Thinking freedom in Africa : toward a theory of emancipatory politics /

Neocosmos, M.,

Thinking freedom in Africa : toward a theory of emancipatory politics / Michael Neocosmos. - Johannesburg : Wits University Press, (c)2016. - 1 online resource (xxix, 644 pages)

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction: Politics is thought, thought is real, people think -- Part 1: Thinking political sequences: from African history to African historical political sequences. Theoretical introduction: understanding historical political sequences -- From Saint-Domingue to Haiti: the politics of freedom and equality, 1791-1960 -- Are those-who-do-not-count capable of reason? On the limits of historical thought -- The National Liberation Struggle mode of politics in Africa, 1945-1975 -- The People's Power mode of politics in South Africa, 1984-1986 -- From national emancipation to national chauvinism in South Africa, 1973-2013 -- Rethinking militancy in the current sequence: beyond politics as agency -- Understanding fidelity to the South African emancipatory event: the Treatment Action Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo -- Part 2: Opening up the thought of politics in Africa today: exceeding the limits of sociology: beyond representation. Theoretical introduction: social representation, modes of rule and political prescriptions -- Marxism and the politics of representation: the 'agrarian question' and the limits of political economy - class, nation and the party-state -- Thinking beyond representation, acting beyond representation: accounting for worker subjectivities in South Africa -- Renaming the state in Africa today -- Domains of state politics and systemic violence: the concept of 'uncivil society' -- The domain of civil society and its politics -- The domain of traditional society and its politics -- Towards a politics of solidarity: feminist contributions -- Conclusion: Reclaiming the domain of freedom.

"Using the work of thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancière, Sylvain Lazarus, Frantz Fanon and many others, along with the inventive thought of people themselves in their experiences of struggle, the author proceeds to analyse how Africans themselves - with agency of their own - have thought emancipation during various historical political sequences and to show how emancipation may be thought today in a manner appropriate to twenty-first century conditions and concerns."--



Frantz Fanon Outstanding Book Award, 2017.

9781868148691 9781868148677


Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961 --Political and social views.
Badiou, Alain--Political and social views.
Rancière, Jacques--Political and social views.
Lazarus, Sylvain--Political and social views.


Political science--Philosophy.
Liberty--Philosophy.


Electronic Books.

JC578 / .T456 2016