Ubuntu Philosophy as a Humanistic–Existential Framework for the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ubuntu has been identified by several scholars as a philosophy that provides a framework to fight health disasters such as COVID-19. Ubuntu refers to the African worldview of seeing oneself through others. It refers to the pattern of interconnectedness between people in the form of a philosophy or worldview. Ubuntu explores concerns about cosmic and global context of life. This article stipulates that Ubuntu can provide ways to deal with challenges that emerge with the COVID-19 pandemic. Ubuntu fosters the integrated components of humanity as it appreciates the biological, psychosocial, spiritual, and environmental aspects of life. The article explores several themes such as self-awareness and societal responsibility, holism, spirituality, health promotion, food security, social justice and human rights, generosity, sharing, and teamwork. Others have advanced that Ubuntu is a philosophy to adopt in the fight against epidemics, and we seek to broaden the debate by exploring Ubuntu axiological and ontological humanistic–existential themes. Finally, the article calls for the adoption of Ubuntu philosophy in psychological and social work interventions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring disruptions of the coloniality of knowledge, power and being to enable agency as disciplinary activists for curriculum change

The #RhodesMustFall (RMF) movement of 2015 and 2016 challenged universities across the nation to interrogate how the curriculum serves as an alienating and marginalising device that stymies student success. Consequently, the HE sector has been challenged to respond to student calls for decolonisation by reviewing existing university curricula which promote forms of knowledge production that do not reflect an African worldview or a global South context. Academics have refocused their attention on exploring what an alternative, decolonial curriculum would entail. This paper reports on a professional development course, designed to support academics to ‘decolonise their curricula’, and explores what it meant to facilitate and participate in a course that disrupted who they were as disciplinary experts in the university. Drawing on decolonial scholarship, the authors use auto-ethnography to engage with two disciplines, namely midwifery and journalism, to see how the metaphors of (de)coloniality surfaced in these disciplines and how they were mediated through a decolonial approach to course re-design and re-imagination.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

An upset spiritual director just ended a retreat with a group of African priests because they could not observe strict silence. Similar situations elsewhere on the continent led a young African student to raise the question of the suitability of sixteenth-century Spiritual Exercises to modern Africans. This essay acknowledges the challenges facing spiritual directors to “accurately” apply the method of the Spiritual Exercises in a diverse and ever-evolving, noisy and busy world. From the concrete experience of this group of priests, it argues for the suitability of the Exercises to the African context based on the adaptability and flexibility inherent in Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercise and subsequent directories. The particular crisis between this director and his retreatants, however, also presents a unique opportunity for retreat directors to find creative ways to accommodate retreatants with specific needs, and to communicate the message of the Exercises in a way that is both accessible to and respectful of the African worldview. KEYWORDS: Retreat Director. Diocesan African Context. Blended Retreat. Confession and Narrativity.

tenet of ubuntu in South (African) ethics

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community prevails over individual considerations. It is not merely an empirical claim that our survival or well-being is causally dependent on others but is in essence capturing a normative account of what we ought to be as human beings. However, ubuntu has shortcomings that make it an impractical notion. Despite its shortcomings, ubuntu has natural ethic potential that enforces and engenders hospitality, neighbourliness, and care for all humanity. This article contributes to further conceptualisation and understanding of the notion of ubuntu and its relationship with hospitality in order to retrieve some principles that can be applied to effective and meaningful pastoral care. The principles drawn from ubuntu are juxtaposed with Christian principles and pastoral care to encourage embodiment of God by pastoral caregivers.

tenet of ubuntu in South (African) ethics

The notion of ubuntu as a moral theory in the South African and African contexts presents attractive norms of an African worldview that can be articulated and applied to contemporary Christian ethics. The proponents of ubuntu perceive it as an African philosophy based on the maxim, “a person is a person through other persons”, whereby the community prevails over individual considerations. It is not merely an empirical claim that our survival or well-being is causally dependent on others but is in essence capturing a normative account of what we ought to be as human beings. However, ubuntu has shortcomings that make it an impractical notion. Despite its shortcomings, ubuntu has natural ethic potential that enforces and engenders hospitality, neighbourliness, and care for all humanity. This article contributes to further conceptualisation and understanding of the notion of ubuntu and its relationship with hospitality in order to retrieve some principles that can be applied to effective and meaningful pastoral care. The principles drawn from ubuntu are juxtaposed with Christian principles and pastoral care to encourage embodiment of God by pastoral caregivers.

Feminisation of Sin : A Cultural Challenge on Womanhood

In Genesis 2-3, the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden has served as a major tool in the justification of women as evil, seductive, temptress, and the subordination of women. This paper explores the concept of creation and fall (sin) of humanity both in the biblical and some African creation myths. It also underscores the prevalent belief of all subsequent women as daughters of Eve and thus, responsible for bringing evil and death into the world. This perception of women and Eve has endured with remarkable tenacity and persists today as a major stumbling block in attempts by women to correct gender-based inequalities. The paper argues that the downgraded status of women stemmed from the patriarchal society of the Hebrews and the African cultural worldview at large. It examines the African biblical interpretation method which is a biblical interpretation that analysis the biblical text from the perspective of African worldview and culture and has set out to examine the perceived role of Eve and subsequent women in the introduction of original sin both biblical and at the African cultural level. This paper explores this methodology in order to re-appraise ancient biblical tradition, African cultural worldview and life experience with the purpose of correcting the effect of the negative cultural ideological conditioning to which women have been subjected. This paper advocates for a feminist reconsideration along with the existing traditional interpretation of the fall of man in the biblical book of Genesis 2-3 and in African myths on the origin of sin.

