Self-writing, Autotheory and Autoethnography:
Paulin Hountoundji and the Critique of Realism

Instructor: Serubiri Moses Date & Time: June 30, July 7th, 14th, 21st 09:00-11:30 ET

DESCRIPTION: In this Seminar, Students will be introduced to the challenges of developing an autotheory and autoethnography as problematized by philosopher Paulin Hountondji. Given that we live in an age that has popularized the novel as a contemporary form of self-writing and that much of contemporary literature deals in memoir and diaristic writing, this class will offer some radical challenges to such a practice as it relates to disciplines like ethnography, psychology, and phenomenology and to problems and issues of writing, thinking, and speaking. If some of our most captivating personalities of today are defined through acts of public speaking and through autobiography, what, then, can be critically considered as the problems and issues of self-writing, autotheory and autoethnography?

One of the most influential modern African philosophers of the last three decades, Paulin Hountondji, has created a body of work that continues to speak to our contemporary times. Having emerged into the discipline of philosophy at a key juncture of African countries formulating their identity after gaining independence, Hountondji’s work can be said to speak to what philosopher Dismas A. Masolo has termed the “Search for identity.” In fact, one of his books is titled The Search for Meaning. Having influenced key thinkers like Achille Mbembe and Dismas A. Masolo, Hountondji’s work casts a long shadow over contemporary post-colonial thought.

If post-colonial literature continues to thrive in a particular mode of self-writing, Hountondji’s work questions in what ways such a practice contributes to the rigorous task of thinking about a world amid anti-colonial battles and the rigorous task of thinking belonging in such a world of tensions and anxieties. In other words, what models of self-writing can be viewed as detrimental to the progress in achieving and fulfilling this “search for meaning” and “search for identity.”

The Students will read key works by Paulin Hountondji, including his classic text, “African Philosophy: Myth or Reality?” alongside major texts by authors like James Clifford, Paul Rabinow, Dismas A. Masolo, Gayatri Spivak, Achille Mbembe, Bessie Head, and Mariama Ba.

 

IMAGE: Vilalta, Lideta Mercato, 2017.

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