Gail M Presbey
Biographic Data
| ID | 2278263 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gail M Presbey |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gail M |
| FAMILY NAME | Presbey |
| SIGNATURE | PRESBEY G M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Detroit Mercy |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5798-2605 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Trinidad's Role in the Development of Nonviolent Strategies: Focus on C. L. R. James
This paper will focus on the often‐neglected peace and nonviolence contributions of Afro‐Trinidadian radicals C.L.R. James and George Padmore. Regularly not included in accounts of the development of nonviolent strategies because of their Marxist and Trotskyist approaches, I will argue that they play a key role in the development of nonviolent strategies, both in their native Trinidad and in the greater Pan‐African world. James and Padmore each e…
How nonviolent movements in the Caribbean influenced Pan‐Africanism
A project centering Black people across the African continent and diaspora, Pan‐Africanism has been both a local and a global force since the late eighteenth century. Its history of people, ideas, and networks is rich with connections. My article explores the relationship between Pan‐Africanism and nonviolence. I examine the place of nonviolence in popular struggles in the British Caribbean colony of Trinidad in the 1930s. Against the divide‐and‐…
Women’s Rights in Kenya since Independence: The Complexities of Kenya’s Legal System and the Opportunities of Civic Engagement
Since Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963, women’s rights in the country have made slow gains and suffered some setbacks. However, the rights of women and their guaranteed participation in politics was outlined in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution. This paper will survey some of those gains as well as describe the social backlash experienced by women leaders who have been trailblazers in post-colonial Kenyan politics
Sophie Olúwọlé's Major Contributions to African Philosophy
This article provides an overview of the contributions to philosophy of Nigerian philosopher Sophie Bọ ́sẹ`dé Olúwọlé (1935–2018). The first woman to earn a philosophy PhD in Nigeria, Olúwọlé headed the Department of Philosophy at the University of Lagos before retiring to found and run the Centre for African Culture and Development. She devoted her career to studying Yoruba philosophy, translating the ancient Yoruba Ifá canon, which embodies the…
Exploring a More Inclusive and Pluralistic Sense of American Identity
Gandhi's Many Influences and Collaborators
In Gandhi's Printing Press, Isabel Hofmeyr introduces readers to the nuances of the newspaper in a far-flung colony in the age when mail and news traveled by ship and when readers were encouraged by Gandhi to read slowly and deeply. This article explores the ways in which Thoreau's concept of slow reading influenced Gandhi and Hofmeyr herself. She discusses the community that surrounded Gandhi and the role it played in supporting the newspaper. Y…
Portrait of a Contemporary American Revolutionary: Grace Lee Boggs
Women's empowerment: The insights of Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai of Kenya has written about empowerment, practiced it in many ways in her own life, and shared her reflections on it with many other women in the Green Belt Movement. Yet to date, no study has been devoted to her ideas on the topic. This paper will highlight Maathai's insights regarding empowerment, tracing several important themes in her approach, namely, empowerment's relationship to self-esteem, teamwork, and political action, i…
Bâtir une « culture nationale » interethnique et Intergénérationnelle au Kenya
The challenges of building community based on a common identity that also respects differences has two different kinds of chasms to cross. There is the division of ethnic groups, and there is also the generational gap. Given recent problems of ethnic violence that broke out during the December 2007 elections, can contemporary Kenyans build community, coming to common understanding with others on issues such as value and identity? This is not a ne…
Attempts to create an Inter-ethnic and Inter-generational 'National Culture' in Kenya
The challenges of building community based on a common identity that also respects differences has two different kinds of chasms to cross. There is the division of ethnic groups, and there is also the generational gap. Given recent problems of ethnic violence that broke out during the December 2007 elections, can contemporary Kenyans build community, coming to common understanding with others on issues such as value and identity? This is not a ne…
Sage Philosophy: Criteria That Distinguish It from Ethnophilosophy and Make It a Unique Approach within African Philosophy
E valuating the L egacy of N onviolence in S outh A frica
