Valentin Mudimbe Quotes
Valentin-Yves Mudimbe was a Congolese philosopher, philologist, and novelist, and one of the most incisive theorists of the colonial production of knowledge about Africa. Trained in classics and philosophy in Belgium, he taught at the National University of Zaire before going into exile and settling at Stanford and later at Duke. The quotes below are attributed to Valentin Mudimbe, organized by topic.
Valentin Mudimbe on Knowledge
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Attributed to Valentin Mudimbe:
“Knowledge about Africa is rarely innocent of power.”
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Attributed to Valentin Mudimbe:
“The decolonization of thought is a long and patient labour.”
Valentin Mudimbe on Politics
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Attributed to Valentin Mudimbe:
“The colonial library frames what can be said of Africa.”
Valentin Mudimbe on Truth
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Attributed to Valentin Mudimbe:
“Africa is an invention as much as a discovery.”
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Attributed to Valentin Mudimbe:
“To write about Africa is always to write within and against a discourse.”