Fekade Abebe

This article explores the possibility of developing a non-racial philosophical anthropology rooted in African philosophy. In contrast to the critical anti-racial tradition, which holds that race must be confronted directly through exposure, deconstruction, and critique, this study proposes a different approach: dissolving the idea of race by drawing on precolonial African intellectual sources. The article examines the historical and philosophical conditions that produced the racialized humanity of the Euro-modern era, while engaging Egyptian and Ethiopian traditions, especially the figure of Atum-Ra and the thought of Zera Yacob, as alternative foundations for defining a universal, non-racial conception of the human grounded in African traditions of history, community, and thought.

Kiros’ Self-Definition aims to be a reader’s guide to the literature on the subject. It is such, as it provides an outline and summarizes the liter­ature on the topic of the Self and philosophy. By exploring different ideas, philosophies, thinkers, and literature over time, through different eras, and through the lenses of gender, sex, and race, it is also intended to be a philosophical bridge between the Global South and the Global North. Un­derstanding this task’s moral, existential, and philosophical implications, I wish to offer a critical notice that encourages this line of thought to remain critical, open, and debatable.