Description

A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title

Beauty in African Thought: A Critique of the Western Idea of Development investigates how the concept of beauty in African philosophy and related qualitative social sciences may contribute to a richer intercultural exchange on the idea of development. While working within frameworks created in post-colonial and arguably neo-colonial times, African thinkers have reacted against the mainstream view that restricts the meaning and scope of good development to economic growth and western-style education. These thinkers have worked toward a critical self-understanding of the potentials inherent in cultural, spiritual, and political traditions since pre-colonial times. Edited by Bolaji Bateye, Mahmoud Masaeli, Louise Müller, and Angela Roothaan, this collection explores branches of thought from wisdom or oral traditions to political thought and philosophy of culture. This book is urgent reading material for any policy maker, scholar, or student wishing to attend to the voices of African(ist) thinkers who search for alternative approaches to global questions of development in a time of climate change and increasing socio-economic inequality.

Table of Contents

Part I: Conceptions of Beauty in African Thought
Chapter 1: The Concept of Beauty and Environmental Conservation
Diana-Abasi Ibanga
Chapter 2: We live in Paradise: Beautiful Nature in African Tradition
Pius Mosima, and Nelson Shang
Chapter 3: African Ethics: Human Being is Beautiful
Stanley Uche Anozie

Part II: Development in Africa: Contested Terrains
Chapter 4: African Metaphysics as a Basis of African Human and Economic Development
Wilfred Lajul
Chapter 5: Ubuntu Humanity and Community Building for Human Growth: Sustainable Development in Africa's Cultural Depiction
Frans Dokman
Chapter 6: Ubuntu Humanity and Sustainable Development Goals
Dorine E. van Norren
Chapter 7: Replacing Development: An Afro-Communal Approach to Distributive Justice
Thaddeus Metz
Chapter 8: Understanding Genuine Development: African Contexts
Luke Amadi

Part III: African Views of Development: Cultural and Spiritual Aspects
Chapter 9: A Reconsideration of African Spirituality in Agricultural Development Pro

Product details

Published Mar 22 2023
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 270
ISBN 9781793630759
Imprint Lexington Books
Dimensions 236 x 158 mm
Series African Philosophy: Critical Perspectives and Global Dialogue
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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