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This book assesses the direction and impact of African philosophy as well as its future role.
What is the intellectual, social, cultural, and political territory of African philosophy? What directions will African philosophy take in the future? What problems will it face? In 10 probing essays by distinguished African, European, and American scholars, African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry examines the role of African philosophy at the opening of the new millennium. Here philosophy cuts across disciplinary boundaries to embrace ideas taken from history, literary studies, anthropology, and art. Addressing topics such as the progress of philosophical discourse, knowledge and modes of thought, the relevance of philosophy for cultures that are still largely based on traditional values, and the meaning of philosophy to cultures and individuals in the process of modernization, this volume presents today's best thinking about the concerns and practices that constitute African experience. New views about personhood, freedom, responsibility, progress, development, the role of the state, and life in civil society emerge from these broad-based considerations of the crisis of the postcolonial African state. In a lively fashion this diverse book shows how philosophical questions can be applied to interpretations of culture and reveals the multifaceted nature of philosophical discourse in the multiple and variable settings that exist in contemporary Africa.
List of contents
Preliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction: African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry Ivan Karp and D. A. Masolo
Part 1: Power, Personhood, and Agency
Introduction to Part 1 Ivan Karp and D. A. Masolo
1. "Tok Af, Lef Af": A Political Economy of Temne Techniques of Secrecy and Self Rosalind Shaw
2. Islam Among the Humours: Destiny and Agency Among the Swahili David Parkin
3. Some African Conceptions of Person: A Critique Didier N. Kaphagawani
Part 2: Knowledge and Discourse
Introduction to Part 2 Ivan Karp and D. A. Masolo
4. The Play of Deconstruction in the Speech of Africa: The Role of "Pakruok" and "Ngero" in Telling Culture in Dholuo Peter S. O. Amuka
5. Personhood and Art: Social Change and Commentary Among the Acoli J. P. Odoch Pido
6. Forging Unions and Negotiating Ambivalence: Personhood and Complex Agency in Okiek Marriage Arrangement Corinne A. Kratz
7. Chéri Samba's Postcolonial Reinvention of Modernity Bogumil Jewsiewicki
Part 3: African Discourses on Development
Introduction to Part 3 Ivan Karp and D. A. Masolo
8. Our Problem of Knowledge: Brief Reflections on Knowledge and Development in Africa Kwasi Wiredu
9. The Topic of Change F. Eboussi-Boulaga
10. Luo Perspectives on Knowledge and Development: Samuel G. Ayany and Paul Mbuya
E. S. Atieno-Odhiambo
Contributors
Index
About the author
Ivan Karp is National Endowment for the Humanities Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship at Emory University. He is author of Fields of Change among the Iteso of Kenya.
D. A. Masolo is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louisville. He is author of African Philosophy in Search of Identity (published by Indiana University Press).
Summary
Assesses the direction and impact of African philosophy as well as its future role.
