Separate cognitive categories for Africans reproduced Bantustan-style segregation in thought

Evidence

Tempels contributed to a great degree in making African philosophy a Bantustan philosophy. This was achieved by creating distinct categories of thought for the black person. This inferiorization of African thought was similar to Bantustan policies that sought to give meaningless freedom and recognition to Bantu territories. Through Tempels’s creation of the category of “force” as responsible for how the black person thinks, Tempels effectively condemned the African to being different. This sank the African to the status of a second-rate thinker, whose categories of thought required special attention to be understood and, for the Muntu, who needed to be aided in getting rid of the most basic of his systems in favor of enlightened ways. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 468

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: how well-intentioned frameworks for studying a culture can function as epistemological segregation akin to political Bantustans.