African/Africana Philosophy

Underscoring recurrent calls for the decolonization of university curricula in South Africa are underexplored presumptions that by only disrupting theoretical content, universities might release themselves from a colonialist grasp, that continues to dominate and distort higher education discourse. While it might be the case that certain theories hold enormous authoritative, ‘truthful’ sway, as propagated through western interpretations and norms, there are inherent problems in exclusively approaching the decolonization project as a content-based hurdle, removed from the subjectivities of students’ social, lived (...) and learning realities. The argument advanced in this article is that until the epistemic harm of colonialism and apartheid are afforded careful recognition and attention – as in focusing on the lived experiences, realities, and stories of individuals - the hard work of de-legitimizing coloniality, and its implicit structures of hegemonies and binaries cannot unfold. In addressing these harms, I commence by describing some of the contexts of epistemic harm, promulgated through colonialism and apartheid. This is followed by a consideration of decolonization, both as theory and practice-within-context. Here, I also foreground the #Rhodesmustfall campaign, as a particular moment of painful clarity about why decolonization, as well as transformation have faltered in higher education in South Africa. In the second half, I focus on the necessity of prioritising storytelling as a deep manifestation of decolonization. Stories, I maintain, provide access into unknown lives, and can subvert the invisible, normative framings, which dictate how we live in this world. As a manifestation of decolonization, students’ stories hold profound implications for the recognition and affirmation of pluralist identities, histories, knowledge, values, and worldviews. (shrink)

A popular tradition holds that the theoretical entities that feature in explanations relative to the African world view are typical of spiritual forces. Following this point of view, a concession among some scholars suggests that the traditional African world view is inconsistent with mainstream scientific theorising and therefore the acceptance of one implies the rejection of the other. My contention is essentially to challenge this tradition, a position I consider unfounded and an instigation of unsolicited tension between the African world (...) view and mainstream science. To make this case, I isolate for review one entrenched postulate of the African world view, witchcraft force. Through the method of concept analysis, I demonstrate how, far from opposing one another, advances in mainstream science rather lead to a better appreciation of the African world view. Because there is no contradiction but diversity, I argue that accepting mainstream science implies no commitment to rejecting the African world view. (shrink)

This book sets up a rich intercultural dialogue between the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Michel Foucault, and that of key African thinkers such as Kwame Anthony Appiah, Achille Mbembe, Kwasi Wiredu, Kwame Gyekye, Tsenay Serequeberhahn, and Henry Odera Oruka. The book challenges western-centric visions of an African future by demonstrating the richness of thought that can be found in African and Afrodiasporic philosophy. The book first shows how thinkers such as Serequeberhan have criticised the inconsistencies in Kant's work, whereas (...) others such as Wiredu, Gyekye, Appiah and Mbembe also referred to his work positively and used it to develop progressive political concepts such as the metanational state; partial cosmopolitanism and Afropolitanism. The book goes on to consider how Mbembe and Mudimbe have responded to Foucault's ideas in deciphering the various Western, African and Afrodiasporic discourses of knowledge on Africa. The book concludes by considering various theories of intercultural exchange, from Gyekye's cultural borrowing, to Appiah's conversation across boundaries, Wiredu's cross cultural dialogue, Mbembe's thinking outside the frame, Serequeberhan's dialogue at a distance, and Oruka's call for global re-distribution and a new ecophilosophical attitude to safeguard human existence on the planet. This book invites us all to engage in intercultural dialogue and mutual respect for different cultural creations. It will be an important read for researchers in Philosophy wherever they are in the world. (shrink)

