Abstract:
The coronavirus outbreak is currently scrutinised by professional philosophers
from different traditions and geographical areas. By focusing on several
contributions from European academic philosophers, this article assesses
whether such philosophical works manifest and reproduce, consciously or
unconsciously, neocolonial and Eurocentric understandings of the Covid-19
pandemic. Particular attention will be given to Agamben’s and Žižek’s
interpretations to show the role played in their analysis by reductionist and
regressive constructions of the social world. I will then draw on several
contributions from African and Africana philosophers (Gqola, Asante, More,
West and Outlaw), to set up a theoretical space in which the social experiencing
of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as the self-understanding of academic
philosophers, could be positively reconceptualised. This act of resignification
has its aim in promoting adequate forms of institutional analysis and
professional engagement, and it points to the emancipatory task philosophy
embodies in the global South.
