Menkiti in August 2015

Ifeanyi Anthony Menkiti (24 August 1940 – 17 June 2019)[1][2] was a Nigerian poet, philosopher, and professor,[3][4] as well as the owner of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[5][6]

Life and career

Menkiti was born in Onitsha, Nigeria in 1940.[1] In 1961, he arrived in the United States to study at Pomona College, where he graduated in 1964.[1][3] Following postgraduate study at Columbia University and New York University, Menkiti earned a PhD in philosophy from Harvard in 1974.[7][8] His dissertation was "a study of collective responsibility".[1] From 1974 he taught philosophy at Wellesley College in the US with a particular focus on personhood and African philosophy.[1]

Menkiti sought to emphasise the social nature of personhood, expressed in the notion "I am, because we are".[1] In doing so he attempted to build on traditional African ideas of personhood. According to Menkiti, "societies found in traditional Africa routinely accept this fact that personhood is the sort of thing which has to be attained".[9] According to this view of personhood, the status of being a person has ethical connotations and is not something that one possesses automatically but must work towards through morally right action.[9]

In addition to his academic work, Menkiti was a poet. Commenting on the relationship between philosophy and poetry, he said "poetry deals with the meaning of life, the meaning of meaning, just like philosophy".[8]

Bibliography

Menkiti published some highly-cited philosophical works:

"Person and Community in African Traditional Thought," in African Philosophy: An Introduction 3 (1984): 171-182.

"On the Normative Conception of a Person," in Kwasi Wiredu, ed. A Companion to African Philosophy (2005): 324-331.

Menkiti published three collections of poetry:[8]

  • Affirmations
  • The Jubilation of Falling Bodies
  • Of Altair: The Bright Light


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Winkler, Kenneth. "Ifeanyi Menkiti". Wellesley Magazine. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Marquard, Bryan (June 18, 2019). "Ifeanyi Menkiti, Wellesley professor who rescued the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, dies at 78 - The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 Abraham, Sneha; Peters, Cynthia. "Ifeanyi Menkiti '64, Joe Palca '74 and Rip Rapson '74 Win Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award". Pomona College. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Ifeanyi Menkiti". Wellesley College. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  5. ↑ Grolier Poetry Book Shop Goes Nonprofit Route
  6. ↑ "Ifeanyi Menkiti, Grolier Poetry Book Shop Owner, Dies at 79". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  7. ↑ Wellesley College. "Ifeanyi A. Menkiti". Wellesley College. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 Holder, Doug. "Interview with Philosopher/Poet Ifeanyi Menkiti". The Somerville Times. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. 1 2 Ifeanyi, Menkiti (1984). "Person and Community in African Traditional Thought". In Wright, Richard A. (ed.). African Philosophy: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.


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