Andreev, I. L. By the Sun or by the Clock? Psychological Paradoxes of the African Time

Abstract: The subject under review is the philosophical and anthropological interpretation of ‘the world without time’ and ‘time without clocks’ as the ethnopsychological phenomenon and one of the key difference between mentalities of Europeans and Africans who either lead a traditional tribal life style or a lifestyle that is closely related to tribes in the cultural meaning. A bright example of the strong antipathy of Sub-Saharan African native inhabitants towards the European lifestyle is their dislike of clocks and especially watches as devices allowing to control the pace of life of a ‘nature-free’ human. The main research method used by the author was the involved observation in the course of the field and teaching activities carried out by the author in 15 countries of the North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The scientific importance and novelty of the research is that the author has discovered the dependence of attitudes of traditional Africans towards time on the type of their economic activity and tribal allegiance as well as the level of the development of goods/money relations and the degree of involvement of the population into market relations and administrative institutions.

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