African Philosophy and the Epistemic Marginalization of Women Routledge African Studies Series

This book examines the underexplored notion of epistemic marginalization of women in the African intellectual place. Women's issues are still very much neglected by governments, corporate bodies and academics in sub-Saharan Africa. The entrenched traditional world-views which privilege men over women make it difficult for the modern day challenges posed by the neglect of the feminine epistemic perspective, to become obvious.

Contributors address these issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives, demonstrating what philosophy could do to ameliorate the epistemic marginalization of women, as well as ways in which African philosphy exacerbates this marginalization. Philosophy is supposed to teach us how to lead the good life in all its ramifications; why is it failing in this duty in Africa where the issue of women?s epistemic vision is concerned? The chapters raise feminist agitations to a new level; beginning from the regular campaigns for various women?s rights and reaching a climax in an epistemic struggle in which the knowledge-controlling power to create, acquire, evaluate, regulate and disseminate is proposed as the last frontier of feminism.

Acknowledgements Dedication Preface Introduction 1. Addressing theEpistemic Marginalization of Women in African Philosophy and Building a Culture of Conversations 2. Henry Odera Oruka and the Female Sage: Re-evaluating the Nature of Sagacity 3. Women and Ubuntu: Does Ubuntu Condone the Subordination of Women? 4. African Philosophy, its Questions, the Place and the Role of Women and its Disconnect with its World 5. Dialogues and Alliances: Positions of Women in African Philosophy 6. Dealing with the Trauma of a Loss: Interrogating the Feminine Experience of Coping with Spouse’s Death in African Traditions 7. Human Rights Discourse: Friend or Foe of African Women’s Sexual Freedoms? 8. African Philosophy’s Injustice against Women 9. Conceptual Decolonization in African Philosophy: The Women Perspective 10. Women in the history of African Philosophy and the Imperative of ‘Her-Storical’ Perspective in the Contemporary African Philosophy 11. Buffeted: Developing an Afro Feminist Response to Environmental Questions 12. Ecofeminism in Africa: The Contribution of Wangari Maathai 13. Women in the Kitchen of Philosophy: Re-Asking the Questions of African Philosophy 14. Are Women Marginalized in African Philosophy?

Jonathan O. Chimakonam Ph.D, is a senior lecturer at the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

Louise du Toit Ph.D, is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.