Ubuntu And Women

The book takes us to women-centred events in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Data was collected from the conversations and events women hold with and for one another on the occasions of bridal, Naomi/Laban, and baby showers. Defining Ubuntu/Botho as the belief that our humanity is only measured by our capacity to welcome, respect and empower the other, this research-based book analyses how women practise Ubuntu/Botho in the urban spaces where the community easily disintegrates to individualism, isolation and poverty. It seeks to explore how Ubuntu/Botho intersects with gender and navigates its space around patriarchy, marriage, motherhood, family and community. It explores rituals and connections between women of different generations such as mothers and daughters, daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law, children and mothers, and their struggles to uphold Ubuntu/Botho in their families, communities and workspaces in the face of patriarchy, urbanisation, capitalism and neo-liberalism. The book employs and generates a multitude of methods and theories to highlight women mothering and delivering Ubuntu/Botho in the urban space communities.

The book takes us to women-centred events in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Data was collected from the conversations and events women hold with and for one another on the occasions of bridal, Naomi/Laban, and baby showers. Defining Ubuntu/Botho as the belief that our humanity is only measured by our capacity to welcome, respect and empower the other, this research-based book analyses how women practise Ubuntu/Botho in the urban spaces where the community easily disintegrates to individualism, isolation and poverty. It seeks to explore how Ubuntu/Botho intersects with gender and navigates its space around patriarchy, marriage, motherhood, family and community. It explores rituals and connections between women of different generations such as mothers and daughters, daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law, children and mothers, and their struggles to uphold Ubuntu/Botho in their families, communities and workspaces in the face of patriarchy, urbanisation, capitalism and neo-liberalism. The book employs and generates a multitude of methods and theories to highlight women mothering and delivering Ubuntu/Botho in the urban space communities.

This book examines the underexplored notion of epistemic marginalization of women in the African intellectual place. Women's issues are still very much neglected by governments, corporate bodies and academics in sub-Saharan Africa. The entrenched traditional world-views which privilege men over women make it difficult for the modern day challenges posed by the neglect of the feminine epistemic perspective, to become obvious. Contributors address these issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives, demonstrating what philosophy could do to ameliorate the epistemic marginalization of women, as well as ways in which African philosphy exacerbates this marginalization. Philosophy is supposed to teach us how to lead the good life in all its ramifications; why is it failing in this duty in Africa where the issue of women’s epistemic vision is concerned? The chapters raise feminist agitations to a new level; beginning from the regular campaigns for various women’s rights and reaching a climax in an epistemic struggle in which the knowledge-controlling power to create, acquire, evaluate, regulate and disseminate is proposed as the last frontier of feminism.

From Our Side is a collaborative effort of younger scholars in southern Africa and the Netherlands who are interested in the relationship between development and ethics, from a Christian point of view. The 17 chapters that make up the book have been produced through a unique set of partnerships, in which the authors have intentionally worked with practitioners who are working in the development arena. The essays were also shared in a number of settings with the authors, so that they have also benefited from this creative partnership process, and these partnerships have embraced people in both the South and the North, signalling a desire for a global dialogue led by Africa on matters which have a strong impact upon the continent.

The essential guide to Ubuntu, the South African philosophy which teaches that our common humanity and interconnectedness is key to living a better life. "This book will open your eyes, mind and heart to a way of being in the world that will make our world a better and more caring one." --Archbishop Desmond Tutu Ubuntu is a Xhosa word originating from a South African philosophy that encapsulates all our aspirations about how to live life well, together. It is the belief in a universal human bond: I am only because you are. And it means that if you are able to see everyone as fully human, connected to you by their humanity, you will never be able to treat others as disposable or without worth. By embracing the philosophy of Ubuntu and living it out in daily life it's possible to overcome division and be stronger together in a world where the wise build bridges, not walls. These 14 lessons from the Rainbow Nation are an essential toolkit to helping us all to live better, together. In stories that recognise our common humanity, our connectedness and interdependence, Everyday Ubuntu helps to make sense of the world and our place in it. Exploring ideas of kindness and forgiveness, tolerance and the power of listening, it shows how we can all benefit from embracing others. Including practical applications and mindful exercises, it is an inspirational guide to a more fulfilling life as part of the large family to which we all belong.

In this ground-breaking study, Sabine Binder analyses the complex ways in which female crime fictional victims, detectives and perpetrators in South African crime fiction resonate with widespread and persistent real crimes against women in post-apartheid South Africa. Drawing on a wide range of crime novels written over the last decade, Binder emphasises the genre’s feminist potential and critically maps its political work at the intersection of gender and race. Her study challenges the perception of crime fiction as a trivial genre and shows how, in South Africa at least, it provides a vibrant platform for social, cultural and ethical debates, exposing violence, misogyny and racism and shedding light on the problematics of law and justice for women faced with crime.

In this innovative and intimate memoir, a daughter tells the story of her mother, a pan-African hero who faced down misogyny and battled corruption in Nigeria. Inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu — the importance of community over the individual — and outraged by injustice, Dora Akunyili took on fraudulent drug manufacturers whose products killed millions, including her sister. A woman in a man’s world, she was elected and became a cabinet minister, but she had to deal with political manoeuvrings, death threats, and an assassination attempt for defending the voiceless. She suffered for it, as did her marriage and six children. I Am Because We Are illuminates the role of kinship, family, and the individual’s place in society, while revealing a life of courage, how community shaped it, and the web of humanity that binds us all.

Ubuntu is the African idea of personhood: persons depend on other persons in order to be. This is summarised in the expression: umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, that is, a person is a person through persons. This edited collection illustrates the power of fictionalised representation in reporting research conducted on Ubuntu in Southern Africa. The chapters insert the concept of Ubuntu within the broad intellectual debate of self and community, to demonstrate its intellectual and philosophical value and theoretical grounding in known practices emanating from the African continent, and indeed how it works to unsettle some of our received notions of the self.