The ‘Image of Africa’ in Africana Sociology (original) (raw)

Toward an Africanised Canon: Rethinking Sociology for the 'African Condition'

2012

This paper critiques the limitations of the traditional sociological canon, which centers on Western thinkers like Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. It argues for a more inclusive canon that reflects the unique social realities of Africa, often termed the "African condition." By drawing on post-colonial and postmodern insights, the paper exposes the exclusionary nature of the current canon and the unequal power dynamics in knowledge production between the West and Africa. This critique paves the way for incorporating historically marginalised scholars whose works hold immense value for understanding Africa. The paper proposes including figures like Ibn Khaldun, an Arab sociologist who pre-dated Western scholars, Harriet Martineau, a feminist who analysed colonial impacts, W.E.B. Du Bois, a pioneering African American sociologist, and Michel Foucault, whose theories on power are highly relevant to African contexts. Broadening the canon fosters a more credible and reflexive sociology that acknowledges diverse perspectives and lived experiences. This enriched understanding is crucial for African studies and for global understanding of social phenomena.

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The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of Am...

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The ‘Image of Africa’ in Africana Sociology (original) (raw)

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