Passagen Conversations with Souleymane Bachir Diagne

Several members of our team attended the Passagen Conversation with Souleymane Bachir Diagne at the Schauspielhaus Vienna on 18 November 2025. It was an inspiring discussion on language, philosophy, and postcolonial thought with an eminent colleague born in Saint-Louis, Senegal — the very city where we hosted our conference earlier this year.

In dialogue with publisher Peter Engelmann, Diagne discussed his recently published book African Art as Philosophy(Passagen Verlag). Few contemporary philosophers have articulated the relationships between African and European thought as precisely and imaginatively as Diagne, and the conversation highlighted his engagement with the philosophical legacy of Léopold Sédar Senghor. Diagne demonstrated how African and European traditions can be brought into a productive and critical dialogue, providing a rich conceptual framework for current debates on restitution, colonial legacies, and cultural self-determination.

For our team, the event offered valuable perspectives that resonate with many of the questions we engage with in our daily work. It was an inspiring reminder of the importance of rethinking eurocentric assumptions and opening up new spaces for aesthetic and intellectual experience.