CHAPTER 3 – Non-duality: Philosophical challenges in Africa & other ORAL cultures
3.1 Historical challenges
90. Identifying philosophies of non-duality from Africa presents challenges due to several main factors:
- Limited historical records: The documented history of the humanities in Africa is relatively recent, making it difficult to trace the development of philosophical traditions.
- Diverse cultural structure: The African continent consists in distinctive cultural regions, the product of unique religious history and political events:
- Muslim-majority countries: Found in North-Western Africa (Maghreb) and the Mashriq (which includes Egypt and Sudan).
- Christian-majority countries: Predominantly located in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Further divisions: Within these religious divisions, there are additional subdivisions based on factors such as former invasions (Arabic influences in the Maghreb and Mashriq) and former colonial territories (e.g., French/Belgian, German, English, Portuguese, and Dutch influences).
91. When mentioning “Africa,” we usually think about Sub-saharan regions, where descendants of Bantu people, who are dark-skinned, reside, a rather archaic and simplistic categorization, considering the interconnectedness of African peoples. For example, a 2017 joint study of the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the University of Tübingen concludes that modern Egyptians share common ancestry with sub-saharan peoples. Also, the Bantu expansion may have significantly influenced the cultures of Eastern and Southern Africa. Head to our Non-duality bibliography for references and further resources on this subject.
92. Bantu cultures, along with those in the northern portion of Western Africa (Mali, Senegal and countries along the West coast, from the river Gambia to the Gulf of Guinea) share oral traditions. In traditional African societies, griots, oral poets and bards, are responsible for transmitting cultural knowledge through individual and collective initiation processes. However, unless supported by a robust initiation system, oral traditions tend to hinder transmission of knowledge. Additionally, due to the fragmented nature of Africa’s history, territory, and its diverse cultural landscape, identifying common philosophical traits is challenging.
93. This section is concerned with the existence or non-existence of a non-dualistic philosophy in the culture of the Mandé peoples (Francophone & Anglophone Western Africa) and peoples of Bantu origins (the rest of Africa), particularly in Sub-Saharan regions, emphasizing rites and traditions that hint at the existence of non-dualistic philosophies in the past.
94. Non-dualistic philosophies in the Maghreb and Mashriq countries, mostly based on Islam, will be explored in Chapter 4: Non-dualistic philosophies of the East.