In search of elusive humanity: Philosophy in 159 years of Africa's independence

ABSTRACT

This article was developed from a paper presented at the Unesco World Philosophy Day Symposium hosted by the University of South Africa, 21 November 2006, under the theme ‘Philosophy and 159 years of Africa's Independence.’ It explores the subject through the prism of African humanity from the perspectives of Western philosophy, traditional African philosophy and contemporary African philosophy, exposing the weaknesses of each in their treatment of the African. Throughout, the article endeavours to deconstruct the elitist self-image of the discipline and concludes by questioning the utility of philosophy in enhancing development in modern Africa.     

Towards a new paradigm for pan‐African knowledge production and application in the context of the African renaissance

Abstract

The article argues that the primary purpose of education, both formal and non‐formal, is the development of interrelated and interdependent sets of human capacity to think, to know and to act by honing social consciousness or awareness, values and skills. Investing in education is therefore viewed as investment in the development of social capital that combines with material resources and other non‐material phenomena to produce goods and services, as well as a favourable spiritual environment for human sustenance and development.

Education in Africa needs a fundamental paradigm change which entails, among other things, focusing on confronting, with a view to correcting and departing from, hegemonic knowledge and knowledge systems that are predicated on racist paradigms that have deliberately and otherwise distorted, and continue to distort, the reality of who Africans really are. The article visits some of the terrains most in need of this change: contestations about the roles Africans and Africa have played in human civilisation during the four main historical periods to date: Africa's leadership as the cradle of humankind or the Naissance of Humanity; Africa's leadership in all fields of knowledge and human achievements at the beginning of modern civilisation up to about the fourteenth century AD; the fifteenth century AD to the present which marks the only period in human development when Africa and Africans have been dominated and marginalised by mainly European civilisation and its global projections; and, the emerging era of the renaissance of Africa and other marginalised peoples.

A model curriculum that requires supplementation by the specific characteristics of each country that adopts it is suggested as a step towards this paradigm change. This modest effort at constructing a model curriculum is informed by the understanding that all Africans and peoples of African descent need to possess some basic, shared common knowledge about Africa, the Diaspora and the world ‐ and to acquire critical approaches to contextualised learning.     

Combating racism and the issue of reparations

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at previous Pan-Africanist attempts to combat the legacy of slavery and colonialism, and concludes that one of the lessons that can be learned from the Africanists of the 20th century is the necessity for unity, internationalism and placing working people at the centre. In terms of the need for the kind of repair that is now required, the paper highlights the continuing impact of Eurocentrism and racism in all its forms. In particular it stresses that the countries of Africa and the Caribbean must reject the so-called ‘universal values of the major powers’ and develop their own political institutions and paths of development, based on their own traditions. There is still the need to reclaim the history and heritage of those who are of African and Caribbean descent, but most importantly to reclaim the sovereignty of the peoples of Africa and the Caribbean. This requires that the people empower themselves, and that they become the decision makers.     

‘We're not like that’: Denial of racism in the Afrikaans press in South Africa

Abstract

While the South African media on the whole underwent significant shifts after the demise of apartheid, repositioning was especially acute on the part of the Afrikaans-language press, which during the apartheid years largely served as legitimising institutions for apartheid and now had to adapt to the changing democratic political and social environment. This repositioning coincided with a liberal consensus in the news media in general, in terms of which individual rights, independence of the media and freedom of speech were emphasised. What complicated matters for the Afrikaans media was the need to retain the loyalty of primarily white Afrikaans readers, who remained attractive to advertisers, while having to orientate itself in relation to the new centres of political power in the country. The precarious balance between the liberal consensus of individual rights and freedom of expression on the one hand, and the imperative to carry a torch for Afrikaans cultural identity in the new dispensation, comes to light in news coverage of a recent racist incident at a historically white, Afrikaans university. This article will seek to explore editorial comment on the incident in selected Afrikaans media, to indicate how the event was interpreted and presented as an individual transgression, rather than a systemic and historically determined problem.     

Canteen Banter or Racism: is there a Relationship between Oslo Police's Use of Derogatory Terms and their Attitudes and Conduct towards Ethnic Minorities?

