Personhood and Rights in an African Tradition

Molefe, Motsamai

doi:10.1080/02589346.2017.1339176

Cited by 53 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…For instance, given the continued marginalization of sub-Saharan adolescent girls and the rising incidence of stressors relating to climate change, a particularly pressing agenda is identifying those resources that best protect sub-Saharan adolescent girls in the face and/or aftermath of extreme weather events, disruptive climatic events, or natural disasters. In addition, it is important to better understand whether/how traditional African values and practices (which remain important in many sub-Saharan communities; Motsamai, 2018; Ramphele, 2012) shape the resources that impact the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents differentially. Such accounts have the potential to further advance decolonized insights into adolescent resilience (Theron, Theron, & Malindi, 2013; Van Breda, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conventionally, African children were socialized to value their connectedness to a social ecology (Nsamenang, 2006). Although this practice has faced challenges, many Africans continue to valorize connectedness and the benefits that reciprocal connectedness brings (Motsamai, 2018; Ramphele, 2012). As connected beings, African adolescents ‘[are] a support system and have a support system’ (Hunter, 2001, p. 178).…”

Section: An Ecological Systems Approach To Adolescent Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Championing the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents: pointers for psychologists

Theron

2018

South African Journal of Psychology

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In this article, I argue that an ecological systems approach to resilience -specifically, one that is sensitive to how contextual determinants shape successful adaptation differentially -offers a meaningful way to enable sub-Saharan adolescents to adapt well to the apparently intractable risks to their health and wellbeing. Accordingly, I draw on studies of child and adolescent resilience from sub-Saharan Africa and the global North to show that the resilience field has largely moved beyond individual-focused theories of resilience that have the (long term) potential to jeopardise adolescent health and wellbeing and advance neoliberal agendas. I emphasize that the recent attention to differentially impactful resilience-enablers casts suspicion on incautious application of universally recurring resilience-enablers. Allied to this, I problematize the delay in the identification of resources that impact the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents differentially. Finally, I distil implications for resilience-directed praxis and research that have the potential to advance the championship of adolescent resilience in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Ecological Systems Approach To Adolescent Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Championing the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents: pointers for psychologists

Theron

2018

South African Journal of Psychology

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“…Further, Metz takes a rights-based approach to address historical injustices. Elsewhere, I have argued that rights are incompatible with much of African moral-political thinking, particularly the moral logic inherent in the idea of personhood (Molefe 2017a). Elsewhere, I also argued that the theory that Metz relies on to address historical injustices is implausible, and, as such, if I am correct, it should not be taken seriously (Molefe 2017b).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personhood and (Rectification) Justice in African Thought

Molefe

2018

Politikon

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This article invokes the idea of personhood (which it takes to be at the heart of Afrocommunitarian morality) to give an account of corrective/rectification justice. The idea of rectification justice by Robert Nozick is used heuristically to reveal the moral-theoretical resources availed by the idea of personhood to think about historical injustices and what would constitute a meaningful remedy for them. This notion of personhood has three facets: (1) a theory of moral status/dignity, (2) an account of historical conditions and (3) the achievement of moral excellence by the agent (personhood). This article argues that a just society is a function of (1) and (2), and it further argues that the aim of rectification justice is to correct these two facets of a society, which are necessary for (3) to be possible. The aim of correcting history just is to make personhood a possibility for all humanity, particularly of those who were victims of past injustices.

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“…Space does not quite allow me to motivate and justify why we should take seriously the moral vision of personhood. In several places, I have proffered justifications of personhood as a moral theory (see Molefe 2018;2019a;2020a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Personhood and a meaningful life in African philosophy

Molefe

2020

South African Journal of Philosophy

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This article proffers a personhood-based conception of a meaningful life. I look into the ethical structure of the salient idea of personhood in African philosophy to develop an account of a meaningful life. In my view, the ethics of personhood is constituted by three components, namely (1) the fact of being human, which informs (2) a view of moral status qua the capacity for moral virtue, and (3) which specifies the final good of achieving or developing a morally virtuous character. In light of the ethics of personhood, I will propose the view that a meaningful life is a function of achieving moral excellence or perfection. The moral perfection proposed here, to embody a meaningful life, is of a deontological and satisficing kind. The achievement of satisfactory levels of moral excellence, within sociopolitical and moral limits, captures the essence of a meaningful life. I conclude the article by considering objections against the view proposed here.

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Personhood and Rights in an African Tradition

Cited by 53 publications

References 26 publications

Championing the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents: pointers for psychologists

Championing the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents: pointers for psychologists

Personhood and (Rectification) Justice in African Thought

Personhood and a meaningful life in African philosophy

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