Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a philosophy, a way of being and existing in the world, a compendium of ethical principles, a traditional concept, a framework for understanding and building the relationship between the individual and society.
Like other forms of thought that give rise to norms of social behavior, ubuntu eludes rigid and definitive definitions. Ubuntu is a philosophy, a way of being and existing in the world, a compendium of ethical principles, a traditional concept, a framework for understanding and building the relationship between the individual and society. Related to ancient concepts such as Ma’at from ancient Egypt and similar to other systems like the ‘good living’ of the Andean peoples or Eastern Taoism, ubuntu is grounded in the relationship between a person’s actions and their consequences, as well as in the constant search for the essence of humanity.
Ubuntu has endured for thousands of years in sub-Saharan Africa, shaping the lives of its inhabitants and in the form of the ancestral wisdom of populations accustomed to living in hostile environments. By always placing the community above the individual, it has managed to be passed down orally, permeating fables and proverbs, and withstanding invasions, colonization, discrimination, and dictatorial regimes—both foreign and local, past and present. In the 21st century, while we are immersed in an accelerated global rhythm and humanity has upset its balance with nature, we have become absorbed in the “technomythification” of individual success, but ubuntu is being revitalized and spread through educational systems. The communitarian values it upholds inform universal health models, and one of its core principles, interconnectivity, might help us create more harmonious societies more in balance with the environment. Recent research suggests that the first modern humans emerged over two hundred thousand years ago in what is
now Botswana. Now, at this unique moment when we are acutely aware that our way of life is bringing us closer to our own extinction, could ubuntu become the collective wisdom that guides humanity? Could Africa be both our origin and the key to our future? This book explores the essence of ubuntu through a journey across northern Mozambique. The photographs and texts offer an eclectic contemporary perspective, inviting contemplation and study of a society where different eras coexist in the same territory and time.
Argitalpen honi buruz
- Urtea
- 2024
- Kategoria
- Liburuak