UFH Colloquium Series 2026: Prof Anke Graness
Werner F. Smith
The Fort Hare Politics and Philosophy department, together with The Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa, invites you to the first of our 2026 Colloquium series with Prof. Anke Graness.
Title: Relational Thinking? On the Challenges of Relational Epistemologies
Abstract:
Recently, there has been growing discussion of “relational ontologies”—approaches that understand being not as a property of isolated entities, but as fundamentally constituted through relationships. Unlike substance ontologies, which treat entities as independent and self-identical, relational ontologies prioritize relations as more basic. These perspectives entail both ethical and epistemic consequences. While ethical issues receive considerable attention, the topic of relational epistemologies remains underexplored. Drawing on examples from indigenous philosophies across different continents, the lecture introduces relational ontologies and examines the challenges relational epistemologies pose for philosophy.
Bio:
Anke Graness is professor of philosophy at the University of Hildesheim and one of the directors of the DFG-funded Center for Advanced Studies “Philosophizing in a Globalized World – Historical and Systematic Perspectives” (GloPhi). She studied philosophy in Leipzig and Vienna. Graness is a member of the steering committee of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie (FISP), of the Curatorial Board of the “Outline of the History of Philosophy” (Ueberweg: Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie), and of the editorial board of the journal Polylog. Zeitschrift für interkulturelles Philosophieren. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lucerne (2025) and is currently Professor Extraordinarius in the Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology in the College of Human Sciences of the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Her research interests include history of philosophy, philosophy in Africa, intercultural philosophy, global justice and feminist theory. Her publications include Das menschliche Minimum. Globale Gerechtigkeit aus afrikanischer Sicht: Henry Odera Oruka (Frankfurt/New York: Campus 2011); Feministische Theorie aus Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika. Eine Einführung (Wien: Facultas 2019, with Martina Kopf and Magdalena Kraus); African Philosophy in an Intercultural Perspective (Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler 2022, edited with Edwin E. Etieyibo and Franz Gmainer-Pranzl), and Philosophie in Afrika. Herausforderungen einer globalen Philosophiegeschichte (Berlin: Suhrkamp 2023).
DATE: 03 March 2026
TIME: 13:00 – 14:00 SAST
ONLINE: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/34701043822447?p=NNY62bzHELg5D5ENge