Transferring and Rewriting Freedom in Euphrase Kezilahabi

Euphrase Kezilahabi
, a Tanzanian poet, novelist and s
cholar
, is an ontological and African
interpreter of Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Hei
degger.
He
transfers and rewrites Western
philosophy in an African way, transforming philosophical concepts into metaphors or oniric
images. These elements emerge in his PhD thesis where he explicitly speaks about the
importance of the concepts of
Being
in Heidegger and the concept of
Time
in Nietzsche. African
Being
for Kezilahabi is being a prisoner because of pride of ethnicity, pri
de of Africanness and
ethnic morality. That imprisons African
Being
and makes African leader
s profit from the
manipulation of these elements. According to Kezilahabi, these elements tend to make
African
s
think in a Fascist way
. One of the key features of K
ezilahabi’s philosophy is liberation. And so
it is a philosophy of freedom, with
very different meanings, which is the subject
of this article.
Kezilahabi’s philosophy is
concerned with
liberation.
He
meditates on the concept of time
,
taking as his cue the
ancient question of “Western” philosophy
as to whether time is circular or
linear. He uses African elements to resolve this question, and the result is not only African but
universal. His philosophy is not a summa
ry of the influences from
Western philosophy, but an
original deep philosophy
by one of the greatest
African writers. This article will show his
rewriting of these concepts and their political, social and philosophical valence.