African Philosophy and Enactivist Cognition - (Bloomsbury Studies in World Philosophies) by Bruce B Janz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Using classic texts in African philosophy, Bruce B. Janz applies the strand of cognitive science known as enactivism to realise new connections and intersections between both fields. The idea that cognition is embodied and embedded in a social world neatly maps onto specifically African epistemologies to outline a new direction of study on what philosophy is.

By working through a rich range of texts and thinkers, Janz provides a fruitful new interpretation of African philosophy and provides close readings of seminal and sidelined thinkers to provide an invaluable resource for students and scholars. Janz's study takes in the creative humanism of Sylvia Wynter, Placide Tempels's Bantu Philosophy, Mbiti's theory of time, Oruka's last work on sage philosophy, Mogobe Ramose's own version of Ubuntu, Sophie Oluwole's active literature of philosophy, Achille Mbembe's excoriating attack on the effects of colonialism on life in Africa, and Suzanne Césaire writings on négritude.

This book reorients African philosophy towards an active and creative future informed by enactivist thinking.

Review Quotes

Brilliant, creative and a compelling guide for new encounters with African Philosophy.


Michael Onyebuchi Eze, Associate Professor of Global and Comparative Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Bruce Janz's reckoning with key figures in African philosophy is absolutely groundbreaking. Placing his readings of African philosophy inside critical and persistent theoretical questions, Janz is able to draw out the force of African thought and mark its vital place in the future of philosophical thinking. This is genuinely urgent work.
John E. Drabinski, Professor of African American Studies, University of Maryland, USA

About the Author

Bruce B. Janz is Professor of Humanities in the Department of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Humanities and Digital Research at the University of Central Florida, USA.