Postcolonial thinking and modes of being-with others
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Abstract
This paper seeks to interrogate the mode of relationality – or Being-with Others – that supports
a responsible postcolonial thinking. The paper draws from both the Western and African philosophical traditions. Three modes of Being-with Others are identified at the hand of Martin
Heidegger’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s work, namely the exterior mode, in which we simply exist
alongside one another; the interior mode, wherein our identities are assimilated by a historicallyconstituted community; and, the non-essentialised mode, wherein our identities are open to Others. The paper critically explores African Humanism and African Communitarian in order to
demonstrate how – in practice – these views often lend support to the exterior mode and the
interior mode respectively. As an alternative to these views, a reading of African philosophy that
foregrounds the Political as first philosophy is given. It is demonstrated how this reading not only
demands a non-essentialised mode of Being-with Others (which will be motivated as the preferred relational mode), but also leads to a view of postcoloniality that is premised on the inherent
openness of being and community.
Description
CITATION: Woermann, M. 2020. Postcolonial thinking and modes of being-with others. Etica & Politica, XXII, 3:833-848.
The original publication is available at http://www2.units.it/etica
The original publication is available at http://www2.units.it/etica
Keywords
Postcolonialism, Ubuntu (Philosophy), Communitarianism, Philosophy, African, Cosmopolitanism
Citation
Woermann, M. 2020. Postcolonial thinking and modes of being-with others. Etica & Politica, XXII, 3:833-848.