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Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture, University of Ghana

MIASA CC-BY-4.0: Poster Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture

MIASA introduced the annual Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture at the University of Ghana in 2021, honouring the 18th century African philosopher. The lecture serves one of MIASA’s key goals to contribute to the decolonisation of knowledge production and epistemic justice.

For the purpose of the Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture, MIASA collaborates with the Department of Philosophy and Classics and the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. As a major University of Ghana event, the lecture is held at the Great Hall on Legon campus and opened by a performance of the Ghana Dance Ensemble.

The first Amo Lecture coincided with the unveiling of the refurbished Anton Wilhelm Amo Plaque at the Department of Philosophy and Classics, which was originally donated by the University of Halle in the 1970s, Amo’s alma mater. The lecture in 2021 was accompanied by a workshop on Amo’s life and intellectual legacy for African philosophy and contemporary discourses.

In 2021, Prof. J. Obi Oguejifor (Nnamdi Azikwe University) presented on “The Significance of Anton Wilhelm Amo in Contemporary African Philosophy“, which reflected on the story of Amo’s life and the perception of his philosophy in West Africa. In particular, in regard to the question how Amo was influenced by African thinking.

Prof. Sylvia Tamale (Makerere University) asked in her lecture on “Decolonising Knowledge Production in Africa” (2022) to rethink uncritically inherited knowledge production practices, to bypass intellectual gatekeepers, and democratize the epistemic space.

In 2023, Prof. Felwine Sarr (Duke University) addressed the issue of “Building African Ecologies of Knowledge”. He invited the audience to appreciate the plurality of knowledge, which go beyond a Western framed idea of what is perceived as knowledge or not. The full lecture can be accessed here.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
teammiasa (February 15, 2024). Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture, University of Ghana. Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa - Blog. Retrieved January 20, 2026 from https://miasa.hypotheses.org/2317


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