CartAfrican Philosophy in the 20th Century:
Historical Materialism or Ethnophilosophy? Instructor: Zeyad El NabolsyProgram: Sociopolitical Thought, Transdiciplinary Studies, Intercentric Art & Curatorial PracticeCredit(s): 1Date: June 19, 26, July 3, 10Time: 14:00-16:30 ET
DESCRIPTION: Today there are voices, such as that of Cedric Robinson and his followers, that speak of the existence of an “African metaphysics” which can provide an alternative to historical materialism as a theoretical orientation for emancipatory projects. However, this contention is not new; in fact, it goes all the way back to the birth of African philosophy as an academic subfield in the mid-twentieth century. It was also subjected to criticism from a historical materialist perspective by Paulin Hountondji. This Workshop revisits this debate and explores its current significance. Our readings will focus on two texts by the Beninois philosopher, Paulin J. Hountondji: African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (1983 [1976]), and The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture, and Democracy in Africa (2002 [1998]). Hountondji’s work is interesting for a variety of reasons, but his most important contribution, at least for the purposes of this Workshop, has to do with his claim that a certain way of doing African philosophy (what he labels “ethnophilosophy”) is liable to impede development on the African continent through mystification. We will critically assess his arguments in support of this claim and try to reconstruct and evaluate his positive proposal, which gives a rather deflationary account of the role of philosophy in development and in political movements more generally.
Session 1: The Origins of the Debate / We start with a text that has been the subject of controversy in African philosophy from 1945 onwards, namely Placide Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy. Tempels’ book was positively received by key African philosophers and politicians such as Léopold Sédar Senghor and Alioune Diop. We examine how Tempels presents “Bantu Ontology” and what the implications are for debates about African alternatives to historical materialism.
Readings: Placide Tempels, Bantu Philosophy
Session 2: The Critique of Ethnophilosophy / This session introduces Paulin Hountondji’s critique of ethnophilosophy through the first part of his book, African Philosophy: Myth and Reality. Hountondji contends that Tempels’ approach to African philosophy is liable to mislead both Africans and Europeans. Hountondji tries to show how ethnophilosophy can be critically assessed on philosophical terms and then explained in sociological terms.
Readings: Part I of African Philosophy: Myth and Reality
Session 3: Nkrumah and the Shadow of Ethnophilosophy / Kwame Nkrumah championed a national development campaign in Ghana and produced a philosophical discourse to legitimate it. The key text in this philosophical discourse is his Consciencism. Hountondji contends that the African socialism that Nkrumah champions in this text is yet another iteration of ethnophilosophy.
Readings: Part II of African Philosophy: Myth and Reality; Kwame Nkrumah, Consciencism
Session 4: The Place of Marxism in African Philosophy / In this session we study Hountondji’s The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture, and Democracy in Africa to understand how his critique of ethnophilosophy was driven by a commitment to a Marxist political project. We investigate the nature of this project and its bearing on debates about development and emancipation on the African continent today.
Readings: Paulin Hountondji, The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture, and Democracy in Africa
IMAGE: Wosene Worke Kosrof, Woman of the Nile, 1998
To see The New Centre Refund Policy CLICK HERE.
To see The New Centre Refund Policy CLICK HERE.