Nelson Mandela departed from Gandhian nonviolence when he asserted that apartheid rule made resort to violence by the African National Congress necessary. Mandela claimed that the anti‐apartheid movement in South Africa was strengthened by including both violence and nonviolence. This paper investigates the claims of several authors who claim that South Africa would have gained freedom from apartheid more quickly if it had remained purely nonviol…
Challenges of Founding a New Government in Iraq
African Philosophy and the Quest for Autonomy: A Philosophical Investigation by Leonhard Praeg
The Struggle for Recognition in the Philosophy of Axel Honneth, Applied to the Current South African Situation and its Call for an `African Renaissance
The paper applies insights from Axel Honneth's recent book, The Struggle for Recognition, to the South African situation. Honneth argues that most movements for justice are motivated by individuals' and groups' felt need for recognition. In the larger debate over the relative importance of recognition compared with distribution, a debate framed by Taylor and Fraser, Honneth is presented as the best of both worlds. His tripartite schema of recogni…
Unfair Distribution of Resources in Africa: What Should be done about the Ethnicity Factor
Understanding African Philosophy: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Classical and Contemporary Issues
Understanding Another Culture: Understanding others and ourselves A procedure from an aesthetic point of view 'Found in Translation' 2. Foundations in Modern Philosophy: Ethnophilosophy and the 'negritude' movement Critical, scientific philosophy Sage philosophy 3. Liberation and Postcolonial African Philosophy: African humanism and socialism Postcolonial African thought The question of 'race' 4. African Moral Philosophy 1: Community and Justice:…
Guns and Gandhi in Africa: Pan-African Insights on Nonviolence, Armed Struggle and Liberation in Africa by Bill Sutherland and Matt Meyer
H. Odera Oruka on Moral Reasoning
The Wisdom of African Sages
The paper explores the role of sage philosophy, founded by Professor H. Odera Oruka of the University of Nairobi, within African philosophy and philosophy in general. It is argued that considerations of sage philosophy raise the larger issue of the relationship of wisdom to philosophy. An early literature of wisdom philosophy, dealing with the art of living, has been marginalized by modern philosophy, where concerns for wisdom are peripheral. Kek…
Should Women Love ?Wisdom?? Evaluating the Ethiopian Wisdom Tradition
In the face of a world academic community that has been skeptical regarding the existence of a written philosophical tradition in Africa, Claude Sumner of Addis Ababa University has devoted over forty years to finding and studying Ge'ez philosophical texts in Ethiopia, as well as exploring a now written oral tradition of proverbs. Sumner's position on written texts is unique within the debate on African philosophy. Most of the focus of the debate…
Criticism of Multiparty Democracy: Parallels between Wamba-dia-Wamba and Arendt
The IMF, World Bank, and former colonial powers have put pressure on African countries to adopt multiparty democracy. Because of this pressure, many formerly one-party states as well as some military dictatorships have embraced Western and Parliamentarian democratic forms. But does this mean that democracy has succeeded in Africa? Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba of the University of Dar-es-Saalam and CODESRIA argues that embracing Western paradigms in an …
Racism and Sexism: An Integrated Study
The Struggle for Recognition in the Philosophy of Axel Honneth, Applied to the Current South African Situation and its Call for an `African Renaissance
The paper applies insights from Axel Honneth's recent book, The Struggle for Recognition, to the South African situation. Honneth argues that most movements for justice are motivated by individuals' and groups' felt need for recognition. In the larger debate over the relative importance of recognition compared with distribution, a debate framed by Taylor and Fraser, Honneth is presented as the best of both worlds. His tripartite schema of recogni…
Criticism of Multiparty Democracy: Parallels between Wamba-dia-Wamba and Arendt
The IMF, World Bank, and former colonial powers have put pressure on African countries to adopt multiparty democracy. Because of this pressure, many formerly one-party states as well as some military dictatorships have embraced Western and Parliamentarian democratic forms. But does this mean that democracy has succeeded in Africa? Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba of the University of Dar-es-Saalam and CODESRIA argues that embracing Western paradigms in an …
Women's empowerment: The insights of Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai of Kenya has written about empowerment, practiced it in many ways in her own life, and shared her reflections on it with many other women in the Green Belt Movement. Yet to date, no study has been devoted to her ideas on the topic. This paper will highlight Maathai's insights regarding empowerment, tracing several important themes in her approach, namely, empowerment's relationship to self-esteem, teamwork, and political action, i…
