Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PhiGe (Philosophy and Genre: Creating a Textual Basis for African Philosophy)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-04-01 al 2024-09-30
PhiGe challenges the tacit assumption of academic philosophy that nonfictional prose is the preferred or even the sole acceptable genre for philosophical discourse. This assumption is both incorrect and highly detrimental to a mapping and analysis of philosophical thought in Africa; it makes numerous important channels of philosophical thought invisible. A reconsideration of genre exposes such eclipsed philosophical traditions and makes their findings valid as philosophy. PhiGe examines a plurality of discursive traditions and genres (including oral poetry, ajami tradition, prose fiction, non-fictional texts, digital texts) in a multiplicity of languages (Swahili, Shona, Ndebele, Lingala, Ciluba, Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Wolof, as well as English and French). PhiGe straddles philosophy and literary studies, integrating also theories, methods, and findings of linguistics, cultural semiotics, history, and other disciplines. PhiGe's research is based on an empirical, bottom-up approach, starting with actual texts found in public and private archives and libraries as well as the internet. PhiGe's case studies are representative of both genre variety and language multiplicity, typologically and geographically, and together constitute an inclusive and pluralistic African philosophy.
Using Africa-centred theory, in particular drawing on texts in languages of African origin, is a breakthrough in Africanist scholarship and, generally, in the practices and methodologies of epistemic decolonization. More specifically, using African-language texts in African philosophy is a significant advance beyond the state of the art of the field. To date, African philosophy uses almost exclusively languages of European origin. The advancement is both methodological and in content; accessing Afrophone texts opens up a wealth of original ideas and innovative thinking stemming from the continent.
Using Africa-centred theory, in particular drawing on texts in languages of African origin, is a breakthrough in Africanist scholarship and, generally, in the practices and methodologies of epistemic decolonization. More specifically, using African-language texts in African philosophy is a significant advance beyond the state of the art of the field. To date, African philosophy uses almost exclusively languages of European origin. The advancement is both methodological and in content; accessing Afrophone texts opens up a wealth of original ideas and innovative thinking stemming from the continent.
The team members have worked together in several series of webinars (Jun-Jul 2020, Apr-Jul 2021, Nov 2021-Jan 2022) and an in-person workshop (7-10 Mar 2022). Our annual international conference (Asixoxe – Let's Talk! Conference on African Philosophy) took place online in 2020 and 2021 and in a hybrid format in 2022 (University of Bayreuth and online). Due to travelling restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have predominantly concentrated on theoretical and methodological aspects, zooming in on the concept of "genre" in its multiple meanings. The webinars defined "genre" in literary studies (first series), in media studies and anthropology (second series), and related to our specific texts (third series and in-person workshop). The 2021 and 2022 Asixoxe conferences were thematically oriented towards exploring "genre" beyond its uses in texts and theory, focusing on two topical themes as "genres of reality": pandemic (2021) and war (2022). The forthcoming 2023 Asixoxe conference will continue this exploration in looking at the climatic crisis, extinction and ecological collapse as a "genre of reality".
Reflecting two key motifs within PhiGe (extraction and speculative thinking), postdoctoral researcher Dr Michelle Clarke curated an exhibit in the exhibition "Extr-activism: Entkolonialisierung des Weltraumbergbaus" (9 Feb-12 Mar, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna). The exhibition presented artistic and activist positions that critically engaged with the contemporary commercial race for extractivist exploitation in space. Dr Clarke's exhibit, "Contact, Contagion and Collaboration! African Literature and Reimagining Approaches to Outer Space", explored how Outer Space is portrayed in sub-Saharan African literature. Dr Clarke gave a public talk at the exhibition on 12 Mar, entitled "Peace to all Mankind? African Literature and Reimagining Approaches to Outer Space".
Our fieldwork activities only started in the autumn of 2022. Only postdoctoral researcher Dr Chantal Gishoma was able to undertake a period of fieldwork before that. From 27 Jul to 31 Aug 2021, she visited the archives of Alexis Kagame in Butare and Kigali and digitized the entire manuscript of Kagame's magnum opus, Umulirimbyi wa Nyili-Ibiremwa, a poetic history of the universe informed by Christian as well as local Rwandan philosophy and cosmology.
