Intellectual History in Contemporary South Africa

Eze, Michael Onyebuchi

doi:10.1057/9780230109698

Cited by 78 publications

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“…He thus grants Ubuntu its status as a living philosophy, but does question a homogenized African Ubuntu identity. He claims to take a middle position between proponent Ramose and Ubuntu critics like van Binsbergen who sees Ramose as essentialist (Eze 2010). …”

Section: There Is No Homogeneous African Philosophy (That Could Informentioning

confidence: 99%

The nexus between Ubuntu and Global Public Goods: its relevance for the post 2015 development Agenda

Norren

2014

Development Studies Research

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Although the literature covers the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), well-being, and Global Public Goods (GPGs) extensively, there is very little work on connecting these with Southern concepts in order to make the underlying inspiration for policy processes truly inclusive. Hence, this paper focuses on how such links can be made. It argues in favor of linking the Ubuntu -'I am because we are' -to modern ideas of well-being and African communitarian philosophy to GPGs. These two concepts of human well-being and the need to govern GPGs are intrinsically linked to the MDGs post 2015 and could help to make the MDGs truly inclusive.

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Section: There Is No Homogeneous African Philosophy (That Could Informentioning

confidence: 99%

The nexus between Ubuntu and Global Public Goods: its relevance for the post 2015 development Agenda

Norren

2014

Development Studies Research

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“…Ubuntu as ethical guide encourages individuals to think of themselves as inextricably bound to others, discouraging people from seeking their own good without regard for, or to the detriment of, others and the community (Ekpo 1995;Munyaka and Motlhabi 2009 ). Eze ( 2010 ) suggests that the emergence of ubuntu as a postcolonial South African discourse became both the mirror and consequence of a post-apartheid South African vision of history, embracing its origins as a nation, its struggle during apartheid, and its emergence as a democratic state. Eze ( 2010 ) suggests that the emergence of ubuntu as a postcolonial South African discourse became both the mirror and consequence of a post-apartheid South African vision of history, embracing its origins as a nation, its struggle during apartheid, and its emergence as a democratic state.…”

Section: Discerning Ubuntumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Metz 2011 , 540) Ubuntu as political philosophy advocates for a redistribution of wealth; it assumes a community in which individuals empathize and have a vested interest in its collective prosperity (Eze 2010 ). According to this moral theory, grounded in a salient Southern African valuation of community, actions are wrong not merely insofar as they harm people (utilitarianism) or degrade an individual ' s autonomy (Kantianism), but rather, just to the extent that they are unfriendly or, more carefully, fail to respect friendship or the capacity for it.…”

Section: Discerning Ubuntumentioning

confidence: 99%

Ubuntu as a Tool for Resilience: Arts, Microbusiness, and Social Justice in South Africa

Sarra¹,

Berman

2017

Conflict Resolution Qtrly

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Ubuntu is a complex concept, but at its simplest is "human-ness," the notion that individuals' well-being is intertwined with that of others in the community. Th is article examines how ubuntu's multiple meanings off er a potential tool for resilience in South Africa, both for arts organizations and for micro and small businesses. Artist Proof Studio off ers a sustained working example of how creativity can make a contribution towards a more just society using a hybrid arts/business model. Th e arts are particularly important in South Africa for off ering the space to address deep wounds, using artistic collaborations to contribute to resilience and wellbeing. Ubuntu can off er an alternative vision to fi nancing micro and small business to the one currently proposed by international lending organizations that seek to import Western-style models of shareholder primacy, short-term profi t, and privatization of public goods. Ubuntu allows for creative new approaches to business, encouraging hybrid models that are socially focused and economically sustainable. Th e arts have the potential for a signifi cant role in conceiving of ubuntu as a tool for resilience of micro and small businesses and as a way of conceptualizing being human in the business context, helping to envision productive and sustainable activities that advance greater economic sustainability.Th e purpose of an organization always lies outside of itself: it cannot last long unless it serves some greater purpose.Reuel Jethro Khoza ( 2014 ) T his article, an inquiry into ubuntu and the arts as potential tools for resilience of micro and small businesses, represents the start of a collaboration across oceans, disciplines, and perspectives. We are two scholars

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“…I uncritically accept the given identity and assume it as an authentic source of who I am, who I can become, in fact, my overall life narrative and self‐referential judgment. See Eze, Intellectual History , 181–192.…”

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confidence: 99%

Pan Africanism: A Brief Intellectual History

Eze

2013

History Compass

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In this article, I will historicize the socio-political and cultural emergence of Pan Africanism as an ideology. In doing so, one is enabled to appreciate its continued relevance and significance as well as its limitations and imposed misrecognition, morass misapplications, and muddled ambiguities within history. Historicizing Pan Africanism as a discourse frees it from an essentialist rendered definition and enables a new understanding in which Pan Africanism is to be understood as a performative-operative discourse. Being performative means that it ceases to be a close-minded rigid ideology proscribed by racial consciousness; it means assuming a new pose of repudiation that is dependent on contemporary socio-cultural tissues of historical experiences. But our concept is not just performative, it is also discursive because it generates a new sense of meaning for our contemporary understanding of Africanity. On the Origins and Intellectual History of a MovementAlthough the term Pan Africanism was first coined by Henry Sylvester Williams in 1900, Immanuel Geiss suggests that the idea dates back to 1787 events such as the agitations of the abolitionist movements and freed slaves in Americas, Britain, Sierra Leone, Libreville, and other West African colonies. 2 Other scholars have suggested that the idea goes back to 1783 BC and inclusive of all social-historical struggles that has occurred within Africa's geographical world. 3 In my view however, the idea emerged around the 15th century. Although I recognize the significance of those historical antecedents that occurred in Africa prior to the 1500s such as the struggles against the Assyrians in 666 BC or the indigenous resistance to Rome and Greece, and later of the Arabs in 642 AD, I do not agree that the idea predates the 1500s. While our contemporary discourse of Pan Africanism emerged within the province of struggles, they were not abstract struggles, they were struggles localized within 15th century history and onwards, which according to John Clarke became the main roots of Pan Africanism, both in action and social thought [. . .] nourished by the events of the fifteenth century -the second rise of Europe, the beginning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and Western colonialism. 4 A thought further confirmed by Walter Rodney:Pan Africanism is something we must define in struggle. What is essential to the African slave struggle is the common experience of exploitation and oppression and the unity which the slaves forged, a commonality which could only be operative when they moved against European exploitation and oppression . . . that . . . is the essence of Pan Africanism in the period when it was born (in the fifteenth century) and it had to be born in a context where a large number of Africans from different social background were thrown into a context in which this necessity would arise. 5The significance of the 15th Century is that prior to this period, race was not a notional point of human categorization. One was not excluded or oppressed on the basis o...

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Intellectual History in Contemporary South Africa

Cited by 78 publications

References 0 publications

The nexus between Ubuntu and Global Public Goods: its relevance for the post 2015 development Agenda

The nexus between Ubuntu and Global Public Goods: its relevance for the post 2015 development Agenda

Ubuntu as a Tool for Resilience: Arts, Microbusiness, and Social Justice in South Africa

Pan Africanism: A Brief Intellectual History

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