HUMA African Epistemologies Advanced Seminar Series

Speakers: Christopher Allsobrook and Motsamai Molefe (University of Fort Hare, South Africa)   

Our objective with this presentation has been to bring to wider attention innovative developments in political theory from sub-Saharan Africa. Need demands normative consideration of political interests in empirical matters. If Africa is thought to stand in need, we should recognise that the world needs Africa not just for raw resources but also for fresh approaches to social organisation, which transcend traditional distinctions in theoretical stagnation between liberal and socialist, left and right. This volume brings together a number of theorists associated with the African Political Theory Association (APTA). We intend to extend this to a series on neglected political concepts to be systematised and theorised, such as Dignity, Tenure, Trusteeship and Consent, the aim of which is to promote the work of innovative thinkers contributing to a critical renaissance in African politics through a return to normative theory.

About the speakers:

Christopher Allsobrook is the Director of Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa (CLEA) at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa and an editor for the local journal Theoria. His research is in African Political Theory and Ethics, with a basis in South African Intellectual and Cultural History. His current research projects include “Genealogy and Ideology", “Imperial Trusteeship in the Political Philosophy of Jan Smuts" (with Camilla Boisen, NYU Abu Dhabi), and “Africanist Education in the Late Colonial Eastern Cape".” 
 
Motsamai Molefe is a Senior Researcher at CLEA. His research focuses on African ethics, bioethics, development studies, environmental ethics, and social and political philosophy. He is the author of numerous works, including An African Philosophy of Personhood, Morality and Politics published by Palgrave Macmillan (2020).

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