Discipline of Philosophy

Prof P Mungwini

College of Human Sciences
School of Humanities
Department: Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology
Professor
Tel: 012 429 6317
E-mail: mungwp@unisa.ac.za

Qualifications

  • D.Phil. Philosophy (University of Zimbabwe, 2007)

NRF Rating

C2

Currently teaching

  • PLS3703 (Advanced African Philosophy)
  • PLS3709 (Advanced Western Philosophy)
  • HRPLS81 (Philosophy Research Report)
  • PLS4803 (Trends in Contemporary Philosophy: Hountondji)
  • PLS4804 (A thorough study of an approved philosophical problem: Metaphysics)

Fields of academic interests

  • African Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Culture
  • Indigenous traditions and modernity
  • Philosophy of Education
  • Applied Ethics

Field of Specialisation

  • African Philosophy

Books

  • ‘AIDS and the Challenge of Rethinking Sex Education in Postcolonial Africa: An Afro-philosophical Perspective’, pp. 193-211, in M.B. Ramose (ed.). Hegel's Twilight: Liber Amicorum Discipulorumque: Pro Heinz Kimmerle, Studies in Intercultural Philosophy, Volume 23, 2013. Amsterdam: Rodopi Press. ISBN 978-90-420-3665-9.
  • Indigenous Shona Philosophy: reconstructive insights. 2017. Pretoria: AHP & UNISA Press.
  • African Philosophy: Emancipation and Practice. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, (213 pages).          https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/african-philosophy-9781350196506/

Journal articles

  • "River pollution in the city of Masvingo: a complex issue", ZAMBEZIA 32(1&2), 2005, pp. 95-106. Co-authored with J.Mapira.

  • “Forward to the past”: Dilemmas of rural women empowerment in Zimbabwe, African Sociological Review 11(2), 2007, pp. 124-133.

  • "Shona  Womanhood:  Rethinking  social  identities  in  the  face  of  HIV  and  AIDS  in Zimbabwe," Journal of Pan African Studies 2(4), June 2008, pp. 203-214.

  • ‘'Voices of Despair': traditional medicine, ambivalence and the AIDS scourge in Africa", Amamihe Journal of Applied Philosophy 6, June 2008, pp. 77-96.

  • "'Down but not out': critical insights in African traditional Shona metaphysics", Journal of Pan African Studies 2(9), March 2009, pp. 177-196. Co-authored with A. Viriri.

  • "Jambanja: Moral paralysis and postcolonial politics in Zimbabwe", LWATI Journal of Contemporary Research 6(1), June 2009, pp. 331-341.

  • "Ubuntu,  HIV  and  AIDS  in  Zimbabwe:  philosophical  reflections  on  “the  condom campaign language” as a form of veiled public admonition (bembera)", NAWA Journal of Language and Communication 3(1), June 2009, pp. 117-128.

  • "Teachers, postcolonial education and morality: the engagement and its frustrations", Zimbabwe Journal of Education Research 21(2), July 2009, pp. 229-238.

  • "Africanisation and the quest for personhood: confronting rising instrumental rationality in contemporary moral and political culture in Africa", BOLESWA Journal of Theology, Religion and Philosophy 3(1), 2009, pp. 27-38.

  • "African cosmology and the duality of western hegemony: the search for an African identity", Journal of Pan African Studies 3(6), 2010, pp. 27-42. Co-authored with A. Viriri.

  • "'The colour of language': philosophical reflections on identity and the linguistic roots of epistemicide in postcolonial Africa", pp. 115-121, in:  Love, A. et al. (eds.) 2011. Language  Contact, Identity and Socio-Economic Mobility, Proceedings of the 10th LASU Conference Roma : The National University of Lesotho.

  • "Rape, sexual politics and the construction of manhood among the Shona of Zimbabwe: some  philosophical reflections", Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya 2(1), June 2010, pp. 1-19. (Co-authored with K. Matereke).

  • "Canon Gideon Byamugisha: celebrating the Sage and his Copernican revolution", Boleswa Journal of Theology, Religion and Philosophy 3(2), 2010, pp. 1-7.

  •  "The challenges of revitalizing an indigenous and Afrocentric moral theory in postcolonial education in Zimbabwe", Educational Philosophy and Theory 43(7), 2011, pp. 773-787.

