Philosophy and African Development: Theory and Practice

Authors

Lansana Keita
Samir Amin
Wilfred L. David
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Lewis R. Gordon
Paulin Hountondji
Messay Kebede
Lansana Keita
Francis B. Nyamnjoh
Sanya Osha
Kwesi Kwaa Prah
Godfrey B. Tangwa
Jean-Pierre Ymele
Eiman Osman Zein-Elabdin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57054/codesria.pub.173

Keywords:

Philosophy, African Development, Theory , Practice

Synopsis

Philosophy and African Development:Theory and Practice appraises development in a holistic manner. It goes beyond the usual measurement in terms of economic achievement and widens the scope to include the impact that history of ideas, political theory, sociology, social and political philosophy, and political economy have had on development in Africa. It is a departure from the traditional treatment of development by economists who point towards the so-called time-tested assertions and recommendations for ‘sustainable development’, but which are yet bring about significant change in the economies of the so-called ‘developing’ societies. It is on account of the failures of the economic development theory, with its tepid prescriptions for ‘sustainable development’ and ‘poverty reduction’ that theories of development have now been expanded from mere economic analysis to include considerations of history, sociology, political economy and anthropology, as could be discovered in this book.

Most of the contributions in this book have been prepared by philosophers across Africa and the United States who implicitly practise their discipline as one whose most effective modern function would be to appraise the human experience in all its dimensions from the standpoints of modern social and natural sciences, all disciplinary offspring of philosophy itself. With chapters ranging from issues of modernity and religious interpretations, the human right to development, the idea of ‘African time’, the primacy of mental decolonisation, and the type of education we are offering in Africa today and as a tool for development, to development planning, science, technology and globalisation, as well as issues of post-coloniality among others, the tenor of the contributions is not only proportional, but also engaged in the meta-analysis of the theories on which the concept of development is founded and practised.

This book is strongly recommended as a useful text in the hands of scholars, researchers and students of development studies. It approaches the important issue of African development from the broad perspective of the social sciences in general, and buttresses this with the keen analytical approach of its contributors.

 

Chapters

  • Modernity and Religious Interpretations
    Samir Amin
  • The Human Right to Development
    Wilfred L. David
  • On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time
    Souleymane Bachir Diagne
  • Fanon and Development: A Philosophical Look
    Lewis R. Gordon
  • Dialogue with Lansana Keita: Reflections on African Development
    Paulin Hountondji
  • African Development and the Primacy of Mental Decolonisation
    Messay Kebede
  • Philosophy and Development: On the Problematic African Development – A Diachronic Analysis
    Lansana Keita
  • Relevant Education for African Development: Some Epistemological Considerations
    Francis B. Nyamnjoh
  • Culture: The Missing Link in Development Planning in Africa
    Kwesi Kwaa Prah
  • Appraising Africa: Modernity, Decolonisation and Globalisation
    Sanya Osha
  • Philosophy, Democracy and Development: History and the Case of Cameroon
    Godfrey B. Tangwa
  • Science, Technology and Development: Stakes of Globalisation
    Jean-Pierre Ymele
  • Postcoloniality and Development: Development as a Colonial Discourse
    Eiman Osman Zein-Elabdin

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Author Biographies

Lansana Keita

is Associate Professor of Economics and Philosophy at the University of the Gambia. His publications include Science, Rationality and Neoclassical Economics (1992) and Philosophy and Development (2004).

Samir Amin

is Director of Third World Forum, Senegal. His most recent publications include Eurocentrism (1989 and 2010), Capitalism in the Age of Globalization (1997), and Aid to Africa: Redeemer or Coloniser (2009).

Wilfred L. David

is Professor of African Studies, Howard University, USA. Among his publications are The Conversation of Economic Development (1997) and The Humanitarian Development Paradigm: Search for Global Justice (2004).

Souleymane Bachir Diagne

is Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA. His recent publications include (co-editor) The Meanings of Timbuktu (2008) and Comment philosopher en Islam (2010).

Lewis R. Gordon

is Professor of Philosophy, Temple University , USA. Among his publications are Fanon and the Crisis of European Man (1995) and Divine Warning: Reading Disaster in the Modern Age (2009)

Paulin Hountondji

is Professor of Philosophy, Universite’ de Cotonou, Republique du Benin. He is author of African Philosophy: Myth and Reality (1983) and La rationalite’, une ou plurielle? (2007).

Messay Kebede

is Professor of Philosophy, University of Dayton, USA. He is the author of Meaning and Development (1994) and most recently Education, Politics and Social Change in Ethiopia (2010).

Lansana Keita

is Associate Professor of Economics and Philosophy, University of The Gambia. His publications include Science, Rationality, and Neoclassical Economics (1992) and Africa Development, XXXIV, 1, 2004: Special Issue on Philosophy and Development (Guest Editor).

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

is Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Among his publications are Insiders and Outsiders: Citizenship and Xenophobia in Contemporary Southern Africa (2006) and Intimate Strangers (2010).

Sanya Osha

is Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Research on Innovation, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. He is the author of Kwasi Wiredu and Beyond: The Text, Writing and Thought in Africa and Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Shadow (2007).

Kwesi Kwaa Prah

is Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), Cape Town, South Africa. He is co-author of Africa in Transformation: Political and Economic Transformation and Socio-Political Responses in Africa (2000). He is also a co-author of African Perspectives on China in Africa (2007).

Godfrey B. Tangwa

is Professor of Philosophy, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. He is the author of Road Companion to Democracy and Meritocracy (1998) and The Traditional African Perception of a Person: Some Implications for Bioethics (2000).

Jean-Pierre Ymele

is Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. He is the author of ‘De Descartes a Newton: la querrelle des “qualites occultes” et l’ouverture de la rationalite’, Terroirs, April, 2007, and ‘Le vanhivaux : regard sociologique’, Share. Revue de communication scientifique , Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009.

Eiman Osman Zein-Elabdin

is Professor, Department of Economics, Franklin and Marshall College, USA. She is co-editor of Postcolonialism Meets Economics (2004) and author of Economics, Culture and Development (2010).

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Contents
Contributors
Preface
1. Modernity and Religious Interpretations
2. The Human Right to Development
3. On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time
4. Fanon and Development: A Philosophical Look
5. Dialogue with Lansana Keita: Reflections on African Development
6. African Development and the Primacy of Mental Decolonisation
7. Philosophy and Development: On the Problematic African Development — A Diachronic Analysis
8. A Relevant Education for African Development: Some Epistemological Considerations
9. Culture: The Missing Link in Development Planning in Africa
10. Appraising Africa: Modernity, Decolonisation and Globalisation
11. Philosophy, Democracy and Development: History and the Case of Cameroon
12. Science, Technology and Development: Stakes of Globalisation
13. Postcoloniality and Development: Development as a Colonial Discourse
Bibliography

Published

April 29, 2011

Series

CODESRIA Books
Copyright (c) 2011 CODESRIA Books Publication System