Bridging worldviews: on the question of who can be an African philosopher
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SSHRC IDG awarded 2024: There is a widespread belief that African philosophy is deeply rooted in African languages and cultures, such that Westerners cannot be African philosophers, strictly speaking. This project challenges this expertise exclusivism, thereby bridging the gap between the African and Western worldviews. In order to accomplish this task, the project will explore three central issues: the complex interrelationship between culture and worldview, the malleability of worldviews and the conditions for such a malleability, and the politico-academic impact of bridging the African and Western worldviews vis-à-vis African philosophy. The focus of this study will be to develop a careful analysis of strong expert exclusivism and suggest a solution. More specifically, I will offer a perceptual analysis of the issue, which explains away the racial criterion for being an African philosopher, replacing it with a perceptual one, according to which sufficiently immersing oneself into a culture changes one’s worldview. Drawing from a range of disciplines, including but not limited to African arts, African linguistics, and African history, this comparative project will clarify the conditions for the relevant sort of culture immersion. I will focus on bridging the worldviews between African and Western philosophical traditions, but given the fact Africa is exceedingly multicultural, I will focus on Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. In this way, this ground-breaking research will form the foundation for a larger monograph that will be the first systematic analysis of a perceptual worldview that encompasses the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The knowledge mobilization plan includes a departmental colloquium, a lunch and learn series, two conference presentations, 2 journal articles, and the development of a senior-level seminar course.
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http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843
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©️Omoge, Michael. All rights reserved other than by permission. This document embargoed to those without UAlberta CCID until 2028.
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Language
en
Location
Western African
North America
International
Nigeria
Ghana
South Africa
North America
International
Nigeria
Ghana
South Africa
Time Period
1970AD-2024AD