A
REVIEW OF THE BOOK TITLED “ESSAYS IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY, THOUGHT AND THEOLOGY
REVIEWED
Course
code: PHIL. 554:
Title:
African contemporary philosophy 1.
The book, Essays in African philosophy,
thought and Theology has good title, the cover is well designed and the map at
the cover front page is an indication that Africa is the focal point of the
book. The topic or title of the book without going deep by any serious reader
will affirm that the discussion revolves on the philosophy, culture, religion
and general ways of life of the Africans.
For
an external body in Africa seeing the title of the book will have no other
choice of asking whether there is African Philosophy than to inwardly accept
that already there is African Philosophy. That Africa as a continent has all
those things the western countries have that qualified them as people with
philosophy. This is because the author of this book was able to put African
philosophy at the fore-front by his treatment of relevant issues in the African
world view. This book also carefully put together interrelated truths in
African Philosophy as morality, life, religion and problems of identity.
As I was going through this text, I discovered
hidden issues why the whites never acknowledged that Africa has philosophy
mainly to rubbish our philosophy and make theirs relevant in the comity of
nations. I also discovered that for one to make himself relevant, he in one way
or the other has to make others irrelevant. So, the West resolved to make some
non-valid argument inform of propaganda in order to deny the African faculty of
rationality and regards Africa as mentally primitive.
The colonial rule also could be
attributed to be one of the reasons the West and Europe capitalized in
asserting that African philosophy is this or that. It has been discovered as
well that part of African problem is the colour of Africans, the black, to the whites;
they never agreed that anything good could come out of Africa.
This book is good because the author in
his writing pays attention to the issues that are affecting Africans as well
unifying our common values as religion, life and identity. This book has been
able to expose that why the West has never agreed that Africa has Philosophy is
political, that it is a calculated attempt to rubbish that Africa has a culture
and philosophy is interwoven with culture. That means that Africa has
philosophy, only that there were no formal written documents in African
philosophy.
Choice
of words, the writer used simple words that make everybody to read and
understand, though there are local words the writer used which without proper
explanation the reader wouldn’t really comprehend his intention but generally the
writer was able to use common or simple words for easy understanding.
The
writer did not leave stone unturned in treating African culture, philosophy,
and ontology. Any person who is not born and brought up in Africa and reads
this book titled. Essays in African Philosophy, thought and theology will
confidently discuss the African ontology because the book extensively delved
much in the ways and life of the Africans. This book is best titled “African made easy”
The
writer in his efforts to bring to lime light the activities of the earlier
African nationalists to unite Africans and expose their philosophies towards
achieving African goals and objectives against the thoughts and assumptions of
the Europeans who never saw good things coming from African continents due to
the lack of written texts in African language that the whites would go extra
miles to search for the meaning. In his explanation on the philosophies of
Leopold Sedar Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, he explored Nyerere’s
African socialism. This is the African co-operation that waged war against
colonialism and its effects in African societies. He was bent in eradicating
the evils he called colonialism. Nyerere in this book according to the writer
talked about what Africans abhore, that is making a living from the work of
other (exploitation).
He
(writer) vividly discussed Leopold Sedar Senghor’s objective in his philosophy
“negritude” as not a defence of skin, or colour, even race. That it was the
awareness, defence and development of African cultural values.
The writer also
discussed Kwame Nkrumahs philosophy, “Consciencism” which means that African
conditions should create African philosophy. That is the philosophy that would
liberate man, and restore egalitarianism of human society. Consciences
according to the writer aims at the eradication of class stratification,
exploitation and class-subjection. That it must eradicate colonialism,
imperialism, disunity and lack of development, even to fight Neo-colonialism.
On
the process of reading the text, I discovered that the writer went in details
in disusing the problems of language, that the Africans have no unified
language to discuss with rather using European language to discuss which
exposes the secrets of the Africans. As I was reading the text, I discovered
that the African countries aught to develop an internationally accepted
language that the Europeans should not understand, by doing this, our core
values will be safeguarded. If we should express ourselves in African language,
then the problems of expressing ourselves in a colonized language would be a thing
of the past. Like what the writer pointed out that “foreign language distort
the cultural identity and African historical struggles, they perpetrate the
imbalance of power”118
As
I was going through the text, I was able to discover that the whites in their
imagination have rubbed the Africans essential ingredients of life. This is
because, the whites never believed in our cultural-identify, that means that
they never saw good thing as far as Africa is concerned socially, culturally
and politically. With the authors’ analysis in this text, one can easily affirm
that the whites have finished us in their own illusion and assumption that
Africa has no culture and identify.
In
my reading, I was also able to discover that Africa had no formal text on
African culture and identity but the whites were able to document their
culture, thereby assuming that any continent that has no formal write-up has no
culture, this is not true only that such continent as Africa had no opportunity
to lay hands on formal documentation as they did.
The
writer in his explanation made assertion thus” man is inherently a visionary,
who is naturally predisposed to recognize his needs of others in order to
survive in society.”205 He also made mention that when men unite
themselves in society, culture is born. This implies that in every society that
is united, has a definite culture. Looking at African societies, we should
affirm that we have culture despite the intimidations of the western countries
on African countries. The culture of Africa is the best because it accommodates
everybody, it is communal unlike the west that is individualistic in nature.
According
to the writer of this text, in his attempt to explain culture in details
categorized culture into three (3) elitarian, pedagogical (educational) and anthropological.
I wish to dwell much on the aspect the writer emphasized the possession of a
vast scientific, philosophical, artistic, literary knowledge as a criteria for one
to be called very cultured, if this is the case, it then means that Africans have
culture and are cultured because the above mentioned qualities are found in
Africans and related issues are as well found in African societies.
On
the process of this review, it is to be noted that Africa has what it takes to
be a continent only that we have not been able to expose them to the
international market.
It
is this review that exposed to me that despite the western domination of the
African ontology, that I came to discover that Africa as a continent has gone
far in terms of development and invention, for instance, this book has reviewed
to me that African taught the world
to read and write by means of hieroglyphics
and paypyrus. This book also discusses issues that are very close to life as
philosophy helps people to see and mirror the essentials of human living and makes sharp distinction on
the values of life.
It
could also be said that this book pays close attention to the disturbing issues
of the Africans and at the some time tries to profer solution for the unification
of the African views of life as it concerns morality, life, right, religion,
identity and social issues.
On
the bibliography of the book, one would say that the author consulted books on
Africa that were written locally and
internationally as well went deep the memory lane in fishing out the basic African
contending issues. The question of whether Africa has a philosophy is no more
relevant after reading this book. As I said earlier the text is better titled “An
African made easy”. The price of the Book is moderate; this is because it could
be affordable to average readers in African philosophy.