2825 Ndiri nekuti tiri: Applying Ubuntu philosophy to social services in Africa and globally

Description

Rugare Mugumbate, Department of Social Work, Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe; School of Health & Society, Faculty of the Arts, University of Wollongong; Department of Social Work & Community Development, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Contact: rugare_mugumbate@uow.edu.au

Abstract

This paper examines Ubuntu’s central role in decolonising approaches to social services in Africa and its potential role globally. The African philosophy of Ubuntu emphasises ‘being self through family and community’. It is expressed in the phrase ndiri nekuti tiri in Shona language, meaning ‘I am because we are’, which is the same as umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu in Zulu and Ndebele languages which means a person is a person through others. It has many similar expressions in most African communities, for example in the Kikuyu language it is ndi nii tondu wanyu and motho ke motho ka batho in Tswana. In social services, Ubuntu enhances practice and research, teaching and learning, ethics and the conduct of research and evaluation. The introduction defines social services and provides a broad history of Ubuntu to give readers contextual framing. A methods section then describes the integrated methodology that combined a systematic literature review of the Ubuntu bibliography (version 2.1.1, https://africasocialwork.net/ubuntu-database/) and a conceptual analysis. The results are then presented, starting with a report of systematic review and then the conceptual analysis of the roles and benefits of Ubuntu in social services. The analysis includes Ubuntu’s role in broad social services methods which are case (individual) and family work; groupwork and community work; social development; research, socio-environmental and socio-spiritual work. A discussion then follows, focusing on institutionalising Ubuntu and criticism and potential limitations of Ubuntu. The paper concludes with a firm and forward-looking proposal, articulated as the Seven-Role Framework towards an Ubuntu Renaissance. including the intention of institutionalising it globally.

An earlier version of this paper was published in 2013 in the African Journal of Social Work with my academic mentor Nyanguru, Andrew Chad who died in the same year. This first version was downloaded over 50,000 times, making it a seminal piece of academic work on Ubuntu. A key reason the first version was read, downloaded and shared that many times was its simplicity which this current version has maintained although it is more assertive about African philosophy. It was the first major piece of work on Ubuntu in social work. In the 2013 version, our mission was to ‘explore Ubuntu and make an attempt to relate it to social work’ but this has dramatically changed now to application globally.

Keywords: Africa; global; ndiri nekuti tiri, philosophy; social services; Ubuntu; umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

Article type: Integrated (review and conceptual analysis)

Review type: Double-blind