A philosophical appraisal of Nyamnjoh’s social theory and Whitehead’s process ontology in the context of epistemic decoloniality

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the philosophical underpinnings of Nyamnjoh's social theory of incompleteness and conviviality and Whitehead's process ontology in the context of intellectual decoloniality. The theory of incompleteness and convivial scholarship is spearheaded by Francis Nyamnjoh as a strategy for intellectual decoloniality and a substitute for the rigid alternatives prevalent in the decoloniality clamour in Africa. This idea also finds expression in Whitehead's process and relational ontology. Although Whitehead's process ontology has been widely studied, one hardly comes across works studying in detail the profound ontological richness underpinning Nyamnjoh's social theory in conversation with Whitehead. In this essay, I examine the ontological assumptions underlying Nyamnjoh's theory of incompleteness, on the one hand, and the ethical assumptions underpinning his theory of convivial scholarship, on the other. These two analyses combined are expected to shed light on Nyamnjoh's social theory of epistemic decoloniality and help clarify some philosophical conundrums that underpin it.

KEYWORDS:

• Whitehead
• conviviality
• incompleteness
• decoloniality
• process ontology

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Husein Inusah

Husein Inusah (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer and former Head of Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cape Coast. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees from the University of Cape Coast in 2007 and 2011, respectively. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Ghana in 2014. He was a dissertation completion fellow in the University of Rochester, N. Y. USA, between 2013 and 2014. He is a Stellenbosch Institute for Advance Study (STIAS) Iso Lomos fellow, a fellow of the African Humanities Program (AHP) and a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin – Institute for Advanced Study.