Ubuntu is homeless

An urban theological reflection

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12856413
AutoresStephan De Beer (0000-0002-8614-099X, University of Pretoria, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen36
Número2
Fecha de publicación2015-06-08
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaVerbum et Ecclesia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1609-9982 • E-ISSN: 2074-7705
EditorialAOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.4102/ve.v36i2.1471
OpenAlexW2107149937
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas7

This article is reading ubuntu in the light of homelessness in the cities and towns of South Africa. It suggests that ubuntu itself is homeless and displaced as a way of being human together. Instead of the mediation of dignity and justice through an ubuntu-solidarity, street homeless people and others living vulnerably and in precarious circumstances are violated and excluded through a displacement of ubuntu-values. It also suggests a growing disconnect between the philosophy of ubuntu and its actual embodiment in the local urban political economy, local faith communities and local universities. Acknowledging the aspirational edge of ubuntu, the article then concludes to envision going beyond mere abstractions in the said spheres the political economy, faith communities and local universities in order to seek for concrete expressions of ubuntu-solidarity, asserting and mediating respect, dignity and justice

Dignity · Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Faith · Mediation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Solidarity · Theology · African cultural and philosophical studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development