Orality
Posted on 11 November 2018
An introduction to the “ethnophilosophy” approach inaugurated by Placide Tempels, its promises and potential pitfalls.
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Posted on 25 November 2018
A conversation with Sam Imbo on approaching oral traditions as philosophy and the Ugandan thinker and poet Okot p'Bitek.
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Posted on 9 December 2018
John Mbiti’s influential and controversial claim that traditional Africans experience time as having “a long past, a present, and virtually no future.”
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Posted on 6 January 2019
Traditional African ideas about personhood, which challenge assumptions about the relation between mind and body, self and other.
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Posted on 17 February 2019
What archeology, ethnography, and philosophical interpretation tell us about the diverse and often ambiguous roles of men and women in traditional African societies.
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Posted on 17 March 2019
Paulin Hountondji (pictured) and other African philosophers criticize ethnophilosophy and advocate a universalist approach.
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Posted on 31 March 2019
Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.
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Posted on 14 April 2019
An interview with Kai Kresse (pictured here with Ustadh Mahmoud Mau) who discusses his efforts to do "anthropology of philosophy" on the Swahili Coast.
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Posted on 28 April 2019
As the twentieth century draws to a close, the critique of ethnophilosophy gives way to approaches that continue to privilege the study of precolonial traditions, including the approach promoted by Kwasi Wiredu (pictured).
Note: we dedicate this episode to the memory of Kwame Gyekye, who passed away earlier this month.
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Posted on 12 May 2019
Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.
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Posted on 20 September 2020
John Jacob Thomas argues for self-government in the English colonies of the Caribbean but his fellow Trinidadian Frederick Alexander Durham recommends repatriation to Africa instead.
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Posted on 10 January 2021
Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series two and ahead to series three.
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Posted on 5 September 2021
Zora Neale Hurston’s interest in Africana folklore feeds into her great novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
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Posted on 1 November 2015
The ancient texts known as the Upaniṣads claim to expose the hidden connections between things, including the self and the world.
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