The Derelictical Crisis of African American Philosophy: How African American Philosophy Fails to Contribute to the Study of African-Descended People

Abstract

Unlike many Black-specific disciplines in the academy (Black psychology, Black history, etc.), Black philosophy never completely forged a unique conceptual framework separate from American and continental philosophical traditions. Instead the field has continued to define its validity to the extent that Black authors extend the thought of white philosophers toward race. This epistemic convergence, or the extent to which Black theory converges with established white philosophical traditions and white racial sensibilities, continues to misguide many of the current philosophical techniques of Africana thought. Because this practice is so dominate, it has made current scholarship in African American and Africana thought derelict, in the sense that all investigations into Blackness are normatively and hence ideologically driven and not culturally relevant to the actual lives of Africana people.

Musing: Inhabiting Philosophical Space: Reflections from the Reasonably Suspicious

“…What would it truly mean for me to teach a “real” Latin American philosophy course? This experience reaffirmed the fact that “to be philosophical is to be bound by European philosophical tradition” (Curry , 315). Hence, Latin American philosophy and the Latin American subject are not philosophical if they do not rely on European and American concepts.…”

“…He was not attempting dialogue, but rather was calling for assimilation into European thought in order to read Latin America through a European lens. With regard to African American philosophy, Tommy J. Curry has termed this phenomenon epistemic convergence: the methods by which “black cultural perspectives are only given the status of knowledge to the extent that they extend or reify currently maintained traditions of thought in European philosophy” (Curry , 320). Similarly, the experiences of Latinas/os and their respective worldviews and philosophy could only be translated, or made suitable subjects of philosophical study, for my student by the use of white, male, European perspectives.…”

An Introduction to African-Centered Sociology: Worldview, Epistemology, and Social Theory

“…Finally, data acquisition and knowledge production within African-centered sociology should require active membership with phenomena under investigation. No longer can the sociologically-minded researcher be detached from that which s/he is investigating; we must be active participants who knowingly and willingly divulge our role as interested scholars, committed to the development of liberatory knowledge (Curry, 2011). The previously discussed epistemological considerations informed by the African worldview are the initial steps in an attempt to develop the conceptual parameters of an African-centered sociology.…”