Chika Mba is a Research Fellow in the Religions and Philosophy Section of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria; his doctoral dissertation on the topic: ‘Frantz Fanon’s Cultural Humanism and the Challenge of Global Justice’ received two competitive international fellowships before completion: (1) the African Humanities Dissertation Programme (AHP) – by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), April 20, 2012; (2) the 2012/2013 Small Grants for Thesis Writing – Ph.D., awarded by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), March 5, 2013. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Mba travelled to Rhodes University in South Africa where he completed a two-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University (UHURU) between August 2015 and July 2017. Dr. Mba has expertise in African Philosophy, Frantz Fanon, Postcolonialism, Social and Political Philosophy (esp. Global Justice), as well as in Political Theories of the Global South. He also has competence in Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Culture.
Dr. Mba’s research interests are cognately tied to the broad domains of African Philosophy, Postcolonialism and Global Justice. Hence his current research activities include (i) a systematic effort to rely on the anti-colonial writings of Frantz Fanon and other Black revolutionary intellectuals and activists to decolonise the contemporary discourse on Global Justice; (ii) a project that seeks to re-inscribe the potentials of Negritudist and pan-Africanist legacies, while constantly renegotiating new platforms like Afropolitanism that seeks to channel contemporary African energy flows, especially in intellectual and artistic forms.
Dr. Mba has taught several courses in the core areas of philosophy (between 2008 and 2018) in four Institutes of Philosophy in Ibadan, Nigeria and environs, viz., Dominican Institute, Samonda, Ibadan, Affiliate Institution of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State (now Dominican University); Don Bosco Institute of Philosophy, Ibadan, Oyo State; SS Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan, Affiliate Institution of the University of Ibadan; and Marian Institute of Philosophy, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. In addition, he recently (January 2018) completed the facilitation of History and Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy and Logic at the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, Ibadan Centre. He also delivered several invited lectures in Rhodes University, South Africa.
- Chika Mba. August, 2018. Conceiving Global Culture: Frantz Fanon and the Politics of Identity. Acta Academica. (50)1: 83 – 103.
- Chika Mba. 2017. African leaders of the twentieth century: Biko, Selassie, Lumumba, Sankara. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 35, No.4: 573 – 581.
- Chika Mba. 2010. Posthumanism and the Idea of the Human Person. in Personhood and Personal Identity: A Philosophical Study. M. F. Asiegbu and J. C. Chukwuokolo, Eds., Enugu: Snaaps Publishers. pp. 48 – 55.
Other Publications
- Chika Mba. 2015. A Humanistic Critique of Cultural Essentialism. http://readingfanon.blogspot.co.za/2013/05/seminar-chika-mba-on-fanons-cultural.html#more
- Chika Mba. 2015. Anatomy of Xenophobic Violence. Daily Maverick. http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-11-05-grahamstown-the-anatomy-of-xenophobic-violence/#.VjsCXLUppYA
In Press Articles
- “Naija Marxisms: Revolutionary Politics in Nigeria” (Book review, Accepted for Publication, Forthcoming: November 2018 Journal of Asian and African Studies).
- “African Philosophy in the Age of Neoliberal Capitalism” (Forthcoming: History Compass).
WORK IN PROGRESS
- Frantz Fanon’s Political Ethics (Book Chapter)
- Frantz Fanon: Decolonising the Discourse on Global Justice (book manuscript).
- “Is Afropolitanism a Colonial Mentality? Frantz Fanon and the Challenges of Conceiving Africa-centred Futures
- “Fanon’s Political Aesthetics and the Crisis of the Neoliberal Civilisation”
- “Cultural Politics in Nigeria and the Challenges to National Unity”