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Jan Vansina Annual Lecture
October 13, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
“Waking Dreams : A Philosophy of African Independences”
Yala Kisukidi
Associate Professor in philosophy
Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis University
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Zoom
Within the political field, the whole semantics of the dream is spontaneously disqualified. Nevertheless, it is possible to aesthetically, philosophically, and politically re-signify the state of conscious dreamers. In this lecture my aim is to reread the history of African Independences through the idea of “waking dream”. I will try to show, through the political hopes of Patrice Emery Lumumba (1925-1961), how it is possible to dismantle a history of defeat and emphasize the long survival of traditions of political struggle in central Africa.
Bio
Nadia Yala Kisukidi was born in Brussels, from a congolese (DRC) father and a franco-italian mother. She is Associate Professor in philosophy at Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis University. She was vice-president of the Collège International de Philosophie (2014-2016). Member of the Critical Time (Duke University), Les Cahiers d’études africaines (CNRS, Ehess) and Multitudes (https://www.multitudes.net/) editorial committee, she is now, co-curator of the Yango II Biennale, Kinshasa / RDC that will take place in Kinshasa in november 2021 and january 2022. She has published Bergson ou l’humanité créatrice (Paris, CNRS, 2013), directed collective essays ( Afrocentricités (Kisukidi, Guedj dir.) for the revue Tumultes in 2019 ; Kinshasa Star Line (Kisukidi dir.) for the revue Multitudes in 2020) and written many articles in french and africana philosophy. She is now preparing a book on Africana philosophy (Le Seuil, january 2023)
Sponsored by the African Studies Program.
