Tempels only framed African women as childbearers despite pre-colonial wise women leaders.

Evidence

The insights from African feminist philosophy reveal gaps that, due to patriarchal assumptions and limitations, are not sufficiently addressed in both African and Western traditions, neither now nor at the time of Bantu Philosophy. Dudziro Nhengu (Chapter 8) stresses the limitations of Tempels’s narrative. The typical way that a Western Catholic missionary, such as Tempels, pays attention to African women in Bantu Philosophy is only in relation to childbearing, while the pre-colonial African matriarchy is known for its wise women leaders and sages of their peoples. Nhengu’s paper reveals lacunas in Bantu Philosophy that indicate African and other philosophies need to include perspectives from and about African women. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 1012

Categorization

• XREF: Patriarchal blinders in a foundational philosophy text connect to the reader’s general interest in canon critique and standpoint epistemology.
• SEED: The gap between Tempels’s childbearing-only portrait and the documented pre-colonial matriarchy could anchor an essay on how canonization reifies gender erasure in philosophy.