Religious and philosophical thought in Africa
2001-2002
School for Oriental and African Studies
Lecturer: Kai Kresse (Room 482)
kk28@soas.ac.uk
Lecture programme
This course is designed to introduce students to selected aspects of philosophical thought in Africa. Understanding ‘philosophy’ and philosophical issues in relation to ‘Africa’ is the major aim of the course, and for this, links to and overlappings with perspectives of other disciplines will be utilized and investigated: literature, history, anthropology, and religious studies. The course is topic-orientated, moving from general and introductory sessions on the concepts of philosophy and Africa to specific African cultural contexts of intellectual and philosophical discourse. Finally, selected themes within the field of such discourse, such as aesthetics, political theory, feminism, and others will be treated. Also, major methodological approaches to the field, i.e. hermeneutical philosophy, sage philosophy, and others shall be introduced and discussed.
The aim is to a) provide a general overview on the history of research and debate on African philosophy from a systematic angle (i.e. tracing and understanding the main conceptual problems), and b) to discuss a number of prominent textual and ethnographic examples in their contexts, so that in the end the students can follow recent and current discussions in this field independently. This, they will be able to show in their final essays based on case studies.
Essays and Examinations
The course is assessed by:
– one 5000-word essay which counts for 50% of the final mark. The essay is based on a case study of the student’s choice, as described below.
– a two-hour final written examination.
Note: The 5000-word essay must be submitted to the Africa Department office (Room 477) by the first day of the third term.
Case Studies
A case study consists of research into a specific topic selected by each student based on his or her own interests. Such research may be related to any period, historical or modern, any region of Africa, or any aspect of philosophical thought in Africa. The case study must, however, be based upon primary source material (that is, material either spoken or written by Africans) which can be analysed in its social and political context. Listed below is a selection of case studies which have been researched by students in recent years – in order to give you an idea of the variety of topics that have been chosen.
Note: case study topic proposals must be submitted to me, in writing, before the end of the first term. This submission must include a brief description of the topic (no more than one page, normally) and a preliminary bibliography (with short comments on every text mentioned). Feel free to seek advice on the selection of your case study as often as you wish.
Examples of case studies completed in past years:
• Bemba religious thought.
• The Ifa divination system.
• The construction of ‘Yoruba’ aesthetics.
• An analysis of the writings of Shaikh ‘Uthman b. Fodiye.
• Implicit and explicit theology in the independent churches of South Africa.
• The dynamics of religious thought in the Deima church of Ivory Coast.
• Liberation theology in Africa.
• African womanist identities: pitfalls and possibilities
• Nyerere and African philosophy
• On the ‘relevance’ of the philosophical debate in Africa.
• Authenticating a female epistemology in Africa.
• Ethnophilosophy.
• Systems of knowledge in the African context.
• Afrocentricity.
• The historiography of Cheikh Anta Diop and Theophile Obenga.
• A postmodernist perspective on African thought.
• The philosophy of violence: Fanon and Serequeberhan.
• The political philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah; of Amilcar Cabral; of Thomas Sankara
• The ideology of the the Pan Africanist Congress.
• The social and political thought of Ayi Kwei Armah.
General readings:
D.A. Masolo’s African philosophy in search of identity (1994), an historical overview of the central issues of the modern debate, and P.J. Hountondji’s African philosophy. Myth and reality (2nd edition, 1996), a systematic critique of simplistic approaches to philosophy in Africa, are the most important general readings for the course. I strongly recommend to read at least the two in whole (large parts of both are compulsory reading anyway). For this reason, buying these two books is a worthwhile investment. Furthermore, a good and easy introductory read is S.O. Imbo’s An introduction to African philosophy (1998).
NB:
* signifies the required central readings that will be discussed in detail.
^ signifies additional readings for a specific aspect or sub-topic.
Thus *texts MUST be read, ^texts indicate a choice (one of these MUST be prepared).
Topic 1: Introduction, overview
In this session, various approaches of how to define African philosophy and how to order the field of philosophy in Africa are presented. Paradigms of orientation are discussed, in relation to a sketched overview of the debate, highlighting some initial conceptual tools that can be of help throughout the course when referring to various different trends, schools, camps within the wider debate.
