Felwine Sarr is a philosopher, economist, and musician. He is the author of Afrotopia (University of Minnessota Press, 2019, tr. by Drew S. Burk) and is well-known for his groundbreaking report “The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics”.
Felwine Sarr is a philosopher, economist, and musician. He is the author of Afrotopia (University of Minnessota Press, 2019, tr. by Drew S. Burk). Well-known for his groundbreaking report “The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics,” Sarr teaches at the University of Gaston-Berger in Saint Louis, Senegal where he was previously dean of its Economics and Management department. His research focus on economic policies, the development economy, econometrics, epistemology, and the history of religious ideas. In addition to Afrotopia (Philippe Rey, 2016), he has published the meditative essay Dahij (Gallimard, 2009), the collection of short stories 105, rue Carnot, the philosophical text Méditations Africaines (Mémoire d’encrier, 2011), and the essay Habiter le monde along with the collection Ishindenshin, both published by Mémoire d’Encrier. Additionally, he cofounded the Laboratory for the Analysis of Societies and Powers/Africa-Diasporas (LASPAD) in Saint Louis as well as the publishing company Jimsaan in Dakar. In 2016, he co-created with Achille Mbembe the annual Dakar and Saint Louis workshops Ateliers de la pensée, which sought to stimulate a “non-colonial” school of thought. Sarr also co-founded with Achille Mbembe the doctoral school of the Ateliers de la pensée.
About the Book: Afrotopia
A vibrant meditation and poetic call for an African utopian philosophy of self-reinvention in the twenty-first century.
In the recent aftermath of colonialism, civil wars, and the AIDS crisis, a new day finally seems to be shining on the African continent. Africa has once again become a site of creative potential and a vibrant center of economic growth and production. No longer stigmatized by stereotypes or encumbered by the traumas of the past—yet unsure of the future—Africa has other options than to simply follow the paths already carved out by the global economy. Accordingly, Felwine Sarr urges the continent to set out on its own renewal and self-discovery -- to create an active utopia by reflecting on the continent’s vast mythological universe and ancient traditions, nourishing a cultural reinvention, and embracing green technologies that tackle climate change and demographic challenges.
Through a reflection on contemporary African writers, artists, intellectuals, and musicians, Sarr elaborates Africa’s unique philosophies, shared values, and communal economy. He also reflects on concepts that are deeply rooted in its ancient traditions and landscape, such as ubuntu, the life force in Dogon culture; the Rwandan imihigo; and the Senegalese teranga. Afrotopia takes the reader on a philosophical journey and demands the elevation of a collective consciousness.
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