Moja (1): Introduction to Ubuntu

Definition of Ubuntu

Ubuntu is Africa’s overarching philosophy. A philosophy contains a society’s deep thoughts and ways of looking at life. It shapes how people think about the family, community, society, environment and spirituality. It shapes how people think about reality, existence, reason, knowledge, religion, truth, race, values, mind, behaviour, justice and language. In the chain of knowledge, a philosophy sits above theories. Theories are derived from philosophy. A society usually has one philosophy. Basically, each continent has its own overarching philosophy.

Ubuntu has strengths but also shortcomings. However, most of the ‘shortcomings’ are a result of misconceptions about Ubuntu. In the sections below, misconceptions will be clarifies first, followed by weaknesses then strengths.

Should you capitalise Ubuntu when writing? Should I write it in italics? When referring to the African philosophy, capitalise Ubuntu. Do not put it in italics. When referring to ubuntu in specific countries use a small letter u. This distinguishes it at the two levels – national e.g. South Africa and continental Africa.

Definitions of Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the worldview of Black people of Africa from where they derive relational [family], communal, societal, environmental and spiritual knowledges, values and practices.

Mugumbate, Mupedziswa, Twikirize, Mthethwa and Oyinlola (2023, p. 1)

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What happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group, community or country happens to the individual. People, country, environment and spirituality are intricately related. The individual can only say: ‘I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am’.

Mbiti (1969)

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This ancient African philosophy, which goes by various names, has at its heart the sense of personhood – what it means to be human. In contrast to many western notions of personhood, which view a person as a separate individual centred on reason or choice, Ubuntu constructs a person as a social being, defined by the quality of their relations to other persons. Thus, Ubuntu is both social (the connections between people that constitute community and shared humanity) and ethical (the quality of our interactions with others, such as respect and care). Hence the well-known phrase umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (in isiZulu) – a person is a person through other persons.

Mayaka, van Breda, Uwihangana and Mugumbate (2023, p. 11-12).

Origin of Ubuntu

Africa is home to different groups of Black people. The groups of Black people speak different languages, some of the languages have clicks but some do not. The groups stayed in different places and had several ways to survive but they shared a common philosophy.

These Black Africans include the Bantu, Kush, Nile-Sahara, San, Khoi Khoi, Hadzabe (Hadza, singular), Sandawe, Bambenga (Mbenga), Bambuti (Mbuti) and Batwa (Twa). They are mainly classified based on language groups and their historical livelihoods and migration patterns (Katanekwa, 2021). There is no simple and exhaustive way to make this classification, but using languages has gained wider acceptance. The use of language groups to classify people of Africa does not mean that the language classes are ethnic groups. The groups, their settlements, languages and livelihoods are not always clear cut, as shown in the proceedings sub-sections.

Bantu languages group

The Bantu people are the largest group in Africa and they speak a variety of languages classified as Bantu (Katanekwa, 2021). In using the noun Bantu, the author is cognisant that it has been used to designate low social status to Black people during the colonial period, and for some time, this distorted its meaning. In its original and positive meaning, bantu means people but more specifically Black people and this meaning will be adopted in this paper.  At present, this group is estimated to have 240 to 350 million people speaking over 500 different languages (Koile, 2022). They are historically livestock keepers and crop planters, and this is their main form of livelihood today (Katanekwa, 2021). Their settlements used to be semi-permanent or permanent in small and large villages. Their first known settlements were at Mambilla, in West Africa at the border of present day Nigeria and Cameroon, where they stayed in large numbers over 4000 years ago (Katanekwa, 2021). They had arrived there from North Africa many years back, escaping desertification (Diop, 1964; 1974). Presently, they have permanent settlements all over Africa, mainly in the South of the Sahara desert, also referred to as Sub-Saharan Africa. Most live in rural villages, but many now live in urban areas. They have strong collective, communal, spiritual and environmental values that were passed on to them by their ancestors who had come from the Northern part of  Africa but then lived at Mambilla (Diop, 1991; Katanekwa, 2021).

