Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Africa and the Unfolding of Difference: An Introduction

   • Elvis Imafidon

   Pages 1-11

3. Conceptualizing Difference in African Spaces

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

      PDF

   2. Exploring African Philosophy of Difference

      • Elvis Imafidon

      Pages 15-30

   3. African Communitarianism and Difference

      • Thaddeus Metz

      Pages 31-51

4. Whites, Blacks, Racism, and Difference

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53

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   2. White’s Anti-black Racism and the Attitude of Tolerating Racial Differences

      • Polycarp Ikuenobe

      Pages 55-70

   3. The Burden of Being a Black Philosopher in a White World

      • Joseph Osei

      Pages 71-103

   4. Decolonization of the West, Desuperiorization of Thought, and Elative Ethics

      • Björn Freter

      Pages 105-127

   5. V.Y. Mudimbe’s Archaeological Reading of Africa’s Difference in Cultural History

      • Asma Agzenay

      Pages 129-147

   6. Toward a Postcolonial Universal Ontology

      • Josias Tembo, Schalk Gerber

      Pages 149-170

   7. Alterity, African Modernity, and the Critique of Change

      • Elvis Imafidon

      Pages 171-189

5. Ontological, Epistemological, Ethical, Linguistic, and Aesthetic Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191

      PDF

   2. Enriching the Knowledge of the Other Through an Epistemology of Intercourse

      • Isaac E. Ukpokolo

      Pages 193-204

   3. African Arts and Difference

      • Matthew A. Izibili

      Pages 205-215

   4. Difference in African Educational Contexts

      • Yvette Freter

      Pages 217-237

   5. Intrinsic Versus Earned Worth in African Conception of Personhood

      • Elvis Imafidon

      Pages 239-254

   6. Justice and the Othered Minority

      • Anselm Kole Jimoh

      Pages 255-271

   7. To Be Is Not to Be Alone: Interrogating Exclusivism from an African Context

      • Victor C. A. Nweke, L. Uchenna Ogbonnaya

      Pages 273-288

   8. Suffering and the Encounter of the Other in African Spaces

      • Austine E. Iyare

      Pages 289-299

This handbook explores essential philosophical questions about the experience of difference and the other in African societies. The contributions go beyond a mere discussion of empirical manifestations. They offer a critical analysis of, among other things, the very nature and essence of difference that makes such manifestations possible. Coverage examines the philosophical basis for the African contexts of gender differences, bodily differences and disability; racial, religious, and cultural differences; xenophobia and xenophilia; and issues of the otherings of non-human beings from human beings.

These insightful analyses detail the ontological, epistemological, and moral foundations of difference and alterity in African societies, both traditional and modern. Readers will gain a deeper understanding into such questions as: What value is placed on the other in African societies? What is the ethics and burden of care for those considered different in African societies? What role does language play in the othering of the other in African societies? What is the nature and challenges of the alleged White-Black difference.

This exploration offers a vital contribution to the philosophy of difference. It not only shows the importance of place in such theorization. It also contributes significantly to African philosophical discourse. This handbook will interest both undergraduate, postgraduate students, and researchers in such fields as African studies/philosophy, identity, racism and alterity studies in sociology, feminism and LGBT studies.

• Aesthetic Differences
• African Communalism
• African Philosophy
• Anti-Black Racism
• Epistemology of Intercourse
• Gender in Africa
• Identity and Difference
• Justice and Moral Status
• Othered Minority
• Philosophy of Difference
• Race and Violence
• The Other and Alterity
• Xenophobia and Xenophilia
• religion and society

• Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria

  Elvis Imafidon

Dr. Elvis Imafidon teaches in the Department of Philosophy, Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria. He is a 2017 Writing Fellow of the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study (JIAS), University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research centers on African ontology and ethics. Dr. Elvis is concerned with the extent to which African concepts of reality affect the African idea of the good and the implications of African ontology for concepts such as corruption, otherness, disability, difference, personhood, and gender. In the past few years, he has been specifically concerned with the implications of African ontology for albinism as an other in Africa, focusing on inherent ontological, epistemological, and moral theories. This has resulted in the publication of the book titled African Philosophy and the Otherness of Albinism: White Skin, Black Race (Routledge 2018). He is the editor of Ontologized Ethics: New Essays in African Meta-ethics (Lexington Books, 2013) and The Ethics of Subjectivity: Perspectives Since the Dawn of Modernity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and the author of The Question of the Rationality of African Traditional Thought: An Introduction (CreateSpace 2013).

Policies and ethics