In collaboration with colleagues from the DRC, the PI, Prof. Alena Rettová, and the two senior researchers, Prof. Pierre-Philippe Fraiture and Dr Albert Kasanda, organized a conference in Kinshasa (23 Nov 2022) and a workshop in Mbujimayi (26 Nov 2022) to showcase our research and prepare the activities planned for 2023. Prof. Rettová delivered a speech in Lingala at the Kinshasa conference, arguing that the use of African languages in war narratives contributes towards epistemic decolonization as it anchors the agenda of political liberation in culture and language. Dr. Kasanda delivered his talk in Ciluba in Mbujimayi, about the role of Ciluba texts in debates on Congolese post-independence politics and identity. Prof. Fraiture's contributions in both locations focused on the theme of extractivism as elaborated in Francophone Congolese literature. Both events were positively reflected in local media, emphasizing the researchers' incisive theorization of war and armed conflict in the DRC, and in Africa more broadly, on the basis of literatures in African languages and in French. Additionally, the fact that two foreign researchers used African languages to deliver academic talks was perceived as a significant contribution towards making African languages and their intellectual traditions visible and present in international scholarship.
Reflecting two key motifs within PhiGe (extraction and speculative thinking), postdoctoral researcher Dr Michelle Clarke curated an exhibit in the exhibition "Extr-activism: Entkolonialisierung des Weltraumbergbaus" (9 Feb-12 Mar, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna). The exhibition presented artistic and activist positions that critically engaged with the contemporary commercial race for extractivist exploitation in space. Dr Clarke's exhibit, "Contact, Contagion and Collaboration! African Literature and Reimagining Approaches to Outer Space", explored how Outer Space is portrayed in sub-Saharan African literature. Dr Clarke gave a public talk at the exhibition on 12 Mar, entitled "Peace to all Mankind? African Literature and Reimagining Approaches to Outer Space".
Our fieldwork activities only started in the autumn of 2022. Only postdoctoral researcher Dr Chantal Gishoma was able to undertake a period of fieldwork before that. From 27 Jul to 31 Aug 2021, she visited the archives of Alexis Kagame in Butare and Kigali and digitized the entire manuscript of Kagame's magnum opus, Umulirimbyi wa Nyili-Ibiremwa, a poetic history of the universe informed by Christian as well as local Rwandan philosophy and cosmology.
In collaboration with colleagues from the DRC, the PI, Prof. Alena Rettová, and the two senior researchers, Prof. Pierre-Philippe Fraiture and Dr Albert Kasanda, organized a conference in Kinshasa (23 Nov 2022) and a workshop in Mbujimayi (26 Nov 2022) to showcase our research and prepare the activities planned for 2023. Prof. Rettová delivered a speech in Lingala at the Kinshasa conference, arguing that the use of African languages in war narratives contributes towards epistemic decolonization as it anchors the agenda of political liberation in culture and language. Dr. Kasanda delivered his talk in Ciluba in Mbujimayi, about the role of Ciluba texts in debates on Congolese post-independence politics and identity. Prof. Fraiture's contributions in both locations focused on the theme of extractivism as elaborated in Francophone Congolese literature. Both events were positively reflected in local media, emphasizing the researchers' incisive theorization of war and armed conflict in the DRC, and in Africa more broadly, on the basis of literatures in African languages and in French. Additionally, the fact that two foreign researchers used African languages to deliver academic talks was perceived as a significant contribution towards making African languages and their intellectual traditions visible and present in international scholarship.
Prof. Rettová has published three journal articles, including a survey of recent African philosophy ("Post-Genocide, Post-Apartheid: The Shifting Landscapes of African Philosophy, 1994-2019", 2021), and four book chapters, including a presentation of PhiGe, "Philosophy and Genre: African Philosophy in Texts", in a volume edited by Albert Kasanda and Marek Hrubec. Her chapter "The Nonhuman in African Philosophy" (forthcoming in Handbook of African Philosophy, edited by Elvis Imafidon, Mpho Tshivhase and Björn Freter) outlines Prof. Rettová's research focus within PhiGe, developed in her forthcoming book: a theory of the nonhuman is articulated on the basis of texts in five African languages, including a precolonial poem and novels from the postcolonial era. Prof. Rettová is also coediting (with Dr. Kasanda) a volume with contributions based of the 2022 Asixoxe conference and is the editor of the monograph Philosophy and Genre, with chapters on the specific genres studied in PhiGe, authored by the team members.
