Claude E Ake: The making of an organic intellectual

O. Arowosegbe

Description

Claude E. Ake, radical African political philosopher of the first four decades of the postcolonial era, stands out as a progressive social force whose writings continue to have appeal and relevance long after his untimely death in 1996. In examining Ake’s intellectual works, Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe sets out the framework of his theoretical orientations in the context of his life, and reveals him as one of the most fertile and influential voices within the social sciences community in Africa.
In tracing the genesis and development of Ake’s political thought, Arowosegbe draws attention to Ake’s compelling account of the material implications and political costs of European colonisation of Africa and his conception of a different future for the continent. Approaching his subject from a Gramscian and Marxist perspective, Arowosegbe elucidates how Ake’s philosophy demonstrates the intimate entanglement of class and social, cultural and historical issues, and how, as a contributor to endogenous knowledge production and postcolonial studies on Africa, Ake is firmly rooted in a South-driven critique of Western historicism.
It is Arowosegbe’s conviction that engaged scholars are uniquely important in challenging existing hierarchies, oppressive institutions, and truth regimes – and the structures of power that produce and support them; and much can be drawn from their contributions and failings alike. This work contributes to a hitherto neglected focus area: the impact across the continent of the ideas and lives of African and other global South academics, intellectuals and scholar-activists. Among them, Ake is representative of bold scholarly initiatives in asserting the identities of African and other non-Western cultures through a mindful rewriting of the intellectual and nationalist histories of these societies on their own terms. In foregrounding the contribution of Ake with respect to both autochthonous traditional insights and endogenous knowledge production on the continent, Arowosegbe aims at fostering the continuance of a living and potent tradition of critique and resistance.
Engaging with the lingering impact of colonialism on previously colonised societies, this timely book will be of immense value to scholars and students of philosophy and political science as well as African intellectual history, African studies, postcolonial studies and subaltern studies.

Informations

• Publié par: NISC (Pty) Ltd
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781920033552
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Dedication
In loving memory of my father Joshua Sunday Adenigba Arowosegbe and my grandfather Matthew Olaseinde Arowosegbe
About the Series
The African Humanities Series is a partnership between the African Humanities Program (AHP) of the American Council of Learned Societies and academic publishers NISC (Pty) Ltd * . The Series covers topics in African histories, languages, literatures, philosophies, politics and cultures. Submissions are solicited from Fellows of the AHP, which is administered by the American Council of Learned Societies and financially supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
The purpose of the AHP is to encourage and enable the production of new knowledge by Africans in the five countries designated by the Carnegie Corporation: Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. AHP fellowships support one year’s work free from teaching and other responsibilities to allow the Fellow to complete the project proposed. Eligibility for the fellowship in the five countries is by domicile, not nationality.
Book proposals are submitted to the AHP editorial board which manages the peer review process and selects manuscripts for publication by NISC. In some cases, the AHP board will commission a manuscript mentor to undertake substantive editing and to work with the author on refining the final manuscript.
The African Humanities Series aims to publish works of the highest quality that will foreground the best research being done by emerging scholars in the five Carnegie designated countries. The rigorous selection process before the fellowship award, as well as AHP editorial vetting of manuscripts, assures attention to quality. Books in the series are intended to speak to scholars in Africa as well as in other areas of the world.
The AHP is also committed to providing a copy of each publication in the series to university libraries in Africa.
* early titles in the series was published by Unisa Press, but the publishing rights to the entire series are now vested in NISC
AHP Editorial Board Members as at January 2019
AHP Series Editors:
Professor Adigun Agbaje * , University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Professor Emeritus Fred Hendricks, Rhodes University, South Africa
Consultant:
Professor Emeritus Sandra Barnes, University of Pennsylvania, USA (Anthropology)
Board Members:
1 Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Institute of African Studies, Ghana (Gender Studies & Advocacy) (Vice President, African Studies Association of Africa)
2 Professor Kofi Anyidoho, University of Ghana, Ghana (African Studies & Literature) (Director, Codesria African Humanities Institute Program)
3 Professor Ibrahim Bello-Kano, Bayero University, Nigeria (Dept of English and French Studies)
4 Professor Sati Fwatshak, University of Jos, Nigeria (Dept of History & International Studies)
5 Professor Patricia Hayes, University of the Western Cape, South Africa (African History, Gender Studies and Visuality) (SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory)
6 Associate Professor Wilfred Lajul, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda (Dept of Philosophy)
7 Professor Yusufu Lawi, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania (Dept of History)
8 Professor Bertram Mapunda, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Dept of Archaeology & Heritage Studies)
9 Professor Innocent Pikirayi, University of Pretoria, South Africa (Chair & Head, Dept of Anthropology & Archaeology)
10 Professor Josephat Rugemalira, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania (Dept of Foreign Languages & Linguistics)
11 Professor Idayat Bola Udegbe, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (Dept of Psychology)
* replaced Professor Kwesi Yankah, Cental Univerity College, Ghana, co-editor from 2013–2016
Published in this series
Dominica Dipio, Gender terrains in African cinema , 2014
Ayo Adeduntan, What the forest told me: Yoruba hunter, culture and narrative performance, 2014
Sule E. Egya, Nation, power and dissidence in third-generation Nigerian poetry in English , 2014
Irikidzayi Manase, White narratives: The depiction of post-2000 land invasions in Zimbabwe , 2016
Pascah Mungwini, I ndigenous Shona Philosophy: Reconstructive insights , 2017
Sylvia Bruinders, Parading Respectability: The Cultural and Moral Aesthetics of the Christmas Bands Movement in the Western Cape, South Africa , 2017
Michael Andindilile, The Anglophone literary-linguistic continuum: English and indigenous languages in African literary discourse , 2018
Jeremiah Arowosegbe, Claude E Ake: the making of an organic intellectual , 2018
Romanus Aboh, Language and the construction of multiple identities in the Nigerian novel , 2018
Bernard Matolino, Consensus as Democracy in Africa, 2018
Babajide Ololajulo, Unshared Identity : Posthumous paternity in a contemporary Yoruba community, 2018

