A book on legal philosophy, necessarily, focuses attention on law. In addition to this focus, An Introduction to an African Legal Philosophy focuses attention on philosophy. The link between law and philosophy is brought into relief, which is done through an African context. An attempt is made to spell out what is African about legal philosophy without being cut off of African legal philosophy from non-African legal philosophy. The book draws attention to the view that a basic component of African legal philosophy consists of an investigation of what it is to be an African, and because an African is a human being among other human beings, the investigation is about what it is to be a human being. Ubuntuism is an African-derived word that captures this mode of being human. Moreover, because human beings are cultural beings, African cultural context guides the investigation. Inescapably, it is claimed that, every legal philosophy is embedded in a culture. African legal philosophy is not an exception. It is deeply rooted in African culture –a culture that is today shaped, in part, by a European colonialist culture. One feature that will strike one as one reads the book is that the book approaches African legal philosophy as a means of decolonization of African culture. African legal philosophy can accomplish this intelligently and effectively if it is itself decolonized. In doing this it contrasts sharply with mainstream Western legal philosophy.

The book is a collection of essays, which aim to situate African legal theory in the context of the myriad of contemporary global challenges; from the prevalence of war to the misery of poverty and disease to the crises of the environment. Apart from being problems that have an indelible African mark on them, a common theme that runs throughout the essays in this book is that African legal theory has been excluded, under-explored or under-theorised in the search for solutions to such contemporary problems. The essays make a modest attempt to reverse this trend. The contributors investigate and introduce readers to the key issues, questions, concepts, impulses and problems that underpin the idea of African legal theory. They outline the potential offered by African legal theory and open up its key concepts and impulses for critical scrutiny. This is done in order to develop a better understanding of the extent to which African legal theory can contribute to discourses seeking to address some of the challenges that confront African and non-African societies alike.

In this undergraduate textbook Lewis R. Gordon offers the first comprehensive treatment of Africana philosophy, beginning with the emergence of an Africana (i.e. African diasporic) consciousness in the Afro-Arabic world of the Middle Ages. He argues that much of modern thought emerged out of early conflicts between Islam and Christianity that culminated in the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, and from the subsequent expansion of racism, enslavement, and colonialism which in their turn stimulated reflections on reason, liberation, and the meaning of being human. His book takes the student reader on a journey from Africa through Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean, and back to Africa, as he explores the challenges posed to our understanding of knowledge and freedom today, and the response to them which can be found within Africana philosophy.

The history of the human world has reached a stage where no philosophical community can any longer philosophize in isolation from other philosophical communities. The African philosophical community is not an exception and neither is any other philosophical community. There is a widespread notion in the West that philosophy originated in Greece and found its way throughout Europe, from where it migrated to Africa. This book argues that Philosophy did not migrate to African from anywhere but that it is radically native to all communities. The chapters cover the erasure of African philosophy, African philosophical departures, the threat that Christianity has posed to African philosophy, African legal philosophy, African musical aesthetics and connections with classical philosophy. Arguing that the landscape of philosophy has a place not only for Africans but also for all human beings and that African philosophers are among the architects of this landscape, this book is an important read for scholars and students of African philosophy.

The Routledge Handbook of African Law provides a comprehensive, critical overview of the contemporary legal terrain in Africa. The international team of expert contributors adopt an analytical and comparative approach so that readers can see the nexus between different jurisdictions and different legal traditions across the continent. The volume is divided into five parts covering: Legal Pluralism and African Legal Systems The State, Institutions, Constitutionalism, and Democratic Governance Economic Development, Technology, Trade, and Investment Human Rights, Gender-Based Violence, and Access to Justice International Law, Institutions, and International Criminal Law Providing important insights into both the specific contexts of African legal systems and the ways in which these legal traditions intersect with the wider world, this handbook will be an essential resource for academics, researchers, lawyers, and graduate and undergraduate students studying this ever-evolving field.

In contemporary political philosophy, the subject of global justice has received sustained interest. This is unsurprising, given the nexus between inequality and many of the pressing global problems today, such as immigration, global public health, poverty and violence. Theorists of global justice ask why inequality is morally wrong, what we owe to the global poor, what the implications of global inequality for people in affluent countries are, and the power of agencies or institutions necessary for the realization of a fairer world. Although political philosophers have offered different conceptions of these problems and narratives of the ideal of justice, a major shortcoming of the current discussion are the limits of the concepts and idioms employed. Assumptions are made about the experience of poverty, but little is done to understand the way people in underdeveloped countries experience and understand their predicament. This has resulted in the entrenchment of cognitive inequality in the global justice debate. This book attempts to correct the inaccuracies engendered by the one-sided theorising of global justice. By employing metaphors, concepts and philosophical ideas to reflect on global justice, the book provides an account of global justice that goes beyond current parochial perspective. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Philosophical Papers.