What defines a philosophical tradition? The primacy of the written text and individual authorship are the two major defining and interwoven credentials that have been used to deny African philosophical thought prior to the postcolonial phase.
In this significant contribution to the search for identity and authenticity of African philosophy, Elvis Imafidon questions the relevance of authorship and literacy in the production, storage and transmission of knowledge. Drawing from the rich and robust philosophical heritages of sub-Saharan African traditions, he showcases the many ways philosophy is shared and critiqued.
His focus is on two major repositories of philosophical knowledges: orality and symbolism. Storytelling, adages, names and naming, folklores, proverbs and forms of symbolically encoded knowledges found in artefacts, symbols, textile patterns, motifs and corporeal arts contest dominant narratives. They ask us to rethink the logic of binaries between literacy and illiteracy, text and non-text, and speech and writing.
Paying close attention to the Binis and Esans in Southern Nigeria, the Akans in Ghana, the Shonas in Zimbabwe, and the Zulu people in South Africa, Imafidon affirms the place of symbolic art and different indigenous methods for philosophising. Exploring the concept of street philosophy in Nigeria, we see how oral and symbolic forms of philosophizing persist in modern African societies.
This much-needed book reclaims the voices, agency and narratives of African thinkers across history. It challenges our understanding of the discipline and argues for an inclusive definition of philosophy in our post-human, post-text age.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Revisiting the Question of Identity
Defining African Philosophy
In the Mirror of the Europe
Questioning Coloniality
Letting Indigeneity Flourish
Chapter 1: Redefining a Philosophical Tradition
Introduction
The Dominant Understanding of a Philosophical Tradition
Contesting Textuality
Contesting Individual Authorship
Contesting Literacy
Revisiting the Graphocentric-Phonocentric Debate
Contesting the Politics of Naming
Contesting Transgenerational Coherency
Contesting Whiteness
What is a Philosophical Tradition?
Conclusion
Chapter 2: The Non-textuality of African Philosophy I: Orality
Introduction
Ontologizing Orality
Language and Orality
Oral Repositories and Transgenerationality
The Epistemic Question
Oral Philosophy and the Good
Oral Philosophy, Knowledge, Truth and Doubt
Oral Philosophy and Personhood
Oral Philosophy and Beauty
Conclusion
Chapter 3: The Non-textuality of African Philosophy II: Symbolism
Introduction
Problematising the Aesthetic Hermeneutics
African Arts, Symbols and Ontology
The Philosophy of the Adinkra Symbols
The Philosophy of Yoruba Textile Motifs
The Philosophy of Zulu Symbols
The Ontology and Aesthetics of Benin Bronzes
Transcendence and Immanence in Shona Sculptures
The Body as Text
Conclusion
Chapter 4: The Textuality of African Philosophy
Introduction
The Precolonial Legacy
Text as Resistance
Text as Defence
Text as Mirroring the Other
Text as Contemporary African Philosophy
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Philosophising Together: Communitarian African Philosophy
Introduction
Conceptualising Afro-communitarianism as Method
Communing as Existential Ontology
On Relational Cognition
Communitarian Ethics
The Power of Collective Agency in Knowledge Production
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Street Philosophy in Nigeria
Introduction
A Postcolonial Site of Collective Authorship
Humour and the Existentiality of Suffering
A Philosophy of Migration
The Critique of Power
Street Art and Aesthetics
Conclusion
Chapter 7: Rehumanising Philosophy in a Transhuman Age
Introduction
Text, AI and the Crisis of Relevance
Reinvigorating Non-textual Possibilities
Rehumanising the Textuality and Non-Textuality of Knowledge
The Pedagogical Commitment
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
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