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Public deliberation, highly valued by many African societies, becomes the cornerstone of a new system of African political philosophy in this brilliant, highly original study. In Deliberative Agency, philosopher Uchenna Okeja offers a way to construct a new political center by building it around the ubiquitous African practice of public deliberation, a widely accepted means to resolve legal matters, reconcile feuding groups, and reestablish harmony.
In cities, hometown associations and voluntary organizations carry out the task of fostering deliberation among African groups for different reasons. In some instances, the deliberation aims to settle disputes. In others, the aim is to decide the best action to take to address unfortunate incidents such as death.
Through a measured, comparative analysis, Deliberative Agency argues that the best way to reimagine and harness the idea of public deliberation, based on current experiences in Africa, is to see it as performance of agency. Building a new political center around the practice places agency at the core of a new political life in Africa.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Defining African Political Condition
2. African Political Thought
3. Normative Deficit
4. Palaver and Consensus
5. Indigenous Political Concepts, Conceptual Loss and Political Failure
6. Conceptual Creativity
7. Conceptualizing Political Philosophy Through Conceptual Creativity
8. Deliberative Agency and Meaning in Politics
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Uchenna Okeja is a professor of philosophy at Rhodes University and research associate at Nelson Mandela University. He is the co-editor of the journal
Philosophical Papers.
