ABSTRACT
While there are many participatory models of public discourse that emerge in the global North, none of them presume the deeply relational and immaterial conceptions of power associated with the African moral theory of ubuntu and which inform the idea of ‘deliberation culture’. In this chapter I compare and contrast deliberation culture with some of these models and discuss the value of ubuntu in developing distinctly cohesive and harmonious approaches to communication and social organization. I also explore the wider applications and implications of deliberation culture for the realms of media, governance, justice and education and describe how the broader ethico-cultural realism of contemporary societies may limit the efficacy of this approach. I suggest that evolving our current models of communication requires changing our attitudes and investing in processes that empower the community as well as the individuals in it.
