Social Sustainability

Ubuntu

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Definition

Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term and ethical philosophy from Southern Africa expressing the fundamental connectedness of human beings — rendered as "I am because we are" or "a person is a person through other persons". It grounds personhood in relationship and community rather than individual autonomy, and carries duties of care, reciprocity, hospitality and consensus decision-making, famously embodied in South Africa's post-apartheid reconciliation.

References

www.penguinrandomhouse.comBulk import source

Source imported for editorial provenance.

link.springer.comBulk import source

This reference provides supporting context for how “Ubuntu” is defined and used.

Overview

How it is used

The philosophy structures African sustainability ethics scholarship, community development practice, leadership literature, and reconciliation and restorative justice framing.

Why it matters

Sustainability needs ethics of interdependence; Ubuntu is one of humanity's most developed vocabularies for exactly that.