This article reconsiders Molefi Asante’s idea of Afrocentrism. It discusses Eurocentrism and the search for identity that provoked Afrocentrism as an intellectual paradigm. It details some basic tenets of the Afrocentric paradigm and makes some critical remarks on certain issues in the conceptualisation of the Afrocentric paradigm. Essentially, those remarks revolve around the notions of multiculturalism, identity and language. First, the article argues that the Afrocentric paradigm, through its openness to anyone interested in it – an extension of its claim (...) to multiculturalism – drags itself back into the problem of identity that it initially set out to resolve. This is because it provokes the dilemma of extreme inclusivity and extreme exclusivity. Second, it uses the language of Eurocentrism to fight against Eurocentrism, which seems absurd. Third, it glosses over the fact that, apart from Africa, other cultural civilisations might have significantly influenced the intellectual development of the ancient Geeks. The article argues, therefore, using the methods of analysis and critical argumentation typical of philosophical writing, first, that Afrocentrists may need to re-articulate the Afrocentric paradigm in such a way that would address the problem of identity which it set out to resolve by properly delineating its boundaries. Second, they need to address the language question, which is an important aspect of the problem of identity. Third, they need to recognise and respect the contributions of other cultural civilisations to the Greek intellectual development. This does not upset their multiculturalist programme. (shrink)

Metz holds that we can use African communal ethics to constitute global economic practices such as appropriation, production, distribution and consumption in such a way that promotes harmonious relations. In this article, I will show that Metz’s reformist approach to constituting the global economic practices is problematic as it fails to deal with the fundamental problem that pertains to a racialised world order that is structurally configured by coloniality of being. I will show that reformist approaches such as Metz’s use (...) of African communal ethics to constitute global economic practices in a way that promotes harmonious relations are undesirable attempts that are opposed and curtailed by a structural racialised logic/ontology of the world that governs and supervises the evolution of the world economic structures and practices in a way which undermines harmonious relations and in a way which causes economic marginalisation and impoverishment of historically disadvantaged indigenous Africans. (shrink)

Contemporary business trends in Africa portray a spate of paradoxes in her socio-economic development. For instance, there is a rapid increase of international interventions and establishment of multinational corporations as a result of globalization; yet not much of this has been domesticated. Industrial and infrastructural developments are sprawled around us; yet unemployment is on the increase. While financial institutions and government agencies take capricious interests and levies in businesses; the human community and environment are left out in tatters. The media (...) advertises business via any means possible, ignoring questions about moral values of individual persons in the society as well as companies that drive the economy. These happenings, no doubt, raise genuine cause for concern as it threatens African indigenous morality. This is a pointer to the fact that there is something lacking. That desideratum is a unifying business ethic. This paper is a research that attempts to fill that ethical gap. It is considered that the philosophical concept of Ubuntu – an African traditional philosophy of social existence is essential. It supports and encourages integral human development, and as such can serve as an ethical ideal in an ever-dynamic business operation in Africa. (shrink)

It is no accident that white privilege designed to be both be invisible and weightless to white people. Alison Bailey’s “On White Privilege and Anesthesia: Why Does Peggy McIntosh’s Knapsack Feel Weightless?” extends a weighty invitation white readers to complete the unpacking task McIntosh (1988) began when she compared white privilege to an “invisible and weightless knapsack.” McIntosh focuses primarily making white privilege visible to white people. Bailey’s project continues the conversation by extending a ‘weighty invitation’ to white readers to (...) explore why the metaphorical knapsack, despite the weight of its contents, feels weightless. Here’s the short answer. The knapsack only feels weightless because white people have become anesthetized us to our own brokenness. We are more comfortable considering what white privilege does for us than what it does to us. People of color feel the weight of whiteness every day. The weighty invitation invites white readers to become sensitive to our own insensitivity. To do this Bailey (1) explores white resistance to unpacking the weight; (2) people of color’s testimonies to the daily impact of the weight on their bodies; and (3) how the anesthesia of white privilege distorts our humanity. The article concludes with a McIntosh style list of that the anesthesia of privilege distorts white people’s humanity. (shrink)

In light of a history of an unethical news media system used by the state as an instrument of oppression, media ethics in South Africa is intended to uphold the foundational tenets of journalism and play a pivotal role in addressing issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. Most recently, the 2021 Inquiry into Media Ethics and Credibility report instructed media watchdogs, such as the South African Press Council, to track data concerning ethical breaches based on the potential that such (...) data can contribute to transparency and accountability. This study examines the trends in ethical issues raised in rulings by the South African Press Council (PCSA) over the period 2018–2022. Our analysis found that most of the South African news media publications registered with PCSA have a good track record when it comes to upholding ethical standards. However, a few publications have a disproportionate share of the complaints against them. (shrink)

