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On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, The Africa Institute hosted a faculty seminar titled “The Beautyful and the Damned: Ayi Kwei Armah’s Postcolony and the Still-Born Humanisms of Decolonization,” presented by Christopher J. Lee, Professor of African History, World History, and African Literature at The Africa Institute. The seminar focused on Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah’s first novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), which explores the crises of the African postcolony.
Professor Lee’s analysis of the novel considered Armah’s personal history and his intellectual engagement with Frantz Fanon, the canonical Afro-Caribbean philosopher, during the same period. Lee argued that Armah’s novel extends Fanon’s concept of “wretchedness” further than that found in The Wretched of the Earth (1961). He also presented a case for how the “still-born humanisms” of decolonization, such as African socialism, are but a few of the possible humanisms that can emerge in the postcolony.
“Armah’s novel highlights the limits of political emancipation in realizing a fully formed humanity, revealing the uncertainty of a future once imagined and now gone. His notion of the ‘beautyful ones’ reflects the imperfection and reinvention necessary to rethink humanism in the postcolonial context, emphasizing the still-born humanisms of decolonization,” said Professor Lee, whose research concerns how an Africacentric humanism might be realized, one that can contribute to ongoing discussions of the possibilities and limits of new universal humanisms as an idea and practice.
In this approach, Professor Lee drew upon the recent work of Ghanaian philosopher Ato Sekyi-Otu to consider the more prosaic humanisms of everyday life that still offer a means of individual and community regeneration. Lee argued that humanism can be approached in two fundamental ways: as a condition – a state of being human – and as a practice – the act of treating other people as fellow human beings. However, he also added that these two approaches can leave out the legacies of historical experience, which scholars, writers, and intellectuals continue to grapple with.
The seminar was moderated by Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute, and was attended by scholars, researchers, and students interested in African history, literature, and postcolonial studies.
Professor Lee has held a range of faculty appointments in Africa and North America, and he has published seven books. His seminar left participants with a deeper understanding of the issues facing the African postcolony and the importance of exploring different perspectives on the question of humanism.
On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, The Africa Institute hosted a faculty seminar titled “The Beautyful and the Damned: Ayi Kwei Armah’s Postcolony and the Still-Born Humanisms of Decolonization,” presented by Christopher J. Lee, Professor of African History, World History, and African Literature at The Africa Institute. The seminar focused on Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah’s first novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), which explores the crises of the African postcolony.
On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, The Africa Institute hosted a faculty seminar titled “The Beautyful and the Damned: Ayi Kwei Armah’s Postcolony and the Still-Born Humanisms of Decolonization,” presented by Christopher J. Lee, Professor of African History, World History, and African Literature at The Africa Institute. The seminar focused on Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah’s first novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), which explores the crises of the African postcolony.
Professor Lee’s analysis of the novel considered Armah’s personal history and his intellectual engagement with Frantz Fanon, the canonical Afro-Caribbean philosopher, during the same period. Lee argued that Armah’s novel extends Fanon’s concept of “wretchedness” further than that found in The Wretched of the Earth (1961). He also presented a case for how the “still-born humanisms” of decolonization, such as African socialism, are but a few of the possible humanisms that can emerge in the postcolony.
“Armah’s novel highlights the limits of political emancipation in realizing a fully formed humanity, revealing the uncertainty of a future once imagined and now gone. His notion of the ‘beautyful ones’ reflects the imperfection and reinvention necessary to rethink humanism in the postcolonial context, emphasizing the still-born humanisms of decolonization,” said Professor Lee, whose research concerns how an Africacentric humanism might be realized, one that can contribute to ongoing discussions of the possibilities and limits of new universal humanisms as an idea and practice.
In this approach, Professor Lee drew upon the recent work of Ghanaian philosopher Ato Sekyi-Otu to consider the more prosaic humanisms of everyday life that still offer a means of individual and community regeneration. Lee argued that humanism can be approached in two fundamental ways: as a condition – a state of being human – and as a practice – the act of treating other people as fellow human beings. However, he also added that these two approaches can leave out the legacies of historical experience, which scholars, writers, and intellectuals continue to grapple with.
The seminar was moderated by Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute, and was attended by scholars, researchers, and students interested in African history, literature, and postcolonial studies.
Professor Lee has held a range of faculty appointments in Africa and North America, and he has published seven books. His seminar left participants with a deeper understanding of the issues facing the African postcolony and the importance of exploring different perspectives on the question of humanism.
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