Bernard Matolino
Biographic Data
| ID | 637514 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bernard Matolino |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bernard |
| FAMILY NAME | Matolino |
| SIGNATURE | MATOLINO B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6719-6827 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Introduction
This Special Issue examines the intersections of migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth, offering a decolonial and youth-centred perspective on mobility and belonging. Drawing on comparative, multi-sited ethnography in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, the contributionscentre on young Africans’ agency as they navigate structural inequality, postcolonial legacies, racialised bordering and digital c…
Negotiating the present, facing the past
Migration reshapes South Africa’s religious and political landscape, yet the experiences of African youth who traverse the continent remain under-examined. Drawing on biographical interviews and participant observation with Nigerian and Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg (2024–25), this article explores how young people negotiate xenophobia, post-apartheid inequality and the unfinished business of decolonization through religious and spiritual p…
Beyond ubuntu and decoloniality
This article is conceived against the background of value systems that seek to understand and represent African reality vis-à-vis African migration. The two major systems of thought to be evaluated against the realities of migration are ubuntu and decoloniality. I seek to suggest that while these theories seek to account for experiences in modern Africa, there is a possible system of thought that may comprehensively capture African reality. Preca…
The Relational Problem in Metz’s Relational Theory
While Thaddeus Metz’s relational theory is ingenious and more refreshing than some of its predecessors, it still presents problems that are common to relational theories. These problems have got to do with the grounds on which the relationalists base their theories. The target of my appraisal is the second section of Metz’s book. Firstly, I will seek to show that the theories critiqued are not that different from Metz’s theory as they all share t…
Belonging in a Disrupted Environment
Belonging presupposes a certain stability within both individuals and environments to which belonging is claimed. This stability is absent for most individuals in Africa and the actual societies they belong to. The disintegration of communities and the inability of individuals to have stable identities can be traced to the damaging effects of the colonial project. Africa's postcolonial states have failed to shirk off the effects of colonialism an…
Ubuntu and Violence
“Why Race Still Matters”
While there is no proof that there are distinct races among humans, racial divisions remain alive and relevant. Discrimination feeds into racism and sponsors beliefs in differences among races. Race as a social issue and a topic of analysis is generally treated as if it were a concept that could be understood on its own terms and independently of some other issues. One of the most promising attempts at understanding race is its relation to percep…
Whither Epistemic Decolonization
Epistemic decolonization, in its various conceptual formulations and presentations, could be taken to hold promise for either the completion of the anti-colonial struggle or the self-re-discovery of the formerly colonized and oppressed. In Africa this project has had a long history as both a counter to hegemonic histories of claimed Western epistemological superiority as well as theories of racism and racist practices against black people of Afri…
Are we finished with the ethnophilosophy debate? A multi-perspective conversation
In line with the tradition of the Conversational School of Philosophy, this essay provides a rare and unique space of discourse for the authors to converse about the place of the ‘ethno’ in African philosophy. This conversation is a revisit, a renewal of the key positions that have coloured the ethnophilosophy debate by the conversers who themselves are notable contributors to arguments for and against the importance of ethnophilosophy in the unf…
Consensus as Democracy in Africa
The politics of limited communitarianism
The debate on the communitarian notion of personhood as initiated by Gyekye, in response to Menkiti, is both exhaustive and exhausted. Its exhaustiveness and exhaustion lies in the fact that, in all probability whatever can be said around it has been said, with truly nothing new likely ever being added. What is possibly left, is the potential for further additions to be more strident in their picking of sides or repeating that Gyekye and Menkiti …
Restating Rights in African Communitarianism
In classical African communitarianism, individual rights have tended to be accorded a secondary status to the good of the community. What is prioritised are the duties and obligations the individual has to the whole as opposed to the entitlements one can expect to derive from a community qua individual. I seek to show that this view, by its own standards and assumptions, is erroneous in framing rights as secondary to the good of the community. I …
Rationality and Consensus in Kwasi Wiredu’s Traditional African Polities
The disagreement over what was responsible for arriving at consensual positions, in traditional African polities, is best captured in the classic debate between Kwasi Wiredu and Emmanuel Eze. The former holds that rational persuasion was the sole informant of decision-making while the latter argues that non-rational factors played a crucial role in securing a consensual decision. If Wiredu is correct then consensus could work in modern society as…
