'Grounds: An African Philosophical Reading of Movement, Possibility and Liberty'

Denison University welcomes Professor of Philosophy at the University of Queensland, Australia Bryan Mukandi presenting, “Grounds: An African Philosophical Reading of Movement, Possibility and Liberty.”

This talk considers the contours of African being in light of Steve Biko’s suggestion that European colonialism hollowed out the Black, reducing her to a person “only in form.” This hollowed out individual, according to Biko, needs to somehow work out their personhood. Mukandi will proceed by way of a comparative reading of the early modern European philosopher, René Descartes, and the contemporary Senegalese philosopher, Souleymane Bachir Diagne. While there are clear differences between these philosophers, Mukandi argues that both leave unanswered the question as to whether their meditations are available to the “commoner.” Mukandi will then contrast the prescriptions advanced by Descartes and Diagne against the image of African sociality that the Ugandan writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi renders in her visionary novel, “Kintu.” Mukandi’s ultimate interest is in the African whose circumstances resemble the lot of the majority of residents in most African cities today. Is there any degree of intelligence that can shift them from the path onto which they have been set?

The event is sponsored by The Africanist Group at Denison University, The Lisska Center for Scholarly Engagement, The Department of Communication, The Titus-Hepp Lecture Fund and the Philosophy Department and the Anthropology and Sociology Department.