Customer Reviews

Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy (Africana Thought)

5 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Afro-Caribbean Philosophy? Is there such as thing? Antiguan scholar-activist Paget Henry makes this question moot by more than introducing the reader to Afro-Caribbean philosophical thought. He shows magically how the thought of black peoples in the Caribbean has changed not only the region, but the world. He dedicates the work to some of the 'anchors' of Afro-Caribbean thought(Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James, Sylvia Wynter, and Wilson Harris), and also to fellow Antiguan Tim Hector(author of the literary column "Fan the Flame"). Invoking the Shakespearean metaphor of Caliban(the Arawak, Slave, descendent of both) from Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Henry shows how peoples of the Caribbean have had reason and rationality that has survived the Middle Passage and racist notions of European Enlightenment era philosophies. He starts off by framing the African philosophical heritage of the Caribbean, then discusses the work of Fanon, James, and Harris. He then moves on to the work of Sylvia Wynter, a critique of Jurgen Habermas's notion of communicative reason and rationality(a thinker whose discussions lack the role of myth and to a lesser extent race in the discourse of political philosophy), a Caribbean perspective of Afro-American philosophy, the state of Caribbean Marxism, and delves into Pan-Africanist thought. The overarching categories Henry deliniates in the book are two traditions of Caribbean black thought and activism: (1) the poeticists and (2) the historicists. Henry concludes with attempting to link these two traditions and show how futher contributions from Caribbean peoples can further humanity in understanding the relavance of black thought. If you want to be exposed to the world of Afro-Caribbean philosophy, run and pick up this extraordinary and challenging book.

Not just because the author is a fellow Antiguan, but because his work is brilliant he deserves nothing less that 5 stars for "Caliban's Reason".

First of all the text is incredibly well written, with sophisticated language and lucid literary skill. Second of all, it is extremely well balanced and objective in the telling of historical events. Third it is wonderfully scholarly and well organized.

Paget first introduces West Indian origins of philosophical thought in their African roots and then expands of the creolization of such thought under slavery and colonialism and the later African Renaissance that reaffirmed the African aspects of West Indian philosophy in the early 20th Century into the 21st.