Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy:

Wim van Binsbergen's work at the Philosophical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands)


Important notice: List of publications Wim van Binsbergen

Over the years, the Shikanda portal (of which the present page on African religion has attracted the largest number of visitors) has grown to such size, and its internal structure has become so complex, that visitors have had increasing difficulty finding their way, even despite the internal search facility which appears on all the index pages of the various constituent websites. Since Wim van Binsbergen's main output consists of texts for publication, an updated list of publications with hyperlinks to all available fulltext digital texts seems the best remedy. Thanks to the good services of the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in the course of current retrodigitalisation of its members published work, many more digital texts have recently come available, so that now the list of publications could be greatly improved and given a more prominent place in the Shikanda portal. This list is now being provided with clickable links to these uploaded publications. Since that time-consuming process has not yet been completed, of many articles listed, fulltext or draft versions are in fact available in the Shikanda portal, even though no links yet appear in the list of publications. Therefore, please also look at the separate webpages within the Shikanda portal, and use the internal search facility (see below).

This website introduces Wim van Binsbergen's work as professor of the Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy at the Philosophical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands: current research and teaching, recent and imminent publications (with many original, fully referenced texts), list of publications, vitae, contact information

Click here for short bio-/bibliographical note, Wim van Binsbergen

proceed to the Shikanda portal in order to access all other websites by Wim van Binsbergen: general (intercultural philosophy, African Studies); ethnicity-identity-politics; Afrocentricity and the Black Athena debate; Ancient Models of Thought in Africa, the Ancient Near East, and prehistory; sangoma consultation; literary work

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Vitae List of publications
A researcher's photo album Contact information
8 april 2005: op het symposium ‘Met drie ogen: Intercultureel doordenken van de kruisbestuiving tussen westerse filosofie en oosterse spiritualiteit’, georganiseerd door Henk Oosterling en Vinod Bhagwandin, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, 8 april 2005, ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van Dr Douwe Tiemersma van de faculteit Wijsbegeerte, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, hoopt Wim van Binsbergen de bijdrage te presenteren: 'In de ballingschap van het academische woord: ofwel, scheidingen die wel mogen blijven'

samenvatting: Hoewel mijn ondertitel uitdrukkelijk verwijst naar Douwe Tiemersma’s nieuwe boek Verdwijnende scheidingen: Proeve van intercultureel filosoferen (2005), zal mijn bijdrage niet specifiek de polemiek daarmee aangaan (dat zou niet erg feestelijk en misschien zelfs niet erg collegiaal zijn, en bovendien, als vakmatige discussie tussen intercultureel filosofen, onvoldoende recht doen aan de heterogene samenstelling van ons gehoor op dit symposium). In plaats daarvan, zal ik mij vooral afvragen waarom Tiemersma’s zoektocht naar levensrelevantie voor zijn filosoferen, nu juist een beweging heeft moeten zijn wég van de dominante academische filosofie in Nederland vandaan. Ik zal wat parallellen trekken met Otto Duintjers recente werk. Ik zal constateren dat wij ons met de academische filosofie in de Westerse traditie onherroepelijk in de ballingschap van het academische woord hebben begeven. Vanuit Tiemersma’s vooral op Zuid-Azië geinspireerde positie, op het eind van zijn zoektocht, is het ons vergund iets van de beperkingen van die meer algemene academische positie te benoemen. Het is Tiemersma’s verdienste dat hij voor ons enige alternatieven in het zicht brengt die zich kenmerken door wat het academische woord allemaal niet heeft: onder meer lichamelijkheid; onmiddellijkheid in ruimte en tijd; de suggestie van de mogelijkheid te ontstijgen aan de regel van de uitgesloten derde; en voorts het opgeven van de claim van een gepriviligeerde subjectpositie waarvandaan al het andere noodzakelijk tot object moet worden; excentriciteit; en daarmee vooral bescheidenheid. Verwante inzichten doemen op wanneer wij naast die Zuidaziatische inspiratie een of meer perspectieven plaatsen ontleend aan Afrikaanse tradities. Maar terwijl deze excursies ver van huis, best wel verrijkend en opwindend zijn, hoeven wij niet noodzakelijk zo ver te gaan. Dichter bij huis, bieden Derrida, Deleuze en Guattari op vele plaatsen in hun oeuvre aanzetten tot een soortgelijke relativering, vitalisering, en herbronning van de dominante Westerse traditie in de lijn Aristoteles-Scholastiek-Descartes-Kant. Zelfs Plato lijkt (bij herlezing juist van enige van zijn meest gecanoniseerde passages) op deze punten meer te bieden te hebben dan gesuggereerd wordt door zijn ereplaats als de eerste Westerse filosoof die een groot, nog bestaand oeuvre naliet. Maar laten wij niet het kind met het badwater weggooien: ik zal besluiten met te betogen dat, met name in de interculturele filosofie, aan de scheidingen die het academische woord mogelijk maakt, toch een grote persoonlijke en maatschappelijke relevantie en betekenis niet valt te ontzeggen, juist in het huidige tijdgewricht van globalisering en intercultureel conflict.

