Fwd: [FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy

[kenneth harrow]

excellent looking volume. i recognize many of the contributors, and this looks like a top flight v

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	[FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy
Date:	Sat, 10 Oct 2015 10:41:33 +0000
From:	Kamal Salhi <K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK>
Reply-To:	Kamal Salhi <K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK>
To:	FRAN...@liverpool.ac.uk

International Journal of Francophone Studies

Volume 18 Numbers 2&3 2015

 

Francophone African Philosophy and the Aftermath of the Empire

 

Guest edited by Pierre-Philippe Fraiture (University of Warwick)

 

This monumental volume brings together a roster of international scholars from Africa, North America, the United Kingdom, France and India, to critically examine philosophical practices in Francophone Africa since the late 1930s. Whether or not ‘African philosophy’ can be defined as an autonomous discipline, whether or not philosophy can be restricted by geography (Crépon 1996), there is no doubt that ‘philosophising’ has always taken place in Africa. It has in the past forty years generated interest, particularly in the North-American academia, favouring the analytic approach over those usually adhered to in the ‘continental’ tradition. The Francophone input is often mentioned superficially in the English-language corpus. This volume aims to correct this imbalance by looking at the overlapping concerns of various schools of thought. The scope here is wide-ranging, testing out the regional and linguistic boundaries of ‘African Francophone philosophy’. It demonstrates that this field has been supported by figures cutting across conventional racial divides, with an ability to move beyond the Francophone / Anglophone demarcation line and reconnect with canonical Western philosophies.

 

Contributions

Introduction. “African Philosophy and Francophone Cultures: chronological perspectives” (Pierre-Philippe Fraiture); “Colonial Ethnography as a Strategy for Self-Writing: the case of Paul Hazoumé’s Doguicimi (1938)” (Kusum Aggarwal); “Les Statues meurent aussi’: the death and after-death of African art” (Pierre-Philippe Fraiture); “L’usage de l’Antiquité chez Cheikh Anta Diop et l’ombre menaçante de Senghor” (Bernard Mouralis); “Oedipus in Africa: Mudimbe and Classical Antiquity” (Daniel Orrells); “On the Predicament of Africanist Knowledge: Mudimbe, Gnosis and the challenge of the Colonial Library” (Zubairu Wai); “L’Afrique dans le monde, le monde depuis l’Afrique: lectures croisées d’Achille Mbembe et de Célestin Monga” (Anthony Mangeon); “Reconstruire la philosophie africaine: à la recherche des lieux d’ancrage d’une pensée du futur” (Kasereka Kavwahirehi); “The Equivocal Concept: the work of Bourahima Ouattara” (Jean-Paul Martinon); “The Singer of Pain: suffering and subversion in the poetry of Sando Marteau” (Alena Rettová); “‘Philosophie africaine’: histoire d’une expression” (Souleymane Bachir Diagne)

Founder and Editor-in-Chief: Kamal Salhi (University of Leeds) International Journal of Francophone Studies

 

 

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-- 
kenneth w. harrow 
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

I was under the impression that the term Francophone Africa was abandoned years ago
as a colonial construct.

The region consists predominantly of largely Malinke, Senufo, Djula,Wolof and Mossi speakers,
some of whom happen to speak French.

What say you, Ken?




Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU. New Britain. CT 06050
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora

________________________________
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow [har...@msu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 9:27 AM
To: usaafricadialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy

excellent looking volume. i recognize many of the contributors, and this looks like a top flight v


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 10:41:33 +0000
From: Kamal Salhi <K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK><mailto:K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK>
Reply-To: Kamal Salhi <K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK><mailto:K.S...@LEEDS.AC.UK>
To: FRAN...@liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:FRAN...@liverpool.ac.uk>



International Journal of Francophone Studies

Volume 18 Numbers 2&3 2015



Francophone African Philosophy and the Aftermath of the Empire



Guest edited by Pierre-Philippe Fraiture (University of Warwick)



