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| Title: | Seeking balance: African autobiography as philosophy in Malidoma Patrice Somé's 'Of water and the spirit: ritual, magic and initiation in the life of an African shaman' |
| Author: | Rico, Amanda Reneé |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Periodical: | Research in African Literatures (ISSN 0034-5210) |
| Volume: | 47 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 76-94 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Burkina Faso |
| Subjects: | cosmology Dagari philosophy autobiography |
| About person: | Malidoma Patrice Somé (1956-2021) |
| External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v047/47.1.rico.pdf |
| Abstract: | In this essay, I examine how one particular African autobiographical work - Malidoma Patrice Somé's 'Of water and the spirit: ritual, magic and initiation in the life of an African shaman' - embodies the concept of autobiography as philosophy and challenges Western metaphysical frameworks concerning the construction of the ethical self, temporality, and history. I argue that Somé's autobiographical affirmation of African philosophy serves as a thoroughgoing critique of Western hegemonic thought. Moreover, I claim that this text goes beyond a remedial rebuffing of Eurocentric metaphysics and instead proposes a synthesis between both African and Western ways of knowing and understanding the world. Ultimately, Somé's 'Of water and the spirit' demonstrates that the act of philosophizing is a ubiquitous cultural phenomenon that helps shape the various 'commonsensical' realities of modern life around the globe and should therefore be considered a non-exclusionary practice. Bibliogr., notes, ref, sum. [Journal abstract] |
