Benedetta Lanfranchi - Böcker

Since 2008 Ugandans residing in the northern region of Acholiland have been faced with the uncertainties of justice stemming from the twenty-year civil war waged between the Ugandan government and Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Seeking accountability and reconciliation within their communities, Acholi and non-Acholi have had to grapple with large-scale practical and philosophical questions: Whose legal system should deliver justice for victims, and what are the aims and responsibilities of justice as a concept?Philosophies of Justice in Acholi focuses on Acholi traditional mechanisms of justice (ATJMs), which became the central framework for jurisprudence outlined in the peace agreements that were brokered from 2006 to 2008. Framing community members' responsibilities in terms of their ancestral beings has facilitated a justice process that understands the inseparable relations between individuals and groups and thus provides pathways to reclaim social, moral, and material lives. While ATJMs have thus far fallen short of addressing national and global polities' responsibilities in the conflict, their core premises hold promise for defining Uganda's still-developing political justice process and for humans everywhere seeking justice.Delving into understandings of fairness, responsibility, and group identity, Philosophies of Justice in Acholi reveals that justice, and its effect on collective existence, is always political.

Since 2008 Ugandans residing in the northern region of Acholiland have been faced with the uncertainties of justice stemming from the twenty-year civil war waged between the Ugandan government and Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Seeking accountability and reconciliation within their communities, Acholi and non-Acholi have had to grapple with large-scale practical and philosophical questions: Whose legal system should deliver justice for victims, and what are the aims and responsibilities of justice as a concept?Philosophies of Justice in Acholi focuses on Acholi traditional mechanisms of justice (ATJMs), which became the central framework for jurisprudence outlined in the peace agreements that were brokered from 2006 to 2008. Framing community members' responsibilities in terms of their ancestral beings has facilitated a justice process that understands the inseparable relations between individuals and groups and thus provides pathways to reclaim social, moral, and material lives. While ATJMs have thus far fallen short of addressing national and global polities' responsibilities in the conflict, their core premises hold promise for defining Uganda's still-developing political justice process and for humans everywhere seeking justice.Delving into understandings of fairness, responsibility, and group identity, Philosophies of Justice in Acholi reveals that justice, and its effect on collective existence, is always political.

In this edited collection contributors examine key themes, sources and methods in contemporary African Philosophy, building on a wide-ranging understanding of what constitutes African philosophy, and drawing from a variety of both oral and written texts of different genres.Part one of the volume examines how African philosophy has reacted to burning issues, ranging from contemporary ethical questions on how to integrate technological advancements into human life; to one of philosophy’s prime endeavours, which is establishing the conditions of knowledge; to eternal ontological and existential questions on the nature of being, time, memory and death. Part two reflects on the (re)definition of philosophy from an African vantage point and African philosophy’s thrust to create its own canon, archive and resources to study African concepts, artefacts, practices and texts from the perspective of intellectual history. The volume aims to make a contribution to the academic debate on African philosophy and philosophy more broadly, challenging orthodox definitions and genres, in favour of a broadening of the discipline’s self-understanding and locales.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African philosophy and comparative philosophy.