V. Y. Mudimbe

African Gnosis: Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge

This article is extracted from a larger essay which grew as a consequence (or, more exactly, as an accident) of an invitation to establish a survey on African philosophy. Strictly speaking, the notion of African philosophy refers to contributions of Africans practicing philosophy within the definite framework of the discipline and its historical tradition (Horton, 1976; Hountondji, 1977; Mudimbe, 1983b). It is only metaphorically or, at best, from a historicist perspective, that one would extend the notion to African traditional systems of thought, considering them as dynamic processes of integrating concrete experiences into the order of concepts and discourses (Ladriere, 1979: 14-15). Thus, I have preferred to title this text “African Gnosis.” J. Fabian used the notion of gnosis (1969) in his analysis of a charismatic African movement. In this contribution, the wider frame of this notion seems better to encompass the range of problems addressed, all of which are based on a preliminary question: to what extent can one speak of an “African knowledge,” and in which sense? Etymologicaly, gnosis is related to gnosko , which in ancient Greek means “to know.” It refers to a structured, common, and conventional knowledge, but strictly under the control of specific procedures for its use as well as transmission. Gnosis is, consequently, different from doxa , or opinion, and, on the other hand, cannot be confused with episteme , or general intellectual configuration.

La diaspora et l'héritage culturel de l'impérialisme comme lieu de discours critique et de représentation du monde

We may thus consider imperialism as a process occuring as part of the metropolitan culture, which at times acknowledges, at other times obscures the sustained business of the empire itself ... how the national British, French, American cultures maintained hegemony over the peripheries. How with them was consent gained and continuously consolidated for the distant rule of native peoples and territories? (Said 1993, 51)

Reading There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra:

Here is an intellectually dense reading of Chinua Achebe’s personal history of Biafra, which deconstructs and illuminates the book. Deconstructive components expose elements of Achebe’s narrative that fly beyond the intellectual grasp of his hasty castigators, many of whom vented without having read the book. In the related vein, the illuminative components expose the obligation and burden that Achebe discharged in the book as a Biafran. It is therefore a book whose narrative retraces the responsibility of Achebe’s faith vis-à-vis a historical challenge, which he fulfilled with determination by writing it.

EN LA CASA DE LIBIA: UNA MEDITACIÓN

Resumen es: Pueda que de los mitos griegos, Libia, en sus dimensiones simbolicas, es menos reconocido en la imaginacion contemporanea. Sin embargo, sin narrativas de...