This course will study a small selection of the vast literature on the philosophies of Africa and the African diaspora. After an examination of some of the framing philosophical questions and the relationship of Africana thought to the terribly destructive and culture-interrupting twin episodes of European colonization of the continent and the Atlantic slave trade, the class will explore three strands in African thought: sagacity, an Akan perspective on morality and ubuntu. Three main texts, Brand's Map to the Door of No Return, Krog's Country of My Skull, and Williams' Losing My Cool, will frame the remaining major sections of the course. The first will be an exploration of diasporic consciousnesses framed by and in resistance to the castles in West Africa that are the door of no return about which Brand writes. The second is an examination of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the wake of apartheid in South Africa and the ubuntu philosophy that framed them. And, finally, we will read Thomas Williams' memoir exploring what it means to be Black in the contemporary United States. His text provides a context to discuss a variety of African-American philosophical thinking, from the 19th century to the present. (One course).
- Teacher: Anne Mamary