Open Journal of Philosophy

Volume 7, Issue 1 (February 2017)

ISSN Print: 2163-9434   ISSN Online: 2163-9442

Google-based Impact Factor: 0.38  Citations  

Mental Alienation and African Identity: Exploring Historical Perspectives in Response to the Crises of African Societies

HTML  XML Download Download as PDF (Size: 402KB)  PP. 1-24  
DOI: 10.4236/ojpp.2017.71001    5,247 Downloads   14,279 Views  Citations

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the colonially-motivated alienation of the African mind, which plays a major role in the moral crisis, corruption, war and anarchy on the African continent, makes the possibility of a true African identity uncertain. Writers often premise African identity on historical, cultural and psychological factors but these factors now appear to be weak constituents of this identity because of severe crisis facing the moral and communitarian foundations on which this identity rests. The present problem of the African state is dual-natured. First is that her rich moral heritage of dignity, discipline, diligence, faithfulness, honesty and sound integrity is being eroded. Second is that the spate of intolerance sweeping across some parts of Africa, resulting from unmitigated acceptance of alien western doctrines inappropriate for her culture, grossly infests her systems with a high level of intolerance and anarchy capable of making her social order like Hobbes’ state of nature in which human life is “nasty, brutish and short.” These situations, worst still, have horridly affected the meaningful and constructive development of the continent and rank her people among the poorest in the world, despite her rich natural and human resources. Using the critical and argumentative methods of empirical, conceptual and historical analysis, this paper explores the rich moral background of the Yorùbás, among other cultures, as case study, and urges a return to the moral ideals that once dominated and characterized African states.

Share and Cite:

Eegunlusi, T. (2017) Mental Alienation and African Identity: Exploring Historical Perspectives in Response to the Crises of African Societies. Open Journal of Philosophy, 7, 1-24. doi: 10.4236/ojpp.2017.71001.

Cited by

[1] Regionalization and Higher Education Student Mobility in East Africa: Examination of Opportunities and Challenges from the Ugandan Context
Journal of International Students, 2024
[2] Towards decolonisation of primary school education in South Africa
South African Journal of …, 2024
[3] 8| Cultivating African Feminist Ethics of Liberation with Hannah Kinoti
QUEEN OF SHEBA, 2024
[4] From Experiential Reflections on Truth to Post-colonial: Unpacking Postcolonial theory, African Philosophy using storytelling as Alterity of African Reason in Education.
2023
[5] CONSCIENCISM AND THE REAWAKENING OF AFRICAN CONSCIOUSNESS: DIVERGENT RESPONSES TO POSTCOLONIAL DISTRESS IN KWAME NKRUMAH …
2023
[6] Deconstructing African identities: notions of fatherhood amongst Zulu men in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal.
2023
[7] Who is African? Reconceptualising identity-crisis as a threat to African unity: a post-colonial analysis approach
2020
[8] INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE IN THE DEPICTION OF SOCIETAL DISINTEGRATION IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH'S GRAVEL HEART
2019
[9] Bush allowance and alienation: a challenge to African leadership and development in Kaine Agary's Yellow-Yellow
2019
[10] THE CONTRIBUTION OF IGNATIAN PEDAGOGICAL PARADIGM TO HOLISTIC EDUCATION IN PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KIGALI CITY, RWANDA
2018
[11] ARUA/Carnegie Research Fellow CoE in Notions of Identity Makerere University Kampala
[12] Racial Identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah

Copyright © 2025 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.