EXPLORING PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AN AFRICAN BURIAL TRADITION

Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi

Department of Philosophy, University of Abuja

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3344-6442

Email: lawrence.ugwuanyi@uniabuja.edu.ng

Abstract

The paper sets out to illustrate the role that anthropology can play in intervening development crises in Africa. It does so by taking on an aspect of anthropology known as philosophical anthropology, a philosophical investigation that combines the practical study of man with the theoretical (conceptual study) to provide enduring insights into the human mode of being. The paper suggests that this study is relevant to understanding the dominant passions that determine and define the quality of the growth of the African person. In particular, the work takes on cultural expressions in Africa and examines how and why particular forms of cultural expressions have found a space in modern traditions while others have not. It uses the example of the burial tradition in the Benin culture of Edo State, Nigeria, to illustrate. Textual reviews and interviews were employed to collect the data for the study. The study concludes with the view that philosophical anthropology can provide valuable insights into human advancement in Africa and the quality of the growth of the human person in Africa and proposes more research in this direction.

Keywords: Philosophy, Anthropology; Development; Culture, Burial tradition