African Agrarian Philosophy

This book critically explores indigenous sub-Saharan African agrarian thought. Indigenous African agrarian philosophy is an uncharted and largely overlooked area of study in the burgeoning fields of African philosophy and philosophy of nature. The book shows that wherever human beings have lived, they have been preoccupied with exploring ways to ensure the sustainable management of limited resources at their disposal, to attain to their basic needs: food, shelter, and security.  The book also shows that agriculture and the way people relate with nature are an essential, but generally neglected, determinant of the emergence and orientation of all philosophical traditions. In traditional, pre-colonial African culture, it was difficult to separate agriculture from African relational ontology. Agriculture and the use of natural resources were at the centre of community life and influenced the social, political, economic, and spiritual worldviews of the people. In their contact with nature through agriculture, different beliefs, knowledge systems, norms, moral outlooks, cultural practices and institutions emerged and have been valorized to guide societies on how to sustainably manage the environment. As a way of life, then, agriculture was deeply connected with indigenous beliefs, values, and practices which transcended a wide range of issues related to ecological ethics, food ethics, religion, traditional medicine, political economy, social organisation, biological reproduction and species survival, indigenous knowledge, and property rights. This book will thus be a valuable resource for policy makers and researchers in diverse fields such as philosophy, geography, sociology, anthropology, and development studies.

Mbih Jerome Tosam is senior lecturer and chair of philosophy at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon. He obtained his PhD in philosophy from the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon, in 2011. His research interests are in the areas of bioethics, environmental ethics, philosophy of medicine, and African philosophy. Some of his recent publications include: 'The Moral Status of the Human Embryo: a Critique of Peter Singer's Conception of the Potentiality of the Embryo,' International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 3, no. 2, (2015): 39-47; Philosophy in Culture: Perspectives from Western and African Culture, co-edited with Peter Takov (Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa 2016); and 'Global Emerging Pathogens, Poverty, and Vulnerability: An Ethical Analysis' in ed. Godfrey B. Tangwa et al., Socio-cultural Dimensions of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Africa: An Indigenous Response to Deadly Epidemics (Springer, 2019).