(This chapter is an expansion of the scene previously written for the prompt to include the specific ancient philosophers and civilizations you mentioned.)
Silence lingered long after the final echoes faded from the Great Hall. The students’ presentation had sparked a revolution in Aethelgard University. Their work was lauded as a masterpiece of global intellectual synthesis. They had achieved recognition, validation, and a clear path to becoming professors.
But within the quiet confines of Room 301, the path forward remained contentious. The students had agreed to continue their research collaboratively for a groundbreaking anthology they planned to publish. The main challenge now was integration.
One humid evening, Bísí was carefully marking a map of the world with colored pins, tracing influence from the Indus Valley across trade routes. "We should structure this volume around the traditional historical periods," she suggested softly. "The 'Age of Antiquity,' the 'Middle Ages,' the 'Enlightenment'..."
Chidí nodded. "Yes, we can use the European historical periodization as the backbone. It’s universally recognized in academia. It helps people orient themselves when we introduce figures like Imhotep of Egypt or the Sumerian scribes."
Adé, usually sharp and witty, had grown quiet over the past few weeks. He had become increasingly frustrated by the group’s consensus to frame their findings using Western historical timelines and philosophical categorization systems. He felt they were compromising the integrity of their message for academic palatability.
Adé slammed his hand on the mahogany table, rattling the oil lamp and making the others jump.
"No," he said, his voice low and intense, the easygoing Lagos charm replaced by raw frustration. "We cannot. We will not use their timelines as our backbone."
Liam froze, surprised by the vehemence. "Adé, what’s wrong? It's just a framework. It helps organize the thousand voices we’re hearing, including those you highlighted, like the Kemetian Ptahhotep or Babylonian astronomers."
"A framework is just a cage built of language and perspective," Adé retorted, standing up and pacing the small open space. "We are in the University of Ọ̀yọ́-Ilé, in Nigeria, tracing our intellectual heritage. Why are we filtering our own voices through the lens of a Eurocentric calendar? 'Age of Antiquity'? An age of exploration for whom? For us, that was often an age of exploitation or of sovereign existence that had its own timeline."
"The voices in this room speak of time in cycles, of orí and destiny, of ubuntu long before Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle wrote a single word." He pointed a finger at the map Liam had used to highlight Greek and Roman contributions. "We have duly noted the Greek philosophers, how their focus on explicit rational inquiry and logic forms the basis of the modern scientific method, global democracy, and ethics. And the Romans, like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, who spread Stoicism and codified law that influences legal systems globally."
He paused, walking to a corner of the room dedicated to Near East civilizations. "We’ve also documented the Sumerians' invention of writing (cuneiform) and their sexagesimal system for time—our 60 minutes and 60 seconds are Sumerian. We acknowledged the Babylonian King Hammurabi’s legal code that influenced concepts of justice globally."
"And the Indus Valley Civilization," Amina added quietly, though she agreed with Adé's core point. "Their urban planning, sanitation systems, and lack of evidence for monumental conflict may have influenced later non-violent philosophies like Jainism and Buddhism. The Vedas, originating from this region, continue to influence nearly a billion people and global spirituality."
"Exactly," Adé continued, his voice gaining momentum. "We are comprehensive. But when we use their history as our default, we tacitly agree that their experience is the universal human experience, and ours is the 'other'—'African Philosophy' as a sub-category of 'World Philosophy'."
Bísí looked at him, her expression thoughtful. "Adé, I understand your point. But to be accessible in global academia..."
"If we have to dilute our truth to fit into their footnotes, then our work is assimilation, not contribution," Adé cut her off. "We are scholars of Ọmọlúàbí. We must have character and intellectual integrity. We need to center our narratives. We structure our findings not around the Renaissance or the Enlightenment, but around the rise and fall of Great Zimbabwe, the Mali Empire, the Kingdom of Kongo, and the enduring philosophies that survived the Middle Passage."
He turned to Bísí, his voice softening slightly, appealing to her deep spiritual grounding. "We have the ìwà of these ideas in our blood. Let's write our own chapter of history, starting here, tonight, using our own terms. We will show how Ma'at influenced Thales and Plato, not the other way around."
The room fell silent as the weight of his argument settled. The faint whispers from the shelves seemed to intensify, as if in agreement. Bísí looked down at the map pins in her hand, then back up at Adé.
"A new table," she murmured, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Okay, Adé. Where do we begin creating a philosophy of time that isn't linear and Western?"
No comments:
Post a Comment