*Mudimbe, V.Y. (1991): “Philosophy and theology as political practices”, i.e. chapter 2 in Parables and Fables. University of Wisconsin Press. pp32-68.
*Hountondji (1996): African philosophy. Ch.1: “An alienated literature”.
Bodunrin (1985): Introduction, in Bodunrin (ed), Philosophy in Africa – trends and perspectives. Ile Ife.
*Odera Oruka, H. (1990): “Four trends in African philosophy”, in Trends in African Philosophy. Nairobi: Shirikon.
*Brenner, L.: “The esoteric paradigm”, in Mudimbe (ed), Encyclopedia of African religions and philosophy (forthcoming). (offprint)
“African philosophy” (2000): Entry in the Routledge’s Concise New Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge.
Appiah, K.A. (1997): “Philosophy and the study of Africa” in Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara. London.
Masolo, D.A. (1994): African Philosophy in search of identity. Ch.1: “Logocentrism and Emotivism”.
Mudimbe / Appiah (1993): “The impact on African studies on philosophy”, in Bates/ Mudimbe/ O’Barr (eds), Africa and the disciplines.
McGaffey, W. (1981): African ideology and belief – a survey, in AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW, vol. XXIV, nos. 2/3; pp227-274.
2. Understanding the key concepts: a) ‘philosophy’, ‘philosophical discourse’
As the concept of philosophy is of central concern for the course, this lecture has a closer look a various competing definitions of and approaches to philosophy within the history of Western philosophy, which are presented in brief. An awareness of the internal pluralism of Western intellectual history should help identifying and contextualizing a plurality of positions in the African debate – also, academic African philosophers often situate themselves in relation to such thinkers. Furthermore, the relation between ‘philosophy’ and ‘culture’ is thematized (following Cassirer). An attempt to formulate an acceptable common denominator of ‘philosophy’ is undertook, with a view to the problem of how to apply it to intellectual discourse in other cultures, while taking into account the derogatory perspective on Africans by some prominent European thinkers.
*Kant, Immanuel (1974): Logic, translated by R.S. Hartman and W. Schwarz. New York: Dover Publications. Lectures III (pp25-30) and IV (pp31-37).
Cassirer, Ernst (1944): An essay on man. New Haven: Yale University Press. Chapter 1: “The crisis in man’s knowledge of himself”;pp1-22.
*Hountoundji, P.J. (1983): “Reason and tradition”, in Oruka / Masolo (eds), Philosophy and cultures.
Hountondji, P.J. (1996): African philosophy. Ch. 8: “True and false pluralism”.
Oruka, H. Odera (1997): “Philosophy and other disciplines”, in Graness/Kresse (eds), Sagacious Reasoning. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Wiredu (1980): Philosophy and an African culture. Cambridge UP. Ch.10, “What is philosophy?”, and ch. 4, “What can philosophy do for Africa”.
Bodunrin, P.: “The question of African philosophy” (orig. 1981), in T. Serequeberhan (1991), African philosophy – the essential readings.
Nietzsche, F. (1977): “Philosophy and philosophers” (pp29-53, esp. 42ff), and “Will to power” (pp215-231, esp. 224ff), in R.J. Hollingdale (ed), A Nietzsche Reader. Penguin.
Hegel, G.F.W. (1998): “Philosophy of history” (pp.400-415), and “History of philosophy” (pp509-528), in St. Houlgate (ed), The Hegel Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
3. Understanding the key concepts: b) ‘Africa’ and ‘African’
What is ‘Africa’, and where is it? How is the adjective ‘African’ used, and what is meant by it? This lecture intends to raise consciousness and sensitivity about the problematic usage of these terms as labels, especially in regard to intellectual discourse. Various applications are presented and discussed. In this context, the question of ideology is brought in, for it is obvious that coining ‘Africa’ in a certain way mostly follows a certain practical interest. Related to that is the issue of historical continuity of discourses on Africa and the question as to whether participants (the African academic, the European student) are always, and even somehow necessarily, part of such continuity.
*Horton, R.: “African traditional thought and Western science”, in R. Horton (1993), Patterns of thought in Africa and the West; also in: AFRICA (1967), Vol. XXXVII, pp. 50-71; 155-187.
*Horton, R.: “Tradition and modernity revisited”, in Horton (1993), and in Hollis/ Lukes (eds), Rationality and Relativism (1982). Oxford: Blackwell.