This monumental volume brings together a roster of international scholars from Africa, North America, the United Kingdom, France and India, to critically examine philosophical practices in Francophone Africa since the late 1930s. Whether or not ‘African philosophy’ can be defined as an autonomous discipline, whether or not philosophy can be restricted by geography (Crépon 1996), there is no doubt that ‘philosophising’ has always taken place in Africa. It has in the past forty years generated interest, particularly in the North-American academia, favouring the analytic approach over those usually adhered to in the ‘continental’ tradition. The Francophone input is often mentioned superficially in the English-language corpus. This volume aims to correct this imbalance by looking at the overlapping concerns of various schools of thought. The scope here is wide-ranging, testing out the regional and linguistic boundaries of ‘African Francophone philosophy’. It demonstrates that this field has been supported by figures cutting across conventional racial divides, with an ability to move beyond the Francophone / Anglophone demarcation line and reconnect with canonical Western philosophies.



Contributions

Introduction. “African Philosophy and Francophone Cultures: chronological perspectives” (Pierre-Philippe Fraiture); “Colonial Ethnography as a Strategy for Self-Writing: the case of Paul Hazoumé’s Doguicimi (1938)” (Kusum Aggarwal); “Les Statues meurent aussi’: the death and after-death of African art” (Pierre-Philippe Fraiture); “L’usage de l’Antiquité chez Cheikh Anta Diop et l’ombre menaçante de Senghor” (Bernard Mouralis); “Oedipus in Africa: Mudimbe and Classical Antiquity” (Daniel Orrells); “On the Predicament of Africanist Knowledge: Mudimbe, Gnosis and the challenge of the Colonial Library” (Zubairu Wai); “L’Afrique dans le monde, le monde depuis l’Afrique: lectures croisées d’Achille Mbembe et de Célestin Monga” (Anthony Mangeon); “Reconstruire la philosophie africaine: à la recherche des lieux d’ancrage d’une pensée du futur” (Kasereka Kavwahirehi); “The Equivocal Concept: the work of Bourahima Ouattara” (Jean-Paul Martinon); “The Singer of Pain: suffering and subversion in the poetry of Sando Marteau” (Alena Rettová); “‘Philosophie africaine’: histoire d’une expression” (Souleymane Bachir Diagne)
Founder and Editor-in-Chief: Kamal Salhi (University of Leeds) International Journal of Francophone Studies



*********************************************************
FRANCOFIL FRENCH STUDIES DISCUSSION LIST
POST LIST MESSAGES TO:

fran...@liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:fran...@liverpool.ac.uk>

HOME PAGE:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/modern-languages-and-cultures/french/francofil/
FACEBOOK:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Francofil/154408391267120
TWITTER:
http://twitter.com/#/FrancofilUK
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/modern-languages-and-cultures/french/francofil/faqs/
LIST ARCHIVES AND PERSONAL SETTINGS:
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/francofil.html

ENQUIRIES AND PROBLEMS: francofi...@liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:francofi...@liverpool.ac.uk>

*********************************************************


--
kenneth w. harrow
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839

har...@msu.edu<mailto:har...@msu.edu>



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[kenneth harrow]

i see francophone and anglophone, or lusophone, used a lot. the
contested term is la francophonie, the policy of france to maintain its
sway in its former colonies which are identified through the use of the
french language.

it isn't really the term that is contested but the policy of the french
government in attempting to maintain the special relation of france in
those countries, in the fight against competing countries; the influence
of france culturally, tied to the political and economic special
relationship. i had thought it had largely been supplanted by the EU,
but i was wrong. on the other hand, it has shrunk, despite france's efforts.
as for the languages, you'd have to extend the list enormously since the
french were in mauritius, les seychelles, la reunion, congo brazzaville,
etc, not to mention enormous links to the caribbean and even vietnam and
cambodia. also quebec. all that is part of la francophonie, which is
also institutionalized, and was headed up by abdou diouf for a while,
after he left the presidency.
consider senghor becoming a member of the academie francaise and you can
understand the links and how far they extend.
the brits had formed the commonwealth, which was never as strong as the
french community and its ties. in countries like the drc or rwanda or
burundi, the ties of la francophonie were also extended because of the
french language, despite them having been belgian colonies. i mean, go
to a cief conference and you'll find papers on authors from those places
as well.

oh, and i forgot all of the maghreb as well....
ken

[Ikhide]

