Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Not to be confused with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò ([o.lú.fɛ́.mi tá.í.wò]; born 1990)^[1] is an American philosopher and professor at Georgetown University.^[2][3] He is the author of two books: Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture.^[3] Grist described him as "one of America’s most prominent philosophers" and "the most vocal philosopher working on issues related to climate change."^[3] Táíwò regularly contributes articles to publications such as The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy, in addition to academic journals.^[3]

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Born	1990 (age 34–35)
Academic background
Education	Indiana University, Bloomington (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MA, PhD)
Academic work
Institutions	Georgetown University

Early life and education

Born in 1990, Táíwò lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first year of his life, before moving with his family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where there was a large Nigerian community.^[1] His parents both immigrated from Nigeria in the early 1980s to attend graduate school in the United States.^[1] His mother worked in pharmacology at Procter & Gamble, while his father was an engineer who stayed at home to take care of his brother, who is autistic.^[1]

Táíwò earned his BA in philosophy from Indiana University and his PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles.^[4]

Career

Táíwò first gained widespread notice with a 2020 essay in The Philosopher on the "limitations of 'epistemic deference'."^[5] In the essay, he argued that amplifying certain voices on the basis of group membership in a marginalized community does not necessarily solve fundamental problems and could impede formation of authentic relationships.^[5] His book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics and Everything Else builds on this piece, as well as a related essay which appeared in Boston Review.^[5]

His theoretical work is heavily influenced by the Black radical tradition, contemporary philosophy of language, materialist thought, social science, German transcendental philosophy, activist histories, and activist thinkers. His second book Elite Capture examines how elites have co-opted radical critiques of racial capitalism to further their own agendas.^[4]

Critical reception

In a review for Race & Class, Franklin Obeng-Odoom called Reconsidering Reparations "brilliant" and "powerful" despite "some serious faux pas."^[6]

Writing in the journal Mind, Megan Blomfeld positions Táíwò as an "accessible writer and skilled storyteller" for a general audience, but notes that Táíwò does not include enough of a review of the philosophical literature on reparations to dissuade proponents of other views.^[7]

Books

• Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. (2022). Reconsidering Reparations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-750891-6.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}
• Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. (2022). Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else). Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1-64259-735-6.^{[1][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]}

Further reading

• Elite Capture: Philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics. January 18, 2023. Democracy Now!.
• Ramamurthy, Rithika. Constructing Solidarity: An Interview with Olúfemi O. Táíwò. April 22, 2022. Nonprofit Quarterly.