Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

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Biography:

Táíwò’s primary field is philosophy, with much of his work focusing on politics in Africa and the legacies of colonialism. His most recent book, Against Decolonization: Taking African Agency Seriously, argues that the ascendence of “decolonization” rhetoric in the humanities risks making the agency, and therefore the lived realities, of people from Africa and other formerly colonized regions invisible in the face of an otherwise overwhelming colonial legacy. More directly, one of his strongest contributions to African political philosophy is a canonical essay on the subject of political obligation in nonconstitutional contexts, particularly military rule. He will contribute to the Center’s programming by addressing the agency, and therefore rendering visible the choices, of people who find themselves in political dispensations where they must grasp to understand their political obligations to regimes they haven’t chosen.

Táíwò’s book, How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010) was a joint winner of the Frantz Fanon Book Award of the Caribbean Philosophical Association in 2015. His works have been translated into French, Italian, German, and Chinese. At the present time, he working on a monograph tentatively titled, Does the United States Need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

More information please check out Táíwò’s website.