From Salimonu Kadiri.
This Kant thing reminds me of what the late and the greatest Nigerian labour leader, Pa Michael Imodu, once expressed in pidgin English while stating his disappointment over how the educated (?) Nigerian class caused the ruin of Nigeria. He said, "A no go school - e better for me, because people wey go school e no get sense. If them get sense, Nigeria e no go be like this. Them talk say Nigeria be giant of Africa when for my two eyes na dwarf goat of Africa a de see." This Kant knowledge is not about generating and distributing electricity to Nigerian households, it is not about refining crude oil for Nigerian domestic consumption and it is not about pumping potable water into every household in Nigeria etc. To me, whatever is said about Kant is just like talking loudly and saying nothing. If Pa Imodu were still alive, he would have retorted, "Waiting concern me about Kant, na him go bring light, water, food for chop, house for sleep?"
S. Kadiri
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: 18 June 2022 18:53
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re-reading the Canon. Lecture 1: Philosophy, Racist Ideology & Liberatory Pedagogy. A reflection on Kant & the canon problem
Sent: 18 June 2022 18:53
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re-reading the Canon. Lecture 1: Philosophy, Racist Ideology & Liberatory Pedagogy. A reflection on Kant & the canon problem
Even better perhaps-
Kantian Professor of the Humanities.
According to one source, "Professor of the Humanities" is awarded for striking achievement in various humanities disciplines.
Perhaps if I'm committed enough in broadening my scope, the award could even read "Kantian Professor of the Humanities, of Philosophy of Science and Social Media Studies"
Can you imagine that?!
One person carrying that load of award.
Toyin
On Sat, Jun 18, 2022, 16:59 Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks, Gloria.
"Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, Kantian Professor and Chair in Social Media Studies.
A professorship awarded for Adepoju's unusually innovative explorations of Kant, fine grained, multidisciplinary and multicultural studies bringing to a broad readership Kant's fellowship with humanity in pursuit of the most pressing questions of existence, doing this in terms of that most democratic of public platforms, social media, Adepoju's extensive publications in that medium making his work a landmark in new styles of scholarship at the entrance to a new millenium"
On Sat, Jun 18, 2022, 14:42 Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:
Professor of Kantian Studiesand Social Media,we look forward to your brillianceand "geniusness" at the June 30conference, and beyond.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 3:34 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re-reading the Canon. Lecture 1: Philosophy, Racist Ideology & Liberatory Pedagogy. A reflection on Kant & the canon problemEXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.
It's important to read critically rather than to impose ones preconceptions on what one reads.--
I devoted an elaborate essay to a dialogue with Bjoern on Kant and you call that a dismissal?
Seems you might need to wear your scholarly hat more in social media dialogues instead of this tendecy to retreat into uncritical verbal brushstrokes when dealing with perspectives you don't agree with.
Have you read Kant? How much Kant do you know? How well have you understood what you know? How informed are you about the signposts of his work in relation to his total productivity? What is the scope of your analysis of Kant? To what degree do you engage with Kant scholarship?
These are the questions through which critique of a scholar's engagement with any body of knowledge, including Kant Studies, is asessed.
It's not about projecting unsubstantiated views, ungrounded in both the primary subject and it's sorrounding scholarship.
Anyone can see that my Kant scholarship is grounded in close study of Kant, in a degree of relationship to the circles of scholarship developed in relation to his work, going beyond these to bring Kant's thought into dialogue with some of the greatest expressive achievements of various cultures, in various disciplines, Asian, African, Western, and to some degree, Islamic, from the visual and verbal arts to spirituality and philosophy, therefore I can't be accused of Eurocentric parochialism.
The simple truth is that certain achievements in all fields of endevour are unique miracles of creativity, distinctively demonstrating human potential, achievements that inspire acknowledgement from people of all ideological persuasions who understand them. The limitations of Kant's work do not deny him that distinction.
Your responses, indicating strongly held and emotive convictions that do not demonstrate acquaintance with Kant's work or with Kant scholarship, suggest one pole of the mythologising to which Kant is subjected.
The other pole sees him as the creator of a forbidding forest of thought, a solipsist living in his own mind, engrossed in his almost self flagellatory existence as a perpetual bachelor of amazingly routinised life style in one small town where he was born, when, in fact, his striking minimality of existence is about the discipline required to pursue the most fundamental questions without extranous considerations.
We cant all live like that, and Kant had a richer social existence than is often attributed to him, succeeding in social integration as a university lecturer within which context he pursued his mental explorations, but we can learn from such people.
Such mythologising suggests there needs to be more texts that allow Kant to speak for himself, in tandem with close anaysis of what he says, analysis that is simple and clear, yet responding adequately to the profundities of the Konigsberg master.
My central interest in approaching Kant in that way is to foreground his character as a seeker of ultimate meaning, describing his awe at the wonder of existence and trying to map various responses to this wonder, in the context of asking how much human beings can really know about the mysterious immensity in which they find themselves and how they can live within the context of this mystery.
Kant is a fellow traveller for me in this quest in which I am also engaged.
So, my study of Kant is centred in the raison d'etre of my life, it's ultimate purpose, yet approaches this coincidence of values between myself and the advocate of international unity in the critical spirit representing Kant at his best, while going beyond the limitations of his epistemology and developing his work in relation to a cultural ecumenism foreign to him.
I thereby make my own contribution to Kant Studies and perhaps to the various subjects into which I bring him into dialogue with.
I wish you a nice, Afrocentric weekend.
Thanks
Toyin
On Fri, Jun 17, 2022, 20:20 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:
--Have the last word on this. You alsodismissed Bjoern's critique of Kantso I am in good company- andhe is a philosophy specialist.
I suggest that you attend this conferenceon Racist Ideology with focus on Kant etc.June 30, 2022.
Have a nice Kantian weekend.
GE
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of bfreterb@gmail.com <bfreterb@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 9:11 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re-reading the Canon. Lecture 1: Philosophy, Racist Ideology & Liberatory Pedagogy. A reflection on Kant & the canon problemEXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.
--Dear All,
You are cordially invited to the first lecture in the series: Re-reading the Canon. New perspectives on ignored problems!
The first lecture will be delievered by the great Huaping Lu-Adler.
Please find all details below!
I hope to see you there!
All the best,
Bjoern
Lecture 1
Philosophy, Racist Ideology & Liberatory Pedagogy:
a reflection on Kant & the canon problem
Huaping Lu-Adler
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown
Vice President, North American Kant Society
June 30, 2022, 4-6 pm (BST)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pf-GupzwvH9Umntg1j5enh9985IDZxm8Q
Björn Freter (he/him/his), PhD
Lecturer in World Philosophy
School of History, Religions and Philosophies,
The School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS),
University of London
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