Africana Philosophy and Philosophy of Race

Catalog description

Africana Philosophy is a relatively new area of philosophical research that seeks to examine and explore the problems faced by the people of the African diaspora, meaning those who have ancestors from the African continent. (Primarily from Africa, the Caribbean, and both North and South America.) In this course we will be considering the different ways Africana Philosophers sought to address various philosophical problems such as those arising from their struggle against racism, colonization, and the legacy of slavery. We will also pay particular attention to how they conceived of their racialized identity and what impact it may have had on their work. But first we’ll begin by briefly exploring what philosophers refer to as the metaphysics of race. In this section, we’ll try to get a sense of what we mean by race or races. Are races groups of people that share similar physical traits? Or does one’s ancestry determine one's race? Or are races merely something created by human social or cultural practices—and if so, how? As we know, racial classification is significant, because it can confer negative social and political values onto individuals by using their ‘race’ as a means of regulating their socio-political life and as a rationale for their dehumanization. This will then help us get a better understanding of the issues raised by a people whose humanity has been challenged and called into question.