What it means to be young in South Sudan Today?
February 2005. Under one of those mighty mango trees that dot the plains of South Sudan I sat. Waiting for a mango to fall. No one is allowed to pluck mangoes from the tree; you may only pick the mangoes that fall. No, I was waiting for the boys who were working at the nearby construction site to come back after their long lunch break. I wanted to pick a conversation with one or two of them, or if they did not know English, at least to say Cibaak! – that’s the local greeting. I have noticed that the boys of Rumbek relate to strangers very easily. So, language is no problem.
Then came my friend James Malouk. This was our second day of conversation. He wore a broad smile as usual. The Dinkas value white teeth, I came to learn. Most […]
Africa
An African Epistemology
The Multiplicity of Truth :
An inquiry into African Epistemology
In this brief article I would like to reflect on how the African people look at truth. (I am grateful to my friend Babu Ayindo. A conversation with him has been the real confirmation of my own postulations. Some of the examples used here are his too.) The concept of truth is based on a metaphysics – a way of interpreting reality. Thirdly, it has its implications on ethics.
I would like to speak of these three aspects in the following theses:
1: A ‘Yes’ may mean a ‘No’.
2: The different aspects of reality are not contradictory but only complementary.
3: That is good which simply preserves relationships.
I noticed that in stating these theses I had to be extra careful to state them without absolutizing them – in the African way. Therefore, I notice that English being a non-African language has its limitation in expressing […]