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Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1988.
XII, 241 pages
ISBN 0-253-20468-2
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What is Africa? What does it mean to be African? What is the relationship between philosophy and "Africanism"? Proceeding from these questions, Mudimbe (who teaches comparative literature at Duke University) undertakes an "archaeology of knowledge" of Africa south of the Sahara. By utilising the term "gnosis", Mudimbe indicates that the "knowledge" which is the object of his studies is not easily accessible, but remains partially obscured, determining the construction of discourses from a deeper level. This deeper system is what he desires to bring to light.
In reference to the situation of African philosophy in the late 1980s, Mudimbe concludes that since the 1960's and '70's, a new generation has attempted to clarify the intricacies of ideology, anthropology and politics. He outlines the evolution of Africa's philosophical discussion, initially labelled "primitive philosophy" (Levy-Bruhl), through the "ethnological philosophy" of Kagame and Tempels, up to the contemporary "aspects of African philosophy".
Mudimbe claims to have discerned three historic trends. Firstly, philosophic anthropology or ethnological philosophy; secondly, ideological or political philosophy and finally, critically reflective philosophy. His own approach, which he identifies as »dynamic anthropology« (184), is to be understood as an extension of that critically reflective philosophy. His approach takes into account the historically changing definition of "the other", as well as the different relationships between Africa and Europe over the recent centuries.
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