Afro-Caribbean philosophy is a subset of Africana philosophy and Caribbean philosophy. We have already defined Africana philosophy as the set of philosophical reflections that emerged by and through engagement with the African diaspora. By Caribbean philosophy is here meant philosophy from the region and on the unique problems of theorizing Caribbean reality.

The etymology of the word “Caribbean” points to the Caribs, a group of Native peoples, in addition to the earlier arrived Taínos or Arawaks, among others, living in the region at the time of Columbus's landing in what is today the Bahamas. The term “cannibal” also has its roots in Carib, and the name “Caliban,” which refers to the rapacious villain in Shakespeare's Tempest, is also a variation of that word. “Taínos” and “Arawaks” were not the names of the earlier people. European archaeologists in the first half of the twentieth century called them such. As we will see, the etymology of cannibal betrays the colonial logic that rationalizes much that happened there, and that logic contextualizes the philosophy as well.

Afro-Caribbean philosophy is a form of philosophy rooted in the modern world that takes the question of modernity as one of its central concerns. It is modern because the Caribbean itself is a modern creation. Although the indigenous people preceded the modern world, the convergence of modernity with the African diaspora, marked by the consequence of European expansion, slavery, and genocide, transformed theirs into the New World.