A Black Flame
- A Black Flame
In the fall of 2006, at a time of crisis for Transition, Abiola Irele and I became its Editors. We barely knew each other and were, in some ways, an unlikely paring. He was a scholar of African literature and deeply influenced by currents in contemporary French philosophy. I am an analytical philosopher of African American life and political thought. Despite our differences in intellectual sensibility, research focus, and disciplinary training, we came, eventually, to share and to institute a common vision for the magazine. With the help of managing editor Laurie Calhoun, we produced issues 97–102, continuing a vital legacy that reaches back to 1961.
Abiola had a longstanding relationship with the magazine, having contributed numerous essays and reviews over the years, including his first, "In Defense of Négritude," in 1964. He loved Transition, believed in its mission, and worked tirelessly to maintain its quality and increase its impact. He brought distinguished writers to the pages of the magazine, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Nuruddin Farah, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. He had a good eye for emerging talent, such as Teju Cole, Helon Habila, and Tiphanie Yanique. He was also responsible for recruiting the magazine's current publisher, Indiana University Press, with whom he worked when he was Editor of Research in African Literatures.
During our time as coeditors of Transition, Abiola was the driving and creative force behind the magazine, and I (knowing next to nothing about running a magazine) was his junior partner. My first few years as Editor was an apprenticeship, and I learned a lot from this remarkable scholar and man of letters. He greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of postcolonial literature and politics in Africa. His ecumenical and cosmopolitan approach to selecting content still serves as a model for me. While he had great respect for his fellow elders, Abiola was always willing to take a chance on young and largely unknown writers. [End Page 4]
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F. Abiola Irele.
Photo by Marcus Halevi. © 2017 Hutchins Center.
Abiola fully recognized that the black world is vast, geographically dispersed, highly diverse, and often at odds with itself. Yet he believed that our best hope for fully recovering from the ravages of the slave trade and colonial domination is each other. So he invested in forums of high caliber that serve as sites for open debate and repositories for our collective wisdom. Transition has long been and remains such a forum, in part due to Abiola's committed service. It was an honor and privilege to work with him. [End Page 5]
Tommie Shelby is the Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African & African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University. He is the author of Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform (Harvard University Press, 2016) and We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Harvard University Press, 2005). He and Derrick Darby coedited Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason (Open Court, 2005), and he and Brandon Terry coedited To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Harvard University Press, 2018). Shelby's writings focus on questions of racial and economic justice and on the history of black political thought, and his articles have appeared in journals such as Philosophy & Public Affairs, Ethics, Political Theory, Critical Inquiry, Du Bois Review, and Daedalus.