Unfair Distribution of Resources in Africa: What Should be done about the Ethnicity Factor
Sophie Olúwọlé's Major Contributions to African Philosophy
This article provides an overview of the contributions to philosophy of Nigerian philosopher Sophie Bọ ́sẹ`dé Olúwọlé (1935–2018). The first woman to earn a philosophy PhD in Nigeria, Olúwọlé headed the Department of Philosophy at the University of Lagos before retiring to found and run the Centre for African Culture and Development. She devoted her career to studying Yoruba philosophy, translating the ancient Yoruba Ifá canon, which embodies the…
Gandhi's Many Influences and Collaborators
In Gandhi's Printing Press, Isabel Hofmeyr introduces readers to the nuances of the newspaper in a far-flung colony in the age when mail and news traveled by ship and when readers were encouraged by Gandhi to read slowly and deeply. This article explores the ways in which Thoreau's concept of slow reading influenced Gandhi and Hofmeyr herself. She discusses the community that surrounded Gandhi and the role it played in supporting the newspaper. Y…
The Wisdom of African Sages
The paper explores the role of sage philosophy, founded by Professor H. Odera Oruka of the University of Nairobi, within African philosophy and philosophy in general. It is argued that considerations of sage philosophy raise the larger issue of the relationship of wisdom to philosophy. An early literature of wisdom philosophy, dealing with the art of living, has been marginalized by modern philosophy, where concerns for wisdom are peripheral. Kek…
Racism and Sexism: An Integrated Study
Criticism of Multiparty Democracy: Parallels between Wamba-dia-Wamba and Arendt
The IMF, World Bank, and former colonial powers have put pressure on African countries to adopt multiparty democracy. Because of this pressure, many formerly one-party states as well as some military dictatorships have embraced Western and Parliamentarian democratic forms. But does this mean that democracy has succeeded in Africa? Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba of the University of Dar-es-Saalam and CODESRIA argues that embracing Western paradigms in an …
The Wisdom of African Sages
The paper explores the role of sage philosophy, founded by Professor H. Odera Oruka of the University of Nairobi, within African philosophy and philosophy in general. It is argued that considerations of sage philosophy raise the larger issue of the relationship of wisdom to philosophy. An early literature of wisdom philosophy, dealing with the art of living, has been marginalized by modern philosophy, where concerns for wisdom are peripheral. Kek…
Should Women Love ?Wisdom?? Evaluating the Ethiopian Wisdom Tradition
In the face of a world academic community that has been skeptical regarding the existence of a written philosophical tradition in Africa, Claude Sumner of Addis Ababa University has devoted over forty years to finding and studying Ge'ez philosophical texts in Ethiopia, as well as exploring a now written oral tradition of proverbs. Sumner's position on written texts is unique within the debate on African philosophy. Most of the focus of the debate…
H. Odera Oruka on Moral Reasoning
Guns and Gandhi in Africa: Pan-African Insights on Nonviolence, Armed Struggle and Liberation in Africa by Bill Sutherland and Matt Meyer
African Philosophy and the Quest for Autonomy: A Philosophical Investigation by Leonhard Praeg
The Struggle for Recognition in the Philosophy of Axel Honneth, Applied to the Current South African Situation and its Call for an `African Renaissance
The paper applies insights from Axel Honneth's recent book, The Struggle for Recognition, to the South African situation. Honneth argues that most movements for justice are motivated by individuals' and groups' felt need for recognition. In the larger debate over the relative importance of recognition compared with distribution, a debate framed by Taylor and Fraser, Honneth is presented as the best of both worlds. His tripartite schema of recogni…
Unfair Distribution of Resources in Africa: What Should be done about the Ethnicity Factor
Understanding African Philosophy: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Classical and Contemporary Issues
Understanding Another Culture: Understanding others and ourselves A procedure from an aesthetic point of view 'Found in Translation' 2. Foundations in Modern Philosophy: Ethnophilosophy and the 'negritude' movement Critical, scientific philosophy Sage philosophy 3. Liberation and Postcolonial African Philosophy: African humanism and socialism Postcolonial African thought The question of 'race' 4. African Moral Philosophy 1: Community and Justice:…
Challenges of Founding a New Government in Iraq
E valuating the L egacy of N onviolence in S outh A frica
