Oruka rejects ethnography when it denies African philosophers individual thought

Evidence

Oruka endorses ethnography as “one way of looking for traces of African philosophy … [by] wear[ing] the uniform of anthropological field workers and us[ing] dialogue to pass through anthropological fogs to philosophical ground” (Oruka, 1991, p. 5). However, Oruka rebukes ethnophilosophers for wearing the uniform of anthropological fieldworkers and using its assumptions in arguing that African philosophy is necessarily communal and unanimous, with no room for individual thinkers (Oruka, 1991, p. 1). Oruka is visibly fascinated with individuality as a criterion for philosophy, and he intends to find the philosophic sage par excellence. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 590

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the core tension in Oruka’s position: he accepts ethnographic method as a route to philosophy but rejects its assumption that African thought is inherently communal.