Gill, Scherto R. (2025) Understanding and Addressing Harms of Inhumanity: Mogobe Bernard Ramose and Souleymane Bachir Diagne on Ubuntu. In: Beyond Inhumanity: Collective Healing, Social Justice and Global Flourishing. DeGruyter, Berlin, pp. 9-34. ISBN 9783111651217
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This opening chapter examines the multidimensional harms of inhumanity—physical, psychological, relational, moral, and spiritual—and explores pathways for healing through the lens of Ubuntu. It is organized into three sections. In the first section, I trace the history of transatlantic slavery and investigate the paradoxical roles of Christianity in both helping justify the enslavement of millions of Africans and in advocating for its abolition. This section also highlights the emancipatory power of traditional African religions and ethical practices, such as those reflected in the notion of Ubuntu, which provided enslaved peoples with spiritual resources for resilience and resistance. The second section delves into Ubuntu, drawing on Mogobe Bernard Ramose’s articulation of Ubuntu ontology and Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s reflections on Ubuntu cosmology. It explores Ubuntu’s historical roles as a spiritual practice and its contemporary contribution as decolonial epistemology, ethics, and praxis. This analysis underscores how inhumanity harms not only the subjugated but also results in moral and spiritual damage on its perpetrators and beneficiaries. The final section discusses Ubuntu’s transformative potential in addressing transgenerational trauma and fostering collective healing, social justice and global flourishing. The chapter concludes by arguing that Ubuntu offers a profound antidote to systemic dehumanization, enabling humanity to reconcile, renew and regenerate. Keywords: Ubuntu, spiritual harms of inhumanity, humanity, community.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races |
| Divisions: | Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Scherto Gill |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Sep 2025 13:25 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Sep 2025 13:25 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3893 |
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