Philosophy and the Iconic Symbols of a Culture Reflections on the Soapstone Birds of the Ancient Great Zimbabwe Monument

Abstract

As a practice, African philosophy foregrounds a specific set of priority questions and problematics. Being a thing in movement, it has the crucial task of constantly reviewing and revising its outlook to reflect not only its historicity but to continue to pay its debt to the places out of which it is articulated. Part of that entails the need to continue to expand the horizons of its explorations into the past in the sense of attending to markers of traditional cultural significance in the form of its iconic traditions such as monuments and artifacts. In the context of Africa’s own history, there must be effort to render these non-verbal expressive objects a legitimate part of the memory and history of African philosophy. This article is about philosophy and the iconic symbols of a culture with specific reference to the enigmatic soapstone birds, perhaps one of the most iconic symbols of the ancient Great Zimbabwe monument. It aims to articulate their constitutive meaning and relevance to the history of philosophy. A systematic review and analysis of the different genres of human creativity in their various forms is integral to the reconstruction of the history of ideas and for expanding our knowledge of African philosophy as a tradition.