Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (18 January 196331 December 2007) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. Eze was a specialist in postcolonial

philosophy 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. ...

. He wrote as well as edited influential postcolonial histories of philosophy in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. He brought

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

's racism to light among Western thinkers in the 1990s, an area of Kant's life that Western philosophers often gloss over. Influences in his own work include

Paulin Hountondji Paulin Hountondji (born 11 April 1942 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) is a Beninese French philosopher, politician and academic considered one of the most important figures in the history of African philosophy. Since the 1970s he has taught at the Un ...

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic ...

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment ph ...

, and

. At the time of his death, Eze was Associate Professor of Philosophy at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

, where he also founded and edited the journal

Philosophia Africana ''Philosophia Africana'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal of Africana philosophy established in 1998. It was published at DePaul University under the editorship of Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze until his death in 2007, and was subsequently edited by ...

br>
He died on December 31, 2007, in

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,1 ...

Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, 1963-2007
/ref> after a short illness.

Background

Eze was born to Nigerian parents, Daniel and Rebecca (who are Igbo and devout

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), in Agbokete, in what was Northern Region of Nigeria. Because of his parents' ethnicity and religion they fled the North during the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively re ...

, in the eastern part of the country.

Education and teaching

Eze was educated by

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

in colleges in

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of 2022. It is situated ap ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and Kimwenza,

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

(now

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

). He attended St. Patrick's Elementary School in Iheakpu-Awka from 1970 to 1976. In 1982 he graduated from Igbo-Eze Secondary School. From September of the same year he worked as Clerk at the

Kaduna State Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

Ministry of Agriculture in

Funtua Funtua is a Local Government Area in Katsina State, Nigeria. Its headquarter is in the town of Funtua on the A126 highway. It is one of the premier Local Governments in Nigeria created after the Local Governments reforms in 1976. It is the headqu ...

. In 1983 Eze resigned the job and enrolled at St. Ignatius Jesuit Novitiate in Benin City. From 1985 to 1987 he studied at S. Pierre Canisius College in Kimwenza, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He then taught French language at Bishop Kelly College in Benin City for an academic year before moving to New York. He received his Masters (1989) and Ph.D. (1993) from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

. His doctoral thesis was on "Rationality and the Debates about African Philosophy." Eze taught at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineerin ...

and at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

. In addition, he was a post-doctoral visiting scholar at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(1996–1997, where he designed the M.Phil. program in African Studies), a visiting professor at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

(1997) and at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(2003).

Works

Books

* ''On Reason: Rationality in a World of Cultural Conflict and Racism'' (2008)

* ''Race and the Enlightenment: A Reader'' (1997),

*''Postcolonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader'' (1997),

* ''Achieving our Humanity: The Idea of the Postracial Future'' (2001),

*''African Philosophy: An Anthology''(2006),

*''Pensamiento Africano (I): Ética y política'',

*''Pensamiento Africano (II): Filosofía'',

*''Pensamieto Africano (III): Cultura y Sociedad'',

Articles

* "Out of Africa: Communication Theory and Cultural Hegemony". '' Telos (journal), Telos'' 111 (Spring 1998). New York
Telos Press

Notes

External links

Democracy or Consensus? Response to Wiredu
by Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze

Interview with Rick Lewis (journalist), Rick Lewis {{DEFAULTSORT:Eze, Emmanuel Chukwudi Igbo philosophers American people of Igbo descent Nigerian emigrants to the United States DePaul University faculty Mount Holyoke College faculty 1963 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Nigerian philosophers 20th-century American philosophers