This paper explores the possible connection between the Oslo police's use of derogatory terms about the ethnic minority population, and actual police attitudes and conduct. The article's background is a research project focusing on the relationship between the police and Oslo's ethnic minorities. Qualitative methods were applied, including observations amongst rank‐and‐file officers in three police stations, interviews with 20 police officers of different rank and gender, as well as interviews with three samples of basically ethnic minority men. The background for the police's use of derogatory terms about the ethnic minority population is discussed, and possible institutional support is explored. The canteen language and attitudes towards ethnic minorities are seen in relationship to police experiences with them. Incidents observed during the field‐work are applied in the discussion of whether the police conduct may be influenced by their language and thus lead to unjustifiable targeting of ethnic minorities for stop and search. The observations of police conduct are perceived in the light of ethnic minority informants' police experiences. Although a direct connection between derogatory terms and actual conduct was not confirmed through the observations, the ethnic minority informant interviews suggest that such a connection may not be discarded and such language must therefore be avoided as it may increase the social distance between the police and ethnic minorities.     

Neo-liberal biopolitics and the invention of chronic homelessness

Abstract

This article explores the emergence of neo-liberal housing policy and programmes in the United States, focusing in particular on the rise of social service initiatives targeting what is known as ‘chronic homelessness’. These initiatives are notable for the ways in which they privilege long-vilified populations for immediate placement into housing with no social or medical services required. While this represents a significant break from social service protocols that previously demanded compliance with service requirements, the article argues that understanding chronic homelessness initiatives as economic rather than social programmes reveals the ways in which they enable the reproduction of the same neo-liberal conditions that produce housing insecurity and deprivation. The article concludes by reframing housing issues in terms of racial subordination, which suggests that, in the neo-liberal context, social abandonment and economic investment may persist side by side.     

Reviews

Sterile art Berthold Hinz, Art in the Third Reich. Translated by Robert and Rita Kimber. Oxford: Blackwell, 1980. 268pp. £15.00, £5.50.

Reinhard Müller‐Mehlis, Die Kunst im Dritten Reich. 2nd ed.; Munich: Wilhelm Heyne, 1976. 230pp. DM8.80.

Otto Thomae, Die Propaganda‐Maschinerie. Bildende Kunst und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit im Dritten Reich. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1978. 579pp. Bibl. Ind.

The Jew in the Arab world Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: the Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. xxx+474 pp. Illus. Bibl. Ind. $14.95     

EARNEST A. HOOTON AND THE BIOLOGICAL TRADITION IN AMERICAN CRIMINOLOGY*

Biological explanations shaped criminology at its inception, and today they are reemerging with fresh vigor and increased potential. But many criminologists do not understand how biological theories developed, what they contributed to criminology generally and where they went astray. This paper focuses on the work of Earnest A. Hooton, whose criminological studies, published in 1939, met with decidedly mixed reviews but were nonetheless discussed for decades in criminological textbooks. Information about a now half‐forgotten and misunderstood figure like Hooton, in addition to being useful in and of itself, contributes to the history of criminology as a discipline—a project essential to the field's ultimate maturity. It helps build a history of criminological knowledge.     

Indian Citizenship and the Discourse of Hygiene/Disease in Nineteenth‐Century Peru

Citizenship had become conflated with 'race' in late nineteenth century Latin America partly on account of the new language of biological science. This article focuses on the contest between rights of belonging and rights of citizenship as played out in a provincial town in Andean Peru during the late nineteenth century. In particular, it explores how by drawing on a discourse of hygiene/disease a provincial elite was able to restrict access to public space in the town and thus deny 'Indians' the possibility of participating as citizens in urban political life.     

Crime,deportation and the regulation of immigrants in Canada

Criminality is now one of the most frequently used provisions for deporting non-citizens from Canada. Individuals who are convicted of crimes outlined in current immigration policies can find themselves subject to deportation proceedings after they have served their sentences unless they are eligible to make an appeal and can do so successfully. This paper examines 177 reported immigration appeal hearings in Canada involving non-citizens who are ordered deported on the basis of criminality. Using documentary analysis along with basic statistics to analyze the appeal hearing decisions, I demonstrate how gender and racial ideologies shape the outcome of these decisions. Theories of moral regulation, social control and governmentality are employed to develop an understanding of the state's treatment of immigrants. That a significant number of immigrants in this study were not deported, but were granted stays with strict conditions highlights how deportation hearings are one mechanism for differentiating between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ immigrants. This study illustrates how, through the use of racial and gender ideologies, deportation practices are as much about differential exclusion as they are about enforced assimilation. Concerns around criminality rationalizes the ongoing regulation and surveillance of immigrants and the threat of deportation ensures their compliance.This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC Grant No. 31-632203). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the British Society of Criminology Annual Meetings in Bangor, Wales, July 2003 and at the Canadian Law and Society Association Annual Meetings in Halifax, Canada, June 2003.