Moore, Henrietta L;
Coulibaly-Willis, Eva;
(2025)
Ubuntu and African Approaches to Prosperity.
UCL Institute for Global Prosperity: London, UK.
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Abstract
The effects of human-induced planetary damage are becoming more and more visible, with the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions from some human activities being disproportionately borne by those not responsible for them. Extreme heat and weather events, drought, storms, wildfires and sea level rise are among some of the changes that are already placing pressure on human livelihoods, to unequal, yet mounting degrees across the world. In a post-industrial planet the cause-and-effect burden of climate change has never been balanced, and environmental injustices are routinely tucked out of sight, out of mind for a shrinking number of the world’s privileged. This paper explores the southern African philosophy of ubuntu, as a framing mechanism through which care, conflict and responsibility can be reassessed. An ubuntu approach to adversity understands the essence of humanity to lie in solidarity, shared responsibility and embedded relationality, cultivating an ever-more resilient, expansive worldview. It problematises the weaponised individualism currently dominating contemporary welfare strategies and justifying unfair resource management. Under the basic premise that ‘a person is a person through other persons,’ or that ‘my humanity is inherently bound up with yours,’ your deprivation thus becomes an issue that is fundamentally mine. Adopting this worldview in policy encourages scholars, policymakers and citizens to a) address the webs of relatedness that global communities are connected through in our respective areas of work, and b) engage more productively with innovative African value systems (Seehawer, 2018; de Sousa Santos, 2018). This philosophical stance can help us re-evaluate the place of people in our understandings of growth and prosperity as we navigate the nuances of a fast-changing planet.
| Type: | Working / discussion paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ubuntu and African Approaches to Prosperity |
| ISBN-13: | 978-1-913041-57-1 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/global-prosperity/p... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > UCL Institute for Global Prosperity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211761 |
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