1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTUALISATION
3.7. SOUTH AFRICA AND THE UBUNTU PHILOSOPHY
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will of the masses lies their preference for social change through the collective will of the masses lies their unanimity (Obafemi, 2001: 168).
Although the play (Strike and Hunger) lacks the vision and the uncanny prophetic nature of Ogunde’s other play, Yoruba Ronu13 (1946), it is believed to mark the development of his commitment to society’s plight. This sensitivity in Ogunde’s works and performances to socio- political conditions of his people was a hallmark of his works that was maintained till the end of his life. Until his demise in 1989, Ogunde continued to be directly involved in the politics of Nigeria through his series of social and political propaganda productions. Like Nigeria, South Africa is also replete with concepts and philosophies that are committed to the struggle for emancipation and nationhood in its pre- and post- independence existence.
solidarity, sharing, and cohesion.
relationships of empathy, solidarity, sharing, and cohesion, this concept, in most of Africa, is regarded as an intrinsic one. According to the South African cultural theorist, Mothole Motshega (2012) ubuntu is a triune principle of oneness underlying all reality or existence. The Bantu languages which possess derivations in related root structures have the Ubuntu philosophy spread across Africa, especially in the Southern parts. For instance, in Zimbabwe’s shona language, the most commonly spoken language in Zimbabwe after English, Ubuntu is unhu, a concept similar to those of other African cultures. In Rwanda and Burundi, the people commonly exhort others to gira Ubuntu, which means to ‘have consideration and be humane’ towards others. In the West of Uganda, where a collection of dialects is spoken by the Banyankore, Banyoro, Batooro and Bakiga, obuntu refers to the human characteristics of generosity, consideration and humaneness towards others in the community. The same goes for the Bahaya, Banyambo as well as others from Northern Tanzania. In Luganda, the dialect of Central Uganda, obuntu-bulamu refers to the same characteristics (Golding, 2016).
The application of the Ubuntu concept in South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) resulted in an escalation in scholarly works on the philosophical concept, post-1994. A survey of a collection of scholars’ theorising of Ubuntu reveals an overall conviction, that Ubuntu is an indigenous moral theory that serves as a cohesive principle for indigenous Africans in the face of adversity. Popularly, the Ubuntu concept is regarded as
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Ramose (1999, 2002), Letseka (2002), Sindane and Liebenberg (2002), Tutu (1999), Shutte (1994), Teffo (1994), Bessler (2008: 43), Metz and Gaie (2010) and Richardson (2008), to mention a few (Golding, 2016).
However, the concept of ubuntu in South Africa has not been without a few counter views. Since the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both Tutu and Nelson Mandela formally installed and promoted the concept as a vehicle for cleansing a nation that had become unpopular in the world for negative reasons. After that time of upheaval and racial tension, some theorists have argued whether the Ubuntu concept is applicable as a rallying cry as a worldview or philosophy for a new dispensation. Others, questioning its relevance and applicability to present day South Africa, out rightly discard it. Despite the disaffections in these quarters, there are several Ubuntu theorists who, unlike Matolino and Kwindingi, see prospects in Ubuntu for the modern life. However, both theorists (Matolino and Kwindingi), in responding to End of Ubuntu, opine that as a grounding ethic that is ingrained into the cultural mores of the majority of South Africans, the Ubuntu concept could most effectively and most readily prescribe ethical and moral standards that march in step with evolving political and social structures.
Today, there appears to be an escalating need to re-learn and recover Ubuntu with Africa’s seemingly loss of identity under its colonial occupiers and the disintegration of societal hierarchies that had developed for many centuries. The
concept appears to suffer the need of a deeper and critical interpretation of its core principles and this study, concerned as it is, with community development, youth empowerment and human trafficking, has become imperative!
Interestingly, while the development of the African continent has been slow and frustrated by colonialism, not to mention subsequent upheavals championed by Africans themselves, from the foregoing, it is clear that Africa possessed and still possesses political and social philosophies that are as valid as those of their European counterparts long before the arrival of Europeans on the continent.
These systems revolved around a universal recognition of human worth. They are the same ideas that formed the spiritual foundation of old African societies and therefore can be relevant to the metamorphosis of a new society.
Conclusion
This chapter has focused on theoretical framework as well as the analysis of pedagogies extractable from oppressed and marginalised people and their societies. The intention here was to examine how a people can teach their societies and political leaders how to address issues in communities that affect those who are marginalised in both urban and rural communities. Studies have revealed that the oppressed can contribute knowledge to issues concerning community development as well as address the human-trafficking problem. The oppressed can, through their experiences, present to authorities and policy makers how their predicaments can be ameliorated. This is because it is those who experience neglect that are better equipped to explain their predicaments.
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METHODOLOGY