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’ (CM). CM 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 CM as a solution to the failures of system-building projects in postcolonial African philosophy. I shall first consider what is meant by CM in Edet’s philosophy. I then establish why CM as a theory promotes a system of selective homage due to its over-glorification of the sacrifices of one individual or leader over those of the community. I conclude my analysis by arguing that a consistent system-building project that aims to appropriate the personage of Africans would, in fact, appropriate the personages of the community or the collective personage of all its outstanding leaders, rather than that of a single individual.