Originally published in 2018 by Unisa Press, South Africa under ISBN: 978-1-86888-808-5
This edition published in South Africa on behalf of the African Humanities Program by NISC (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 377, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa www.nisc.co.za
NISC first edition, first impression 2019
Publication © African Humanities Program 2018, 2019 Text © Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe 2018, 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-920033-53-8 (print) ISBN: 978-1-920033-54-5 (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-920033-55-2 (ePub)
Copy Editor: Shakira Hoosain Series designer: Thea Bester-Swanepoel Typesetting: Maria Kirstein Cover design: Nozipho Noble Indexer: Elsabé Nell


The author and the publisher have made every effort to obtain permission for and acknowledge the use of copyright material. Should an inadvertent infringement of copyright have occurred, please contact the publisher and we will rectify omissions or errors in any subsequent reprint or edition.
Contents
Abbreviations and acronyms
Preface and acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Biographical and theoretical orientations
3. African studies and the bias of Eurocentricism
4. The contribution of Claude Ake
5. Conclusion
Bibliographies
A: Works by Claude E. Ake
B: Works on Claude E. Ake
Index
Abbreviations and acronyms
AAPS
African Association of Political Science
AG
Action Group
AISA
Africa Institute of South Africa
ANC
African National Congress
AAI
African-American Institute
AHP
African Humanities Programme
ACLS
American Council of Learned Societies
ASA
African Studies Association
ASC
African Studies Centre
CAS
Centre for African Studies
CASS
Centre for Advanced Social Science
CHR
Centre for Humanities Research
CODESRIA
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa
CODICE
CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre
CSSSC
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
DAAD
German Academic Exchange Service
HIV/AIDS
Human Immune-deficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
HSRC
Human Sciences Research Council
ICSSR
Indian Council of Social Science Research
IDIs
In-depth Interviews
IISH
International Institute of Social History
IISS
International Institute of Social Studies
IMF
International Monetary Fund
IPSA
International Political Science Association
IPSR
International Political Science Review
NCNC
National Council for Nigeria and Cameroons
NDES
Niger Delta Environmental Survey
NGOs
Non-Governmental Organizations
NPSA
Nigerian Political Science Association
NUC
National Universities Commission
OAU
Organization of African Unity
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
SSHC
Senior Staff Housing Committee
SSNSA
Social Sciences Network of South Africa
UNECA
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
USA
United States of America
UCT
University of Cape Town
UNU-WIDER
United Nations UniversityWorld Institute for Development Economics Research
UWC
University of the Western Cape
WARA
West African Research Association
WARC
West African Research Centre
Preface and acknowledgements
The contributions and profiles of intellectuals and nationalist figures in Africa and the diaspora are still a largely underdeveloped genre. Such contributions are however, very crucial for understanding politics in Africa, a region where the roles of individuals have been central in making history. Although Claude Ake is one of the most instructive voices in African political thought, most works on him have been limited to a celebration of his intellectual pedigree and stature. Barring a few exceptions, most scholarly commentaries on political and social theorists in Africa have been treated either as part of the biographical accounts of various African intellectuals or as part of the colonial liberation struggles, with the veiled objective of denying the existence and reality of African political thought. In particular, in spite of his contributions and insights, Ake’s works are yet to be fully explored in terms of their prospects, not just for understanding the problemati