The Nonhuman in African Philosophy

Whilst much analysis of African philosophy focuses on humanistic traditions, this book argues that there is an alternative history of African philosophy based on understandings of the nonhuman, or "the world", from across the continent.

The book starts with a precolonial Swahili poem which has reached across the continent with direct and indirect philosophical resonances and intellectual contiguity. Centring textual traditions in African languages, the book departs from philosophical topics drawn from European languages or world philosophy. Instead, the book demonstrates that locally constituted discourses have alternative philosophical orientations and interests, alternative intellectual histories in which the reception of the philosophical heritage passes through specific textual and linguistic channels. Interrogating texts in Swahili, Shona, Ndebele, Wolof, and Kinyarwanda, the book’s coverage ranges from classical poetry to existentialist and postmodern novels, to songs and post-conflict literature.

Challenging humanist and Europhone African philosophical assumptions, this book is an important read for researchers of African philosophy, literature, languages, and cultural studies.

Alena Rettová is Professor of African and Afrophone Philosophies at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Prior to joining Bayreuth, Alena taught Swahili literature and African philosophy at SOAS University of London for 14 years. Her publications include Afrophone Philosophies: Reality and Challenge (2007) and Chanter l'existence: La poésie de Sando Marteau (2013). Alena has co-produced a series of films about philosophy, Philosophical Journeys: Experiencing Texts, filmed in the DRC, Rwanda, the Czech Republic, and France.