Abstract

The "wills" of existence of Mozambique are philosophically expressed in terms of "metaphysical guarantees" under which our existence, as a single community of destiny, is justified and legitimate. The recent return of the specter of war, the pre- and post-election clashes, speeches of country's division of in "republics", etc. laid bare how tenuous is our will to coexist. These "hard times" of our Mozambican historicity and philosophy are calling for their specific contribution, which lies in de-construction and re-construction of the discourse on the fundamental guarantees of our shared ambitions. This equates to a triple fundamentational question: How can "freedoms" (will 1) be retaught today and what do they mean in terms of responsibility?  How can  the spirit of "unity and national reconciliation" (will 2) be re-built in a post-libertarian perspective? And what social utopias (will 3) appear as possible to us while Mozambicans?


Bio note
José Castiano holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Hamburg. He is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education at the Pedagogical University of Mozambique (UP) and Pro-Rector for UP Postgraduate, Research and Extension Programmes. Among the positions held at UP are the Scientific Board of the University, the Postgraduate Studies Centre and the coordination of the working groups for the establishment of an MA  and Ph.D. in Education and a Ph.D.  He thus coordinates the cooperation between UP and several universities in Portuguese-speaking countries.

In January 2015 he was elected Chair of the International Association of Social and Human Sciences of Portuguese Language.
He has published several books and articles in international journals. His main research activity focuses on Endogenous/Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Africa.

Activity within the project 'ALICE  – Strange Mirrors, Unsuspected Lessons: Leading Europe to a new way of sharing the world experiences', the Democracy, Citizenship and Law Research Group (DECIDe) and the Doctoral Programme"Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenships"