‘OSUNALITY’ (OR AFRICAN EROTICISM)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26512/pl.v13i29.57412

Keywords:

African eroticism. Sexuality. Osunality.

Abstract

So what is African sensuality-sexuality as distinct from Western eroticism? What is it before the impact of Western hegemonic influences? This article addresses these questions not just to provide a baseline for analyzing Africa's contemporary ideas and attitudes towards sex, and for understanding the different ways of thinking about sexuality within the African spatial universe, but also for revealing the logic of those practices.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Nkiru Nzegwu, State University of New York / University of South Africa

Professor Extraordinarius, Universidade da África do Sul, UNISA, Escola de Pesquisa Transdisciplinar e Estudos de Pós-Graduação.

Aline Matos da Rocha, Universidade de Brasília

Doutora em Metafísica pela Universidade de Brasília - UnB, na linha de pesquisa Ontologias Contemporâneas (2023), com tese de doutorado vencedora do Prêmio CAPES de Tese como a melhor tese na área de Filosofia, no ano de 2024. Mestra em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Goiás - UFG, na linha de pesquisa Ética e Filosofia Política (2018). Especialista em Ensino de Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Pelotas - UFPel (2024). Graduada em Filosofia com habilitação em licenciatura e bacharel pela Universidade de Brasília - UnB (2014/2015). Licenciada em Sociologia pelo Centro Universitário Internacional - UNINTER (2023). Atualmente é Pós-Doutoranda no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Metafísica da UnB, com Bolsa Prêmio Capes de Tese (Edital n. 04/2024) da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Desde a graduação, desenvolve pesquisas articulando conhecimentos das áreas de Filosofia, Filosofia Africana. Dentre os temas de investigação acadêmica, se interessa por Ensino de Filosofia; Filosofia Africana; Metafísica; Ontologias Contemporâneas; Ética e Filosofia Política; Filosofia da Educação; Educação das Relações Étnico-Raciais; Sociologia do Conhecimento; As interseções entre Raça, Gênero e Classe em interfaces com a Filosofia e Sociologia. Tem experiência no Ensino de Filosofia e se interessa pela relação entre Didática e o Ensino de Filosofia, a formação pedagógica de docentes de Filosofia, as recíprocas relações entre ensino-aprendizagem, e a importância da educação no processo de emancipação. Integra o Núcleo de Estudos de Filosofia Africana "Exu do Absurdo" da Universidade de Brasília (NEFA/UnB) na linha de pesquisa Filosofia Africana e Educação, e também integra o GT de Filosofia e Raça da Anpof (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia). Em suma, é uma professora que assume o ensinar-aprender filosofia/filosofar, especialmente com outras formas de filosofia(s), a não ser as ocidentais, como temáticas das suas investigações filosóficas.

References

ABDOULAYE, Ly. Brief notes on eroticism among the Lawbé. Boletim, n. 3-4, Dakar, CODESRIA, 1999.

ABIMBOLA, Wande. The bag of wisdom: Òsun and the origins of Ifá divination. In: MURPHY, J. M.; SANFORD, M. (Org.). Òsun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

ABIODUN, Rowland. Hidden power: Òsun, the 17th Odù. In: MURPHY, J. M.; SANFORD, M. (Org.). Òsun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

AMADIUME, Ifi. Sexuality, African religio-cultural traditions and modernity: expanding the lens. Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC), [s.l.], [s.d.]. Disponível em: http://www.arsrc.org/downloads/features/amadiume.pdf. Acesso em: 21 jun. 2010.

AMADIUME, Ifi. Afrikan Matriarchal Foundations: The Igbo Case. London: Karnak House, 1987a.

AMADIUME, Ifi. Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society. London: Zed Books, 1987b.

ANTELME, Ruth; ROSSINI, S. Sacred Sexuality in Ancient Egypt: The Erotic Secrets of the Forbidden Papyri. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2001.

ARNFRED, Signe. Introduction. In: ARNFRED, S. (Org.). Rethinking Sexualities in Africa. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute, 2004 [2005].

ARNFRED, Signe. Sex, food and female power: discussion of data material from northern Mozambique. Sexualities, v. 10, n. 2, p. 141-158, 2007.

BADEJO, Diedre. Òsun Seegesi: The Elegant Deity of Wealth, Power, and Femininity. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1996.

BATAILLE, Georges. Eroticism: Death and Sexuality. San Francisco, CA: City Lights, 1957 [1986].

BAUMEISTER, R. F.; MANER, Jon K.; DEWALL, C. Nathan. Theories of human sexuality. In: MCANULTY, Richard D.; BURNETTE, Michele M. (Eds.). Sex and Sexuality, v. 1. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006.

BECKER, Heike. Efundula: women’s initiation, gender and sexual identities in colonial and post-colonial northern Namibia. In: ARNFRED, S. (Ed.). Rethinking Sexualities in Africa. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute, 2004 [2005].

BERNAL, Martin. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987.

BIAYA, Tshikala Kayembe. The arts of being beautiful in Addis Ababa and Dakar. West Africa Review, v. 5, 2004.

BIAYA, T. K.; RENDALL, Steven. “Crushing the pistachio”: eroticism in Senegal and the art of Ousmane Ndiaye Dago. Public Culture, v. 12, n. 3, p. 707-720, 2000.

BOONE, Sylvia Ardyn. Radiance From the Waters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.

BROWN, Elsa Barkley. “What has happened here?”: The politics of difference in women’s history and feminist politics. In: HINE, D. C.; KING, W.; REED, L. (Eds.). “We Specialise in the Wholly Impossible”: A Reader in Black Women’s History. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing Inc., 1995.

CASTELLANOS, Isabel. A river of many turns: the polysemy of Ochún in Afro-Cuban tradition. In: MURPHY, J. M.; SANFORD, M. (Eds.). Òsun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

COLLINS, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990.

DIALLO, Assitan. Paradoxes of female sexuality in Mali. On the practices of Magnonmaka and Bolokoli-kela. In: ARNFRED, S. (Ed.). Rethinking Sexualities in Africa. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute, 2004 [2005].

DIOP, Cheikh Anta. The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity. Chicago: Third World Press, 1987.

DIOP, Cheikh Anta. Civilisation or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology. Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991.

DIORIO, Joseph A. Sex education. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

FOX, Michael V. The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.

FREUD, Sigmund. Future of Illusion. Traduzido por James Strachey. New York: Norton and Company, 1927 [1961].

GIDDINGS, Paula J. Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching. New York: Amistad, 2009 [2008].

GOLDMAN, A. Plain sex. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Philosophy of Sex. Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 1991.

GOULD, Carol Steinberg. Plato. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

GRAVES-BROWN, Carolyn; COONEY, Kathlyn M. Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt. Cardiff: Classical Press of Wales, 2008.

HARRIS, Cheryl I. Whiteness as property. In: CRENSHAW, K.; GOTANDA, N.; PELLER, G.; THOMAS, K. (Eds.). Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement. New York: The New Press, 1995.

HOOKS, bell. Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Boston: South End, 1981.

IKPE, Eno Blankson. Culture and pleasurable sexuality in southeastern Nigeria, Sexuality. Africa Magazine, v. 3, n. 3, p. 4-5, 8, 2006. Disponível em: http://www.arsrc.org/publications/sia/sep06/feature.htm. Acesso em: jun. de 2010.

IKPE, Eno Blankson. Human sexuality in Nigeria: a historical perspective. Understanding Human Sexuality Seminar Series, ARSRC, 29 jul. 2004.

LEADBETTER, Ron. Eros. In: Encyclopedia Mythica, 1997. Disponível em: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eros.html, modified 2 mar. 2006. Acesso em: 5 jul. 2010.

LEMONCHECK, Linda. Introduction. In: Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

LICHTEIM, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature - A Book of Readings, Volume II: The New Kingdom. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006 [1976].

LORDE, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1984.

MACKINNON, Catharine. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1989.

MCFADDEN, Patricia. Sexual pleasure as feminist choice. Feminist Africa, v. 2, p. 50-60, 2003. Disponível em: http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/sexual-pleasure-as-feminist-choice. Acesso em: 11 jul. 2010.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE DICTIONARY. Eroticism. Merriam-Webster Online. Disponível em: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eroticism. Acesso em: 5 jul. 2010.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE DICTIONARY. Pornography. Merriam-Webster Online. Disponível em: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pornography. Acesso em: 5 jul. 2010.

MESKELL, Lynn. Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt. New Haven: Princeton University Press, 2002.

MYSLIWIEC, Karol. Eros on the Nile. Tradução de Geoffrey L. Packer. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 2004.

