african philosophy

In this episode of the Chasing Leviathan podcast, PJ and Dr. Jonathan Chimakonam discuss his work on developing a system of logic from African intellectual traditions. Dr. Chimakonam also explains how an African system of logic could provide answers for the world's most pressing social and scientific issues.

For a deep dive into Dr. Jonathan Chimakonam's work, check out his book:
Ezumezu: A System of Logic for African Philosophy and Studies 👉 https://a.co/d/aHR1evl

Check out our blog on www.candidgoatproductions.com 

Who thinks that they can subdue Leviathan? Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified. Nothing on earth is its equal. It is without fear. It looks down on all who are haughty; it is king over all who are proud. 

These words inspired PJ Wehry to create Chasing Leviathan. Chasing Leviathan was born out of two ideals: that truth is worth pursuing but will never be subjugated, and the discipline of listening is one of the most important habits anyone can develop. 

Every episode is a dialogue, a journey into the depths of a meaningful question explored through the lens of personal experience or professional expertise.

A lengthy conversation with Jeanne-Marie Jackson about her new book and its creative staging of dialogue between fiction and philosophy, with particular emphasis on how that dialogue happens within the texts of contemporary anglophone African writers.

Jeanne-Marie Jackson is a literary critic and scholar of world literature who teaches in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. She has published extensively on African literature, philosophy, and politics in both scholarly and popular venues. Her first book, South African Literature’s Russian Soul: Narrative Forms of Global Isolation, is a compelling comparative study, creating intellectual space within which it is possible to connect the motifs and imperatives of 19th century Russian realist literature to the literature of South Africa in the apartheid era and postcolonial moment. Her new book, which is under discussion in the conversation, was published in early 2021 with Princeton University Press and is titled The African Novel of Ideas: Philosophy and Individualism in the Age of Global Writing.

A conversation with Zeyad el Nabolsy, Pierre-Philippe Fraiture, and Grant Farred about the forthcoming collection Africana Studies: Theoretical Futures, forthcoming in spring 2022 with Temple University Press. The volume addresses the history and future of the field of Africana studies, with emphasis on theoretical innovations and possibilities in Africa and the black Atlantic.

Zeyad el Nabolsy is a doctoral student in Africana Studies at Cornell University, where he works on African iterations of philosophy, culture, and Marxism in a continental and global intellectual context and has authored a piece on political economy and African philosophy for the volume under discussion. Pierre-Philippe Fraiture, the author of the volume’s Afterword, is Professor in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick and writes on philosophy and cultural theory with particular emphasis on francophone Africa, including Past Imperfect: Time and African Decolonization, 1945-1960, which was published in 2021 by Liverpool University Press. Grant Farred, the editor of Africana Studies: Theoretical Futures, is Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University, where he writes and teaches philosophy, cultural studies, and literature in a black Atlantic context. Grant is the author of a number of books, including most recently An Essay for Ezra: Racial Terror in America, published by University of Minnesota in late 2021.