Uchenna Okeja

Uchenna Okeja is a visiting professor and presidential fellow at Yale University's MacMillan Center's Council on African Studies and the Philosophy Department. He is the author or editor of eight books, five special issues of academic journals, and numerous book chapters and journal articles. His work primarily explores the intersection of philosophical thought with issues of injustice, migration, war, justice, and agency in non-ideal political contexts. His book Deliberative Agency (Indiana University Press, 2022) was a finalist for the 2023 ASA Best Book Award (formerly the Herskovitz Prize) and was named a 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association.

After earning his PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt, Okeja taught philosophy at Goethe for many years before moving to Rhodes University, where he served as professor and chair of the philosophy department. He is a research professor in philosophy and African futures at Nelson Mandela University, where he leads the Center for Philosophy in Africa.

He has held visiting professorships and fellowships at institutions including the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, the University of Chicago, Harvard University, the University of British Columbia, the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg, Utrecht University, and the Iustitia Amplificata Center for Advanced Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt. In 2025, he will serve as a visiting professor at the University of St. Gallen's School of Humanities and Social Sciences. His solo and collaborative research has been funded by organizations such as the Mellon Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the Water Research Commission of South Africa.

Over the last decade, Okeja has reviewed numerous applications for grants and professorships for funders, learned societies, and universities worldwide. After years of co-editing Philosophical Papers (Taylor & Francis), he became co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies (Taylor & Francis) and Global Africa (Open Access) in 2022. He also serves on the editorial boards of journals such as Philosophia Africana (Penn State University Press).

In 2014, Okeja co-founded the series “African Philosophy: Critical Perspectives and Global Dialogues” to diversify the philosophy canon. The series, which is now published by Bloomsbury, has produced nearly two dozen award-winning and widely praised books. His broad international and intercultural experience continually enriches his nearly two decades of teaching.