Self-realizing a lived existence in service of emancipation: Tsenay Serequeberhan’s activist hermeneutics

Authors

  • Justin Sands North-West University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38140/aa.v55i2.7732

Keywords:

Serequeberhan, hermeneutics, decolonisation, culture, existence, Gadamer

Abstract

Through his own activistic hermeneutics, Sereque­ berhan crafts a philosophy which allows African(a) persons pathways to self­-realization and self­-eman­cipation from Western cultural imperialism. He does this through a unique reading of Heidegger to arrive at a hermeneutics of existence, and through Gadamer to posit a specific historicity which he calls ‘our heritage’. This article first charts how Serequeberhan articulates these concepts, and then explores their prescriptive, activist intent. The upshot of this is a stronger appreciation of Serequeberhan’s work and how it provides a fresh approach through which we can better understand existence in a globalized, post­colonial, late capitalist society. For Western readers especially, it offers a framework to better describe the relationship between, the self, others, and the historical interactions between them in a world fraught with enclosure and harmful ideologies.

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Published

2024-05-30