Nile-Sahara languages group

The Nile-Sahara people are so called because the Nile river is important to many of their livelihoods while some of them are found in the Sahara desert area (Katanekwa, 2021). The population of this group is estimated to be between 50 to 60 million. In terms of livelihoods, this group keeps livestock and grows crops (Katanekwa, 2021). They too are collective and communal and have strong spiritual and environmental values.

Kush languages group

The Kush people speak a mix of languages from Africa and Asia (Katanekwa, 2021). Kush (later named Nubia) was a large powerful kingdom in present-day Sudan. The exact population of this group is not known, but runs into tens of millions. They are mainly located in the Horn of Africa, which is the eastern part of Africa, but some are in the North and South. Some of their languages are Semitic, meaning they are related to Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages. In terms of livelihoods, this group are livestock keepers, crop growers and also fishermen (Katanekwa, 2021). Values of familyhood, collectivity, communality, spirituality and ‘environmentality’ are prominent in this group too.

The ‘Ba’  languages group

The fourth largest group of about half a million people is made up of ‘pygmies’ (meaning short people) but are being called the Ba languages groups in this article to avoid using a derogatory name. The Ba historically survived on the bush (Koile, 2022). They consist of the Bambenga (Mbenga), Bambuti (Mbuti) and Batwa (Twa) (Katanekwa, 2021). Presently, they are found in the Congo rainforest in larger numbers, but also in countries like Uganda. This group, together with the clicking sounds languages group, probably have the strongest collective and environmental values. Many of them still live in forest homes, and have found attempts to ‘modernise’ or ‘civilise’ them unfavourable.

The clicking sounds languages group

The fifth and final group, numbering about 130 000, is made up of people whose languages have clicking sounds. These include the San, the Khoi Khoi, the Hadzabe (Hadza, singular) and the Sandawe. Although their languages have commonalities, research has not shown that these were originally the same people (Koile, 2022). The San, also called the baTwa (Mucina, 2013) and Khoi are spread across Southern Africa countries, while the Hadza and Sandawe are found in Tanzania (East Africa). The San people, who are of short stature, historically survived on hunting or gathering, moving frequently from place to place in small groups. Some of them still survive the same way today (Koile, 2022). The Khoi Khoi historically survived on the bush but kept livestock and are theorised to have been a result of a mixture of an early group of Bantu with San people (Koile, 2022). The Sandawe historically survived on hunting and gathering. The Hadzabe are also known as Hadzapi, Hatsa, Tindiga, Kindiga, and Kangeju. Up to today, they survive mainly on hunting and gathering (Safari, Nkua, and Masanyiwa, 2021). The San, Khoi, Hadza and Sandawe are all highly collective and communal people. The Hadza, for example, have no leaders and decisions are made through discussion or dialogue circles. The Germans forced them to have leaders during colonisation, but the project failed (Kusimba, and Kusimba, 2011). Child rearing is a responsibility of everyone; it is a cooperative affair. Their societies are egalitarian and gender equality is clearly visible (Kusimba, and Kusimba, 2011).

     Now that the groups have been elaborated, the following section deals with the evolution of the common philosophy of these groups. Ubuntu itself appears at the end of this evolution as the current philosophy common among all the groups of Black people of Africa.

In this lesson, the history of Africa philosophy was divided into five stages – sankofa, tu, shosholoza, Ubuntu and umoja. In these stages, all groups of Black people of Africa – the Bantu, Kush, Ba, Khoi, San, Hadza and Sandawe are included. These groups share related values centred around the family, community, society, environment and spirituality. From this history, we learn that Ubuntu did not start recently, Africa is not philosophyless and that Ubuntu cannot be attributed to Bantu people alone but all Black people of Africa.

Diop, C. A. (1991). Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State. Chicago, Lawrence Hill Books.

Katanekwa, M. N. (2021). Bantu People of Africa: Language Groups, Origins and Migrations, 3000 before present time to 1840. Independently published.

Mayaka, B. van Breda, A. D. Uwihangana, C. and Mugumbate, R. (2023). The Ubuntu Practitioner in Historical and Contemporary Contexts. The Ubuntu Practitioner: Social Work Perspectives. Rheinfelden, IFSW.

