Orality
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.
Posted on 11 November 2018
An introduction to the “ethnophilosophy” approach inaugurated by Placide Tempels, its promises and potential pitfalls.
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.
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.”
Posted on 6 January 2019
Traditional African ideas about personhood, which challenge assumptions about the relation between mind and body, self and other.
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.
Posted on 17 March 2019
Paulin Hountondji (pictured) and other African philosophers criticize ethnophilosophy and advocate a universalist approach.
Posted on 31 March 2019
Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.
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.
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.
Posted on 12 May 2019
Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.
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.
Posted on 10 January 2021
Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series two and ahead to series three.
Posted on 5 September 2021
Zora Neale Hurston’s interest in Africana folklore feeds into her great novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