  • "Philosophy and tradition in Africa: critical reflections on the power and vestiges of colonial nomenclature", Thought and Practice: Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya 3(1), 2011, pp. 1-19.

  • "Orality and ordinary language philosophy: revisiting the intellectual heritage of Africa’s indigenous cultures", Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, Vol 21 (2), 2011, pp. 1-11.

  • "Surveillance and cultural Panopticism: situating Foucault in African modernities", South African Journal of Philosophy, 31(2), 2012, pp. 340 – 353.

  • "The occult, politics and African modernities: the case of Zimbabwe’s Diesel N’anga", African Identities, 10(4), 2012, pp. 423 – 438. (Co-authored with K. Matereke).

  • "(Re)membering Socrates through dialogue with Africa: a philosophical reflection", Phronimon, 13(2), 2012, pp. 119-136.

  • "The Vuvuzela that Nkrumah sounded: remembering Nkrumah, celebrating the 2010 World Cup in (South) Africa", Journal on African Philosophy, 4, 2012, pp. 53 – 60.

  • "African modernities and the critical reappropriation of indigenous knowledges: towards a polycentric global epistemology", International Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 8(1), 2013, pp. 78-93.

  • “'Conscripts and not volunteers': indigenous peoples, tradition and the postcolonial question of reconciliation in Zimbabwe", Journal on African Philosophy, 7, 2013, pp. 19-31.

  • "The African renaissance and the quest for epistemic liberation", Australasian Review of African Studies, 35(2), 2014, pp. 88-108. 

  • "'Postethnophilosophy': discourses of modernity and the future of African philosophy", Phronimon, 15(1), 2014, pp. 16-31.

  • "Dialogue as the negation of hegemony: An African perspective", South African Journal of Philosophy, 34(4), 2015, pp. 395-407.

  • "The question of recentring Africa: thoughts and issues from the global South", South African Journal of Philosophy, 35(4), 2016, pp. 523-536.

  • "Pan-Africanism and Epistemologies of the South", Theoria: A Journal of Social & Political Theory, 64(153), 2017, pp.165-186.

  •  "African know thyself: epistemic injustice and the quest for liberative knowledge", International Journal of African Renaissance Studies,12(2), 2017, pp.5-18.

  • “The question of Epistemic justice: polemics, contestations and dialogue”, Phronimon, 19, 2018, pp.1-13.
  • “To the victor belong the spoils: reflections on ethics and political values in postcolonial Africa.” Proceedings of the 23rd World Congress of Philosophy, 68, 2018, pp.87-93.
  • “Philosophy and the unfinished humanistic project of decolonisation in Africa.” In The tenacity of truthfulness: philosophical essays in honour of Mogobe Bernard Ramose, Dar-es-Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota, 2019, pp.61-76.
  • “The quest for epistemic liberation: what can be done to be true to both philosophy and to humanity?” Journal of World Philosophies, 4(2), 2019, pp.70-77.
  • “On what can be done to be true to both philosophy and to humanity: further reflections”, Journal of World Philosophies, 4(2), 2019, pp.92-105.
  • “The critique of ethnophilosophy in the mapping and trajectory of African philosophy”, Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture, and Religions, 8(3), 2019, 1-20.
  • “Unshackling the future: emancipatory struggles of the global South.” In Breaking the Colonial Contract: From Oppression to Autonomous Decolonial Futures. London: Lexington Books, 2020, pp.221-234.
  • “Struggles for self-liberation in African philosophy”, Phronimon, 21, 2020, pp.1-12.
  • “Decolonisation debates in higher education.” In African Higher Education in the 21st century: Some philosophical Dimensions. Leiden: Brill, 2021, pp.106-121.
  • “Philosophy in the global age: towards the conversation of humankind.” In African Philosophy in an Intercultural Perspective, JB Metzler, Stuttgart, 2022, pp.191-204.
  • “Indigenous (African) philosophy and the fecundity of expression.” In Beyond Bantu Philosophy: Contextualising Placide Tempels’ initiative in African thought, London: Routledge, 2022, pp.51-64.
  • “Decolonisation as self-recovery: the path to intellectual independence.” In Knowledge Production and the search for Epistemic liberation in Africa. Springer, 2022, pp.37-47.
  • “Philosophy, openness, and the imperative of continuous self-renewal”, Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture, and Religions 11(2), 2022, pp.27-42.

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

  • Africa Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011)