An African Philosophy for Children: In Defense of Hybridity

Abstract

In this chapter, I present a theoretical argument for a hybridized Philosophy for Children program. I defend the contention that Africanizing education institutions should start from what is indigenous to Africa by arguing for a transcendence of Eurocentric education, acculturation, and socialization. I however acknowledge Matthew Lipman’s initiative of doing philosophy with children in schools from an early age. For such a program to be relevant to the context, I submit that it must start from the existential circumstances of its consumers. But a hybridized Philosophy for Children project for Africa, which amalgamates the Western and traditional African ways of doing philosophy with children, is not dismissal of the Western paradigm.