Towards an Original African Classical Studies: Epistemological Foundations and Disciplinary Contours

Classical Studies as a discipline has been defined predominantly by the study of Greco-Roman antiquity as interpreted through European scholarly traditions. An African Classical Studies, one that takes seriously Africa's own ancient intellectual and material cultural traditions as equally classical within a non-Eurocentric disciplinary framework, requires original epistemological foundational work. This study develops original epistemological foundations for an African Classical Studies discipline, drawing on African philosophy of knowledge, postcolonial theory, and the scholarly traditions of Egyptian, Carthaginian, Ethiopian, Nubian, and Nigerian pre-colonial studies. A philosophical-constructive methodology was adopted, engaging systematically with the epistemological foundations of European Classical Studies (as articulated in Norden, Wilamowitz, and the Cambridge companions), African epistemological traditions (drawing on Wiredu, Hountondji, and Mudimbe), and emerging African classical scholarship from Bernal, Lissner, and the Journal of African Classical Studies. Forty-five interviews with classical scholars, African philosophers, and heritage professionals across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt provided grounded perspectives. The study proposes an original disciplinary architecture for African Classical Studies comprising five epistemological commitments: continental scope (Africa as a whole as the field's geographical horizon), chronological pluralism (recognising multiple ancient traditions within Africa), source multiplicity (textual, material, oral, and performance evidence), translation ethics (critically theorising the colonial transmission of classical knowledge), and African voice centrality (African scholarship as the discipline's intellectual core). The study constitutes an original and significant contribution to Classical Studies' disciplinary self-understanding.

Keywords: African Classical Studies, epistemological foundations, disciplinary theory, postcolonial scholarship, original contribution