NYAMNJOH, Francis. Fishing in troubled waters: disquettes and thiofs in Dakar. Africa, v. 75, n. 3, p. 295-324, 2005.

NZEGWU, Nkiru. African philosophy. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

NZEGWU, Nkiru. Family Matters: Feminist Concepts in African Philosophy of Culture. Albany: SUNY Press, 2006.

OBENGA, T. African Philosophy: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330 BC. Dakar: Per Ankh, 2004.

OGUNGBILE, David O. Eérìndínlógun: the seeing eyes of sacred shells and stories. In: MURPHY, J. M.; SANFORD, M. (Eds.). Òsun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

PATEMAN, Carole. Sexual Contract. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988.

PATEMAN, Carole. “God hath ordained to man a helper”: Hobbes, patriarchy and conjugal right. In: SHANLEY, Mary Lyndon; PATEMAN, C. (Eds.). Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.

PATEMAN, Carole. Genesis, fathers and the political theory of sons. In: EVANS, M. (Ed.). Feminism: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, v. 1: Feminism and the Enlightenment. London: Routledge, 2001.

PEREIRA, Charmaine. “Where angels fear to tread?” Some thoughts on Patricia McFadden’s Sexual pleasure as feminist choice. Feminist Africa, v. 2, p. 61-65, 2003. Disponível em: http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/where-angels-fear-to-tread. Acesso em: 16 jul. 2010.

PLUTH, Ed. Sigmund Freud. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

PRITCHETT, James Anthony. The Lunda-Ndembu: Style, Change, and Social Transformation in South Central Africa. Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 2001.

QUINN, Carol V. Objectification, sexual. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

RICHARDS, Audrey I. Chisungu: A Girl’s Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia. London: Faber and Faber, 1956.

SAMUELS, Herbert. Race, sex and myths: images of African-American men and women. In: BULLOUGH, Vern L.; BULLOUGH, Bonnie (Eds.). Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994.

SOBLE, Alan. Introduction. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005a.

SOBLE, Alan. Overview of philosophy of sex. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005b.

SOBLE, Alan. Personification, sexual. In: SOBLE, A. (Ed.). Sex from Plato to Paglia: A Philosophical Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005c.

SOBLE, Alan. The analytic categories of the philosophy of sex. In: SOBLE, A.; POWER, N. The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings. Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 2008.

SPRONK, Rachel. Female sexuality in Nairobi: flawed or favoured? Culture, Health and Sexuality, v. 7, n. 3, p. 267–277, 2005.

TAMALE, Sylvia. Out of the closet: unveiling sexuality discourses in Uganda. Feminist Africa, v. 2, p. 42-9, 2003. Disponível em: http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/out-of-the-closet. Acesso em: 11 jul. 2010.

TAMALE, Sylvia. Eroticism, sensuality and “women’s secrets” among the Baganda: a critical analysis. Feminist Africa, v. 5, p. 9-36, 2005. Disponível em: http://www.feministafrica.org/uploads/File/Issue%205/FA5_feature_article_1.pdf. Acesso em: 16 jul. 2010.

UCHENDU, Chinturu. Equal encounters: gender, language and power in an African society – the case of Ubang-Obudu, Nigeria. PhD dissertation, Bethesda: University of Maryland, 2003.

UNDIE, Chi-Chi; BENAYA, Kenaya. The state of knowledge on sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa: a synthesis of literature. Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, v. 8, p. 1-33, 2006.

UNDIE, C.; CRICHTON, J.; ZULU, E. Metaphors we love by: conceptualisations of sex among young people in Malawi. African Journal of Reproductive Health, v. 11, n. 3, p. 221-235, 2007.

VUORELA, Ulla. Motherhood in the naming: mothers and wives in the Finnish/Karelian cultural region. Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, v. 4, p. 1-16, 2003.

WASHINGTON, Teresa N. Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestation of Àjé in Africana Literature. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

WEEKS, Jeffrey. Making Sexual History. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2000.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO). Female genital mutilation. Disponível em: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/. Acesso em: 8 ago. 2010.

Published

2025-02-28

How to Cite

Nzegwu, N., & Matos da Rocha, A. (2025). ‘OSUNALITY’ (OR AFRICAN EROTICISM). PÓLEMOS – Revista De Estudantes De Filosofia Da Universidade De Brasília, 13(29), 154–223. https://doi.org/10.26512/pl.v13i29.57412

Issue

Section

Traduções