Decolonising the Human
Reflections from Africa on Difference and Oppression
Published on 1. March 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
260 pages
978-1-77614-651-2 (ISBN)
Description
Decolonising the Human examines the ongoing project of constituting 'the human' in light of the durability of coloniality and the persistence of multiple oppressions
The 'human' emerges as a deeply political category, historically constructed as a scarce existential resource. Once weaponised, it allows for the social, political and economic elevation of those who are centred within its magic circle, and the degradation, marginalisation and immiseration of those excluded as the different and inferior Other, the less than human.
Speaking from Africa, a key site where the category of the human has been used throughout European modernity to control, exclude and deny equality of being, the contributors use decoloniality as a potent theoretical and philosophical tool, gesturing towards a liberated, pluriversal world where human difference will be recognised as a gift, not used to police the boundaries of the human. Here is a transdisciplinary critical exploration of a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and decolonial studies.
The 'human' emerges as a deeply political category, historically constructed as a scarce existential resource. Once weaponised, it allows for the social, political and economic elevation of those who are centred within its magic circle, and the degradation, marginalisation and immiseration of those excluded as the different and inferior Other, the less than human.
Speaking from Africa, a key site where the category of the human has been used throughout European modernity to control, exclude and deny equality of being, the contributors use decoloniality as a potent theoretical and philosophical tool, gesturing towards a liberated, pluriversal world where human difference will be recognised as a gift, not used to police the boundaries of the human. Here is a transdisciplinary critical exploration of a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and decolonial studies.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
368 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77614-651-2 (9781776146512)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Melissa Steyn (Editor)
Melissa Steyn holds the South African National Research Chair in Critical Diversity Studies and is the founding director of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies. She is best known for her publications on whiteness and white identity in post-apartheid South Africa.
William Mpofu (Editor)
William Mpofu is a researcher at the WITS centre for diversity studies at the University of Witwatersrand. He is also a member of the Africa Decolonial Research Network.
Melissa Steyn holds the South African National Research Chair in Critical Diversity Studies and is the founding director of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies. She is best known for her publications on whiteness and white identity in post-apartheid South Africa.
William Mpofu (Editor)
William Mpofu is a researcher at the WITS centre for diversity studies at the University of Witwatersrand. He is also a member of the Africa Decolonial Research Network.
Content
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Chapter 1 The Trouble with the Human - William Mpofu and Melissa Steyn
Chapter 2 The Invention of Blackness on a World Scale - Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Patricia Pinky Nkete
Chapter 3 To What Extent Are We All Humans? Of Culture, Politics, Law and LGBT Rights in Nigeria - Olayinka Akanle, Gbenga S. Adejare and Jojolola Fasuyi
Chapter 4 Humanness and Ableism: Construction and Deconstruction of Disability - Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Chapter 5 Doing the Old Human - Cary Burnett
Chapter 6 Being a Mineworker in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Decolonial Perspective - Robert Maseko
Chapter 7 Meditations on the Dehumanisation of the Slave- Tendayi Sithole
Chapter 8 'Language as Being' in the Politics of Ngugi wa Thiong'o - Brian Sibanda
Chapter 9 The Underside of Modern Knowledge: An Epistemic Break from Western Science - Nokuthula Hlabangane
Chapter 10 The Fiction of the Juristic Person: Reassessing Personhood in Relation to People - C.D. Samaradiwakera-Wijesundara
Chapter 11 The Cultural Village and its Idea of the 'Human' - Morgan Ndlovu
Chapter 12 A Fragmented Humanity and Monologues: Towards a Diversal Humanism - Siphamandla Zondi
Contributors
Index
Chapter 1 The Trouble with the Human - William Mpofu and Melissa Steyn
Chapter 2 The Invention of Blackness on a World Scale - Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Patricia Pinky Nkete
Chapter 3 To What Extent Are We All Humans? Of Culture, Politics, Law and LGBT Rights in Nigeria - Olayinka Akanle, Gbenga S. Adejare and Jojolola Fasuyi
Chapter 4 Humanness and Ableism: Construction and Deconstruction of Disability - Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Chapter 5 Doing the Old Human - Cary Burnett
Chapter 6 Being a Mineworker in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Decolonial Perspective - Robert Maseko
Chapter 7 Meditations on the Dehumanisation of the Slave- Tendayi Sithole
Chapter 8 'Language as Being' in the Politics of Ngugi wa Thiong'o - Brian Sibanda
Chapter 9 The Underside of Modern Knowledge: An Epistemic Break from Western Science - Nokuthula Hlabangane
Chapter 10 The Fiction of the Juristic Person: Reassessing Personhood in Relation to People - C.D. Samaradiwakera-Wijesundara
Chapter 11 The Cultural Village and its Idea of the 'Human' - Morgan Ndlovu
Chapter 12 A Fragmented Humanity and Monologues: Towards a Diversal Humanism - Siphamandla Zondi
Contributors
Index