"I take a critical look at these debates and focus on what they mean for the field of African philosophy in our globalized intercultural context. African philosophy has always produced heated debates and most philosophers chose to belong to the universalizing/ modernist or the particularizing/traditionalist camps. This has gone on for too long with each camp claiming the right to 'true’ African philosophy. This project advocates for an intercultural reading of African philosophy and provides a new orientation beyond both camps. Moreover, the new critical edition of Tempels' Bantu Philosophy (which I will work on with Dr Roothaan) will provide new insights for future generations of scholars to understand and evaluate the work of Tempels.
The intended research product points to a new translation of Bantu Philosophy by P. Tempels, with critical notes and an introduction (100 pages) to discuss the relevance of the work for present day African and Intercultural Philosophy, the reception of the work, its criticism and its flawed translations.
I will give some lectures and organize (together with Dr Roothaan and Prof Meeuwis) an international expert seminar on Bantu Philosophy, to bring together global scholars working on the book and benefit from the exchange of knowledge. The papers of this seminar may be published in a special issue of A Journal of World Philosophies."
Dr. Pius Mosima teaches Philosophy at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon; Assistant Chief Examiner for Philosophy at the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board (CGCEB) and Fellow at the African studies Center Leiden, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interests include African / Intercultural Philosophy; Globalization and Culture, Moral and Political Philosophy. He has several peer-re-viewed articles and book chapters, supervised research, presented papers in many conferences, facilitated many workshops and have given guest lectures in Summer Universities on these topics in many African, European and Asian universities. He is the author of Philosophic Sagacity and Intercultural Philosophy: Beyond Henry Odera Oruka (2016) and editor of A transcontinental career: Essays in honour of Wim van Binsbergen (2018).