101 books
—
68 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge” as Want to Read:
The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge
(African Systems of Thought)
by
..". groundbreaking... clear, straightforward, and economical.... seminal... " --American Anthropologist
"This is a challenging book... a remarkable contribution to African intellectual history." --International Journal of African Historical Studies
"Mudimbe's description of the struggles over Africa's self-invention are vivid and rewarding. From Blyden to Sartre, Temples to ...more
"This is a challenging book... a remarkable contribution to African intellectual history." --International Journal of African Historical Studies
"Mudimbe's description of the struggles over Africa's self-invention are vivid and rewarding. From Blyden to Sartre, Temples to ...more
Paperback, 241 pages
Published
May 1st 1988
by Indiana University Press
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Invention of Africa,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about The Invention of Africa
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge
just finished it and i'm too dumb to write anything about it rn but it good
...more
Essential reading for anyone interested in how the West invented/constructed damaging ideologies to subjugate African societies and subvert their cultures. Interestingly, Mudimbe's argument is primarily derived from Foucauldian thought yet interesting research on various African societies (especially regarding a modernity that pre-dates European expansion, see his section on the Dogon and missionary texts) and Mudimbe's reconceptualization of Africa through an antithetical "Western" critical gaz
...more
Mudimbe does philosophy like a talk-show host or a parliamentary speaker. His benches are packed with hundreds of religious leaders, political thinkers, anthropologists, and philosophers who have moved African self-understanding. Their discussions are most eloquent, but unfortunately there is scarcely a woman in the auditorium.
In these pages, Carl Sagan undertakes to test Dogon cosmology. Zulu Chief Buthalezi and F. Eboussi-Boulaga debate the directions of African religion. The "Bantu Philosophy ...more
In these pages, Carl Sagan undertakes to test Dogon cosmology. Zulu Chief Buthalezi and F. Eboussi-Boulaga debate the directions of African religion. The "Bantu Philosophy ...more
Mudimbe does philosophy like a talk-show host or a parliamentary speaker. His benches are packed with hundreds of religious leaders, political thinkers, anthropologists and philosophers who have moved African self-understanding. Their discussions are most eloquent, but unfortunately there is scarcely a woman in the auditorium.
In these pages Carl Sagan undertakes to test Dogon cosmology. Zulu Chief Buthalezi and F. Eboussi-Boulaga debate the directions of African religion. The "Bantu Philosophy" ...more
In these pages Carl Sagan undertakes to test Dogon cosmology. Zulu Chief Buthalezi and F. Eboussi-Boulaga debate the directions of African religion. The "Bantu Philosophy" ...more
It might be an amazing history of how social scientists have described African thought, but I didn't really understand it, probably.
One thing I am more convinced of than ever is that it is post-colonial philosophers and thinkers who will eventually find a way out of the maze of dead ends that "Western" thought seems to have wrought, and not "Westerners" trying to patch some Other into their system. If that means anything at all. ...more
One thing I am more convinced of than ever is that it is post-colonial philosophers and thinkers who will eventually find a way out of the maze of dead ends that "Western" thought seems to have wrought, and not "Westerners" trying to patch some Other into their system. If that means anything at all. ...more
Fascinating & difficult at first to wrap the head around; Mudimbe in essence tackles the creation of paradigms that are largely misunderstood in classical Western thought.
Dec 17, 2015
Leonardo
marked it as to-keep-reference
mind=blown... thats all really... mind freakin blown
Originally read for university. Somewhat outdated at this point but good for specialists.
Very heavy and anthropological. A little outdated now too but I can see why it was influential at the time. I can also see the comparisons between this work and Edward Said with African studies and postcolonial studies respectively.
Suggest only for African Studies scholars. Very dense and specific to a particular area of study.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers also enjoyed
Other books in the series
African Systems of Thought
(1 - 10 of 23 books)
News & Interviews
Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel, Black Buck—which Colson Whitehead calls a “mesmerizing novel, executing a...
34 likes · 6 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Suddenly it becomes possible that there are just others, that we ourselves are an “other” among others.”
—
1 likes
More quotes…