Papers in Intercultural philosophy (PIP): the Fall of 2004 saw the announcement (click here for a fuller description (PDF)) of a new series of books, reports and papers around the Erasmus University Rotterdam chair of Intercultural Philosophy. These publications will appear both in electronic form and as printed hard copy. The series will be published in conjunction with Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy/Revue Africaine de Philosophie. Editorial work on the first titles is in progress – they will appear in the course of 2005, which is also when the new PIP website will be established
Establishment of the website: Reticulum: website of the Intercontinental PhD Network on Intercultural Philosophy, around the chair of Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in collaboration with the African Studies Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands, with PhD proposals, Forum, chat room, agenda's etc: everything to ensure state-of-the-art intercontinental communication between the members of this network
1st June, 2005: GRIPh (Groningen Research Institute of Philosophy) lecture, Groningen, the Netherlands: Wim van Binsbergen, ‘A major challenge for intercultural philosophy: ‘‘9/11’’ and its aftermath’; click here for abstract; and here for a provisional version of the full argument

Wim van Binsbergen, 'Towards an Intercultural Hermeneutics of Post-‘9/11’ Reconciliation: Comments on Richard Kearney’s ‘Thinking After Terror: An Interreligious Challenge’, paper in press in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Crossroads1 (April, , Vol. 2, No. 2005) (click here for PDF; and click here for html)

Intercontinental network of PhD candidates around the chair of Intercultural philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, in conjunction with the African Studies Centre, Leiden: given the difficulties of funding and of creating a congenial and productive working environment for intercultural philosophical research by intercontinental PhD students in the Netherlands, a network is being created of such students working in university positions in their home countries and being supervised via modern electronic media with short annual periods of face-to-face supervision; the PhD trajectory is to be concluded with a few months’  stay in the Netherlands. A number of PhD students in Africa and Asiahave now been registered under this new scheme, and more are to follow.

from 10-26 March 2005 Wim van Binsbergen visited (1) the Universities of Yaoundé I , (2) the Catholic University of Central Africa at Yaounde and (3)the University of Buea, Cameroon: in order to supervise his locally residing PhD students, and to deliver seminars and lectures on intercultural philosophy and related topics; click for extensive further details including titles of seminars, hyperlinks to the contents presented, and many photographs

Research and teaching around the chair of Foundations of Intercultural philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam

MA course 2003-2004

Bachelor III Cursus: Grondslagen van interculturele filosofie (2004-2005)

zie ook de eigen website van deze cursus

'Cultures do not exist' / 'Culturen bestaan niet' (inaugural lecture in the chair of 'Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy'), Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1999)
revised version now included as chapter 15 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
Dutch and English text

traduzione italiana
‘Le culture non esistono: Critica dell’autoevidenza negli studi interculturali’ -- Italian version of 1999 inaugural lecture in the chair of 'Foundations of intercultural philosophy' (Erasmus University Rotterdam): van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2002, ‘Le culture non esistono: Critica dell’autoevidenza negli studi interculturali’, in: Miltenburg, A.F.M., ed., Incontri di sguardi: Saperi e pratiche dell’intercultura, Padova: Unipress/ Master in Studi Interculturali, Facolta di Lettere e Filosofia, Universita di Padova, pp. 5-51.

now published (1st December 2003):
Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality: Berlin/Muenster: LIT
click for description and order form

early 2003 Wim van Binsbergen took over the Editorship of Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy/ Revue Africaine de Philosophie; click for details of the International Colloquium marking that event

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1996, a., ‘Time, space and history in African divination and board-games’, in: Tiemersma, D., & Oosterling, H.A.F., eds., 1996, Time and temporality in intercultural perspective: Studies presented to Heinz Kimmerle, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 105-125

