Overview

What defines a philosophical tradition? The primacy of the written text and individual authorship are 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 textuality 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 non-textual and textual ways philosophy is collaboratively and intersubjectively done 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 and performative 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 and Gas in Ghana, the Shonas in Zimbabwe, and the Zulu people in South Africa, Imafidon affirms the place of orality, 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 thought across history revealing the deeply embedded intersubjective and ecocentric Intellegence, and enigmatics of African philosophy. It challenges our understanding of the discipline of Philosophy and argues for an inclusive definition of philosophy in our trans-human, trans-textual age.

Full Product Details

9781350464278

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Take this book’s title seriously. Imafidon rethinks central questions in African philosophy with skill and insight, and leads us to a way of doing African philosophy that is as useful in the streets as in the classroom. This is a real achievement in philosophically engaged and socially relevant thinking.' -- Bruce B. Janz . * Professor of Humanities, University of Central Florida, USA * 'Elvis Imafidon provides by far the most systematic attempt to date in the African tradition to broaden what counts as philosophy. Retaining the idea that philosophy characteristically involves reasoning, Imafidon maintains––with powerful illustrations pertaining to orality, collectivity, the arts, symbols, and humour––that reasoning can be so much more than a person composing an argumentative text.' -- Thaddeus Metz * Research Professor of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, South Africa *

Author Information

Elvis Imafidon is a Reader in African Philosophy and Head of the School of History Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London, UK. He is Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg.

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