Post-colonial African society is undeniably experiencing serious development problems. Analyses of the causes and the way out have been suggested by many African scholars. For instance, Kwame Nkrumah (1974) popularly attributes the causes to colonialism and suggests a cultural revivalist solution that will revive the African cultural values of the past. But, given that these problems seem endemic, a cultural anti-revivalist like Moses Oke (2006) rejected the revivalist analysis as an over-elaboration of the effects of colonialism and the appeal to (...) a cultural past as counter-productive. This essay, however, argues that as long as Africa is not yet decolonized strictly, colonialism cannot be totally exonerated as a cause of African problems. To African problems, there is a need for total decolonization, and the tools for the total decolonization are rejected as African historical ideals on nonindividualistic life. Hence, the objectives of this study involve unearthing the real nature of “development”, showing the relationship between African development problems and colonialism in examining the revivalist and anti-revivalist views to the problems and proffering a solution, as it adopts the methods of philosophical argumentation and conceptual analysis to investigate primary and secondary data. (shrink)

Thaddeus Metz, in his book “A Relational Moral Theory” compares the relational African view to Western theories of right action with a focus on Kant (respective contemporary Kantianism) and Utilitarianism. In focussing on the opposition between a relational and an individualistic view, Metz questions the interpretation of basic normative assumptions that are guiding central Western moral and political institutions. He particularly focusses on Kantian and Utilitarian approaches to which he ascribes substantive moral assumptions in terms of utility respective autonomy. In (...) this paper, we reconstruct Metz’s position on the opposition between a relational and an individualistic view on ethics. We then investigate whether his relational conceptualisation is a convincing reconstruction of African views and question his take on Western positions, focussing in particular on views around individual rights and communality as presented in the Kantian tradition. We highlight the value of ubuntu in intercultural discourse to foster ethical and moral reasoning in a holistic way and conclude that any reflection on ethics necessarily involves an understanding of our common human nature, which is at the core of philosophical anthropology. (shrink)

According to a normative-theoretic interpretation of the African moral-political tradition that I have advanced, an agent is at bottom obligated to respect individuals in virtue of their ability to be party to communal (or harmonious) relationships. In practice that means that a moral agent is typically obligated to relate communally with innocents, that is, to share a way of life with them and to care for their quality of life. I have argued that this relational principle of right action provides (...) pro tanto reason to doubt the justifiability of adopting biotechnological enhancements, roughly on the ground that they would tend to put distance between people, as opposed to bring them closer together. Recently several scholars have argued that this point does not tell against enhancements; they maintain that my ethic in fact likely justifies them, at least moral ones. In this essay, I critically discuss their reasoning, providing a more thorough and careful discussion than I have in the past of why I suspect that enhancements risk flouting a communal morality. Composed for the ETH Zürich project on “Relational Ethics in Technological Societies". (shrink)

This volume focuses on African indigenous women legends and their potential to serve as midwives for gender empowerment and for contributing towards African feminist theories. It considers the intersection of gender and spirituality in subverting patriarchy, colonialism, anthropocentricism, capitalism as well elevating African women to the social space of speaking as empowered subjects with public influence. The chapters examine historical, cultural, and religious African women legends who became champions of liberation and their approach to social justice. The authors suggest that (...) the stories of resistance featured hold great potential for building justice-loving Earth Communities. The book will be of interest to scholars of religion, gender studies, Indigenous studies, African studies, African-Indigenous Knowledges and postcolonial studies. (shrink)

This volume sets out to explore, propose, and generate feminist theories based on African indigenous philosophies and concepts. It investigates specific philosophical and ethical concepts that emerge from African Indigenous Religions and considers their potential for providing feminist imagination for social-justice oriented Earth Communities. The contributions examine African indigenous concepts such as Ubuntu, ancestorhood, trickster discourse, storytelling, and ngozi. They look to deconstruct oppressive social categories of gender, class, ethnicity, race, colonialism, heteronormativity, and anthropocentricism. The book will be of interest (...) to scholars of religion, philosophy, gender studies, and African studies. (shrink)

