Cyril-Mary P. OLATUNJI - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Cyril-Mary P. OLATUNJI

To know where one is coming from is to know where one is heading, and to know where one is headin... more To know where one is coming from is to know where one is heading, and to know where one is heading is to know where one is coming from. A statement such as this is often employed successfully to help maintain an indigenous knowledge system. Western scholars, on the other hand, have effectively excluded all non-Western knowledge systems from the domain of science. In Africa, all that seems left is the maintenance of relics of history in the name of African indigenous knowledge system. Like having to decide between the undesired and the impossible, choosing between obsoletism and the ‘impossible African science ’ seems to leave Africa with only an option of having to extol primitivism. Is Primitivism indigenous to Africa? Especially in the Western world, culture is often associated with such things as good breeding and finesse in human relations: an educated condition; a well developed taste and capacity for the arts such as music, sculpture, literature..., in Africa, culture often re...

The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2013

Bad governance provides a breeding ground for poverty and backwardness. Good governance by implic... more Bad governance provides a breeding ground for poverty and backwardness. Good governance by implication should enhance development in terms of economic, social and political development. Although many scholars agree that the main problem with Nigeria, as with many African countries, is that there is something wrong with their political office holders, it is nevertheless not strange to discover that in between the two opposites of good and bad governance, scholars continue in hot debates on where to place the blame of the defects of democratic practice in Nigeria. The foregoing debate notwithstanding, this paper addresses itself to a more fundamental issue. It argues, on the one hand, that regardless of whether democracy merely facilitates or necessarily produces economic or social prosperity, and on the other hand that whether or not Nigeria has adopted the right codes in the practice of democracy, some fundamental conditions under which good governance necessarily flows from democra...

The looming trend of cultural assertion in our world is both indisputable and indestructible. The... more The looming trend of cultural assertion in our world is both indisputable and indestructible. The phenomenon therefore cannot be taken with levity or ignored. Arguably, it is an offshoot of the epistemological crises that attend the modernist tradition and consequently of its post-modernist offspring. This growing trend necessitates a need for Africa to assert her cultural difference from which it can project self- identity. Since Africans are part of humanity, they share many things in common with people from other socio-cultural settings. However an authentic African cultural identity will be based on that which is in some ways peculiar to Africans in their cultural practices. While avoiding misguided relativism as well as the fixed stereotypical conception of culture, which, paradoxically, breed not only polarism, but also negative pluralism, parochialism, ethnocentrism and primitivism, this paper espouses positive plurality as a means of ensuring genuine and original contributio...

Essays on Contemporary Issues in African Philosophy, 2021

Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions, 2020

This essay offers a critical review of Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani’s article ‘On agreed action without a... more This essay offers a critical review of Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani’s article ‘On agreed action without agreed notions.’ Ani’s paper makes a critique of Kwasi Wiredu’s consensual democracy to the conclusion that though desirable, left the way it is, the model of consensus on which the idea of Wiredu’s non-party democracy was founded is itself admirable but defective and, therefore, calls for further enhancements. While not suggesting that Wiredu’s idea is perfect, this paper provides some objections to Ani’s view without necessarily aiming to make an apologetic defence of Wiredu. In the process, this paper, employing a critical conversation method, examines the most salient criticisms of Ani against Wiredu to the conclusion that Ani’s suggestion, by which he has opened up a new horizon in understanding human nature and assisting in making scholarly post-deliberation analysis, is impracticable. That is, it is still practically incapable of necessarily impacting any significant value to the p...

Commonwealth Youth and Development, 2019

The question has been asked whether Africans are capable of critical and logical reasoning. This ... more The question has been asked whether Africans are capable of critical and logical reasoning. This question has come in different forms ranging from whether Africans are rational to whether there is any such thing as “African philosophy.” Unfortunately many African scholars have become fixated on reacting to the debate in defence of Africa rather than showing how in reality certain philosophies are indigenous to Africa. Even when some attempt to show this, they simply tell stories of traditional beliefs that have long since been abandoned even in communities where they were once in vogue, and the scholars defend primitivism by advocating a return to those practices under different guises. Using comparative examples of the fallacy of the “complex question” and the concept of evhien’ida in an African language, this article attempts to cast doubt on some previous assumptions about African societies by both Afro-apologists and Afro-pessimists. It demonstrates on the one hand that the trad...

