In Search of Africa(s): Universalism and Decolonial Thought

Description

This important book by two leading scholars of Africa examines a series of issues that are central to the question of the postcolonial.  The postcolonial paradigm, and the more recent decolonial paradigm, raise the issue of the universal: is the postcolonial the first phase of a new universalism, one which would be truly universal because it would be fully inclusive, or is it on the contrary the denial of all universalism, the triumph of the particular and of fragmentation?  In addressing this issue Diagne and Amselle also tackle many related themes, such as the concepts of race, culture and identity, the role of languages in philosophy as practised in different cultural areas, the various conceptions of Islam, especially in West Africa, and the outlines of an Africa which can be thought of at the same time as singular and as plural. Each thinker looks back at his writings on these themes, comparing and contrasting them with those of his interlocutor. While Amselle seeks to expose the essentialist and culturalist logics that might underlie postcolonial and decolonial thought, Diagne consistently refuses to adopt the trappings of the Afrocentrist and particularist thinker.  He argues instead for a total decentring of all thought, one that rejects all ‘centrisms’ and highlights instead branchings and connections, transfers, analogies and reciprocal influences between cultural places and intellectual fields that may be distant but are not distinct in space and time. This volume is a timely contribution to current debates on the postcolonial question and its new decolonial form.  It will be of great interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, from African studies and Black studies to philosophy, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies, as well as to anyone interested in the debates around postcolonial studies and decolonial thought In Search of Africa(s) Copyright Contents Foreword Introduction 1 Universalism in questions 2 On the universal and universalism 3 Race, culture, identity 4 Africanity, Afrocentrism, representation 5 The racial ban on representation 6 On cultural and linguistic specificities 7 On African languages and translation 8 An optimism of translation 9 On philosophy in Islam and on the question of a ‘West African Islam’ 10 The political instrumentalization of a West African Sufi Islam 11 West African Sufism revisited 12 Thinking/creating Africa 13 On the non-existence of -Africa … -and of Europe 14 On Africa and pan-Africanism 15 Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s ‘desire for Africa’ 16 Were human rights born in Africa? 17 On the charters of the Mandé 18 On various contemporary questions Notes Bibliography