*Wiredu, K. (1980): “How not to compare African thought with Western thought”, in Philosophy and an African culture. Cambridge: University Press. Also in R. Wright, ed (1983; orig. 1977), African Philosophy.
*Ranger, T. (1983): “The invention of tradition in colonial Africa”, in Hobbesbawm/ Ranger (eds), The invention of Tradition. Cambridge UP; pp237-262 ONLY!
A. Hampate Ba: “The living tradition”, in UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol.1.
Brenner, L.: “Muslim representations of unity and difference in the African discourse”, in Brenner (ed), Muslim identity and social change in sub-saharan Africa, pp. 1-20.
Mudimbe, V.Y. (1988): The invention of Africa. London/Bloomington. Introduction (ppix-xii) and Ch. 5: “The patience of philosophy”; pp135-186.
Appiah, K.A. (1992): In my father’s house, Chs. 1; pp3-27.
4-5: The project of ‘Bantu philosophy’ and the critics of ‘ethnophilosophy’
What is the project of ‘Bantu philosophy’, initiated by the Belgian missionary Placide Tempels, all about? His book, while making a remarkable claim for philosophy in Africa on the one hand, on the other hand still kept up a paternalistic European ‘view from above’ on ‘the Africans’. Also his missionary interests had a major impact on the character of the study. Tempels’ book is central for an understanding of the debate on African philosophy because it was emphatically praised and severely criticised from both African and European scholars, and all major works in the field make reference to it. It sparked off a tradition of African scholarship (Kagame et al.) which was brandmarked as ‘ethnophilosophy’ by its critics (Hountondji et al.). Tempels’ descriptive approach and his loose usage of ‘philosophy’ have been open to criticism as ‘pseudo-anthropology’ and ‘pseudo-philosophy’. Other critics focused mainly on the colonial context (e.g. Cesaire) from a perspective of liberation.
*Tempels, P. (1959; orig. 1945): Bantu Philosophy. Paris: Presence Africaine.
Mbiti, J. (1990; orig 1969): African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann.
Griaule, M. (1975; orig. 1948): Conversations with Ogotemmeli. Oxford University Press.
(Kagame, A. (1956): La philosophie bantou-rwandaise de l’etre; Brussels : Academie Royal des Sciences Coloniales; for those competent in French)
(Kagame, A. (1985; orig. 1976): Sprache und Sein. Heidelberg; for those competent in German)
Cesaire, A. (1972; orig. 1955): Discourse on colonialism. New York / London : Monthly Review Press, 1972.
*Odera Oruka, H. (1997; orig. 1972): “Mythologies as African philosophy”, in Graness / Kresse (eds), Sagacious Reasoning. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. pp23-34.
*Hountondji, P.J. (1996): African philosophy. Ch. 2 &3, pp 47-70.
*Hountondji, P.J. (1991): “Occidentalism, elitism; answer to two critiques”, in Ch. Neugebauer (ed), Philosophie, Ideologie und Gesellschaft in Afrika. Frankfurt; also in: QUEST, vol. 3, no. 2 (Dec. 1989).
Okere, Th. (1983): African philosophy. Ch. on Tempels.
Appiah, K.A. (1992): In my father’s house. Oxford: University Press. Ch.5. “Ethnophilosophy and its critics”. pp85-106.
Masolo, D.A. (1994): African philosophy in search of identity, Chs. 2-4.
6-8: Qualified fieldwork on philosophy and knowledge in African cultures
If there is something like an ideological deadlock between ‘ethnophilosophy’, its critics, and the criticism of the critics, the engagemant in some kind of ‘philosophical fieldwork’ seems fertile. In this vein, three lines of research on intellectual and philosophical discourse are explored and related back to ‘ethnophilosophy’: a) Oruka, in his sage philosophy project, attempts to prove the existence of philosophical traditions in Kenya;
b) Other African philosophers such as Wiredu and Gyekye produce case studies on philosophical topics within their own languages and cultural contexts. From the angle of analytical philosophy, Hallen and Sodipo investigate Yoruba conceptions of knowledge.
c) In the field of African studies, historical and anthropological documentations and discussions of knowledge, intellectual discourse, and individual thinkers are produced.
