Why African (Akan) thought has no concept of race: An anti-essentialist cultural meaning of personhood

The race question has emerged in full force in recent times in the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Europe’s anti-immigration posture, the social fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic inside and outside of China and the ongoing Russo-Ukraine Conflict. What does it mean to be racist? Is it simply a one off act or the product of a deeply embedded philosophical assemblage? When an African or Chinese (noted perennial victims of racism in history) acts in a manner deemed racist how do we make sense of this? Is it reasonable at all to describe it as reverse racism? This work brings African (Akan) and Confucian thought into a philosophical dialogue on the still raging and burning question of racism in order to offer some perspectives on the questions posed.