Ubuntu - Beyond Belief in Southern Africa

Authors

  • Patrick Alister McAllister

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/sites-vol6iss1id94

Keywords:

political ideology

Abstract

The ideology of ubuntu (humane-ness) is currently widespread in Southern Africa, where it has experienced enormous growth since the demise of the apartheid state in South Africa in the early 1990s. In this paper the nature of the widespread belief in ubuntu as a principle guiding social action is examined, along with a variety of the ways in which it is manifested in public life. The claim that the contemporary manifestations of ubuntu are based on an indigenous African philosophy which informs action in daily life at the level of the village and kin group is then discussed and the evidence for such a claim examined. The positive as well as some of the potentially negative consequences of the belief in ubuntu are suggested.

Author Biography

  • Patrick Alister McAllister
    Associate Professor and Anthropology Programme Director, School of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Canterbury

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Published

24-09-2009

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2009): Bracketing {Belief}: Exploring Notional Worlds

Section

Articles

License

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How to Cite

Ubuntu - Beyond Belief in Southern Africa. (2009). Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, 6(1), 48-57. https://doi.org/10.11157/sites-vol6iss1id94