N.B. Select ONE of the three sub-groups for readings in order to prepare a presentation. Readings with ** have to be read by ALL students in ALL groups.
6. Sage philosophy
**Odera Oruka, H. (1990): Sage philosophy. Introduction, Ch. 2, and four selected interviews.
*Van Hook, Jay M. (1995): “Kenyan sage philosophy; a review and critique”, in THE PHILOSOPHICAL FORUM vol. xxvii, no.1. (Offprint)
*Presbey, G. (1997): “Who counts as a sage?”, in QUEST, vol.xi, no.1-2; pp53-68.
Ochieng’-Odhiambo, F. (1997): “Philosophic sagacity revisited”, in Graness/Kresse; pp171-179.
Dikirr, P. (1997): “Sagacity in the Maasai concept of death and immortality”, in Graness/Kresse; pp181-193.
Oluwole, S. (1997): “Oruka’s misson in African philosophy”, in Graness/Kresse; 149-162.
Oseghare, A.S. (1992): “Sagacity in African philosophy”, in INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, vol. xxxii, no. Ii, March. (Offprint)
Janz, B. (1998): “Thinking wisdom”, in AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY, vol. 11, no.1.
7. Other philosophical works
**Hallen, B. / J. Sodipo (1997, 2nd ed.): Knowledge, belief, and witchcraft. Introduction and Ch.2 (pp40-85).
*Hallen, B. (1997): “What’s it mean: analytic African philosophy?”, in QUEST vol.xi, no.1/2.
^Wiredu, K. (1980): Philosophy and an African culture. Cambridge. (Ch.1, 1-25)
^Wiredu, K. (1996): Cultural particulars and universals. Bloomington. (Ch.9, 113-135.)
Wiredu/ Gyekye (1992): Person and community. Ghanaian phil. Studies 1. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
^Gyekye, K. (1995): An essay on African philosophical thought: the Akan conceptual scheme. Revised edition. Philadelphia: Temple UP. Preface, ch.1-4, pp3-68.
Gbadegesin, S. (1991): African philosophy: traditional Yoruba philosophy and contemporary African realities. New York: Peter Lang.
8. African studies, anthropology, history
**Brenner, L. (1984): West African Sufi. London: Hurst. Especially part 2 and 3.
*Moore, H. (1996): “The changing nature of anthropological knowledge” in Moore (ed), The future of anthropological knowledge.
Brenner, L.: “Sufism in Africa”, in J. Olupona/ C. Long (eds) forthcoming, African spirituality. (Offprint)
Janzen/ McGaffey (1974): An anthology of Kongo religion. (primary texts)
^Janzen, J.: Ngoma. Discourses of healing in Central and Southern Africa.
^McGaffey, W. (1986): Religion and society in Central Africa.
^Fardon, R. (1990): Between God, the dead, and the wild.
^Lambek, M. (1993): Knowledge and practice in Mayotte.
^Feierman, S. (1990): Peasant intellectuals.
Peek (1991): “Introduction: the study of divination, present and past”, in Peek (ed), African divination systems. Ways of knowing.
Reading week
N.B. Before reading week, the case study topic proposals have to be submitted.
They must include a brief description of the topic and a preliminary bibliography. The bibliography should include some notes (not more than 2-3 sentences) on each reference, giving an overview of its contents and stating why this book or article should be included in the work on the case study.
9. The problem of language
*Wiredu, K.: “The need for conceptual decolonization in African philosophy”, in Conceptual decolonization in African philosophy (1995), edt. By O. Oladipo. Ibadan: Hope, 22-32; also in Wiredu (1996), Cultural Universals and Particulars. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 136-144.
*Wiredu, K.: “Formulating modern thought in African languages”, in Mudimbe (1992), The Surreptious Speech, 301-332; also in Wiredu (1996), Cultural Universals and Particulars, 81-104.
*Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1981): Decolonising the mind. Nairobi/ London. Statement, introduction, ch. 1.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1981): Writers in politics. Nairobi/ London. Ch. 5.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1989): Matigari. Nairobi/ London.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1993): Moving the centre. Nairobi/ London. Ch. 21.
RESEARCH IN AFRICAN LITERATURES, vol.23, no.1 (spring 1992): On the language problem in African literature. Essays by M. Kunene (27-44), D.P. Kunene (7-15).
