Souleymane Bachir Diagne, a professor at Columbia University, will present “What is African Philosophy? The Discussion of Orality and Islamic Thought in Francophone Africa” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 26 in the Severance Great Hall at Carleton College. This event is free and open to the public.

A noted scholar in the history of philosophy and Islamic thought, Diagne is a professor of French at Columbia University. Diagne studied in France, where he attained a degree in philosophy at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books, including Islam and the Open Society: Fidelity and Movement in the Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal (Codesria, 2011) and African Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson, and the Idea of Negritude (Seagull, 2011). His latest book, Bergson postcolonial: L’élan vital dans la pensée de Léopold Sédar Senghor et de Mohamed Iqbal (Editions du CNRS, 2011), won the Dagnan-Bouveret prize by the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences for 2011. His teaching interests include early modern philosophy, philosophy and Sufism in the Islamic world, and African philosophy and literature.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the Carleton College Department of Religion’s new course entitle “Islamic Africa,” in which students have the opportunity to engage this scholar on his cutting-edge research on the literatures and cultures of the Muslim Sahel.

The Great Hall is located in Severance Hall, off of College Street, on the Carleton campus. This event is sponsored by the Departments of Religion, African and African American Studies, French, and Philosophy, as well as the Office of the Dean of the College. For further information and disability accommodations, contact Sandy Saari at ssaari@carleton.edu or at (507) 222-4232.