Human Affairs, 2018

Traditionally, such a statement as ‘I was misled’ is intended to be taken seriously by the addres... more Traditionally, such a statement as ‘I was misled’ is intended to be taken seriously by the addressee and considered an expression of the true state of affairs. Unfortunately, the statement has many logical implications that often go unnoticed by both the one who utters it and the addressee. The paper critically explores the instrumentality of logical and epistemological analyses in its attempt to lay bare the implications of the statement being true and of entertaining the underlying belief in the first place that ‘I was misled’. By so doing, the paper attempts to show that even if the function of philosophy is merely to analyse language, it would still have contributed indispensably and significantly to human society by clarifying ambiguous concepts. It also attempts to demonstrate the relevance of critical thinking in human society.

Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, 2016

The International Journal of Literary Humanities, 2015

Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions, 2016

Many of the philosophers of African politics who have argued that the political challenges of Nig... more Many of the philosophers of African politics who have argued that the political challenges of Nigeria, and of Africa as a whole are as a result of the impunity and corruption of post-independence Nigeria leaders also give the impression that the people of Nigeria are mere innocent victims because in their arguments all the ills of the Nigerian state exist only because the country have not experienced or discovered an honest and capable political leader. The scholars argue to the effect that all that Nigeria can do is simply to hope for the ascendance of a Messiah, who being an honest, capable and patriotic leader will on his own volition become committed to the cause of reversing the situation in order to turn around all the ills of the nation. Employing the examples of two prominent scholars of African politics (Chinua Achebe and Larry Diamond) the paper employs the epistemological rigor of analysis and logic to examine and make a critique of the underlying assumptions of the scholars and identifies the theoretical flaws of believing that political representatives are substantively political leaders, that Nigerians are helpless victims who on their own are incapable of reversing the situation and that Nigeria should hope for a political saviour who will turn around all the social and political ills of Nigeria on his own accord.

Clcweb Comparative Literature and Culture, 2013

This paper deals with gender issues in African culture. Many scholars working on African indigeno... more This paper deals with gender issues in African culture. Many scholars working on African indigenous and non-indigenous cultures have had something to say about the treatment of the women folk and the topic of gender inequality in Africa (see for instance, Olokesusi, 2011:2; Cheru, 2008:8; Steady, 1981:7-41; Evan-Pritchard, 1965: 76-101). While Y. A. Blay contends that “any train of thought that interrogates the condition and/or position of women, be it social, economic, political or the like, is an import of the West and therefore inapplicable in the global African context”, the paper shows that African traditional practices often paraded as African cultures are sometimes hindrances to gender equality and emancipation of women folk, other scholars, such as Bahru Zewde (2002:7-16), have suggested that the roots of female oppression are to be sought in customs and traditions, in spite of a legal system that guarantees women rights in Africa. The main objective of this paper however is to advance an argument for the re-examination of the widespread belief that treatment of women as a second class or inferior gender is indigenous to Africa, and that liberty and equality, which are the most crucial factors in ensuring social order, are necessarily not gender neutral in African indigenous cultures. First name, Last name, "title of article" page 2 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture X.X (2008): Cyril-Mary P. OLATUNJI An African Argument from the compendium of Yoruba Ancient Wisdom against Gender

DESCRIPTION Paper on Causation: It tends to raise and provide answers to a question such as: Can ... more DESCRIPTION Paper on Causation: It tends to raise and provide answers to a question such as: Can a Person be Misled? Who should be blamed, the 'mis-leader' or the misled? What are the conditions under which an agent could mislead or be misled?

Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2010

A statement such as this is often employed successfully to help maintain an indigenous knowledge ... more A statement such as this is often employed successfully to help maintain an indigenous knowledge system. Western scholars, on the other hand, have effectively excluded all non-Western knowledge systems from the domain of science. In Africa, all that seems left is the maintenance of relics of history in the name of African indigenous knowledge system. Like having to decide between the undesired and the impossible, choosing between obsoletism and the 'impossible African science' seems to leave Africa with only an option of having to extol primitivism. Is Primitivism indigenous to Africa? Especially in the Western world, culture is often associated with such things as good breeding and finesse in human relations: an educated condition; a well developed taste and capacity for the arts such as music, sculpture, literature ..., in Africa, culture often refers to the way of life of our forefathers. In this sense it is often reduced to an unchanging tradition (Okpokunu 2002, 99-126).

Steven TÖTÖSY de ZEPETNEK Bibliography of Contextual (Systemic and Empirical) Approaches in the S... more Steven TÖTÖSY de ZEPETNEK Bibliography of Contextual (Systemic and Empirical) Approaches in the Study of Literature and Culture This Bibliography contains works following the theoretical and methodological premises and postulates established in Itamar Even-Zohar's polysystem theory, Niklas Luhmann's systems theory, Siegfried J. Schmidt's empirical study of literature (Empirische Literaturwissenschaft), Jacques Dubois's theory of the literary institution (l'institution littéraire), and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the literary field (champ littéraire). Relevant items are also included from systems-oriented frameworks following Robert Estivals's système d'écriture and the macrosystem approach of Immanuel Wallerstein. Several of these theoretical frameworks are less known on the theoretical landscape of US-American scholarship and thus the "contextual" designation comes closest to the postulates of the frameworks each of which with various degrees of systems and/or empirical orientation. The bibliography includes 1) theoretical and meta-theoretical studies, 2) applications of above frameworks, and 3) selected works whose theoretical trajectory, although not explicitly stated, is similar to above frameworks.

Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2012

... of traditional Western philosophy through other avenues like religion, the legal system, the ... more ... of traditional Western philosophy through other avenues like religion, the legal system, the economic system, technology (Olatunji, 2006:73-78 ... Ilesanmi, AO, 2007, 'Poverty Alleviation and Economic Growth in Nigeria', African Journal of Stability and Development, 1(2): 131-46. ...

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 2013

Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press... more Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press selects, develops, and distributes quality resources in several key subject areas for which its parent university is famous, including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine, and other selected disciplines in the humanities and sciences. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." In addition to the publication of articles, the journal publishes review articles of scholarly books and publishes research material in its Library Series. Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies.

Egbon Jendele Ohungbo, Frank. C. Akpagu (a.k.a Onowu) and L. Ramugondo. This thesis would never h... more Egbon Jendele Ohungbo, Frank. C. Akpagu (a.k.a Onowu) and L. Ramugondo. This thesis would never have started had it not been for the generous intervention of a God-sent friend; Lucy Fuchs, with whom I have lost contact, but to whom I am grateful. I cannot but acknowledge the encouragement, contributions and supports I received from Lynda Nyame, Mustapha and Lola Jinadu, Esther Mairigida, Leah Ngubane and Esien Cobham and N. G. Nkhwanazi. I sincerely appreciate the cooperation and support of all Nigerian students at the University of Zululand between 2008 and 2010, and the West African Students Union (WASU) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Most of all, an unreserved appreciation goes to those whose contributions are sincerely acknowledged, but whose names did not come to mind at the very moment of composing this acknowledgement. This acknowledgement is incomplete without acknowledging the contributions of my personal and theoretical critics. Their criticisms and pessimism have contributed immensely to the quality of this thesis. v Dedication My Mother, Margaret Olanike Mosunmola Olatunji (Onu'Ijéndé) (alive for ever) and My Father, James Dahunsi Olatunji (Doctor) (alive for ever) vi