Integrating African heritage studies as a new terrain of African philosophy

Morakinyo, Olusegun Nelson

doi:10.1080/02580136.2015.1125149

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(14 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Virtue is attained by participating in webs of social significance arising from interpersonal bonds (Gyekye 2002). Menkiti (1984): Gyekye (2004): Wiredu and Gyekye (1992): Morakinyo (2016): and Metz (2020) confirm that in Africa, no human is a tabula rasa, not even a child. Instead, ancestral spirits shape society and influence reason, morality, and responsibility.…”

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Gyekye (2004): Wiredu and Gyekye (1992): Morakinyo (2016): and Metz (2020) propose that a communitarian concept of personhood, underpinned by a concept of moral virtue prevails in Africa. Virtue is attained by participating in webs of social significance arising from interpersonal bonds (Gyekye 2002).…”

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, existing social-ecological studies of naturalcultural landscapes (Lindholm and Ekblom 2019) acknowledge the extraordinary diversity of human relations with the environment but also tend to narrow the lens, leaving us with only anthropocentric views of personhood. Gyekye (2004): Wiredu and Gyekye (1992): Morakinyo (2016): and Metz (2020) propose that a communitarian concept of personhood, underpinned by a concept of moral virtue prevails in Africa. Virtue is attained by participating in webs of social significance arising from interpersonal bonds (Gyekye 2002).…”

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Salted Identities: Biocultural Heritage for a Rehumanized Ocean Management in South Africa

Boswell

2022

Anthropology and Humanism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, I discuss coastal and oceanic biocultural heritage and its relevance to a transformed perception of the ocean and coast in South Africa. An anthropology of biocultural heritage at the coast reveals the multidimensional nature of personhoods-specifically transspecies, trans-material forms of personhood-and the rich dialogical engagement of "humans" with nature and marine species. Through sensory ethnography on coastal biocultural heritage in South Africa's Northern Cape, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape provinces, I challenge anthropocentric strategies for ocean management and assert the need to consider sensory/embodied relations with the sea and the sentience of other species in the marine space. By presenting on and discussing coastal biocultural heritage, I hope to advance discussions on identity in Africa as well as marine epistemologies for a rehumanized ocean management in South Africa and the world. [personhood, biocultural heritage, South Africa, ocean management, sensory ethnography] In October 2020, my team of South African social scientists set out to initiate field research on coastal cultural heritage. We aimed to study human cultural connections with the coast, given that South Africa's ocean-economy strategy, Operation Phakisa (loosely translated as "hurry up") is focused mainly on the ocean as an economic resource. Within a few days, the team met Nanhla, a healer-diviner who explained that many traditional Xhosa peoples in South Africa believe in the existence of people from the ocean and the river. Believers go to these waters to pray and ask ancestors residing there for help. Nanhla said that there were medicines in the sea (amafutha enje) and that one could stay there for a week or more (Ulwandle nalo luyafukenyele) to listen to the noise of the ocean for that noise has something special to tell them.Nanhla's story intrigued me. Why were ancestors in the sea? How was the sea medicine? Why is it that the connection of South Africans to the ocean is hardly noted in public discourse? What are the implications of such omissions? And what might these stories tell us about the nature of personhoods in South Africa? Nanhla's story and the stories of other South Africans the team interviewed by the team since October 2020 revealed a deep and varied human connection to the ocean and coast. These stories inspired this article and associated considerations of coastal personhoods and biocultural heritage in South Africa.

show abstract

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theorizing Personhoodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation