Starred Review. With more than 68 books and 300 articles to his credit, Asante (Temple Univ.) is the most published African American scholar. Here, with longtime collaborator Mazama (also of Temple Univ.), he elevates the African religious experience above its common Western identification with primitive or tribal religions found in much broader works.
Okonkwo is the greatest warrior alive, famous throughout West Africa. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy.
Divided into eight sections, each with introductory essays, the selections offer rich and detailed insights into a diverse multinational philosophical landscape. Revealed in this pathbreaking work is the way in which traditional philosophical issues related to ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology, for instance, take on specific forms in Africa's postcolonial struggles.