Ubuntu: Globalization, accommodation, and contestation in South Africa

Following the end of constitutional apartheid, indigenous perspectives and practices have gained prominence in South Africa. This dissertation examines the promise of the indigenous philosophy of ubuntu and asks how and why this worldview has emerged as one of the most important keywords in the new postcolony. It outlines the role of ubuntu in the transition from apartheid and explores what it may reveal about the shifting power relations in the shadow of neoliberal globalization conditions. While there is a growing body of literature on the philosophical aspects of ubuntu, there is a dearth of detailed empirical research that connects its multiple uses to the social, political, and economic relations in the country. In exploring the potential of ubuntu in shaping the future of a democratic South Africa, the dissertation brings to the fore the voices of community organizations and individual activists. A combination of qualitative methods was used; primarily ethnographic field research in Clermont, a township on the outskirts of Durban. In addition to participating in the activities of community groups, the research benefited from unstructured interviews of leaders and representatives of 23 community organizations and non-governmental organizations in the township. Interviews of ubuntu-oriented international actors underscored a key point: the resurgence of ubuntu in South Africa is not an isolated local phenomenon and it has significance for understanding similar global phenomena. The research findings reveal that despite decades of subjugation under colonial rule, indigenous knowledges and practices thrived and continue to be relevant in the new postcolony. While it is important to pose the question, "What is ubuntu?" the dissertation follows a more sociological approach that asks: "Who speaks of ubuntu? And to what end?" To answer these questions, the study borrows conceptual tools from indigenous knowledge literature, globalization studies, and Karl Polanyi's notion of the double-movement theorem. The sociological approach adopted here demonstrates that the resurgence of ubuntu does not represent mere postmodern articulations of identity politics (or so-called "invented traditions"). Rather, it marks the production of new forms of consciousness and the expression of discontent with (post)modernity.