Tempels’s egalitarian claims earned rejection from both colonizers and Africans

Evidence

The consequences of Tempels’s dual commitments are well known. His ideas expressed in Bantu Philosophy about the equality of the Muntu to the Westerner, were seen as too extreme by both the colonial administrators and the church. This led his own Franciscan congregation to recall him from the missionary work he loved so much in the Congo. The colonial administrators saw his views as too extreme if not equivalent to sedition. … At the same time, Tempels was not to receive universal acclaim in African circles. Some modern thinkers have seen his forays into Bantu philosophy as undermining the integrity of African thought. Others have gone as far as accusing him of complicity in the colonial mission’s oppressive agenda. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 432

Categorization

• XREF: Illustrates a broader pattern: attempts to affirm African dignity within colonial frames are seen as either seditious or complicit.