This group examines texts that aim to expand and deepen our history of philosophy through an engagement with the works of cultures that have been marginalized or erased from the Western European frame predominant in academic research. We will begin with a reading of Biko Gray and Ryan Johnsons’ Phenomenology of Black Spirit, which “studi[ies] the relationship between Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit and Black Thought from Frederick Douglass to Angela Davis.” Our first meetings will take place on Mondays in June. We’ll cover approximately 2 chapters per session. For registration, please follow this link:

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=nJwqRqYt-0uzGA-DBD_kmxMoZXNAvEpAptL9ZeJ5TWlUNjZaTjRPTDBUNjNVREpYS1VOV1VERTRMQy4u

Phenomenology of Black Spirit by Biko Mandela Gray & Ryan J. Johnson (Edinburgh University Press, 2023)
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-phenomenology-of-black-spirit.html

Mondays (3, 10, 17, 24 Jun), approx. 2 chapters per session
16.00–18.00
Venue TBA (in-person in Amsterdam)

With the support of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), we—Michael Thomas (UvA) and Lilith Lee (VU)—intend to read Biko Mandela Gray & Ryan J. Johnson's monograph Phenomenology of Black Spirit, which presents a dialectical parallelism between Hegel’s classic text and major 19th–20th-century Black thinkers, in June. We would like to invite all those interested to join us. The general idea is to discuss the points brought forward in the book, on the basis of our joint expertises.

Please register with the following details of yours by the middle of next month (17 May), if you'd like to attend any of the sessions of the reading group so we can have a sense of required room size (: