Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization

Messay Kebede is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dayton in Ohio. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Grenoble in France. He previously taught philosophy at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). He is the author of two books, Meaning and Development (Rodopi, 1994) and Survival and Modernization (Red Sea, 1999). He has also published numerous articles. The most recent include: “The Rehabilitation of Violence and the Violence of Rehabilitation: Fanon and Colonialism” (Journal of Black Studies, 2001), “Directing Ethnicity toward Modernity” (Social Theory and Practice, 2001), and “Generational Imbalance and Disruptive Change” (International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2003).

”No doubt, Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization is an in-depth study on the African personality. In a refreshing way, it provides an insight into the intellectual pre-requisites for the resolution of the problem of underdevelopment of Africa. … The book is a worthy contribution to the debate about the future of Africa, not only in philosophical terms, but also about the development problematic of the continent. The book will certainly be useful to both undergraduate and graduate students of philosophy, sociology, political science and anthropology. It should also serve as a guide to other academics and politicians interested in issues of emancipation and development, within and outside the African continent.” in: African Studies Quarterly, Vol. 8, Issue 4, Summer 2006“distilling wide ranging and profound analyses of thought, African and European, into a lucid prose free of jargon. … It is the proper knowledge of Africa that is emerging. Kebede’s book has a lot to contribute to that knowledge.” in: H-Net Reviews in the Humanities & Social Sciences (published by H-Africa), April, 2005“Kebede (Dayton) positions this important contribution on the status of ethnophilosophy within the context of how best to emancipate African philosophy from Western domination. His well-stated argument regarding the strategic importance of negritude’s appropriation-of-otherness mythmaking as counter as counter to Western whiteness propaganda sets the stage for his own view of the role of cultural traditions and mysticism in the modernization of Africa. … Jam packed with issues and citations, each chapter is a literature survey that could be expanded into a book. … Recommended.” in: CHOICE, Vol. 42, No. 5, January 2005“If you have time to read only one book to learn about the intricacies of African philosophy, then read Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization. The beauty of this volume is Kebede’s clear presentation and thoughtful evaluation of each of the main schools in African Philosophy.” – Joseph C. Kunkel, University of Dayton“Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization is an exceptionally clear introduction to African philosophy.” in: Filosofie Magazine

• Editorial ForwardAcknowledgmentsONE Western Discourses on Africa1.The Invention of the “White Man” 2.Western Attempts to Make Sense of AfricaTWO Between Evolutionism and Pluralism: Tempes’s Path to Human Sameness1.Logic and Conversion2.Mysticism and Rationality3.Getting Over Evolutionism: Evangelization as Purification4.Beyond Evolutionism and RelativismTHREE The Holy Grail of Otherness1.The Complementariness of Otherness: Negritude and the Idea of Race2.Past-Oriented Temporality and Otherness: The Case of MbitiFOUR Sameness versus Otherness1.Myth and Reality in African Philosophy2.Philosophic Sagacity3.Fanon and the Rehabilitation through ViolenceFIVE Particularism versus Otherness1.Diop and the Stolen Legacy2.Traditionality in lieu of Otherness3.From Otherness to Historicity: Hermeneutical School4.The Primacy of DeconstructionSIX The Future as Forward Movement into the Past: The Constructedness of Identity1.The Return to the Past2.Questioning the Conflict between Tradition and Modernity3.Postmodernist Approaches to African Identity4.Myth-Making and Construction5.African Attempts at Myth-MakingSEVEN Colonization without Colonizers: The Phenomenon of African Elitism1.From Colonialism to Elitism2.The Elitist Drift of Ethnophilosophy3.Power as TutorshipEIGHT Ethnicity and State Formation: The Mystical Root of Nationhood1.Ethnicity and the African Philosophical Debate2.Primordialism and the Naturalness of Ethnicity3.Instrumentalism and the Constructedness of Ethnic Identities4.Ethnicity and the Legitimacy of the State5.From Ethnicity to Nation-State: The Mystical MomentNINE Harnessing Myth to Rationality1.The African Dilemma2.The Complementarity of Myth and Rationality3.The Particularism of Freedom NotesBibliographyAbout the AuthorIndex