The Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) is a
philosophical
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Som ...
organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived fro ...
founded in 2002 at the Center for Caribbean Thought at the
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...
, in
Mona, Jamaica
Mona is a neighbourhood in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish, approximately eight kilometres from Kingston, Jamaica. A former sugarcane plantation, it is the site of a reservoir serving the city of Kingston and the main campus of the University ...
. The founding members were
George Belle
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...
,
B. Anthony Bogues B. Anthony Bogues is a Caribbean political theorist, intellectual historian, writer and curator and currently Director of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown University and the Asa Messer Professor of Humanities a ...
,
Patrick Goodin Patrick may refer to:
*Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
*Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
*Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...
,
Lewis Gordon
Lewis Ricardo Gordon (born May 12, 1962) is an American philosopher at the University of Connecticut who works in the areas of Africana philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of r ...
Charles Mills Charles, Charlie or Chuck Mills may refer to:
Academics
* C. Wright Mills (Charles Wright Mills) (1916–1962), American academic sociologist
* Charles Henry Mills (1873–1937), English-American classical composer and academic
* Charles W. Mills ...
, and Supriya Nair. The association promotes the view that philosophy is the "rigorous theoretical reflection about fundamental problems faced by humanity", and that Caribbean philosophy in particular should be seen as "a transdisciplinary form of interrogation informed by scholarly knowledges as well as by practices and artistic expressions that elucidate fundamental questions that emerge in contexts of 'discovery,' conquest, racial, gender, and sexual domination, genocide, dependency, and exploitation as well as freedom, emancipation, and
decolonization
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...
."
The organization sponsors an annual meeting and offers prizes for work that furthers the decolonization and liberation of mankind. The CPA has awarded the ''
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961), also known as Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, was a French West Indian psychiatrist, and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have ...
Prize'' to
Enrique Dussel
Enrique Domingo Dussel (born 24 December 1934) is an Argentine academic, philosopher, historian and theologian. He served as the interim rector of the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México from 2013 to 2014.
Life and career
Enrique Dus ...
,
Walter Mignolo
Walter D. Mignolo (born May 1, 1941) is an Argentine semiotician (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) and professor at Duke University, who has published extensively on semiotics and literary theory, and worked on different aspect ...
,
Nigel Gibson
Nigel Gibson is a British activist, a scholar specialising in philosophy and author whose work has focussed, in particular, on Frantz Fanon. Edward Said described Gibson's work as "rigorous and subtle". He has been described as a leading figure ...
and
Berghahn Books
Berghahn Books is a New York and Oxford-based publisher of scholarly books and academic journals in the humanities and social sciences, with a special focus on social & cultural anthropology, European history, politics, and film & media studies. ...
. The
Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista (10 July 1902 – 17 July 1989) was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.
Lifetime Achievement Award has been given to
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to:
* Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright
*Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic ...
,
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His fic ...
,
George Lamming
George William Lamming OCC (8 June 19274 June 2022) was a Barbadian novelist, essayist, and poet. He first won critical acclaim for '' In the Castle of My Skin'', his 1953 debut novel. He also held academic posts, including as a distinguished ...
,
Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid (; born May 25, 1949) is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Verm ...
,
Hortense Spillers
Hortense J. Spillers (born 1942) is an American literary critic, Black Feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University. A scholar of the African diaspora, Spillers is known for her essays on African-American ...
, and
Conceição Evaristo
Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito (born 29 November 1946) is a Brazilian writer. Her work is marked by her life experiences as an Afro-Brazilian woman, which she calls ''escrevivência''—a portmanteau of ''escrita'' (writing) and ''viv� ...
. The Nicolás Guillén Book Awards for philosophical literature have been awarded to
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ� ...
Lisa Lowe
Lisa Lowe is Samuel Knight Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University. Prior to Yale, she taught at the University of California, San Diego, and Tufts University. She began as a scholar of French and comp ...
,
Felwine Sarr
Felwine Sarr (born 11 September 1972) is a Senegalese academic, musician and writer of novels and cultural essays, born in Sine Saloum, Niodior Arrondissement. He studied economics and taught this subject at the Gaston Berger University (Seneg ...
,
Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Rowan Ricardo Phillips (born 1974 in New York City) is an American poet and writer.
He is the author of the poetry collections ''The Ground'' (2012), ''Heaven'' (2015), and ''Living Weapon'' (2020), the non-fiction books ''When Blackness Rhymes ...
The CLR James Journal
''The CLR James Journal'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles, reviews, and discussions relevant to the work and legacy of C. L. R. James. It was established in 1990 and the editor-in-chief is Paget Henry (Brown U ...
'', established in 1990, is the official publication of the Caribbean Philosophical Association, and is "a peer-reviewed forum for the discussion of the work and legacy of
Cyril Lionel Robert James
Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, '' The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are ...
, and the wider field of Caribbean ideas to which James was a major contributor."The C.L.R. James Journal. /ref>
Contemporary philosophy
Contemporary philosophy is the present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the early 20th century with the increasing professionalization of the discipline and the rise of analytic and continental philosophy.
The phrase " ...