This course examines the Afro-Caribbeana
contribution to philosophic discourse.
Afro-Caribbeana philosophy is here understood
as a sub-division of Caribbeana philosophy,
which encompasses Caribbean voices in the
Caribbean proper as well as those who have
resided or currently reside in Europe and
the Americas. Afro-Caribbeana philosophy,
then, is such work generated by or focusing
on the concerns of the African-descended
voices of the Caribbean.
As the Nobel-prize winning West Indian
poet Derek Walcott remarks in his seminal
essay “The Muse of History,” ‘[t]he
common experience of the New World…is
colonialism.’ And we may add modern
European colonialism, imperialism, slavery,
and racism. Our task then will be to:
• Subject such notions as colonialism,
slavery, freedom, and racism to philosophical
scrutiny in the context of Afro-Caribbeana
experience,
• Explore the “look” and “shape” of
philosophy as it comes to light through
the prismatic luminosity of colonial and
post-colonial Afro-Caribbeana experience,
that is, see how philosophy is constructed
through the experience of forced migration
and enslavement in a new land, new language,
and a multicultural matrix,
• Examine such notions as national
and cultural identity, modernity and the
Caribbean as the offspring of European
modernity, oppression, race, color, and
Afro-Caribbeana religiosity.