Mugumbate, R. (2023). From sankofa, tu, shosholoza to Ubuntu and umoja: a five-stage historical timeline of the philosophy of Africa and implications for education, research and practice. African Journal of Social Work, 13(3), 167-178. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v13i3.5

Nyerere, J. K. (1968). Ujamaa: the basis of socialism. In: Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism. Dar Es Salaam.

Ramose, M. B. (1999). African Philosophy Through Ubuntu. Mond Books.

Wa Thiongo, Ngugi. (1986). Decolonising the Mind. The politics of language in African literature. Nairobi, Heinemann Kenya/Harare, Zimbabwe Publishing House.

Wiredu, K. (1980). Philosophy and an African Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nouns/names of Africa’s philosophy

Ubuntu is known by several names. A recent study by the Ubuntu Research Group (2023) came up with 35 names as follows:

• Angola (gimuntu)
• Botswana (muthu, batho)
• Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea,  Gambia Liberia, Sierra Leonne and Mali (maaya)
• Burundi (ubuntu)
• Cameroon (bato)
• Congo (bantu)
• Democratic Republic of Congo (bomoto, kimuntu or bantu)
• Ethiopia (medemer)
• Ghana (biako ye)
• Kenya (utu, munto, omundu or mondo)
• Malawi (umunthu)
• Mozambique (vumuntu)
• Namibia (omundu)
• Nigeria (mutunchi, iwa, agwa, omwayaonyamo)
• Rwanda (ubuntu)
• South Africa (ubuntu, ubundu or botho)
• South Sudan (nhiar-baai)
• Tanzania (utu, obuntu or bumuntu)
• Uganda (obuntu, obuntubulamu)
• Zambia (umunthu)
• Zimbabwe (unhu, hunhu, ubuntu, ibuntu)

Key aspects of Ubuntu philosophy

1. Individual
2. Families (ukama)
3. Village
4. Community (ujamaa)
5. Societal(Cultural, Economic, Political and Global) (ujamii)
6. Environmental (imvelo)
7. Spiritual (uroho)

