Ubuntu Philosophy Explained | Introducing Ubuntu Stoicism excerpt

Ubuntu is a derived meaning of humanity’s humility among the Nguni and Bantu tribes and their languages.

The term ‘Ubuntu’ is in South Africa’s Xhosa and Zulu (Nguni languages). It is so in Rwanda’s Kinyarwanda and Kirundi languages also.

It is ‘botho’ in Sesotho, Sepedi (my language) and Setswana. It is unhu in Zimbabwe’s Shona. In Namibia’s Herero it is omundu. In Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kongo, it is kimutu. It goes on and on in many bantu languages.

My other company is named ‘Ubuntu Royal Capital.’

As you can tell, the term and its meaning are expressed in different words across different languages — however, they sound similar. Therefore, it is evolved, and some of the languages and tribes have a different wording of the meaning, though related. The meaning and it’s different but similar words runs from Central and West Africa down to Southern Africa.

The languages also have many similarities. This spread of similarity in the languages is hypothesized as the Bantu Expansion, and the chief evidence of this expansion is linguistics.

It is said a Proto-Bantu speaking group started migration from West-Central Africa toward Sub-Saharan Africa about 5000 years ago[i] (c. 3000 BC.).

Along the way they displaced and or absorbed pre-existing hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups. And therefore, the languages evolved or adapted for those conditions and environment and with those groups.

This is contested to an extent. However, the pattern of words sounding the same denotes some sort of evolution.

Philosophy in Africa, or anywhere else in the world, has largely been passed down through literature — the earliest evidence of writing dates back to c. 3200 BC[ii] in ancient Sumer (Western Asia).

I believe the meaning of Ubuntu and its symbolism goes beyond languages and or even Stoicism. It is the foundation of humanity having evolved and continuing to evolve for the better. It will carry on beyond today even.

Humanity is global, after all. All pockets of the world evolved it. African Proverbs carry this.

Ubuntu symbolises humanity, togetherness, virtue, kindness, and other positives.

It means ‘I am because we are.’ If I am to be better, we should be better. If I want you to be better, I should be better.

To me it signals a sense of personal responsibility. The community benefits from the virtues of responsible individuals. They also serve as inspiration to others, particularly the younger generation.

This is where my affinity for Stoicisms comes from. Through Stoicism I recognised the need to be the carrier of Ubuntu principles personally; i.e., act upon them.

I am still a sinner who keeps trying. We all are. But we have to try.

Use of Ubuntu as a Philosophy

Ubuntu was popularised as a world view or philosophy in the 1950s, notably through the writings of the South African writer (novelist and scholar) Jordan Kush Ngubane, published in Drum Magazine.

It started to be branded as a specific kind of African humanism, both in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The first sole publication to encapsulate Ubuntu as a political ideology for renewed humanity was in the book ‘Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy’ by Zimbabwe historiographer, Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange in 1980.

It represented a political ideology for the then new Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia), which had just attained independence from the United Kingdom.

The concept went global when South Africa transitioned from apartheid to democracy in the early 1990s, and from Nelson Mandela’s new reign as the first elected president of democratic and inclusive South Africa, from 1994.

It symbolised the need for understanding of the past, reparation, and not vengeance.

The term Ubuntu is now global and has been used as a pillar of ideals in many fields: politics, peace treaties, charity, research, and many other areas.

[i] The Bantu Expansion (January 2018), Koen Bostoen https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324909335_The_Bantu_Expansion

[ii] The Evolution of Writing (2014) Published in James Wright, ed., International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavior, Elsevier