Decolonizing Existentialism and Phenomenology

Lucidly written, rigorously argued with nuance, and rich with scholarly evidence, Jina Fast's Decolonizing Existentialism and Phenomenology is nothing short of an extraordinary metacritique of reason in existential phenomenological contexts. Skillfully avoiding pitfalls of epistemic apartheid and reductive reasoning, Fast not only addresses lacunae but also demonstrates, through careful reading, a wonderful synthesis through which a path is offered also for philosophy to be critically true to and beyond itself. A must read not only for anyone interested in Global Southern existential thought but also the complexity of what is needed to think across non-essentialist struggles for dignity and freedom. --Lewis R. Gordon, author of Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge and Fear of Black Consciousness Why is a philosophy--a domain of inquiry quintessentially associated with critical inquiry--so amenable to colonization and so difficult to decolonize? Jina Fast's highly readable, consistently thought-provoking text engages existentialist and phenomenological writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Richard Wright, Audre Lorde, Lewis R. Gordon, Sylvia Wynter, and Jamaica Kincaid to clarify what it means for knowledge and consciousness to be made free. --Jane Anna Gordon, author of Creolizing Political Theory and Statelessness and Contemporary Enslavement