Contemporary African philosophy, identity and the question of African languages

Abstract

The issue of African identity is arguably the central plank of contemporary African philosophy due mainly to historical and contextual reasons. While the almost inadvertent attention to the theme highlights African philosophy as a discipline that is responsive to the exigencies of its immediate fulcrum, the attitude of many Africans in real life to the factors that undergird identity betrays this apparently worthy attention. This essay reviews the import of the issue of identity in contemporary African philosophy vis-a-vis the language policy of most African countries as well as the attitude of many Africans towards their indigenous languages. Given the pivotal importance of language in ensuring cultural identity it argues that there is an antithesis between the quest for identity and the neglect of African languages and concludes that the revival of African sense of identity requires a transvaluation of African values. Introduction To speak of contemporary African philosophy bespeaks of historicity of the sub-discipline. It is an affirmation that African philosophy is historical, as well as a statement against the views of scholars like C. B. Okolo (1992: 35) that African philosophy started with PlacideTempels' Bantu Philosophy. That Okolo's view is not defensible should be taken for granted given the current state of research on the history of African philosophy. Today we have histories of African philosophy taking full consideration of Ancient Egyptian philosophy, philosophy of North African Christian fathers of the Church, Islamic African philosophy, philosophy of diaspora Africans in pre-contemporary period, including Anton Wilhelm Amo, and of course, contemporary African philosophy.