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What is Ubuntu

Handbook of Research on Transformative and Innovative Pedagogies in Education
A philosophy in sub-Sahara Africa of a people called the Bantu based on caring and supporting each other in a community.
Published in Chapter:
Ubuntu Philosophy and Online Assessment in Higher Education Institutions
William Chakabwata (University of South Africa, South Africa) and Felix M. Mukazi (ICD-Great Zimbabwe University, Windhoek, Namibia)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9561-9.ch014
Abstract
Ubuntu is a widely recognized genre of Bantu ideology. In today's volatile and ambiguous business world, ubuntu values are more important than ever because during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, joining together helps us overcome our economic, social, and political problems. Across the globe, students and academics keep calling for radical challenges to institutional symbols, cultures, and practices, including the call to ‘decolonise' the curriculum and pedagogy. The author recommends a paradigm shift under which HEIs should focus on the transformation of university designs, teaching, and assessment practices by advocating ubuntu currere, which ensures inclusivity and social justice. This chapter calls for a reorientation of multilingual and bilingual education towards the African value system of ubuntu as a catalyst for restoring social justice for the people whose languages were relegated to the lowest social status.
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Therapeutic Photography
An African philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of humanity and way of living.
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Consumer Adoption of E-Government in South Africa: Barriers, Solutions, and Implications
Refers to an African philosophy that seeks to promote harmonious relations and interaction among people. This philosophy suggests that a person can only truly and fully exist if he or she co-exists with others in his or her community. In other words, this means that one should always have a strong sense of consideration for others.
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Cultivating Holistic Learning Environments in Higher Education: Mindfulness, Compassion, and Ubuntu Philosophies
African philosophy emphasizes collective well-being, community, and interdependence, focusing on mutual support.
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Emergence of Spiritual Leadership: Creating Internal Ownership and Empowerment in Complex Organizations
A South African conversational concept that considers the vulnerability of each human soul and its contribution to the wholeness of others. It connotes a conversational process where the voice of each tribal member becomes one voice leading the group forward. For example, it takes into consideration the possible deferment to the opinions of others based on experience, expertise or wisdom ( De Liefde, 2007 ).
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Quantitative Data in Ethnography With Asian Reflections
Although the widely accepted definition of Ubuntu is I am because we are , a variety of meanings are visible (Gade, 2012 AU103: The in-text citation "Gade, 2012" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ; Ewuoso & Hall, 2019 AU104: The in-text citation "Ewuoso & Hall, 2019" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ; Ewuoso, 2020 AU105: The in-text citation "Ewuoso, 2020" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ; Tagwirei, 2020 AU106: The in-text citation "Tagwirei, 2020" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ; Sibanda, 2019 AU107: The in-text citation "Sibanda, 2019" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ) in the western text. Therefore, Desmond Tutu said that Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language (Tutu, 1998 AU108: The in-text citation "Tutu, 1998" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ). Since 1928, Albert Vitor Murray, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu have prolifically adopted this term, as we indicated, in every possible sphere of African Land, in state policy, foreign diplomacy, and even in school. Let us take some definitions of Ubuntu; Richard Bolden (Bolden, 2014 AU109: The in-text citation "Bolden, 2014" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. , p. 4) says, The concept of Ubuntu is an alternative to individualistic and utilitarian philosophies that tend to dominate in the West. It is a Zulu/Xhosa word, with parallels in many other African languages. It is most directly translated into English as ‘humanness’. Its sense, however, is perhaps best conveyed by the Nguni expression ‘umuntungumuntungabantu,' which means a person is a person through other people. Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu in No Future without Forgiveness said, Ubuntu is our humanity is caught up in that of all others; we are human because we belong, we are made for community, togetherness, family, to exist in a delicate network of interdependence....no one can be human alone” (Tutu 1999 AU110: The in-text citation "Tutu 1999" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ,p.145).
