Bekele Gutema

Bekele Gutema studied at Addis Ababa University (1980, BA), Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany (1988, MA) and the University of Vienna (1998, PhD). Currently he is Professor of Philosophy at Addis Ababa University.

He served the Addis Ababa University in different capacities including the chairmanship of the Department of Philosophy at three different times. He served as the Assistant Dean of the College of Social Sciences. He also served as the Dean of the College of Social Sciences during which he launched the College’s first journal titled “The Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities” along with his colleagues in 2003. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal from 2006-2019. He served as the Director of the Graduate Programs of Addis Ababa University from 2017-2020.

His research interest and the courses he has been teaching are in the areas of African philosophy, social and political philosophy and intercultural philosophy. Most of his publications are in those areas. He has won several research fellowships including the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) several times, Visiting Research Scholar, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, (Kyoto University) and Fulbright Fellowship (Howard University).

Latest publications:                 

1.      Towards a Philosophy with Meaning and Significance for Africa, in The East African Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 6, No 1 (2021), pp. 72-85.

2.      C. Verharen, F. Bugarin, J. Tharakan, E. Wensing, B. Gutema, J. Fortunak, G. Middendorf, “African Environmental Ethics: Keys to Sustainable Development through Agroecological Villages”, in Journal of agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Vol. 34, No. 18 (2021), pp. (1-18)

3.      The Gadaa System: A Philosophical Appraisal, in Gadaa Journal, Volume 4, No. 1 (2021), pp. 64-79.