Tempels’s encounter with Baluba people transformed his own thinking.

Evidence

The argument above urges Neugebauer to question the impossibility of explaining how a per definitionem stable notion of being can be equivalent to a dynamic one. Moreover, the phrase “force is being, being is force” can be reduced by itself to the plain tautology “being is being, being is being.” … However, Tempels identified himself with the Bantu; and in this encounter he spotted this dynamic, alternative logic. He had “real” experiences with the Bantu and had a personal belief in their reality and effect. I argue that Tempels did not project himself or transfer his experiences from the hegemonic North. He did not identify himself with the Bantu-speakers as a mere survival strategy. He identified himself with and was taught by them. This intercultural encounter greatly transformed Tempels and perhaps explains the “epistemological miracle.” He benefitted from his Baluba friends because he opened himself to their perceptions, values, and beliefs. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 559

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to decolonial theory and the idea that the colonizer is transformed by genuine encounter with the colonized — parallels Gayatri Spivak and postcolonial methodologies.