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Novell's Open Source Evolution
A South African ethic or ideology focusing on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu ).
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The Impact of Mobile Phone Uses in the Developing World: Giving Voice to the Rural Poor in the Congo
African worldview or way of life in which the fulfilment of a person or a Ntu (in Bantu languages) and their environment revolve around communal bonding or familyhood. In Bantu languages, the word Ubuntu can literally be translated as humanness or personhood, meaning the nature or quality of being a person.
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Language, Participation, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Research in Mqatsheni, South Africa
A principle that shapes social relations among Southern African people, describing the relationships in terms of connectedness to others.
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The Dialogic Dimension of Ubuntu for Global Peacebuilding
Is a catch-all term that characterizes the weltanschauung and the concomitant conducts of Africans expressed in the context of relationship. Two aspects of Ubuntu have been identified, namely, the moral quality of a person as well as the philosophy or worldview. The moral aspect describes the spiritual and ethical qualities that the person with Ubuntu exhibits. Ubuntu is also a philosophy of life or worldview that guides the African conduct and general lifestyle.
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Facilitating Consumers' Adoption of E-Government in South Africa: Supply Side-Driven Virtuous Cycles
Refers to an African philosophy that seeks to promote harmonious relations and interaction among people. This philosophy suggests that a person can only truly and fully exist if he or she co-exists with others in his or her community. In other words, this means that one should always have a strong sense of consideration for others.
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Afrophobic-Induced Violence on African Immigrants in South Africa
Is Nguni word based on communalistic values and principles of solidarity, cooperation and collaboration, and is practices to reflective humanness and collective responsibilities of the African people.
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Mentoring in the Web-Class for Adult Learners
An African aphorism meaning “an individual is a person through other people” and mainly focusing on humaneness for the reason of establishing or determining a relationship (in this context) between a mentor and a mentee.
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Handling Variation in Work Ethics and Values Across Generations in Nigeria
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Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge in the Higher Education Sector for the Advancement of African Scholarship
It is a philosophical and indigenous term that depicts humanity and is embedded within the core values and principles of respect, sharing, love, solidarity.
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Mind the Violent Afrophobic Language Gap and Its Impact on Anti-Immigration in Post-Apartheid South Africa
The term Ubuntu is a philosophy derived from the Nguni languages and is based on solidarity, collectivism, humanity, caring and sharing.
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Cultivating Civic Generosity in Elementary Youth Across Glocal Cultures, Ecologies, and Generations
Ubuntu , a Nguni Bantu term from southern Africa, specifies giving what is good or truly needed, as an act of kindness ( Kubow & Liu, 2015 ). This term has continued to pave the foundation for civic life, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu highlights we belong to a greater whole (1999) and cannot exist in isolation (Tutu, 2008 AU23: The in-text citation "Tutu, 2008" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
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Merging Eurocentric and Afrocentric Paradigms to Support People Living With Disabilities in the Schooling System
Ubuntu a term that originated in the Nguni languages (Metz, 2011 AU103: The in-text citation "Metz, 2011" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ) and has related terms such as botho in Sotho-Tswana and hunhu in Shona, is a social ethic and a collective worldview contained in the Zulu proverb ‘umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’ (‘one is a person through others’) (Masondo, 2011 AU104: The in-text citation "Masondo, 2011" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. , 2).
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Being a Rural Woman During Climate Change: An Analysis Based on the Concept of Ubuntu
It is a philosophical teaching that emerged in Africa, emphasizes being “us” instead of “me”, aims to leave no one behind, expresses the concepts of love, solidarity, compassion, harmony, consensus, hospitality and sharing with everyone.
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Developing Entrepreneurial Competencies for Secondary Schools as Social Enterprises: Inclusiveness in Decision-Making Processes
An African Nguni term that means the potential for being human, to value the good of the community above self-interest. To strive to help people in the spirit of service, to show respect to others and to be honest and trustworthy.
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