This book investigates the ubuntu theory-based conception of virtue and moral character formation in the northern, western, and eastern regions of Africa, suggesting a critical reconstruction of ubuntu by conceptualising the four different forms of practices in moral character formation. Arguing for the critical reconstruction of ubuntu virtue theory as more nuanced than simply the standard ubuntu normative virtue theories (which give priority to the community as the sole locus for understanding virtues and character formation in Africa), the book builds (...) a comprehensive model of virtue and moral character formation that draws insights from the reconstructed notion of ubuntu and other theories within and beyond the African thought. Chapters feature experience from across Africa including Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa, and centre on topics such as traditional cultural views and practices, political systems in various nations, neoliberalist thought, and primary, secondary and tertiary education systems in Africa and further afield. This is a valuable resource for scholars, academics, and postgraduate students, working in the fields of moral and values education, philosophy of education, and the theory of education more broadly. Those also interested in educational psychology may also find the volume of interest. (shrink)

This article intends to explore the philosophical potency in the work of the black writer Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977). Carolina de Jesus is best known for her work Quarto de Despejo, diary of a favelada (1960), our approach, however, focuses specifically on her short story “Socrates Africano”, in which she deals with her experience with her grandfather Benedito and the relationship between her wisdom and that of the Greek philosopher Sócrates (5th century BC). Her reflection starts from the attempt (...) to understand the reason why her grandfather was compared to Socrates and called “African Socrates”. In this sense, we intend to expand the idea of an African Socrates and the origins of one of the African philosophical matrices, the Yoruba tradition, dialoguing with the thought of the Nigerian philosopher Sophie Oluwole (1935-2018) and her approximation between Socrates and Orunmilá, as a motto to think about the philosophical potentialities of Carolina's work and the traits of an Afro-Brazilian philosophy. (shrink)

In the last two decades, we have witnessed the quest for decolonization; through research, writing, teaching, and curriculum across the globe. Calls to decolonize higher education have been overwhelming in recent year. However, the goal of decolonizing has evolved past not only the need to dismantle colonial empires but all imperial structures. Today, decolonization is deemed a basis for restorative justice under the lens of the psychological, economic, and cultural spectrum. In this book, the editor and her authors confront various (...) dimensions of decolonizing work, structural, epistemic, personal, and relational, which are entangled and equally necessary. This book illuminates other sites and dimensions of decolonizing not only from Africa but also other areas. This convergence of critical scholarship, theoretical inquiry, and empirical research is committed to questioning and redressing inequality in contemporary history and other African studies. It signals one of many steps in a bid to consultatively examine how knowledge and power have been both defined and subsequently denied through the sphere of academic practice. (shrink)

The main objective of this chapter is to explore individual and collective approaches in exploring the African identity that lies within in support of collective liberation. We begin with the premise that Africa is rich in its culture, spirituality, and resources. From colonization to globalization, eurocentrism and its cultural dominance have attempted to weaken African identities. Drawing from the work of Black African and Diasporic scholars, this chapter will start by providing a brief snapshot of Africa’s history through an exploration (...) of our roots and African practices. Understanding the deep historical roots of the underdevelopment of the continent exposes the causal relationship between colonization and exploitative governance. It is through resistance that we can disrupt the colonial legacy and create a new status quo. Ultimately, through personal narratives and accounts, the chapter explores individual and collective approaches for resistance and recommendations for reparations. Implementation would encourage transformational healing and restorative change resulting in the successful resurgence of African identities and collective action. (shrink)