Nelson Mandela departed from Gandhian nonviolence when he asserted that apartheid rule made resort to violence by the African National Congress necessary. Mandela claimed that the anti‐apartheid movement in South Africa was strengthened by including both violence and nonviolence. This paper investigates the claims of several authors who claim that South Africa would have gained freedom from apartheid more quickly if it had remained purely nonviol…
Sage Philosophy: Criteria That Distinguish It from Ethnophilosophy and Make It a Unique Approach within African Philosophy
Bâtir une « culture nationale » interethnique et Intergénérationnelle au Kenya
The challenges of building community based on a common identity that also respects differences has two different kinds of chasms to cross. There is the division of ethnic groups, and there is also the generational gap. Given recent problems of ethnic violence that broke out during the December 2007 elections, can contemporary Kenyans build community, coming to common understanding with others on issues such as value and identity? This is not a ne…
Attempts to create an Inter-ethnic and Inter-generational 'National Culture' in Kenya
The challenges of building community based on a common identity that also respects differences has two different kinds of chasms to cross. There is the division of ethnic groups, and there is also the generational gap. Given recent problems of ethnic violence that broke out during the December 2007 elections, can contemporary Kenyans build community, coming to common understanding with others on issues such as value and identity? This is not a ne…
Women's empowerment: The insights of Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai of Kenya has written about empowerment, practiced it in many ways in her own life, and shared her reflections on it with many other women in the Green Belt Movement. Yet to date, no study has been devoted to her ideas on the topic. This paper will highlight Maathai's insights regarding empowerment, tracing several important themes in her approach, namely, empowerment's relationship to self-esteem, teamwork, and political action, i…
Portrait of a Contemporary American Revolutionary: Grace Lee Boggs
Gandhi's Many Influences and Collaborators
In Gandhi's Printing Press, Isabel Hofmeyr introduces readers to the nuances of the newspaper in a far-flung colony in the age when mail and news traveled by ship and when readers were encouraged by Gandhi to read slowly and deeply. This article explores the ways in which Thoreau's concept of slow reading influenced Gandhi and Hofmeyr herself. She discusses the community that surrounded Gandhi and the role it played in supporting the newspaper. Y…
Exploring a More Inclusive and Pluralistic Sense of American Identity
Sophie Olúwọlé's Major Contributions to African Philosophy
This article provides an overview of the contributions to philosophy of Nigerian philosopher Sophie Bọ ́sẹ`dé Olúwọlé (1935–2018). The first woman to earn a philosophy PhD in Nigeria, Olúwọlé headed the Department of Philosophy at the University of Lagos before retiring to found and run the Centre for African Culture and Development. She devoted her career to studying Yoruba philosophy, translating the ancient Yoruba Ifá canon, which embodies the…
Women’s Rights in Kenya since Independence: The Complexities of Kenya’s Legal System and the Opportunities of Civic Engagement
Since Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963, women’s rights in the country have made slow gains and suffered some setbacks. However, the rights of women and their guaranteed participation in politics was outlined in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution. This paper will survey some of those gains as well as describe the social backlash experienced by women leaders who have been trailblazers in post-colonial Kenyan politics
How nonviolent movements in the Caribbean influenced Pan‐Africanism
A project centering Black people across the African continent and diaspora, Pan‐Africanism has been both a local and a global force since the late eighteenth century. Its history of people, ideas, and networks is rich with connections. My article explores the relationship between Pan‐Africanism and nonviolence. I examine the place of nonviolence in popular struggles in the British Caribbean colony of Trinidad in the 1930s. Against the divide‐and‐…
Trinidad's Role in the Development of Nonviolent Strategies: Focus on C. L. R. James
This paper will focus on the often‐neglected peace and nonviolence contributions of Afro‐Trinidadian radicals C.L.R. James and George Padmore. Regularly not included in accounts of the development of nonviolent strategies because of their Marxist and Trotskyist approaches, I will argue that they play a key role in the development of nonviolent strategies, both in their native Trinidad and in the greater Pan‐African world. James and Padmore each e…
Sociology (18 works) · Political science (17 works) · Law (13 works) · African cultural and philosophical studies (12 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · African philosophy (5 works)