Overview

In this undergraduate textbook Lewis R. Gordon offers the first comprehensive treatment of Africana philosophy, beginning with the emergence of an Africana (i.e. African diasporic) consciousness in the Afro-Arabic world of the Middle Ages. He argues that much of modern thought emerged out of early conflicts between Islam and Christianity that culminated in the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, and from the subsequent expansion of racism, enslavement, and colonialism which in their turn stimulated reflections on reason, liberation, and the meaning of being human. His book takes the student reader on a journey from Africa through Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean, and back to Africa, as he explores the challenges posed to our understanding of knowledge and freedom today, and the response to them which can be found within Africana philosophy.

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9780511800726

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Reviews

...the first comprehensive work to present the different areas, questions, problems, and issues of the species of Africana thought which is to be called philosophy. ... Lewis Gordon's An Introduction to Africana Philosophy had a particularly crucial function to carry out: outline a field still in the process of being constituted. Gordon has accomplished this. --International Journal of African Historical Studies, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Columbia University

'Gordon's introduction to Africana philosophy is a broad interdisciplinary invitation to students and philosophers to engage in a critical reflection on the 'human condition' in Africa and the African diaspora. Students who have taken my class in African philosophy have greatly appreciated his lucid style as well as the historical and thematic analysis of the key concepts and influential scholars that have defined Africana philosophy and mapped out future orientations. it is indeed a historical introduction that works well in the classroom.' Elias Kifon Bongmba, Harry and Hazel Chavanne Chair in Christian Theology, Rice University and President, African Association for the Study of Religion ...the first comprehensive work to present the different areas, questions, problems, and issues of the species of Africana thought which is to be called philosophy. .... Lewis Gordon's An Introduction to Africana Philosophy had a particularly crucial function to carry out: outline a field still in the process of being constituted. Gordon has accomplished this. --International Journal of African Historical Studies, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Columbia University Gordon's Introduction to Africana Philosophy is a broad interdisciplinary invitation to students and philosophers to engage in a critical reflection on the human condition in Africa and the African diaspora. Students who have taken my class in African philosophy have greatly appreciated his lucid style as well as the historical and thematic analysis of the key concepts and influential scholars that have defined Africana philosophy and mapped out future orientations. It is indeed a historical introduction that works well in the classroom. --Elias Kifon Bongmba, Harry and Hazel Chavanne Chair in Christian Theology, Professor of Religious Studies and President of the African Association for the Study of Religion, Rice University

Author Information

Lewis R. Gordon is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Judaic Studies at Temple University, Philadelphia.

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