History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

Henry Highland Garnet encourages, or actually demands, that enslaved Americans throw off their chains and debates Douglass over how best to resist slavery.

In two speeches marking holidays, Frederick Douglass champions the idea of world citizenship, the power of appeals to conscience to bring change, and the role of violence.

Frederick Douglass' journey from slave to leading figure of 19th century American thought.

Melvin Rogers joins us to discuss Hosea Walker, Maria Stewart, and Hosea Easton.

Hosea Easton’s Treatise provides an overlooked but fascinating theory of race and racism.

Maria W. Stewart’s public addresses bring the concerns of African American women into the struggle against racial prejudice.

David Walker defends violent resistance and encourages self-improvement in his incendiary and influential Appeal.

An interview with James Sidbury about the emergence of a self-conscious African identity in the diaspora.

Questions of political autonomy and group identity in the emigration movement led by Paul Cuffe, Daniel Coker, John Russwurm and others.

Building black institutions in early American history, with Prince Hall and the Masons in Boston, and Richard Allen and the Methodists in Philadelphia.

An interview with Doris Garraway on the background, intellectual basis, and legacy of the Haitian Revolution.

The Baron de Vastey unveils the horror of colonialism as a system and defends the monarchy of King Christophe in the tense early years of Haiti’s independence.

In an age of revolutions and revolutionary ideas, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 stands out as the most radical of them all.

Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano advance the goals of the abolitionist movement through a groundbreaking political treatise and an influential autobiography.

Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker make their mark on the history of Africana thought through letters that reflect on the power of sentiment.

Preacher and Revolutionary War soldier Lemuel Haynes argues that the principles of the American Revolution demand the abolition of slavery.

Phillis Wheatley astonishes colonial Americans with her exquisite and precocious poetry and reflects on the liberating power of the imagination.

18th century black authors touch on philosophical themes in autobiographical narratives, poetry, and other literary genres.

Justin E.H. Smith joins us to discuss Anton Wilhelm Amo against the background of ideas about race in early modern philosophy, including Leibniz.

Anton Wilhelm Amo, brought to Germany from his native Ghana, defends a rigorous dualism of mind and body. Was this philosophy connected to his African origins?

An introduction to Africana philosophical thought as it emerged from the modern experience of slavery and colonization by Europeans.

Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.

As the twentieth century draws to a close, the critique of ethnophilosophy gives way to approaches that continue to privilege the study of precolonial traditions.

An interview with Kai Kresse who discusses his efforts to do "anthropology of philosophy" on the Swahili Coast.

Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.