The humanism of reconstruction

African intellectuals, decolonial critical theory and the opposition to the 'posts' (postmodernism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism)

Bibliographic Data

ID2173100
AuthorsSara Marzagora (0000-0003-3989-3080)
Year2016
Volume28
Issue2
Pages161-178
Publication date2016-05-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of African Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-6815 • E-ISSN: 1469-9346
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13696815.2016.1152462
OpenAlexW2318143063
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited44

This article traces the mixed fortunes of what intellectuals like Paul Tiyambe Zeleza refer to as the 'posts' (poststructuralism, postmodernism and postcolonialism) in African studies. It documents the historical processes and intellectual developments that, starting from the 1980s, laid the ground for an integration of deconstructive elements in the thought of African scholars. Despite the support garnered from scholars like Achille Mbembe, the 'posts' have encountered in African studies a high degree of opposition, if not outright hostility. Deconstructionism was perceived by many theorists to dangerously depart from the pressing ethico-political concerns and humanistic imperatives of the African intellectual agenda. Mbembe's concept of Afropolitanism is similarly being criticized for magnifying some of the theoretical prejudices and weaknesses of which the 'posts' (and particularly postcolonial studies) had already been accused. The article concludes by discussing some theoretical solutions put forward by African scholars to move away from rigid conceptions of cultural essentialism while retaining a notion of identity stable enough to be mobilized politically and ideologically

Aesthetics · Critical theory · Epistemology · Essentialism · Eurocentrism · Humanism · Ideology · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Postcolonialism (international relations · Postmodernism · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · African history and culture studies · Anthropology · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy

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