The Collection

       On Friday 13 November 2015, I attended a session of the Philosophy Conference hosted by Howard University. The session was held at 2:00 p.m. and featured four presenters. The first presenter was Zakaria Asmal from the University of Cape Town. Asmal presented his thoughts on the deconstruction and reconstruction of religion in response to Steve Biko’s ‘Black Consciousness.’ The next presenter was Dr. Daryl Harris who is a professor at Howard University. Dr. Harris spoke on spirituality and resistance in the “Black Scared Cosmos.” The third presenter, also from Howard University, was Dr. Báyò Omololá. Dr. Omololá presented on the “Epistemological approach” to analyzing Yoruba Proverbs as they relate to men and women. The final presenter was Rinna Oelofsen from the University of Fort Hare. Oelofsen presented on the “Afro-communitarian restorative justice” in South Africa in the case of Affirmative Action. At the conclusion of the presentations, there was a question and answer session between the four speakers and the audience.

              This was a completely new world to me. I know little to nothing about Philosophy. This being said, I will admit that much of presented material went over my head. I do understand that Philosophy is an extremely important. The way I understand Philosophy is theorizing about the laws tht govern all life and mankind. One presenter in particular stood out to me, Rinna Oelofsen, who spoke on the need for “Afro-communitarian restorative justice” in South Africa. What made her presentation stand out to me was how much of what she shared was relatable to the issues her in America. In South Africa, like in America, Affirmative Actions is under heavy scrutiny. Critics are suggesting “formally” oppressed minorities are actually being harmed by “Affirmative action. Rinna Oelofsen countered this actuation by proponing that it is important not for those current benefiters of Affirmative action, but for future minorities to see those like them in positions of power and prestige. Those future minorities need to have role models to give them the courage and confidence to strive to such heights own. I appreciated her insight because she directly answered the claims of the critiques without getting having to challenge them on the current existence of inequity. It would be interesting to see how her philosophy would stand in the context of America.