Kresse, K. (1999): “The problem of how to use African language …”, in AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY, vol 12, no. 1.
Kresse / Wiredu (1997): “‘Still in the making’. An interview with Kwasi Wiredu”, in ISSUES in contemporary culture and aesthetics, no.6. Maastricht. (offprint)
Oluwole, S. (1998): “African philosophy as illustrated in Ifa corpus”, in AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY, vol. 11, no. 2.
Abimbola, W. (1976): Ifa. An exposition of Ifa literary corpus. New York: NOK.
10. The hermeneutical approach
*Taylor, Ch. (1985): “Interpretation and the sciences of man”, in Philosophy and the Social Sciences: Philosophical Papers 2. Cambridge: University Press.
Gadamer, H.-G. (1976): “The universality of the hermeneutical problem”, in Philosophical Hermeneutics. Berkeley: Univ. Of California Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1981): “The model of the text”, ch. 8 in Hermeneutics and the social sciences. Cambridge University Press.
Heidegger, M.: Being and time; passages on ‘understanding’.
*Janz, B. (1996): “Alterity, dialogue, and African philosophy”, in Eze (ed), Postcolonial African philosophy.
^ Okere, T. (1983): African philosophy. An historico-hermeneutical investigation.
^ Serequeberhan, T. (1994): The hermeneutics of African philosophy.
Fanon, F. (1967): The wretched of the earth.
Wamba dia Wamba, E. (1991): “Philosophy in Africa: challenges of the African philosopher”, in Serequeberhan (ed), African Philosophy – the essential readings.
Term 2
In the second term there will be no lectures. The first five sessions will be used to work through the following topics in the form of presentations and discussions. The latter sessions of the term will be used for presentations on the proposed case study projects. Every students will have the chance to present on her/his topic at least once. For those presentations, essays on the respective case study topics MUST be handed in by the first week of the second term, so that I can go over them and organize the sessions for presentation in advance. All students will then receive a copy of every paper to be presented one week in advance. This framework should help to produce fertile discussions in which the presenters gain helpful feedback from the other students, which in the end should have a positive input for the case studies.
11. Various Afrocentrist positions and their critics
a) ‘classical’ Afrocentrism and criticisms
Asante, M.K. (1980, 2nd ed. 1988): Afrocentricity.
^ Asante, M.K. (1998, rev. edition): The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia: Temple UP.
* Howe, S. (1998): Afrocentrism: Mythical pasts and imagined homes.
*Diop, Ch.A.: The African origin of civilization: myth or reality.
Diop, Ch. A. (1989): The cultural unity of Black Africa. London: Karnak House.
^ Bernal, M. (1987): Black Athena: the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization. Introduction.
Lefkowitz, M./ G. McLean Rogers (1996): Black Athena revisted.
b) political nationalist doctrines
*Senghor, L.S.: “Negritude: a humanism of the 20th century”, in Hord/Lee (1995), I am because we are. Readings in Black Philosophy. Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetts.
*Nyerere, J.: “Ujamaa – the basis of African socialism”, in Hord/Lee (1995), I am because we are. Readings in Black Philosophy. Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetts.
*Nkrumah, K.: “Consciencism”, in in Hord/Lee (1995), I am because we are. Readings in Black Philosophy. Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetts.
^Nkrumah, K. (1970): Conscienscism. London.
^Nyerere, J. (1968): Freedom and socialism. Oxford UP.
^Senghor, L.S. (1964): On African Socialism. New York/ London.
Kopytoff, I (1964): “Socialism and traditional African societies”, in Friedlund/ Rosberg, African Socialism. Stanford UP.
Moi, D.a. (1986): Nyayo Philosophy. London: MacMillan.
Odera Oruka, H.: “On Humanism in Africa”, in Oruka (1997), Practical Philosophy. Nairobi: EAEP.
Biko, S. (1978): I write what I like. London: Penguin. Chs 9, 11, 15, 18.
N.B. Select ONE of the two groups for readings and presentation.
12. Reconsidering ‘the postcolonial situation’
*Appiah, K. (1992): “On the postmodern and the postcolonial”, in In My Father’s House.
*Mbembe, A. (1992): “Provisonal notes on the postcolony”, in AFRICA, vol. 62, no.1.