In African speculative fiction, there can be found examples of texts that touch on (neo)colonial displacement, uprootedness, and alienation. Through evoking the familiar Other—the nonhuman animal, the hybrid, or even the monster—these texts both portray an (ongoing) shared trauma and express a quiet refusal of narratives of separation and hierarchy. Here I examine how this “uneasy” kinship is critically embraced and operates in the short story “When the Levees Break” by Edwin Okolo (2022). Second, I explore David Uzochukwu’s “black merfolk” (...) in the photography series Mare Monstrum/Drown in My Magic (2016–ongoing), to illustrate how what I am calling the third position is assumed. The third position can be described as a deliberate, resilient, and persistent process of place-making, creating a home for the displaced with the nonhuman, the human, and the Land itself. Born out of exclusion and dehumanization, the third position then takes on a life of its own, creating a specific, historicized way of coming to what Joan Gordon calls the amborg gaze. Finally, I discuss how both these texts keep the promise of the animal, insisting on expansion, utopian spark, and creating zones of possibilities. (shrink)

According to Nana (chief) Ani Marimba, “your culture is your immune system” (n.d.). This is to say that culture is a universal reality that provides its members specialness and a shared sense of collective identity. Therefore, for me Wairimu—daughter of Wangũi and Njoroge (my late-mother and still living father, and that of my fore parents and ancestors)—culture is not only about my/our people’s values, traditions, and heritage from our common origins in the Nile Valley (The Earth Center, The history of (...) the Dogon. Retrieved May 10, 2023, from https://www.theearthcenter.org/history, 2023). Most importantly, African culture “holds remarkable solutions to our problems and potential for our greatness” (Marimba, What is culture? Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItHbLahuPBw, 1999, n.p). In this chapter, I as a “continental African” who acknowledges my insider-outsider identity as a resident and student being “mis-educated” in the western colonial institutions, I will explore from an African-centered lens: (1) What is Culture? (2) What is Cultural Genocide? and (3) What is its Impact on my/our holistic being as a Pan-Africanist(s), by looking at What Was, What Became/is Becoming of African culture? (Njoroge, “Mtu Akikuita Mmbwa Usibweke”/When Someone Calls You a Dog, Don’t Bark Back! In Eizadirad, A. & Wane, N. N. (eds.), The power of oral culture in education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18537-3_2, 2023). In conclusion, since the afflicted is the expert of their reality and with utmost humility, I offer that “the best way to fight an alien culture is to live your own”, as Okuninibaa Safisha Nzingha Hill Adélékè reminds us (The best way to fight an alien culture is to live your own, n.d.). In accordance with the African tradition of honoring thy ancestors, I will capitalize on the already existing and passed-down ancestral and elders’ knowledges and wisdom (The Earth Centre, The history of the Dogon. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.theearthcenter.org/history, n.d.). (shrink)

This paper delves into the intersection of Kantian aesthetics and African social order, highlighting the intriguing tension between these two seemingly distinct philosophical realms. Immanuel Kant's aesthetic theory, primarily articulated in his “Critique of Judgment”, has long been regarded as a cornerstone of Western philosophical thought, emphasizing the universality of aesthetic judgments and the autonomy of the individual. Conversely, African social order is deeply rooted in communalism, emphasizing the interconnectedness of individuals within a community and the importance of shared values (...) and traditions. This paper adopts critical and analytical methods of philosophical inquiry to explore the fundamental differences between Kantian aesthetics and African social order, challenging the applicability of Kant's aesthetic framework within the context of African societies. It questions whether Kant's emphasis on individual autonomy and subjective aesthetic judgments can coexist harmoniously with African social order that prioritize communal harmony, collectivism, and the preservation of cultural heritage. Through an examination of specific aesthetic concepts such as beautiful, handsome, ugly, dirty, clean, etc., this study elucidates instances where Kantian aesthetics may clash with African social order. It probes into the potential ramifications of prioritizing individual aesthetic autonomy over communal values, particularly within the context of African societies, where collective well-being often takes precedence. It further considers the importance of intercultural dialogue and the possibility of adapting Kantian aesthetic principles to align more closely with African social order, fostering a more inclusive and culturally sensitive approach to aesthetics. The paper concludes by shedding more light on the thought-provoking clash between Kantian aesthetics and African social order. It underscores the importance of recognizing and respecting diverse cultural perspectives in philosophical discourse, offering a compelling opportunity to enrich our understanding of aesthetics and ethics in a global context. (shrink)

