Ivan Karp in 2003.

Ivan Karp’s work in African philosophy grew from his long engagement with African systems of thought and social theory. He played a leading role in the growth of the field through his work with the African Systems of Thought book series at Indiana University Press. By publishing major works in and about African philosophy in the series, Karp helped to bring broader recognition to the field and supported critical new directions in African philosophy that moved away from the narrow, ethnophilosophical approaches that had been dominant. For instance, the series published major works by Paulin J. Hountondji (1983), V. Y. Mudimbe (1988, 1994), Dismas A. Masolo (1994), Kwasi Wiredu (1997), and Barry Hallen (2002).

At the same time, Karp published related texts in anthropology and other fields in both the African Systems of Thought series and the Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry. These works engaged philosophical concepts as applied in the analysis of African experience, and included books by T. O. Beidelman, Michael Jackson, and Corinne A. Kratz. Karp’s own co-edited book, Personhood and Agency: The Experience of Self and Other in African Cultures (1990), contributed significantly to these trends as well. Karp also collaborated on a number of projects with Kenyan philosopher, Dismas Masolo, and together they published several articles and a co-edited book. Ivan Karp’s work in African philosophy has consistently promoted crucial concepts in African thought through critiques of central theories and conceptual assumptions in Western thought.

2000a Introduction: African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry. In I. Karp and D.A. Masolo,  eds., African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 1-18. With Dismas Masolo.

2000b African Discourses on Development. In I. Karp and D.A. Masolo, eds., African  Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 1-21. With Dismas Masolo.

2000c Power, Personhood and Agency. In I. Karp and D.A. Masolo, eds., African  Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 83-88. With Dismas Masolo.

2000d Knowledge and Discourse. In I. Karp and D.A. Masolo, eds., African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 175-180. With Dismas Masolo.

1998  Ethnophilosophy. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 1:446-450. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. With Dismas Masolo.

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