The invention of Africa : gnosis, philosophy, and the order of knowledge / V.Y. Mudimbe.

Main entry:

Mudimbe, V. Y., 1941-

Title & Author:

The invention of Africa : gnosis, philosophy, and the order of knowledge / V.Y. Mudimbe.

Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [1988]
©1988

Description:

xii, 241 pages ; 25 cm.

Series:

African systems of thought

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-232) and index.
Introduction -- I. Discourse of power and knowledge of otherness -- II. Questions of method -- III. The Power of speech -- IV. E. W. Blyden's legacy and questions -- V. The Patience of philosophy -- Conclusion: The geography of a discourse -- Appendix: Ethopian sources of knowledge.
Current Copyright Fee: GBP50.00 0.

Summary:

"What is the meaning of Africa and being an African? What is and what is not African philosophy? Is philosophy part of Africanism? These are the kinds of fundamental questions that this book addresses. V.Y. Mudimbe argues that the various discourses themselves establish the worlds of thought in which people conceive their identity. Western anthropology and missionaries have introduced distortions not only for outsiders but also for Africans trying to understand themselves. Mudimbe goes beyond the classic issues of African anthropology or history. He says that the book attempts an archeology of African gnosis as a system of knowledge in which major philosophical questions recently have arisen: first, concerning the form, the content, and the style of Africanizing knowledge; second, concerning the status of traditional systems of thought. He is directly concerned with the processes of transformation of different types of knowledge."--Book cover.

Resources:
Available from ACLS Humanities:
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required:

ISBN:

0253331269
9780253331267
0253204682 (pbk.)
9780253204684 (pbk.)
0852552033
9780852552032

Subject:

Philosophy, African.
Knowledge, Theory of.
Conocimiento, Teoría del.
Théorie de la connaissance.
Philosophie africaine.
epistemology.
Ethnologie.
Mystik.
Mythologie.
Soziologie.
Philosophie
Afrikaanse filosofie.
Wetenschap.
Négritude.
Afrika.
Afrique noire Civilisation.
African philosophy

Added entries:

African systems of thought.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 299669
Call No.: BIB 245821
Status: Available

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