Spiritualiteit en transcendentie: Een onderzoek naar spiritualiteit vertrekkend vanuit Otto Duintjers Onuitputtelijk is de Waarheid: lezing door Wim van Binsbergen voor Studium Generale en Filosofie Oost-West (2e lustrum), Utrecht, 21 april 2004 The Leopard in the Garden of Eating: From food for thought to thought for food – towards a world history of difference', paper read at, ‘The Garden of Eating: Experiencing the thought of Gilles Deleuze in cultural practices’, 29 May 2004, Rotterdam: Faculties of Philosophy / History and Art; convenor: Rick Dolphijn

ABSTRACT: Most philosophers and cultural analysts who let themselves be inspired by Deleuze (and Guattari’s) work concentrate on present-day North Atlantic urban society. Yet the scope of Deleuze and Guattari’s work was far more extended in space and especially in time, and particularly Milles Plateaux (1980) offers perspective on other cultures than the North Atlantic one, and on Palaeolithic and Neolithic cultures in the remote past. The title of this symposium, and the apple as its central emblem (although difficult to spot on the poster), clearly refer to the Garden of Eden, humankind’s mythical original paradise. I will take you to that remotest moment in history: the genesis of humans on the East African savanna over three millions years ago. Our aim will be to explore whether we can discern general, perhaps universal, patterns in human thought; trace the unfolding of these patterns over time; interpret and explain these patterns philosophically in a manner inspired by Deleuze (and Guattari); and in the process link the ‘food for thought’ theme to that of ‘thought for food’; particularly in a philosophical reflection on the emergence of agriculture as systematic production of food; using leopard symbolism and speckledness as our index fossil

'The translation of Southern African sangoma divination towards a global format, and the validity of the knowledge it produces'

paper read at the symposium ‘World views, Science and Us’, Brussels, Centre Leo Apostel, Free University Brussels, Belgium, 10 June 2003; now incorporated as ch. 7 of Wim van Binsbergen's book Intercultural encounters

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, ‘Sangoma en filosoof: Eenheid in de praktijk, dilemma in de theorie’, in: Bulhof, I.N., Poorthuis, M., & Bhagwandin, V., eds., Mijn plaats is geen plaats: Ontmoetingen tussen wereldbeschouwingen, Kampen: Klement-Pelckmans, pp. 219-231

bijdrage aan het symposium ‘Wereldburger tussen culturen in conflict’, ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van Prof.dr U. Libbrecht van de Stichting Filosofie Oost-West, Utrecht, 11 april 2003;

inmiddels verschenen als:

Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, 'Grenzen en wereldbeschouwingen: Waarom wereldburgerschap ook heden een moeilijke opgave is', in: Stichting Filosofie Oost-West, red., Wereldburger tussen culturen in conflict: Symposium gehouden op vrijdag 11 april 2003 te Utrecht, Nijmegen: Stichting Filosofie Oost-West, pp. 27-40

Virtuality as a key concept in the study of globalisation, WOTRO Working Paper 3 (1997)
now as PDF Web-book in original pagination, with colour illustrations and index
click for cover (original size)
'The underpinning of scientific knowledge systems: Epistemology or hegemonic power? The implications of Sandra Harding’s critique of North Atlantic science for the appreciation of African knowledge systems'
paper presented at the Colloquium ‘La rencontre des rationalites’, organised by the African Centre for Advanced Studies, the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH) and UNESCO, Porto Novo, Benin, September 18-21, 2002
A book-length critical appraisal of Mudimbe: Central African clerical intellectualism versus African historic religion
(1) full text (2) greatly shortened text as orally presented at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 1st February, 2001
(3) downloadable TXT version of shortened text
Ubuntu and the globalisation of Southern African thought and society


revised version included as chapter 14 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
Sensus communis or sensus particularis: Kant in Africa - A social science comment (based on the Kazanga festival in western central Zambia)
; revised version included as chapter 9 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

From: Sensus communis edited by Heinz Kimmerle and Henk Oosterling, 2000

Some philosophical aspects of cultural globalisation: Mall's intercultural hermeneutics (English)
revised version now included as chapter 12 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

Enige filosofische aspecten van culturele globalisering: Malls interculturele hermeneutiek (Nederlands)

Sangoma in The Netherlands: On integrity in intercultural mediation (English version);
revised version included as chapter 6 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

Sangoma in Netherland: Over integriteit in interculturele bemiddeling (Nederlands)

Felix Guattari: philosophy and anthropology (Web-article) (Dutch version with English summary)

