Join us on 6 September, from 16:00-17:30 at the Franz Palm Hall in SBE in discussing post-colonialism and modernity in Africa with one of the leading African philosophers in this field. In his lecture, Africa’s Second Struggle for Freedom: What’s decolonization got to do with it?, Prof. Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (Africana Studies and Research  Center, Cornell University) provocatively challenges many aspects of the current discourse on decolonization.

Abstract of the talk:
The freedom of ordinary Africans and their  ability, at the individual level, to control their lives, lead lives marked by inviolate dignity of their persons and concurrent limits on the reach of governments and of their fellows in their daily lives, must never be up for negotiation. Indeed, this ought  to be the standard by which we judge the legitimacy and attractiveness of any government and the quality of any of our societies in the continent as it increasingly is the case in other parts of the world that are also embracing struggles similar to what I  have here called our second struggle for freedom. Africa is not alone in this connection at the present time.  The difference is that those who are dominated by what he calls the metaphysics of difference that underpins an unhelpful cathexis to identity are  loathe to see these similarities and, as a result, leave themselves without help from the experiences of other humans both in the past and at present. What’s decolonisation got to do with it? The basic principles for which Africans are immolating themselves,  risking life and limb in standing up to dictatorial/authoritarian regimes and generally insisting that they, too, must be free are shared with other oppressed humanity from Denmark to Myanmar, from Eswatini to China. The discourse on decolonisation is a distraction from this much-needed struggle.

You can use this direct link to register, or the QR code in the poster for the talk.