Tag: Decolonization
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Ethiopian Philosophy: Historiography, Modernity, and Global Dialogue (Jonathan Egid & Fasil Merawi)
In this interview, Dr. Jonathan Egid and Prof. Fasil Merawi discuss their intellectual trajectories, the current state of philosophy in Ethiopia, and the broader challenges of African philosophy in a global context.Both reflect on contingent beginnings that developed into sustained philosophical commitments. Prof. Merawi describes how, after initially aspiring to study archaeology, he encountered medieval…
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Ubuntu Beyond the Canon: Listening with Four Ears to African Philosophy (Mogobe Ramose)
In this interview, Prof. Mogobe Ramose reflects on his philosophical formation, the intellectual and political conditions shaping African philosophy, and the contemporary relevance and contested reception of Ubuntu as both a lived ethical framework and a philosophical concept. The conversation foregrounds the entanglement of biography, language, epistemic injustice, and ethical urgency as constitutive dimensions of…
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Futures of Philosophizing: On the Transformation of the Philosophy Curriculum (Workshop)
In an era marked by intensified global interconnectivity, technological transformation, and resurgent political polarizations, the role and responsibility of philosophy – and philosophy education – require urgent rethinking. Philosophy, as both a discipline and a pedagogical practice, is undergoing profound questioning regarding its relevance, accessibility, and epistemological foundations. What does it mean to philosophize in a world that is simultaneously global and…
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Denken in Beziehungen Relationale Ontologien und Epistemologien aus Afrika, den Amerikas und der Māori-Philosophie (Anke Graness)
In jüngerer Zeit gibt es vermehrt Debatten um „relationale Ontologien“. Mit diesem Begriff bezeichnet man Ansätze, in denen das Sein nicht isoliert oder als Eigenschaften voneinander unabhängiger Einheiten gedacht wird, sondern von vornherein als in Beziehungen stehend. Im Gegensatz zur sogenannten Substanzontologie liegt der Fokus auf den Beziehungen zwischen Entitäten, die als grundlegender betrachtet werden…
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Philosophizing in isiXhosa and the Re-Africanization of Thought (Simphiwe Sesanti)
In this conversation, Prof. Simphiwe Sesanti explores the philosophical and political implications of thinking in African languages, particularly isiXhosa, within the broader movement of Re-Africanization and the African Renaissance. He introduces the isiXhosa term inkcuba buchopho—derived from ukuchuba, “to peel”—to describe philosophizing as “peeling the brain,” that is, penetrating beneath surface appearances. For Sesanti, this…
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Dialogics: An African Method for Philosophizing in a Globalized World (Ike Odimegwu)
In this interview conducted during the Places of African Philosophies workshop, Prof. Ike Odimegwu, President of the African Philosophy Society, reflects on the significance of philosophical societies, the relation between philosophy and politics, and his development of the dialogic method. He describes contemporary African philosophy as a movement born from the struggle against colonial denigration—an affirmation of the African capacity…
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Philosophizing from Igbo Life-Worlds: Phenomenological Reflections on African Thought (Dominic Ekweariri)
Dr. Dominic Ekweariri approaches “Places of African Philosophies” through phenomenology’s core claim that human existence is being-in-the-world: meaning arises within lived contexts (Lebenswelt). Against Eurocentric universals, he argues that African philosophy must speak from African life-worlds—its environments, languages, and practices—rather than as a derivative of Greek-Latin categories. Philosophy’s task, he stresses, is not to deliver…
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Philosophizing in Akan: The Genetic-Analytic Method and Bottom-Up Approaches to Conceptual Translation
The GloPhi Center recently hosted a research talk featuring Richmond Kwesi (University of Ghana) in dialogue with an international panel of philosophers. The discussion revisited Kwesi’s concept of a “genetic-analytic” method of doing philosophy in African languages, especially Akan, and examined its relationship to decolonial approaches. Kwesi and the participants engaged in a rich debate on…
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From Habermas to Timbuktu: Teaching African Philosophies in Morocco (Mohamed Lachhab)
Lachhab began by recounting his early fascination with philosophy during his school years in northern Morocco in the early 1990s—a time when studying philosophy was both intellectually stimulating and institutionally precarious. Despite the lack of professional prospects and the political restrictions surrounding the discipline, he decided to pursue philosophical studies at the University of Fez.…
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Philosophieren von den Rändern – Festvortrag von Anke Graneß an der Universität Luzern
Die Philosophie hat es sich seit jeher zur Aufgabe gemacht, scheinbar selbstverständliche Ideen, Weltdeutungen und Begriffe in Frage zu stellen, neu zu begründen – oder sie zu verwerfen und Alternativen zu entwickeln. Infolge der kolonialen Expansion Europas hat sich ein bestimmtes Verständnis von Philosophie weltweit durchgesetzt. Dieses Konzept prägt bis heute die akademische Disziplin, insbesondere…