Towards an African Political Philosophy of Needs, edited by Motsamai Molefe and Christopher Allsobrook

Abstract

Towards and African Political Philosophy of Needs (2021) is an edited collection of ten chapters on the topic of needs in contemporary African political and social philosophy. In the introductory chapter of this collection the editors, Motsamai Molefe and Christopher Allsobrook, align this project with the post-independence thought of Africa in the 1950s and 1960s: ‘We have in mind leaders like Nkrumah, Senghor, Nyerere, Awolowo, Kuanda and Sekou Toure’ (2021, p. 5). These were all leaders in newly independent African nations and serious political thinkers—the ‘philosopher kings’ (Molefe & Allsobrook 2021, p. 5 citing Wiredu). This alignment is salient. The decolonial era of African political and social thought is distinguished by enormous creativity and energy to reimagine society and the state. Thinkers and leaders in this period were witnessing the shift from colonialism to independence. Within that context, the prospect of serious social reimagining seemed very much within grasp. Creative political thinking was also essential, argues Aimé Césaire in his speech at Le Premier Congrès International des Ecrivains et Artistes Noirs (The Congress of Black Writers and Artists) in 1956—a meeting in Paris of the African intellectual diaspora of the time, several of whom would go on to become the leaders of post-colonial Africa, including some listed by Molefe and Allsobrook above. Césaire calls for a reimaging of African cultural life, including political culture. His argument is that culture had been destroyed under colonialism and that there was no prospect of going back to what had come before. Even if it was possible to return, his position is that this would not be desirable, given the stagnating effect of colonialism (Césaire, 1956/2010). Something new was required.