African Philosophy and African Literature
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Description
A central culture of philosophical questions that faces every contemporary African of a reflective disposition centers on questions of identity. A great deal of ethical and political weight is borne by many identities-ethnic, national, racial, and continental-in the life of modern Africa. And a great deal of modern African literature has naturally had these questions at its heart. Chinua Achebe has put the matter characteristically concisely: It is, of course, true that the African identity is still in the making. There isn't a final identity that is African. But, at the same time, there is an identity coming into existence. And it has a certain context and a certain meaning. Because if somebody meets me, say, in a shop in Cambridge [England], he says “Are you from Africa?” Which means that Africa means something to some people. Each of these tags has a meaning, and a penalty and a responsibility. All these tags, unfortunately for the black man, are tags of disability.… I think it is part of the writer's role to encourage the creation of an African identity. It is natural, therefore, that one way in which philosophy and literature are closely related in Africa today is in their shared reflection on these questions; and these will be the focus of this chapter.
Source Publication
A Companion to African Philosophy
Source Editors/Authors
Kwasi Wiredu
Publication Date
2004
Recommended Citation
Appiah, Kwame Anthony, "African Philosophy and African Literature" (2004). Faculty Chapters. 144.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/144
