Ubuntu - Beyond Belief in Southern Africa

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.