Pursuing fullness of life through harmony with nature: Towards an African response to environmental destruction and climate change in Southern Africa

Like the rest of the developed world, African nations are now subject to consumerist tendencies of the global economic architecture and activities, which excessively exploit natural resources for profits and are at the centre of what this article describes as ‘disharmony between nature and humanity’. The exploitative nature of consumerist tendencies requires healing and restoration as it leads towards unpredictable and destructive weather patterns in which the relationships between human activity and the environment have created patterns and feedback mechanisms that govern the presence, distribution and abundance of species assemblages. Disharmony is employed to describe the exploitative nature of consumerist tendencies that lead to unpredictable weather patterns. The consequences include climate change and natural disasters such as floods, drought and environmental pollution, which have been severely experienced in Southern Africa recently. This article provides a qualitative literature review on recent religious and ecumenical responses to climate change crisis and draws on the notions of ‘cultural landscapes’ and ‘ecotheology’ to highlight an exploitative relationship, which is characterised by disharmony in the relationship between humanity and nature. This illustration demonstrates how the concept of unity between ‘self and the entire Kosmos’ in African worldview presents a potentially constructive African theology of ecology. Amongst other recommendations, the article proposed that in order for humanity to restore harmony and attain fullness of life – oikodome – with nature the notions of healing, reconciliation, liberation and restoration should be extended to human relations or interactions with nature and all of God’s creation.Contribution: This article represents a contextual and systematic reflection on climate challenges facing the African context within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generates an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse.

The Doctrine of Trinity and its Implications for Contemporary African Society

The doctrine of Trinity is key to human understanding of the character and nature of God. A proper understanding of this doctrine has the potential of deepening one’s rela-tionship with God and with other human beings. This doctrine embodies the biblical sto-ry and also informs Christian soteriology. In spite of its relevance, the doctrine of Trini-ty remains one of the most complex and misunderstood doctrines in Christianity. The challenge is how to reconcile the affirmation that “there are three distinctly fully divine Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)” with the fact that “there is only one true God.” The paper briefly examines this doctrine from the perspective of biblical and historical theology and explores how its teaching should inform relationships within the African society. This is a literature-based study that uses data from books, theses, journal arti-cles, Bible commentaries, among others as its sources. The methodology used comprises qualitative analysis of biblical data on the subject of Trinity and the African worldview of human society. The study revealed that the divine Trinity underscores unity in diver-sity and therefore that contradicts any form of egotistic individualism that leads to the destruction of communion and of life. Therefore, Christians must develop and promote a communal worldview of life through an appreciation of their diversity. The main con-clusion is that human society will be improved if people appreciate human diversity and then learn to live in peace and harmony in spite of their differences. The paper contrib-utes to scholarship by contextualizing the doctrine of the Trinity for the needs of the Af-rican society which shows diverse cultural traditions.

The Doctrine of Trinity and its Implications for Contemporary African Society

The doctrine of Trinity is key to human understanding of the character and nature of God. A proper understanding of this doctrine has the potential of deepening one’s rela-tionship with God and with other human beings. This doctrine embodies the biblical sto-ry and also informs Christian soteriology. In spite of its relevance, the doctrine of Trini-ty remains one of the most complex and misunderstood doctrines in Christianity. The challenge is how to reconcile the affirmation that “there are three distinctly fully divine Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)” with the fact that “there is only one true God.” The paper briefly examines this doctrine from the perspective of biblical and historical theology and explores how its teaching should inform relationships within the African society. This is a literature-based study that uses data from books, theses, journal arti-cles, Bible commentaries, among others as its sources. The methodology used comprises qualitative analysis of biblical data on the subject of Trinity and the African worldview of human society. The study revealed that the divine Trinity underscores unity in diver-sity and therefore that contradicts any form of egotistic individualism that leads to the destruction of communion and of life. Therefore, Christians must develop and promote a communal worldview of life through an appreciation of their diversity. The main con-clusion is that human society will be improved if people appreciate human diversity and then learn to live in peace and harmony in spite of their differences. The paper contrib-utes to scholarship by contextualizing the doctrine of the Trinity for the needs of the Af-rican society which shows diverse cultural traditions.

African Scholarship and its Integration within the Global Knowledge Economy : Reflections from within the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Over the decades there have been continuous efforts to position African scholarship within the global knowledge economy. Against the backdrop of marginalisation and domination, the champions of African scholarship have been engaged with political, ideological, and philosophical agendas that attempt to legitimise the African knowledge enterprise. Using an anthropological lens, this paper presents the nuanced local/global dialectics related to the recognition of African scholarship. The paper is based on the reflections of a selected number of academics of African origin from the College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It highlights their subjectivities towards the elusiveness of this concept and attempts to seek its relevance as a knowledge space within the global knowledge economy. Branded as the premier university of African scholarship, UKZN has embarked on vigorous curricular, pedagogical and research initiatives that seek to bring the meaningful transformation needed to position the institution as a truly African university. This meaningful transformation can only be achieved if knowledge production in on Africa is cognisant of an African worldview, encompassing African cosmological, ontological, and epistemological perspectives. Interviews with those who participated in this study revealed the need for African scholarship to go global. Although this was emphasised, the approach to it revealed three streams of scholars who are termed in this paper as the idealists, the moderates, and the extremists. Despite their varying subjectivities, the conclusion drawn from the interviews pays allegiance to Afrocentric paradigms as the only way African development can be achieved as it connects with other global knowledge systems.