The last time I checked, the English Language is a "colonial construct", whatever that means! SMH

- Ikhide

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

The terms Anglophone and Francophone are mostly to do with the English and French languages. They have an added derogatory meaning when applied to "developing" countries it seems to me.
Quebec is not a Francophone land in the sense Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal are. Francophone applied to Quebec is mostly about the French language, culture, and shared heritage. Francophone when applied to Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, is mostly about control by and subservience to France. Australia and New Zealand are not Anglophone countries in the sense Nigeria and Ghana are for similar reasons.
In my opinion, they terms are slurs when applied to "developing" countries. They should be rejected if not by all, by those they are so applied to.
Why is the United States of America characterized an Anglo-Saxon and not an Anglophone country if one may ask?

oa

-----Original Message-----
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 8:41 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy

The last time I checked, the English Language is a "colonial construct", whatever that means! SMH

- Ikhide

> On Oct 11, 2015, at 8:44 AM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
>

> i see francophone and anglophone, or lusophone, used a lot. the contested term is la francophonie, the policy of france to maintain its sway in its former colonies which are identified through the use of the French language.

>> francofi...@liverpool.ac.uk<mailto:francofil-request@liverpool.

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

English is not just a"'colonial construct" but a colonizing
and colonizer's construct par excellence with unforeseen decolonizing
consequences.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU. New Britain. CT 06050
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora

________________________________________
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 9:41 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [FRANCOFIL] Francophone African Philosophy

[kenneth harrow]

i don't agree with you, ogugua, in these usages. the terms are used in
disciplines. you are the one adding "developing countries."
for the disciplines that i work in, literature and cinema, the terms
anglophone and francophone, like lusophone, designate countries that
produce literatures or films in those languages, and generally are
informed by historical ties like colonialism. francophone conferences,
like the cief, or francophone panels in many conferences like the mla,
francophone caucuses, include quebec, of course. "francophone" in
african countries is not about control and subservience to france; it is
about the use of french.
i think our disagreement has to do with the disciplines. if you read
these terms through an historical or political lens, that is one thing;
if you read it through the lens of cultural production, how people are
using the terms now, how specialists are working within the field, you
might see it differently.
i really do object to the notion that everyone who uses the term
"francophone" is being derogatory, that they are too stupid to see the
implications of colonial history, etc. that's intellectually lazy. in
fact, there are huge problems attached to "la francophonie" as a field,
which does have to do with how france tries to situate itself within the
global frame; that's not the same as using terms like francophone
literature, which is mostly a language designation.
lastly, i do think the u.s. and u.k. are anglophone countries. that
said, one can say "anglophone african literature" and refer to a body of
works, just as one can say, yoruba language literature or igbo films, or
anglophone nigerian films, or hausa films. why not?
ken

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

I remind you though that terms sometimes acquire meaning that may be different and distant from their original meaning overtime. The terms are indeed "used in disciplines". I say with different meaning, in literature and politics for example in my opinion.
I understand your disagreement with me. I respect it too.

[kenneth harrow]

we need people who work in "la francophone" to chime in here. i'm just
giving one view. the point i would want to reiterate is that the policy
bound up in the term "la francophonie" is very heavily contested, no
doubt about that. the french intellectuals, and some african
intellectuals, tried to maneuver around that a few years ago with the
"litterature monde," which you might remember. the point was to remove
france as the center of "la francophonie," and rebalance the
relationship with the other francophone countries.i don't think it every
really succeeded, just as globalization has been seen to be an
unbalanced process, more and more. especially in the views of
africanists since it is africa who has been hardest hit by
globalization. in truth, la francophonie is very strongly challenged in
all francophone african circles i have ever seen or heard, and for as
long as i can remember. that's why i responded as i did.
k

[Ikhide]

"I remind you though that terms sometimes acquire meaning that may be different and distant from their original meaning overtime."

- is

The above is exactly the point. Given the checkered legacy of our past I think I understand the need to be wary. However, one has to be careful about policing language and thought. We are all acutely aware of the power of words, but Achebe taught us how to appropriate the other's language and make it ours. He showed leadership in his brilliance. If we were to reject every word based on its priors we would be mute witnesses of our journey. Life is too short jor.

- Ikhide