African storytellers and their philosopher relatives

Abstract

Literary conversations on African philosophy and literature often mirror two sides of the same epistemic dilemma in African intellectual history. On the one hand, questions emerge in negotiating the ontology or being of African philosophy or literature with regard to its substantive value. On the other hand, are epistemic anxieties on legitimation of stories told about Africa or in Africa often couched as residual epistemology to the Western intellectual gaze. The short review herein wades into these challenges and questions, showing how Jeanne-Marie Jackson, in an intriguing work delineates new perspectives that unmasks historical mis-presentations of the African novel while forging a new direction.