Eze, E. (1996): “Introduction”, in Eze (ed), Postcolonial African Philosophy.
Masolo, D.A. (1996): “African philosophy and the postcolonial”, in Eze (ed).
Werbner / Ranger (1997): Postcolonial African identities. Introduction & afterword.
Hountondji, P.J. (1992): “Daily life in Black Africa”, in Mudimbe (ed), The surreptious speech. Chicago University Press.
Mudimbe, V.Y. (1988): The invention of Africa. Bloomington/ London. Introduction & Ch.1.
Mudimbe, V.Y. (1994): The idea of Africa. Bloomington/ London. pp175-208.
Wiredu, K.: (1996): “Post-colonial African philosophy”, in Cultural Universals and Particulars; 145-154.
13-15: Current debates- African aesthetics, feminism, political philosophy
13. African aesthetics
Fagg, W. (1973): “In search of meaning in African art”, in A. Forge (ed), Primitive art and society.
Okpewho, I. (1977): “Principles of traditional African art”, in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 35, no. 3. (Offprint)
Onyewuenyi, I.C. (1984): “Traditional African aesthetics: a philosophical perspective”, in International Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 3.
*Anyanwu, K.C. (1987): “The idea of art in African thought”, in G. Floistad (ed), Contemporary Philosophy – a new survey, Vol. 5.
*Abiodun, R. (1990): The future of African arts studies, in Smithsonian Inst. (ed), African arts studies: the state of a discipline.
*Appiah, K.A. (1997): “The arts of Africa”, in The New York Review of Books, vol. XLIV, no. 7, (24.4.1997). (Offprint)
Hallen, B. (1997): “African meanings, Western words”, in AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW, vol. 40, no. 1.
Cole, H.M. (1982): Mbari. Art and life among the Owerri Igbo. Bloomington: Indiana UP. Ch. 5; 157-182.
14. African ‘feminism’
*Oluwole, S. (1998): “Africa”, in Jaggar/ Young (eds), A Companion to Feminist Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell; pp96-107.
*Eboh, M.P. (1992): “The woman question”, in Wimmer / Nagl-Docekal (eds): Postkoloniales Philosophieren: Afrika. Vienna.
Aidoo, A.A. (1998): “The African woman today”, in Nnaemeka (ed), Sisterhood. Feminisms & Power. Trenton: Africa World Press; pp39-50.
Sofala, Z. (1998): “Feminism and African womanhood”, in Nnaemeka (ed), Sisterhood. Feminisms & Power. Trenton: Africa World Press; pp51-64.
Imbo, S. (1998): An Introduction to African philosophy. Ch. 5.
*Ardener, E. (1975): ‘Belief and the problem of women’ and ‘The problem revisited’, in S. Ardener (ed), Perceiving Women. London.
Presbey, G. (1999): ‘Should women love wisdom?’, in RESEARCH IN AFRICAN LITERATURES, vol. 30, no.2.
15. African political philosophy
*Evans-Pritchard, E. / M. Fortes (1940): African political systems. Oxford University Press. Introduction, one selected reading.
Comaroff, J. / Roberts (1980): Rules and Processes. Chicago University Press.
*Wiredu, K. (1996): “Democracy and consensus in African traditional politics”, in E. Eze (ed), Postcolonial African Philosophy.
Eze, E. (1996): “Democracy or consensus: a reply to Kwasi Wiredu”, in Eze, Postcolonial African Philosophy.
Odera Oruka (1997, 2nd ed.): A philosophy of liberty. Nairobi: Standard Textbooks.
*Gyekye, K. (1997): “Traditional political ideas, values, and practices”. Ch. 4 in Gyekye, Tradition and Modernity. Oxford University Press.
Wamba dia Wamba, E. (1994): “Africa in search of a new mode of politics”, in Himmelstrand/ al. (eds), African Perspectives on Development. London: J. Currey.
Gluckman, M. (1940): “The kingdom of the Zulu”, in Evans-Pritchard/ Fortes (eds).
Kresse, K. (1998): “Izibongo – the political art of praising”, in AFRICAN CULTURAL STUDIES, vol. 12, no. 2.
Final note: In regard to the 5000-word assessment essay on a case study, any of the above topics, but also individual thinkers or other topics (like moral philosophy, development, or others) can be chosen after consultation with me.