The Souls of Black Folk is Du Bois’s outstanding contribution to modern political theory. It is his still influential answer to the question, “What kind of politics should African Americans conduct to counter white supremacy?” Here, in a major addition to American studies and the first book-length philosophical treatment of Du Bois’s thought, Robert Gooding-Williams examines the conceptual foundations of Du Bois’s interpretation of black politics. For Du Bois, writing in a segregated America, a politics capable of countering Jim Crow (...) had to uplift the black masses while heeding the ethos of the black folk: it had to be a politics of modernizing “self-realization” that expressed a collective spiritual identity. Highlighting Du Bois’s adaptations of Gustav Schmoller’s social thought, the German debate over the Geisteswissenschaften, and William Wordsworth’s poetry, Gooding-Williams reconstructs Souls’ defense of this “politics of expressive self-realization,” and then examines it critically, bringing it into dialogue with the picture of African American politics that Frederick Douglass sketches in My Bondage and My Freedom. Through a novel reading of Douglass, Gooding-Williams characterizes the limitations of Du Bois’s thought and questions the authority it still exerts in ongoing debates about black leadership, black identity, and the black underclass. Coming to Bondage and then to these debates by looking backward and then forward from Souls, Gooding-Williams lets Souls serve him as a productive hermeneutical lens for exploring Afro-Modern political thought in America. (shrink)

An abridged version of an article published in 2011 focusing on its discussion of the ubuntu ethics of land reform.

Explores the interplay between artistic values and social, political, and moral concerns in writings by African American and Native American women.

In contemporary Africa, a critical question has always been concerned about whether African Indigenous knowledge has brought a sense of power to Africans born within the continent or Africans born outside the continent. If not, why not? In this chapter, through the eyes of two women, we focus on the journey to reclaim what was disrupted. The focus of the first section is on Betty’s journey as an African descendant from the Caribbean. It provides an understanding of her new road (...) to enlightenment about her African Ancestry, and the emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of that knowledge on her perception of Africans. The first part of the chapter deals with theme, titled, “Seeking That Which was Lost” in a sense provides a catharsis for the protagonist—Betty, through the process of unlearning and relearning African Indigenous philosophies. Where does this leave her? Is she empowered by this knowledge? The second and final theme, titled, “Reclaiming That Which Was Lost” is a response to the first theme following where Betty left off. It is a response through Osho’s journey, an African Indigenous woman, born and raised within the continent. She carefully examines the questions presented in the first theme by Betty, the African woman born in the Caribbean. (shrink)

The chapter is based on the fact that the history of Africa’s Indigenous ways of knowing and knowledge production did not begin with Westernization process or rather knowledge systems, and as such neither should their future depend exclusively on Western and other worldviews. Like other human societies across the globe, African Indigenous societies have, for centuries, developed their own sets of experiences and explanations relating to the environments they live in. We encapsulate the journey of two African women from two (...) geographical locations and different historical colonial contexts, and yet they have so much in common. Their fate is a deep desire to know of their roots and purpose of being ties them together to influence this work. The purpose of these chapter is encapsulated in this African saying: “A tree that wants to flourish needs to honour the root.” Our root is our ancestral and cultural ways which honor our lives. Further, we focus on the African Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and living by highlighting on the interruption of our Indigenous ways of knowing through slavery and colonization. (shrink)

** This piece was originally titled "Beyond Borders: Exploring Ubuntu as a Lived Philosophy" but was later retitled "African thought can rescue Western philosophy" by the publisher. ** -/- Western philosophy is often abstract and disconnected from the real ethical problems we face today. Emmanuel Chiwetalu Ossai and Lloyd Strickland argue that the African philosophy of ubuntu, with its emphasis on community, interconnectedness, and practical application of ethical principles, offers a compelling alternative.

Reprint of an article first published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2012).

Critical notice of Nancy Jecker and Caesar Atuire's _What Is a Person?_, with some focus on their relational account of moral status as compared to my own.