Misconceptions and misunderstandings of Ubuntu

• There is a misconception that African philosophy has one name, Ubuntu. No it is known by several names, almost all the names have a common linguistic origin. The popular name in the literature is Ubuntu.
• There is a misconception that the philosophy is new and it start recently. No. It started thousands of years ago.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu originated from the Bantu group. It originated from all groups of Black people in Africa – the Bantu, Kush, Ba, Nile-Sahara, Khoi, Masarwa, Hadza and Sandawe. These groups interacted since time immemorial and values and principles of Ubuntu are found among all of them.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu started in South Africa (country) or Southern Africa (region). No. It was popularised in South Africa, particularly the name ubuntu which is a Nguni used in Nguni languages like isiZulu, isiNdebele, siSwati, SiXhosa and others.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu is inferior to western or eastern ways, no, it is not.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu was discarded by Africans. No, it still shapes their life, knowledge and being.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu is only about individuals and families, no, it also about communities, countries, nations and is applicable at continental and global issues.
• There is a misconception that it is about being respectful, harmonious, solidarity, compassion, subservient or helpful only. This are aspects of Ubuntu at the individual. No. It is equally about freedom, liberation, responsibility and possession.
• There is a misconception that in Ubuntu, questioning is not allowed. You are not allowed to be critical or to oppose. This is not true. You can question, be critical, be radical and oppose in a respectful way.
• It is not applicable outside Africa. This is a misconception. Ubuntu has influenced Kwanza (the Black American holiday started in the 1960s) and it continues to influence mentoring programs outside Africa. It also influences management, leadership and community work. The Ubuntu value of Sankofa, looking back to inform the present and future, is very much used by Black Americans who look back to Africa as their source of culture and personhood.
• It is not even a philosophy, what does it not have philosophers like western philosophers? Ubuntu is a philosophy with several philosophers. Most of it exists as orature, unwritten philosophy but there is now a considerable amount of written philosophers on Ubuntu.
• Ubuntu has no founders, how come? It does not need founders because by principle, Ubuntu is collective. Founders are found in individualistic societies.
• Others think it is a weakness for Ubuntu to be more collective than individualistic and yet others say Ubuntu does not respect individuality. This is all not true. being collective is not a weakness but a strength. The individual has their space in African life, but their space derive from, and is seen through the family and community.
• There is a misconception that it can not be used in research, teaching and practice. This is not true. It has been used, is being used and is useful. The truth is, African literature in general has been relegated to the periphery or discarded in favour of western literature.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu is anti-women, anti-disability and anti-children. Not true at all. When institutions for children, so called orphanages were introduced in Africa by western missionaries and social workers, it was against the Ubuntu principle of child growth, development and protection in the family and community. It has not been realised that Ubuntu was right all along. Children do not belong to institutions, its not in their best interest at all.
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu means going back to Africa’s old life. Not at all. It means going to where we are comfortable in this age if we had not been colonised. Africa was never static, its culture and philosophy was dynamic.
• Ubuntu resulted in Africa’s colonisation? This could be true but we need to go further to say that anti-colonisation and decolonisation result from Ubuntu. You can not be human without freedom, you can not be human when you have been dispossessed – these were the Ubuntu ideals that motivated anti-colonisers, freedom fighters and pan-Africanists.
• If Ubuntu was useful, why is there still conflict in Africa? Why do we have dictators and corruption? Why is there gender-based or other forms of violence? But conflict, poor governance and violence exists even is countries that use western and eastern philosophies.
• Why are families sometimes individualistic and collective? because of colonisation. This is more prevalent in urban communities that were more westernized.
• Why are social vices like rape, even in the family by family members, so high in some African communities if we have Ubuntu? This is due to family breakdown. With Ubuntu, families are the utmost places of safety. Family breakdown has many causes, among them urbanization, westernization, migration, foreign religions like Christianity or Islam and other issues like death as a result of HIV and AIDS.
• What is the best choice, going back to Ubuntu or to westernise more? Westernisation is colonial, it has been shown in many countries to result in more social challenges. The best choice is to indigenise, meaning using owr own philosophy to solve our own challenges?
• What are the good examples of Ubuntu practice in Africa? When white people led by Christian missionaries and colonial administrators colonised Africa, they took away some children from homes and put them in orphanages or children’s homes despite advise from African elders, leaders and spiritual leaders that this was contrary to our philosophy, believes and practices. years later Africa is now dismantling the institutions because they have caused so much suffering – psychological harm, separation, loss of identity, loss of heritage etc. Today, our elders, leaders and spiritual leaders have been proven right, the white missionaries and colonists wrong.
• Ubuntu is against Christianity and Islam? No, it is these foreign religions that are against African ways of being. They are against African beliefs, identities and heritage. They are against African histories, values and beliefs. Ubuntu contains stronger values about life that are expressed in ways Africans understand. Foreign religions are mythical, mysterious, oppressive, difficult to understand and believe and unquestionable. As Chimamanda Ngozi said “Some of the early Christian missionaries across the African continent were very keen on destroying African art, carved African deities which they told the Africans, were just magic. I cannot help but really wonder what could be more magical than the story of a man who dies and then magically rises again; a man who also manages to magically give his body as bread.”
• There is a misconception that Ubuntu does not impact all of African life. It does. It impacts African art, beliefs, theories, relations, knowledge, ways of social work, literature, history etc.

Mzungu misconception of Ubuntu

This misconception defines Ubuntu from a deficit perspective which says Africa people give more than they receive, they have no sense of justice or economy and they are psychologically and behaviorally tolerable, kind and forgiving to the extent that they can allow their resources (land, language, life etc) to be colonised without resistance (we all know that they resisted and we are resisting today). The view was driven by missionaries who wanted to make Africa people not demand justice or their rights. An example of this view is provided below. We have crossed it out to show that it is wrong. Even though it has some correct meanings, the model below is grounded in a western or European view of Africa. The table at the end gives attributes of Ubuntu from an African perspective.

African perspective of Ubuntu

Some attributes of Ubuntu	Ubuntu is not about …
Justice	Forgiveness without compensation Kindness without justice and reciprocity Democracy without justice Humanity without justice
Productivity	Sharing without production
Resistance	Understanding without resistance or questioning Consensus without questioning
Reciprocity	Caring, love, appreciation and compassion without reciprocity
Relational	Brotherhood without respectful relationships Patience without respect
Community	Families without community