Ubuntu

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UBUNTU SOCIETY: By Barbara Nussbaum Nov-Dec 2003 Resurgence Magazine

In African culture, ubuntu is the capacity to express compassion, justice,

reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building,

maintaining and strengthening community. An Nguni word from South Africa,

ubuntu speaks to our interconnectedness and the responsibility to each other

that flows from our connection. It’s about mutual affirmation and communal

responsiveness. It is about the self being so rooted in the community, that

your personal identity is defined by what you give to the community.

" I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am’ " is a good example

of the self-in-community foundation that gives rise to sayings in Zulu, such

as " umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. " " It is through others that one attains

selfhood. "

Ubuntu is not a concept easily distilled into a methodological procedure.

It is rather the bedrock of a specific lifestyle or culture that seeks to

honour human relationships as primary in every social, communal or corporate

activity. Ubuntu begins with simply knowing how to greet someone. Examples

of Shona greetings (from Zimbabwe) in the morning and lunchtime would be:

" Mangwani. Marara sei? "

(Good morning. Did you sleep well?)

" Ndarara, kana mararawa. "

(I slept well, if you slept well.)

" Maswera sei? "

(How has your day been?)

" Ndaswera, kana maswerawo. "

( My day has been good if your day has been good.)

In other words, we are all so connected to each other, that if you did not

sleep well, or if you were not having a good day, how could I sleep well or

have a good day? This kind of greeting would apply equally well to a

stranger one met on the road as to close family.

Ubuntu also translates into attitudes towards profit and wealth. In an

ubuntu-based economy, the more communal person is prepared to give and

share. The more that person does, the more he or she is respected.

Africans believe that the only wealth is that which is shared and rendered

visible to the community. The criterion for respect in a world that

embodies ubuntu values would be how much wealth is shared with others and

not how full one’s personal bank balance is.

Work in the African sense is not just a contractual relationship. The Ngumi

word for work is umsebenzi, which literally means " service. " Joining a

company is seen as a commitment to a new community. Workplaces that embrace

ubuntu ensure that every person is valued and included in decision making.

Compassion is a central part of ubuntu. Africans are known for ukwenana, an

act of giving or sharing without expecting returns. Another practice called

ukusisa is a " yin’ " a form of investment that does not require collateral

and also maintains the dignity of a poor person who has no assets.

According to the custom of ukusisa, those who have cattle or sheep give a

cow or ewe to those who do not, to give the family an opportunity to acquire

their own cattle and sheep over time. This is how newcomers in villages are

helped. And this is how poorer communities and poorer countries could be

helped.

African values have a great deal to contribute to world consciousness, but

Africa is great misunderstood in the West. Our world must embrace a sense

of interconnectedness as a global community if we are to survive. Perhaps

ubuntu is a framework that could inform our thinking in the twenty-first

century.

Barbara Nussbaum is a co-author of Sawubona Africa, which looks at the

management implications of African cultures and values

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Alice O. Howell

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Monterey, MA 01245-0177 USA

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" Look for the sacred in the commonplace! "