The Spirit of the Pluriverse

Africana Spirit-Based Epistemologies and Interepistemic Thinking

Bibliographic Data

ID8200464
AuthorsJake Wumkes (Temple University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume91
Issue4
Pages737-756
Publication date2023-12-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfae028
OpenAlexW4399352262
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

In this article, I argue that interepistemic thinking is characteristic of Africana spirit-based epistemologies and that such thinking is essential to the construction of the pluriverse. I demonstrate that the spiritual basis of many Africana epistemologies facilitates interepistemic thinking and the making of a more equitable, functional, and healthy “modernity.” This is despite narratives of modernity, such as that of Max Weber, that are embedded in a secular-rationalist ideology, which tend to mark spirituality as an invalid means of accessing, representing, or (re)producing truth, marking it as “primitive,” destined to disappear, and as incompatible with the so-called modern world. For this reason, decoloniality as it applies to an analysis of Africana spirit-based epistemologies must demonstrate the limited, Eurocentric nature of the secular-rationalist paradigm. I support these arguments through an analysis of the role of interepistemic thinking in the spirit-based epistemologies apparent in what are commonly referred to as African diasporic religions. In doing so, I will also offer a critical perspective on the application of religion as a conceptual category to the realities of the peoples of the African diaspora, following important recent scholarship in the study of religion. I will begin with a review of the nature of the pluriverse and a brief description of Nelson Maldonado-Torres’s (2008) critique of secularism, followed by an analysis of interepistemic thinking as it can be observed within Africana spirit-based epistemologies, and conclude with an explanation of how this may inform a critical reconsideration of the epistemic bases that undergird the modern/colonial world system

Aesthetics · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Philosophy · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development

Tools

Open DOI