Listening to Ourselves

Chike Jeffers

Description

A groundbreaking contribution to the discipline of philosophy, this volume presents a collection of philosophical essays written in indigenous African languages by professional African philosophers with English translations on the facing pages—demonstrating the linguistic and conceptual resources of African languages for a distinctly African philosophy. Hailing from five different countries and writing in six different languages, the seven authors featured include some of the most prominent African philosophers of our time. They address a range of topics, including the nature of truth, different ways of conceiving time, the linguistic status of proverbs, how naming practices work, gender equality and inequality in traditional society, the relationship between language and thought, and the extent to which morality is universal or culturally variable.
Foreword: A Historic First
Ngũgĩ was Thiong’o

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Dëgg ak ludul dëgg: Waxtaan digante Soxna ak càmmiñam Ngóór
Truth and Untruth: A Conversation Between Soxna and Her Friend Ngóór
Souleymane Bachir Diagne

የኢትዮጵያ ጊዜ ግንዛቤና ዘመናዊነት
The Ethiopian Conception of Time and Modernity
Messay Kebede

Ngero ok Rias: Kaka Puonj mar Ngero Chalo, Kendo Kaka Ngero Opogore gi Pimo Wach
A Proverb Never Lies: On the Nature of Proverbs and How They Differ from Propositions
D. A. Masolo

Ang’o Man e Nying’? Okange Ang’wen Mag Nyinge e Oganda Luo
What’s in a Name? Four Levels of Naming among the Luo People
F. Ochieng’-Odhiambo

Kũgeria Mĩario: Atumia, Ciana, Mbũri, Mĩgũnda
Conversations: Women, Children, Goats, Land
Betty Wambui

Okwu na Uche
Word and Mind
Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze

Papa ne Bone
Good and Evil
Kwasi Wiredu

Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 09 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438447452
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Listening to Ourselves

SUNY series in Living Indigenous Philosophies

Agnes B. Curry and Anne Waters, editors

LISTENING TO OURSELVES

A MULTILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

EDITED BY Chike Jeffers

FOREWORD BY Ngũgĩwa Thiong’o

SUNY P R E S S

Published by S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S Albany

© 2013 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press www.sunypress.edu

Production and book design, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Listening to ourselves : a multilingual anthology of African philosophy / edited by Chike Jeffers.  pages ; cm — (SUNY series in living indigenous philosophies)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-1-4384-4743-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, African. I. Jeffers, Chike, 1982-  B5305.J44 2013  199’.6--dc23  2012037138

1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

IN MEMORY OF EMMANUEL CHUKWUDI EZE

1963–2007

ix

xi

Contents

Foreword: A Historic First Ngũgĩwa Thiong’o

Acknowledgments

xiii Introduction

2 3

14 15

36 37

Dëgg ak ludul dëgg: Waxtaan diggante Soxna ak càmmiñam Ngóór Truth and Untruth: A Conversation Between Soxna and Her Friend Ngóór Souleymane Bachir Diagne

የኢትዮጵያጊዜግንዛቤናዘመናዊነት The Ethiopian Conception of Time and Modernity Messay Kebede

Ngero ok Rias: Kaka Puonj mar Ngero Chalo, Kendo Kaka Ngero Opogore gi Pimo Wach

A Proverb Never Lies: On the Nature of Proverbs and How They Differ from Propositions D. A. Masolo

VIII◆

LISTENING TO OURSELVES

52 53

90 91

Ang’o Man e Nying’? Okange Ang’wen Mag Nyinge e Oganda Luo What’s in a Name? Four Levels of Naming among the Luo People F. Ochieng’-Odhiambo

Kũgeria Mĩario: Atumia, Ciana, Mbũri, Mĩgũnda

Conversations: Women, Children, Goats, Land Betty Wambui

124Okwu na Uche 125 Word and Mind  Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze

158Papa ne Bɔne 159 Good and Evil  Kwasi Wiredu

177 Contributors

183 Index

Foreword: A Historic First

Ngũgĩwa Thiong’o

This book,Listening to Ourselves, edited by the Caribbean-Canadian intel- lectual, Chike Jeffers, is a historic intervention in the debates about African philosophy. Its publication signals that the tradition of Africans writing phi- losophy in European languages might change. By putting together essays on philosophy in six different African languages (Dholuo, Gĩgĩkũyũ, Akan, Igbo, Wolof, and Amharic), and on different themes, ranging from morality to on- tology to questions of time, Chike Jeffers has laid to rest the questions as to whether written modern philosophy is possible in African languages. The collection also demonstrates what should be obvious: that translation is one way by which the accessibility of resources in African languages can be ensured. Philosophizing in African languages directly, conversation among African languages, and then across other languages through translations is the only way by which Africa can add originality to the wealth of human knowledge, enriching the world the way it once did in Old Egypt. It also puts a serious dent into the absurdity of the concept and practice of philosophizing in European languages and then calling it African philosophy. African philosophy has been restored to its linguistic identity. I hope that the work of Chike Jeffers is just the beginning of more to come. Now is the time. Africa has waited long enough. Whatever the ultimate effect of his historic intervention, Jeffers has joined a long line of diasporic intellectuals from Marcus Garvey to W.E.B. Du Bois to Frantz Fanon to Walter Rodney, among others, whose actions and thought have had a transforming impact on Africa and Africa-related worlds. And, of course, all lovers of philosophy will enjoy these essays.

IX