think seriously about how the constitution affects that and how it might be fixed."

Constitutional, environmental and other fixies could include finally looking East to find the rest of the West and facilitate Africa’s contributions to the second U.S. reconstruction.

For more about African - U.S. hemispheric relations in the Ecollective, see: 

The Africans who made Carolina gold worth its weight in gold.

The wata brings, the wata teks

Map showing the African nations fully within the Western hemisphere.

For the African states partially with the Western hemisphere, see the listing below.

African wisdom sources of inspiration for a reconstruction vision of the United States of America

Specific West African traditions and sources exemplifying restorative justice, regenerative agriculture (permaculture), and generative justice-based economies

West African "agriscience" includes sophisticated soil regeneration techniques that predate modern "permaculture," for example:

 Zaï technique (Burkina Faso/Sahel)  A traditional method of rehabilitating degraded drylands. Farmers dig small pits (zaï) and fill them with organic matter (compost/manure) to attract termites. The termites digest the matter, creating nutrients and tunnels for water infiltration.

 Anthropogenic dark earths (Liberia/Ghana): indigenous communities in West Africa (such as the Loma people) created super-fertile soils around their settlements through the accumulation of domestic waste, charcoal, and ash. These soils are carbon sinks and highly productive.

Sacred forests (Osun-Osogbo and others): many West African communities maintain "sacred groves" where hunting, logging, and farming are strictly forbidden. These act as traditional biodiversity banks and conservation zones, managed not by the state, but by religious prohibition.

 Earthen architecture: West African vernacular architecture (like the Great Mosque of Djenné or traditional compounds in Northern Ghana) is inherently self-sustaining. Materials are sourced locally (clay, shea butter, straw), provide superior thermal cooling without electricity, and eventually return to the earth without pollution. Architects like Francis Kéré (Burkina Faso) are modernizing these indigenous techniques.

 In the artificially circumscribed “West,” policing is often an external force imposed upon a community by the state. In many West African traditions, internal force emerging from the community allow the community to regulate itself. These law and justice, policing and public safety transaction include:

The Palaver Reconciliation Model is a distinct legal and social institution. Unlike Western adversarial courts (guilt vs. innocence), the Palaver focuses on consensus. Discourse continues until social harmony is restored, not when a verdict is handed down.

Yoruba Omoluabi philosophy, a moral system for leadership (Nigeria): While "Ubuntu" is famous in Southern Africa, the Yoruba concept of Omoluabi is its West African cousin. It describes a person of "good character" whose existence is defined by community integrity

Akan Queen Mothers’ Courts (Ghana):  In Asante culture, the Asantehemaa (Queen Mother) presides over a court specifically designed for domestic and non-capital disputes. These courts prioritize preserving family lineage and relationships over punishment, often using "shame" and "apology" rather than incarceration.

Masquerades as "spiritual law enforcement" and public safety mechanisms:

The most critical element of the masquerade is anonymity. When an initiate dons the mask (e.g., Egungun of the Yoruba or the Kankurang of the Mandinka), they cease to be a neighbor, a cousin, or a farmer. They become the spirit/ancestor. The Spirit cannot be bribed, intimidated, or accused of personal bias and allows the community to police itself without fracturing social bonds.

"Night Watchmen" of Benin & Togo: the Zangbeto (often looking like a moving haystack) of the Ogu people is the most direct example of a traditional police force. Historically, and still today in many areas, the Zangbeto patrols the streets at night. They are not just guards; they are judges. Because the Zangbeto is feared and revered as a spiritual entity, suspects are more likely to confess or return stolen goods. They also handle civil disputes. If a landlord is abusing a tenant or a husband is abusing a wife, the Zangbeto may appear in front of their house to drum and sing, effectively "shaming" them into compliance with social norms.

The Ekpe (Leopard) Society: The Government of the Cross River. In the Calabar region of Nigeria and into Cameroon, the Ekpe (or Mgbe) society historically functioned as the police, the court, and the executive branch combimed. Before colonial courts, if someone reneged on a debt, the Ekpe would place its insignia on the debtor's property, effectively impounding it. No one would dare touch the property until the debt was resolved. Laws were not written in books; they were promulgated by the Ekpe. To disobey the Ekpe was to disobey the highest authority of the land. This ensured trade could flourish and contracts were honored without a standing army.

The Gelede (Yoruba) and specific Igbo masquerades, use satire as a policing tool. During festivals, the masquerades will sing songs or perform skits that specifically call out people in the community who have been acting greedily, arrogantly, or immorally. This public airing of grievances serves as a "social pressure valve." It checks the power of chiefs and wealthy individuals who might otherwise be above the law. It reinforces the circular economy of behavior—if you take too much socially, the community will extract your status publicly.

Economics: here we turn to sources such as Ron Eglash, a noted STEM educator, innovator and generative justice theoretician who connects traditional concepts of creation and economic exchange within Africa, the African diaspora and First Nations people of this country with modern technologies. See his generative justice article here (insert link)

See this article for more about Eglash previously published in the Ecollective.   

(Will insert link to forthcoming Ecollective article on Eglash here)

List of nations and territories beyond the Americas and within the Western hemisphere

Lisiting from Wikimedia

A link to all of the sources for information in this article will be inserted into a page hyperlinked here.