Ifeanyi Anthony Menkiti (24 August 1940 – 17 June 2019)
was a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
poet, philosopher, and professor,
as well as the owner of the
Grolier Poetry Book Shop in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...
.
Life and career
Menkiti was born in
Onitsha
Onitsha ( or just ''Ọ̀nị̀chà'') is a city located on the eastern bank of the Niger River, in Anambra State, Nigeria. A metropolitan area, metropolitan city, Onitsha is known for its river port and as an economic hub for commerce, industr ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
in 1940.
In 1961, he arrived in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
to study at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it beca ...
, where he graduated in 1964.
Following postgraduate study at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
, Menkiti earned a PhD in
philosophy from
Harvard in 1974.
His dissertation was "a study of collective responsibility".
From 1974 he taught philosophy at
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...
in the US with a particular focus on personhood and African philosophy.
Menkiti sought to emphasise the social nature of personhood, expressed in the notion "I am, because we are".
In doing so he attempted to build on traditional African ideas of personhood. According to Menkiti, "societies found in traditional Africa routinely accept this fact that personhood is the sort of thing which has to be attained".
According to this view of personhood, the status of being a person has ethical connotations and is not something that one possesses automatically but must work towards through morally right action.
In addition to his academic work, Menkiti was a poet. Commenting on the relationship between philosophy and poetry, he said "poetry deals with the meaning of life, the meaning of meaning, just like philosophy".
Bibliography
Menkiti published three collections of poetry:
*''Affirmations''
*''The Jubilation of Falling Bodies''
*''Of Altair: The Bright Light''
References
1940 births
2019 deaths
Nigerian poets
Wellesley College faculty
Pomona College alumni
Harvard University alumni
{{Nigeria-poet-stub