Workineh Kelbessa, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

He obtained his BA degree in philosophy, from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, his Master’s in Politics of Alternative Development Strategies from the Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands, and his Ph.D. in environmental ethics from Cardiff University, UK. He has authored two books and has published many articles in refereed journals and chapters in books in the fields of environmental ethics, African Philosophy, globalization and indigenous knowledge. His research interests are environmental ethics, development ethics, comparative philosophy, philosophy of sex and African philosophy. His most recent publications include: Traditional Oromo Attitudes towards the Environment: An Argument for Environmentally Sound Development, OSSREA Social Science Research Report Series, No. 19. Addis Ababa: Commercial Printing Enterprise.2001. (http://www.ossrea.net/ssrr/workneh/toc.htm), “Globalisation and Indigenous Environmental Knowledge in Ethiopia,” in Assefa, Taye et al (eds.).Globalisation, Democracy, and Development in Africa: Challenges and Prospects. Addis Ababa: Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), 2001, pp. 275-306, “Logic in Ethiopian Philosophical and Sapiential Literature," in Sumner, Claude and Samuel Wolde Yohannes (eds.). Perspectives in African Philosophy: An Anthology on “Preblematics of an African Philosophy: Twenty Years After (1976-1996).” Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Printing Press, 2002, pp. 108-122, “Indigenous and Modern Environmental Ethics: Towards Partnership,” in Presbey, Gail et al (eds.). Thought and Practice in African Philosophy: Selected Papers of the Sixth Annual Conference of the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies (ISAPS). Nairobi: Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2002, pp. 47-61, “Environmental Ethics in Theory and Practical Application,” Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. (2003) 1(1): 63-88, “La rehabilitation de l’éthique environmentale traditionnelle en Afrique,” Diogène, (2004) No. 207:20-43, “Dialogue Among Civilisations and the Process of Globalisation,” in Moazami, Bahman and Rassouli, Navid (eds.). Collection of Papers of the International Conference on Dialogue Among Civilizations From the View Point of Young People. Tehran: Alhuda International Publishers and Distributors, 2004, pp. 91-141, “The Rehabilitation of Indigenous Environmental Ethics in Africa, » Diogenes, (2005) 52(207) :17-34, “Globalisation and Localisation,” (in Russian) in Mazour, I. I. And Chumakov, Alexander N. (eds.). The Global Studies Dictionary. Moscow, Sanct-Peterburg and New York: Prometheus Books, 2006, pp. 175-177, “Can Oral Traditions Be the Sources of Philosophy?” in Bagershahi, Ali Nagi (ed.). Islamic Philosophy and Western Philosophies: The Papers Presented at the Second World Congress on Mulla Sadra (May 2004, Iran) Vol. 2. Tehran: Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute (SIPRIN) Publications, 2006, pp. 345-35, “ Réhabiliter l’éthique environnementale indiegène,” in Hountondji, Paulin (ed.). La rationalité , une ou plurielle? Dakar: CODESRIA, 2007, pp. 379-412, “Oral Traditions, African Philosophical Methods and Their Contributions to Education and Our Global Knowledge,” in Ames, Roger and Peter Hershock, (eds.), Educations and Their Purposes: A Philosophical Dialogue Among Cultures. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008, pp. 291-309, “The Dialogue of Cultural Traditions, Ethics, and Public Service,” in Sweet, William et al. (eds.). The Dialogue of Cultural Traditions: A Global Perspective. Washington, D.C.: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2008, pp. 352-362, “Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Callicott, J Baird and Robert Frodeman (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy (forthcoming), and Indigenous and Modern Environmental Ethics: A Study of the Indigenous Oromo Environmental Ethic and Oromo Environmental Ethics in the Light of Modern Issues of Environment and Development. Ph.D. Thesis. Cardiff University. Cardiff. Washington, D.C.: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy , (forthcoming).

Currently, Kelbessa is a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Greifswald University, Germany.