This chapter aims to revisit some of the key questions which were debated at the University of Dar es Salaam during the 1970s and 1980ss. The University of Dar es Salaam was a hotbed of progressive politics during the period in question. Radial political economy was frequently taught and discussed by the students and professors at the university. The ruling party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), under the leadership of Julius Nyerere, was embarked on a project of building socialism, (...) but this was not a Marxist project, rather it was informed by the theory of ‘African Socialism’ which was adhered to by Nyerere. Proponents of African Socialism claimed that because African societies were and are classless societies, a theory of social transformation which was centred on class struggle was inapplicable to such societies. There were other proponents of African Socialism, but it was only in Tanzania that this theory was applied as a theory of socialist development. The proponents of African Socialism in Tanzania held that the situation there was exceptional compared to developments across the African continent in so far as communal forms had survived into the end of the colonial period. On this basis, the claim was made that such communal forms could provide an alternative basis for building a socialist society without the need for going through a stage of independent capitalist development. This view might have appeared especially plausible when its proponents contrasted the case of Tanzania with the case of neighbouring Kenya, where a fairly strong class of rich peasants able to hire the labour of others emerged during the colonial period. (shrink)

This paper considers two conceptual expansions of Du Boisian double consciousness—white double consciousness (Alcoff 2015) and kaleidoscopic consciousness (Medina 2013)—both of which aim to articulate the moral-epistemic potential of cultivating double consciousness from racially dominant or other socially privileged positions. We analyze these concepts and challenge them on the grounds that they lack continuity with their Du Boisian predecessor and face problems of practical feasibility. As we show, these expansions obscure structural barriers that make white double consciousness and kaleidoscopic consciousness (...) unlikely antidotes to the kind of racial domination that double consciousness was introduced to illuminate. We conclude that while more intersectional and pluralistic accounts of double consciousness may be desirable, the project of expansion has moral limits. Identifying these limitations, we outline ways in which double consciousness—as a tool for conceptualizing the genealogy of structural anti-Blackness—remains valuable in the absence of ever-expanding revision. (shrink)

In this article, the nature of Ethiopian modernity will be explored through the usage of concepts like coloniality, entangled modernities and uneven histories that are borrowed from decolonial and postcolonial perspectives. Through such an analysis, the Ethiopian discourse on modernity will be presented as a conception of social progress that developed in a dialectical relationship with liberal, Marxist, indigenous and religiously inspired conceptions of modernity. It will be argued that resisting the attempts to romanticize the past as a foundation of (...) cultural revival and also the attempt to confine the discussion of Ethiopian modernity to the introduction of western modernization, Ethiopian modernity should be alternatively conceptualized as a discourse that is co-constituted in an active confrontation with alternative visions of progress. The article argues that the diagnosis of the multiple and interconnected discourses that shaped the Ethiopian discourse on modernity serves as a foundation of an Ethiopian critical theory. Such a theory creatively synthesizes cultural values, hosts an inclusive political culture that furnishes the culture of public criticism and introduces a world of knowledge production that overcomes Eurocentrism. (shrink)

The problem of evil is a perennial issue in metaphysics, philosophy of religion and theology. In Yorùbá thought, it has been approached, appraised, and conceptualised by scholars from different perspectives, usually in the form of thesis and antithesis. For instance, Ẹ̀bùn Odùwọlé and Kazeem Fáyẹmí disagree on whether or not the problem arises in Yorùbá thought and on its nature or formulation, if it does. Relying on the Western logical formulation of the problem, Odùwọlé maintains that the problem of evil (...) arises in Yorùbá thought exactly like it does in Western thought; hence, for her, the problem of evil is universal. Against this view, Fáyẹmí contends that the philosophical problem of evil does not arise at all in Yorùbá thought; hence, the problem, according to him, is not universal. Employing the methods of critical exposition and analysis, however, I maintain a position different from those of the two scholars mentioned. I contend, on the one hand, that the existence of the philosophical problem of evil in Yorùbá thought does not necessarily imply the logical formulation of the problem as we have in the West. On the other hand, however, I maintain that the absence of the logical formulation of the problem of evil in Yorùbá thought does not directly imply the absence of the philosophical problem of evil in it. I therefore approach the interpretation of the philosophical problem of evil in Yorùbá thought from an existentialist perspective, drawing insights from some relevant verses of Ifá. -/- . (shrink)