POSTETHNOPHILOSOPHY: DISCOURSES OF MODERNITY AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

This work examines how the so-called postethnophilosophical phase in African philosophy − propounded by Osha (2011) − fits into the perceived trajectory of the discipline and its overriding emancipatory mandate. The work appropriates ideas from arguably the two most popular “posts”: postmodernism and postcolonialism. This is done to analyse how the postethnophilosophic turn (in its attempt to transcend the discourses of ethnophilosophy and to be postethnophilosophy) opens up new possibilities for African agency and the creation of knowledge. The work argues that postethnophilosophy should concern itself with the analytic task of unmasking the darker side of modernity in order to open up those horizons and experiences once held hostage by modernity and coloniality. It is within this context that a truly global and polycentric knowledge landscape can emerge. In its quest to expose and dismantle hegemonic discourses of colonial modernity, postethnophilosophy finds itself located within the same theoretical horizon occupied by postmodernism and postcolonialism, ready to benefit from their auto-critical habit.