Philosophy in black: african philosophy as a negritude

Abstract

African philosophy, as a negritude, is a moment in the postcolonial critique of European/Western colonialism and the bodies of knowledge which sustained it. Yet a critical analysis of its’ original articulations reveals the limits of this critique and more broadly of postcolonial studies, while also pointing towards more radical theoretical possibilities within African Philosophy. Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay “Black Orpheus”, a philosophical appropriation of negritude poetry, serves as a guide for this reflection, for the text reveals the inspiration and wealth of expressions of negritude, as well as their ambiguity. Sartre’s essay however also renders possible a further act of re-appropriation that takes us beyond culture-centred readings of African philosophy and postcolonialism, readings whose conceptual and critical potential is far greater than what has hitherto been explored.