Agamben at Legon, or, Teaching “Theory” in an African University

Abstract

Critical theory, especially the poststructuralist variant from which postcolonial studies draws its institutional support in US academia, is unthinkable outside of a philosophical tradition that goes back to Plato and is assumed to be Western. African studies, in and out of academia, is notably captious of critical theory, a result both of the field’s beginnings in the empiricist traditions of the social sciences and of the reflexive nationalist impulse among Africana scholars and activists who perceive critical theory as imperialism by other means. Is “theory” a singular intellectual phenomenon? Does it truly have a location? Is this location the “West”? Should (and how does) one teach it to students in African universities? In this essay I approach “theory” as the mode of intellectual practice in which ideas generated in different contexts and for different purposes are deployed in studying the world at a given moment. I address the questions posed here through two propositions, each elaborated as a particular kind of intellectual undertaking, personal and collective. First, by focusing on acts of practical and cultural translation and identifying the values of specific kinds of theoretical thinking in understanding contemporary African realities, I propose that ideas do not respect boundaries and wide reading is indispensable to the development of sensibilities that recognize difference. Second, I propose that realities everywhere are legitimate material for theoretical elaboration, using the example of philosopher Paulin Hountondji’s work on “endogenous knowledge”, In conclusion, I make a case for a model of intellectual practice that strikes a balance between personal and collective pursuits.

Keywords:

• critical theory
• African studies
• theory from the Global South
• cultural translation
• Paulin Hountondji
• Giorgio Agamben
• endogenous knowledge