Overview

This book is about an African philosophical examination of the death penalty debate. In a 21st century world where the notion of human right is primed, this book considers the question of the death penalty in two sub-Saharan African countries namely, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, notorious for their poor human right records. This edited collection comprises of 11 essays from Zimbabwean and Nigerian philosophers. As opinions continue to divide over the retention or abolition of the death penalty, these African philosophers attempt to localise this debate by raising the following questions: What is the meaning of life in the African place? Is it proper to take the human life under any guise at all? Who has the right to take the human life? Can the death penalty be justified on the bases of African cultures? Why should it be abolished? Why should it be retained? Indeed, this book is the first of its kind to engage the tumultuous issue of capital punishment in the postcolonial Africa and from the African philosophical point of view.

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9781622734795

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This book attempts to philosophically interrogate the socio-anthropological dimensions of the practice of death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa. Its originality lies on its resolve to forge a consensual anti-death penalty theory from a multicultural African perspective. In this way, the submissions in the book, together promise to be an invaluable contribution to narratives about capital punishment in traditional African cultures and in political settings of contemporary Africa. Owing to its possible appeal to ethnologists, moral philosophers, jurists, scholars in religious studies and African Studies, the book is likely to cause a revision of widely held positions on death penalty and raise controversy over the veracity of the claims of these burgeoning scholars. This is because many of the views presented seemed to have been based on sentimental assumptions about high premium for life and regard for human dignity ascribed to selected African folklores, mores, and proverbs contained in African literature and orature. Beside mechanics and style of writing, editorial needs for the future would include an evaluation of the moral status of human sacrifice and other cultural practices vis a vis the doctrine of human dignity which such principles as hunhu-ubuntu/umunna/ndu are purported to portray. Contemplating an African position on death penalty is an ambitious project that would stir debate. But if profitably sustained, it may enable further expansion of the scope and breadth of the study for a homogenous cultural meeting point. Muyiwa Falaiye, Ph.D, MNAL, Professor of Philosophy, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Director, Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, University of Lagos, Nigeria Socrates, the father of philosophy, was a victim of the death penalty. In this collection of essays, a group of African philosophers revisits this all-important subject with a view not only to bring this topic to the fore but more crucially to provide refreshing context-based philosophical arguments of their own. Pascah Mungwini Professor of Philosophy University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa An intellectually robust and captivating ethical discourse by African philosophers regarding the controversial death penalty within the traditional and contemporary Africa...a must read for all interested in Justice as a value in human life... Kahiga J. Kiruki Professor of Philosophy Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya This book is a remarkable contribution from African philosophers to the global debate on the death penalty, its institutions and administrations in a specific context; and in a time of great transformations in our ideas of right and wrong. Oladele Abiodun Balogun Professor of Philosophy Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria

Author Information

Fainos Mangena Ph.D, is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe. His areas of research interest include Environmental Ethics, African jurisprudence, Ethics and Culture, Gender and Politics. Jonathan O. Chimakonam Ph.D, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Calabar, Nigeria and a Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His teaching and research interests include: African Philosophy, Logic, African jurisprudence, Environmental Ethics, Postcolonial thought.

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