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A philosophical forgery?

New Generation Thinker Jonathan Egid is a Lecturer in African Philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

In 1852, a book of philosophical enquiry was discovered in Ethiopia. But what if the Hatata Zera Yacob is a forgery – does it matter if the message is inspirational ? Debates over its authorship rage and Jonathan Egid’s essay asks what these tell us about politics then and now.

Jonathan Egid is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the 91Èȱ¬ to put academic research on radio.
He’s been a Postgraduate Fellow at the British Society for the History of Philosophy and lectures at SOAS London. He is writing a book about the history of the Hatata Zera Yacob debate, and runs a podcast on philosophy in lesser-studied languages called Philosophising In ...

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Release date:

14 minutes

Broadcast

  • Tue 25 Mar 2025 21:45

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