Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture 2023: Building African Ecologies of Knowledge; Invited Speaker: Professor Felwine Sarr (Duke University Durham)

The Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture is organized annually by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies and the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. It is named after the 18th century philosopher from present-day Ghana who taught at the universities of Halle and Jena. The lecture series promotes MIASA’s overarching commitment of making African thinking increasingly relevant in global academia, and it addresses questions of how the humanities and social sciences can contribute to the decolonisation of knowledge production and epistemic justice.

About the Guest Speaker:

Felwine Sarr is a Senegalese philosopher, economist, writer and musician. Before he was appointed Anne-Marie Bryan Chair in French and Francophone Studies at Duke University in 2020, he taught at the University of Gaston-Berger in Saint Louis, Senegal, where he was previously dean of its Economics and Management department. He is author of Afrotopia (2016) and, in 2021, was listed by the Time magazine among the 100 Most Influential People together with Bénédicte Savoy after they published the report on “The restitution of African cultural heritage” (2018). In addition to several novels and cultural essays, he has published widely on economic policies, the development economy, econometrics, epistemology, and the history of religious ideas. In 2016, he co-created with Achille Mbembe the Ateliers de la pensée, which sought to stimulate a “non-colonial”,  school of thought.

Press Releases

• “MIASA Hosts Third Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture on Building African Ecologies of Knowledge”, University of Ghana article, 29th December 2023
• “MIASA holds third ‘Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture’ with a focus on building African ecologies of knowledge”, Modern Ghana, 14th December 2023
• “Invest in knowledge production to solve economic, social challenges – Professor tells government”, Ghanaweb, 13th December 2023
• “Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture -Building African ecologies of knowledge”, MIASA Public announcement on Graphic Online