The Problem with Conceptual Mandelanisation

In this paper, I argue that selective homage is antithetical to the collectivist ethos that characterises African societies and constitutes a major problem in Mesembe Edet’s theory of ‘Conceptual Mandelanisation’. Conceptual Mandelanisation as an approach to system-building is built on reverence for the “deified personage” of Nelson Mandela. In search of a practical foundation for system-building in African philosophy, Edet proposed the theory of Conceptual Mandelanisation as a solution to the failures of system-building projects in postcolonial African philosophy. I shall first consider what is meant by Conceptual Mandelisation in Edet’s philosophy. I then establish why Conceptual Mandelanisation as a theory promotes a system of selective homage due to its over-glorification of the sacrifices of one individual or leader over that of the community. I conclude my analysis by arguing that a consistent system-building project that aims to appropriate the personage of Africans would appropriate the personages of the community or the collective personage of all its outstanding leaders over that of a single individual.