New Books Network Emmanuel Ofuasia, "Ìwà: the Process-Relational Dimension to African Metaphysics" (Springer, 2024)
Mar 29, 2026
Emmanuel Ofuasia, Nigerian philosopher and scholar of African metaphysics and process thought. He traces links from Kemet to Yorùbá and develops a process-relational reading of African metaphysics. He discusses trivalent Izumezu logic, Iwa as both moral and ontological being, and implications for relational subjects, plant sentience, and decolonizing African intellectual history.
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How Personal Heritage Shaped A Philosophical Path
- Emmanuel Ofuasia described his mixed Igbo–Yoruba upbringing and how that shaped his comparative philosophical outlook.
- He recounted shifting from Marxist-leaning supervision to discovering Whitehead in 2013, which redirected him toward process-relational metaphysics rooted in African thought.
Colonial Periodization Erases African Antiquity
- Ofuasia argues the pre-colonial/colonial/post-colonial frame erases deep African antiquity like Kemet and undercuts identity and epistemic pride.
- He points to suppressed achievements (Egyptian geometry, voyages to the Americas) and theft/renaming of papyri as evidence of historiographic distortion.
Why Aristotle Became The Default For African Thought
- Ofuasia maps the intellectual lineage denying African logic from Kant, Hume, Morton to mid-20th-century scholars and argues colonial education naturalized Aristotle's logic as universal.
- He credits thinkers like Kambel Shitu Momo and recent figures (Innocent Asouzu, Jonathan Chimakonam) for reviving indigenous and artificial logic projects.
