African Myths and Philosophy

Presentation:

This course was born out of an effort to interpret the language of Traditional Africa in terms of Western philosophy, and at the same time to see if the latter did not perhaps have, not only correlations with, but even discernible roots in the former.

The course is divided into three main parts.

1. The first part presents the two thought systems which we are trying to bring together, namely, Western Philosophy and Traditional African Wisdom. We know where to look for Western Philosophy, but where is African Wisdom to be found and what is the idiom in which it is expressed? Our answers to these questions will provide us with a theoretical framework within which we can attempt to interpret the mythical stories of Africa.
2. The second part presents the sources of African wisdom in the form of thirty myths drawn from different peoples in sub-Saharan Africa. They are mostly concerned with the origin of the world and of man.
3. The third part attempts to analyse this material in terms of structure, epistemological content and interpretation.

Content:

Part One : Philosophy and African Traditional Wisdom

Part Two : Some African Myths

Part Three : An Attempt to interpret African Myths

Chapter One: Structural Analysis

Chapter Two : Epistemological Analysis

Chapter Three : Hermeneutic Analysis