ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu elaborates on a pan-African concept ubuntu (personhood or humanness) in the context of South Africa. He explicates the tenet of ubuntu by thematizing interdependence and communalism. He traces the cultural root of the concept of ubuntu and asserts that it represents the core values of the African ontology: respect for human dignity and human life, group solidarity, and collective consciousness. Kamwangamalu then critically examines the use of ubuntu in South Africa, especially in the business sector, and maintains that ubuntu is, first and foremost, a social ideal, not a business model. Therefore, in his opinion, rather than simply commercialized, the virtue of ubuntu should be understood, revived, and promoted at the grassroots level in order to build a better society where people acknowledge and value interdependence and develop mutual respect to their diverse cultures. Kamwangamalu underscores the moral nature of ubuntu and its cardinal principle of being human through others, which echoes Karenga’s thesis (Chapter 13). The belief of actualizing one’s humanity through relationships with others is also shared by Native Hawaiian (Chapter 9), Chinese (Chapters 19 and 32), and Islamic (Chapter 15) cultural worldviews.
