Africana: one book or two books?

Posted on ..

Chike and I are planning ahead concerning the book version of the podcast series on Africana philosophy and have to decide between publishing it as one volume or two. If one volume it would be quite long, probably around 100 chapters, but all in one place so to speak. If we split the material into two volumes they will obviously be shorter, about the length of "Classical Philosophy," one on Africana philosophy before the 20th century, one on Africana philosophy in the 20th century. This would mean the first volume's worth of material could come out sooner. We were wondering what the audience would prefer? (This has no impact on the podcast by the way, the series of episodes will be the same length either way.)

Mac on 6 July 2019

I think you should include

I think you should include the material in one volume, following suite with previous titles, which each capture a philosophical epoch. Consistency is beautiful, and big books are sexy.

Alexander Johnson on 11 July 2019

If it is 100 chapters, and

If it is 100 chapters, and given that about 25% of the episodes for Africana have been interviews... that suggests that the total length is going to be about 133 episodes.  Meaning there are roughly 100 episodes left to record over the next 4 years.  Given that 32 epsiodes are done, and you will be doing about 38 in part 2, that suggests that there will be more than 60 in part 3 (45 scripted episodes).  Is this approximately correct, or was there an error in the total? (I ask not as judgement one way or another about appropriate lengths, only because your previous longest section was only 40, by comparison).

Peter Adamson on 11 July 2019

I think that those estimates

I think that those estimates are a bit high, because we won't keep having interviews so often; but it's true that part 3 of Africana is big, because there are so many 20th century thinkers.

mehmet on 30 July 2019

Shouldn't it be better if

Shouldn't it be better if "Africana philosophy in the 20th century" be postponed until after the main series is finished? Because people like Fanon are quite dependent on people like Sartre, Lacan etc. Also, assuming that these "africana" guys did proper philosophy, they had to be hugely influenced by 19th and early 20th century currents like marxism and/or psychoanalysis.  Their work must in part a response to earlier philosophers like Nietzsche. So, I do not think that "Africana philosophy in the 20th century" would be intelligible to a general audience if it is broadcasted before such figures/currents are covered..

Peter Adamson on 30 July 2019

Yes, that is an issue but to

Yes, that is an issue but to be honest it is not really less true of the 20th than the 18-19th centuries, where we have people and events reacting to the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, etc. Also if we waited until I have covered the 20th c in the main podcast stream that would be a long wait! (If I ever get there.) And, one more thing, we can't really assume anyway that the Africana listeners would have checked out the other stream, or vice-versa. So we have to put in enough context as we go in any case.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
About text formats

Blog Archive