Modernity on a shoestring: Consumption, globalisation and development

Commodification and globalisation (conference, 10-13 June 1999)

 

Wim van Binsbergen's paper for this conference: 'We are in this for the money': Commodification and the Southern African sangoma cult

 
Reconciliation: A major African social technology of shared and recognised humanity (ubuntu)
revised version now included as chapter 11 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
In search of spirituality: Provisional conceptual and theoretical explorations from the cultural anthropology of religion and the history of ideas

paper, Working group on Spirituality, Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy, Rotterdam, September 1999

Some philosophical aspects of cultural globalisation: Mall's intercultural hermeneutics (English)
revised version now included as chapter 12 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

Enige filosofische aspecten van culturele globalisering: Malls interculturele hermeneutiek (Nederlands)

The Janus situation: Development and the intercontinental circulation of knowledge and ignorance
; revised version included as chapter 10 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

paper for the 1999 Wageningen conference on ‘Decision-making in natural resources management

Een interview met Wim van Binsbergen: 'Filosofen zonder grenzen' -- Interculturele filosofie voor beginners
  uit: Erasmus Magazine, juni 1998
Derrida on religion: glimpses of interculturality (on Christianity, Islam and Judaism)

paper, Working group on Spirituality, Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy, Rotterdam, June 2000

ICT and intercultural philosophy: An African exploration -- English
revised version now included as chapter 13 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

version included in: Van Binsbergen & Van Dijk: Situating globality: African Agency in the Appropriation of Global Culture, Leiden: Brill, 2003, pp. 107-146

ICT en interculturele filosofie: Een Afrikaanse verkenning -- Nederlands

Crossing cultural boundaries: From anthropologist to sangoma in search of an intercultural approach to health
(Compass Newsletter 3, 2000, pp. 12-13)
Een interview met Wim van Binsbergen: 'Culturen bestaan niet' -- implicaties voor de multiculturele samenleving
uit: BIJEEN, november 1999
Ubuntu conference, South Africa (1999)
Wim van Binsbergen's Ph.D. seminar
Theme group on globalisation, African Studies Centre, Leiden (1996-2002)
Transformations and Islam in Africa (conference, 15 October 1999)
the homepage of the Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy NVVIF has moved to: http://www.geocities.com/nvvif Sociaal-wetenschappelijke aspecten van niet-overheidsorganisaties (“NGO’s”) in Afrika
Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1987, ‘Culturele dilemma's van de ontwikkelingswerker’, in: Themanummer ‘Over de grenzen van culturen’, ed. H. Procee, Wijsgerig Perspectief op maatschappij en wetenschap, 27, 4, 1986-87, pp. 124-28  
   
   

 

NEW / NIEUW
The complete audio files of a two-hour live interview (in Dutch) with Wim van Binsbergen (interviewer Winfred Kemp), at the Netherlands KRO radio network, 11 August 2004, 8.10-10.00 hrs, on (1) becoming and being a religious anthropologist, (2) rejecting -- at the height of one's academic career -- the objectifying distancing gaze, in order to become a diviner-priest-healer in the African sangoma religion, and subsequently (3) reflecting on that process and its wider epistemological and existential implications, now as a professor of intercultural philosophy De complete audio files van een twee uur durend live interview (in het Nederlands) met Wim van Binsbergen (interviewer Winfred Kemp, 'Dolce Vita') op de KRO, 11 augustus 2004, 8.10-10 uur, over (1) wat is het om religieus antropoloog te worden en te zijn; (2) wat is het om op het hoogtepunt van je academische carriere die objectiverende, afstandelijke blik te verwerpen, en in plaats daarvan waarzegger-priester-genezer in de Afrikaanse sangoma religie te worden; (3) wat is het om vervolgens over dat proces, en zijn verdere kennistheoretische en existentiele strekking, verder na te denken, inmiddels als hoogleraar interculturele filosofie

click here for first hour (20 Mb MP3) klik hier voor het eerste uur van de uitzending
click here for second hour (20 Mb MP3) klik hier voor het tweede uur van de uitzending
(use 'Save Target As... under the right-hand mouse button)

 

proceed to the Shikanda portal in order to access all other websites by Wim van Binsbergen: general (intercultural philosophy, African Studies); ethnicity-identity-politics; Afrocentricity and the Black Athena debate; Ancient Models of Thought in Africa, the Ancient Near East, and prehistory; sangoma consultation; literary work

 

site established (with technical assistance from Vincent van Binsbergen) 16-03-99; page last modified: 25-01-07 15:03:52