Prof. Fraiture has edited a book, Unfinished Histories: Empire and Postcolonial Resonance in Central Africa and Belgium (2022), with chapters by several team members (himself, Dr. Gishoma, Dr. Kasanda). Dr. Kasanda's contribution is called "Writing in Ciluba: From Colonial Extirpation to the Challenge of Globalisation". Dr. Kasanda has further co-edited a book, Africa in a Multilateral World: Afropolitan Dilemmas (2022). Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Benedetta Lanfranchi has published a book chapter on sage philosophy in a volume edited by Kai Kresse and N. Oriare, Rethinking Sage Philosophy (2022), and an article "Rethinking Philosophy from African Philosophy" has recently been published in the Journal of World Philosophies (2023). Her forthcoming book analyses digital political activism in Uganda. Dr. Gishoma has published a chapter, entitled "The legacy of Alexis Kagame, Responses to conceptions of Colonisation and Evangelisation in Rwanda", in Unfinished Histories (ed. by Prof. Fraiture), and has concluded a substantial part of her book manuscript on "La Philosophie poétique d'Alexis Kagame". This book presents the philosophy of the renowned thinker based on his – largely unpublished – poetry in Kinyarwanda. Kagame's use of poetic genres and of the Kinyarwanda language make it possible for him to create connections between the deep semiotic levels of Rwandan social life, history and culture, and the new cultural phenomena arriving in Rwanda with colonialism and Christianity. Instead of a rupture, Kagame thus establishes a continuity of culture and of intellectual endeavours – through language, genre, and a deep level of cultural signification.
Dr. Clarke is working on a monograph on ecology through African speculative fictions, with an experimental part consisting of reports on creative-writing workshops in South Africa, where speculative writing projects real-world scenarios modelling ecological crises. Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Emiliano Minerba is collecting data for his monograph on Sufi poetry in Wolof in Senegal. Using ancient language and complex poetic structures, Sufi poetry is often reproduced without literal understanding by its consumers. These texts are thus at the limits of articulate language and border on an inarticulate, bodily experience of language and poetry; they merge orality, performance, and writing; and they use both Arabic (ajami) and Latin scripts.
Prof. Fraiture has edited a book, Unfinished Histories: Empire and Postcolonial Resonance in Central Africa and Belgium (2022), with chapters by several team members (himself, Dr. Gishoma, Dr. Kasanda). Dr. Kasanda's contribution is called "Writing in Ciluba: From Colonial Extirpation to the Challenge of Globalisation". Dr. Kasanda has further co-edited a book, Africa in a Multilateral World: Afropolitan Dilemmas (2022). Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Benedetta Lanfranchi has published a book chapter on sage philosophy in a volume edited by Kai Kresse and N. Oriare, Rethinking Sage Philosophy (2022), and an article "Rethinking Philosophy from African Philosophy" has recently been published in the Journal of World Philosophies (2023). Her forthcoming book analyses digital political activism in Uganda. Dr. Gishoma has published a chapter, entitled "The legacy of Alexis Kagame, Responses to conceptions of Colonisation and Evangelisation in Rwanda", in Unfinished Histories (ed. by Prof. Fraiture), and has concluded a substantial part of her book manuscript on "La Philosophie poétique d'Alexis Kagame". This book presents the philosophy of the renowned thinker based on his – largely unpublished – poetry in Kinyarwanda. Kagame's use of poetic genres and of the Kinyarwanda language make it possible for him to create connections between the deep semiotic levels of Rwandan social life, history and culture, and the new cultural phenomena arriving in Rwanda with colonialism and Christianity. Instead of a rupture, Kagame thus establishes a continuity of culture and of intellectual endeavours – through language, genre, and a deep level of cultural signification.
Dr. Clarke is working on a monograph on ecology through African speculative fictions, with an experimental part consisting of reports on creative-writing workshops in South Africa, where speculative writing projects real-world scenarios modelling ecological crises. Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Emiliano Minerba is collecting data for his monograph on Sufi poetry in Wolof in Senegal. Using ancient language and complex poetic structures, Sufi poetry is often reproduced without literal understanding by its consumers. These texts are thus at the limits of articulate language and border on an inarticulate, bodily experience of language and poetry; they merge orality, performance, and writing; and they use both Arabic (ajami) and Latin scripts.