Orality

4. Hide and Seek: The Upanisads

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The ancient texts known as the Upaniṣads claim to expose the hidden connections between things, including the self and the world.

15. Heard it Through the Grapevine: Oral Philosophy in Africa

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An introduction to the “ethnophilosophy” approach inaugurated by Placide Tempels, its promises and potential pitfalls.

16. Samuel Imbo on Okot p'Bitek and Oral Traditions

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A conversation with Sam Imbo on approaching oral traditions as philosophy and the Ugandan thinker and poet Okot p'Bitek.

17. Event Horizon: African Philosophy of Time

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John Mbiti’s influential and controversial claim that traditional Africans experience time as having “a long past, a present, and virtually no future.”

19. Behind the Mask: African Philosophy of the Person

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Traditional African ideas about personhood, which challenge assumptions about the relation between mind and body, self and other.

22. Women Have No Tribe: Gender in African Tradition

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What archeology, ethnography, and philosophical interpretation tell us about the diverse and often ambiguous roles of men and women in traditional African societies.

24. Professionally Speaking: The Reaction Against Ethnophilosophy

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Paulin Hountondji (pictured) and other African philosophers criticize ethnophilosophy and advocate a universalist approach.

25. Wise Guys: Sage Philosophy

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Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.

26. Kai Kresse on the Anthropology of Philosophy

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An interview with Kai Kresse (pictured here with Ustadh Mahmoud Mau) who discusses his efforts to do "anthropology of philosophy" on the Swahili Coast.

27. Beyond the Reaction: The Continuing Relevance of Precolonial Traditions

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As the twentieth century draws to a close, the critique of ethnophilosophy gives way to approaches that continue to privilege the study of precolonial traditions, including the approach promoted by Kwasi Wiredu (pictured). 

Note: we dedicate this episode to the memory of Kwame Gyekye, who passed away earlier this month.

28. Chike Jeffers on Precolonial African Philosophy

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Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.

59. Frowning at Froudacious Fabrications: J.J. Thomas and F.A. Durham

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John Jacob Thomas argues for self-government in the English colonies of the Caribbean but his fellow Trinidadian Frederick Alexander Durham recommends repatriation to Africa instead.

67. Chike Jeffers on Slavery and Diasporic Philosophy

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Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series two and ahead to series three.

82. The Florida Project: Zora Neale Hurston

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Zora Neale Hurston’s interest in Africana folklore feeds into her great novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

141. Job Openings: the Rise of Africana Professional Philosophy

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The key events and figures in philosophy as an academic discipline, in both Africa and the diaspora, from the 1970s to the 1990s.