Derrida and Africa: Jacques Derrida as a Figure for African Thought

by Grant Farred (Editor), Bruce B. Janz University of Central Flo (Contribution by), John E. Drabinski Professor of Black Studie (Contribution by), Nicolette Bragg (Contribution by), Jan Steyn (Contribution by)

Overview

Derrida and Africa takes up Jacques Derrida as a figure of thought in relation to Africa, with a focus on Derrida’s writings specifically on Africa, which were influenced in part by his childhood in El Biar. From chapters that take up Derrida as Mother to contemplations on how to situate Derrida in relation to other African philosophers, from essays that connect deconstruction and diaspora to a chapter that engages the ways in which Derrida—especially in a text such as Monolingualism of the Other: or, the Prosthesis of Origin—is haunted by place to a chapter that locates Derrida firmly in postapartheid South Africa, Derrida in/and Africa is the insistent line of inquiry. Edited by Grant Farred, this collection asks: What is Derrida to Africa?, What is Africa to Derrida?, and What is this specter called Africa that haunts Derrida?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498581912
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	03/04/2022
Series:	African Philosophy: Critical Perspectives and Global Dialogue
Pages:	134
Product dimensions:	6.07(w) x 8.63(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Grant Farred is professor of Africana studies at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction: Africa, Still Remains

Grant Farred

1. The Place That Is Not Here: Derrida’s Africa and the Haunting of Place

Bruce B. Janz

1. Deconstruction as Diaspora: On Derrida, Africa, and Identity’s Deferral

John E. Drabinski

1. Jacques Derrida: Figure of Maternal Thought

Nicolette Bragg

1. Setting, an Example: Derrida’s South Africa (and Ours)

Jan Steyn

1. Jacques Derrida as an African Philosopher: Some considerations from Francophone African Philosophy

Kasareka Kavwahirehi

Afterword: Respect for Derrida in/and Africa

Jean-Paul Martinon

About the Editor

About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

A brilliant, dazzling, differing, and deferring attempt to grasp and at the same time not to grasp Derrida in/and Africa. This work is a very Derridean specter that is haunted by the goal it approaches and yet avoids.

Paget Henry