A response to Metz's reply on the end of ubuntu
Thaddeus Metz argues against our position that ubuntu has reached its end. He rejects our recommendation that ubuntu both as a way of life and as an ethical theory must be jettisoned as it is no longer applicable to modern conditions. He thinks that both our recommendations are wrong. Hence he seeks to show that ubuntu is defensible both as an ethical theory and as a way of life. Further, he thinks there is a role to be played by ubuntu in how li…
Universalism and African philosophy
In some quarter there exists a domineering view of philosophy as objective and universal in character. Any philosophical activity that fails to live up to the set standards is dismissed as retaining a non-epistemic/philosophical status. However, this view is not universal as it is opposed by a camp that seeks to defend what Emmanuel Eze calls the anti-import position. The opposing camp condemns both the philosophical method and feigned superiorit…
The place of South African philosophy in the future of South African philosophy
The title of my paper reads like an oxymoron if not downright confusion. However, it is not meant to be an oxymoron and it does not betray my private confusion. It is deliberate and perhaps a bit political. These two words “South Africa” rightly conjure up an image of things that are either in the south of Africa or things that are African in the south. I find the first image deserving of attention for my purposes. Juxtaposing the concerns of aca…
The end of ubuntu
Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, there has been a concerted effort at reviving the notion of ubuntu. Variously conceived, it is seen as the authentic African ethical concept, a way of life, an authentic mode of being African, an individual ideal, the appropriate public spirit, a definition of life itself and the preferred manner of conducting public and private business. Thus, among other public displays of the spirit of ubuntu, the…
The Nature of Opposition in Kwasi Wiredu's Democracy by Consensus
Kwasi Wiredu has argued that democracy by consensus, unlike majoritarian democracy, posits a political system that is not characterised by competition for power between political parties. While majoritarian democracy vests political power in the party that has won a simple majority at the polls, hence proscribing losers to opposition, democracy by consensus seeks to avoid appropriation of power to winners on the basis of majority votes. Two of th…
Democracy, Consensus, and Africa
Tempels’ Philosophical Racialism
Placide Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy has largely been met with hostility from African philosophers. Whilst Tempels intended to show that the Bantu were not only capable of thinking, but also that they had a distinct and coherent philosophy of their own, his project seems to have achieved exactly the opposite. Temples’ project sought to expose the racism of thinkers such as Lucien Levy-Bruhl, thereby raising the African to the same status as the West…
Quandaries of Legitimacy
A Response to Eze’s critique of Wiredu’s consensual democracy
The question of what political system best suites post colonial/independent African states remain alive and ever more pertinent particularly in the face of failed attempts at democratisation. Kwasi Wiredu notes that the adversarial nature of Western democratic practices along party political lines may not be well suited for African politics. Instead he suggests that the practice of consensual democracy as practised in the traditional Ashanti soci…
Radicals versus Moderates
The communitarian conception of person is a widely accepted view in African thought. Kwame Gyekye thinks there is a distinction between what he calls radical communitarianism and his own version of moderate communitarianism. He is of the view that radical communitarianism is faced with insurmountable problems and ought to be jettisoned in favour of his moderate communitarianism. Gyekye's strategy is twofold; he firstly seeks to show the shortcomi…
The end of ubuntu
Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, there has been a concerted effort at reviving the notion of ubuntu. Variously conceived, it is seen as the authentic African ethical concept, a way of life, an authentic mode of being African, an individual ideal, the appropriate public spirit, a definition of life itself and the preferred manner of conducting public and private business. Thus, among other public displays of the spirit of ubuntu, the…
Introduction
This Special Issue examines the intersections of migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth, offering a decolonial and youth-centred perspective on mobility and belonging. Drawing on comparative, multi-sited ethnography in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, the contributionscentre on young Africans’ agency as they navigate structural inequality, postcolonial legacies, racialised bordering and digital c…
Radicals versus Moderates
The communitarian conception of person is a widely accepted view in African thought. Kwame Gyekye thinks there is a distinction between what he calls radical communitarianism and his own version of moderate communitarianism. He is of the view that radical communitarianism is faced with insurmountable problems and ought to be jettisoned in favour of his moderate communitarianism. Gyekye's strategy is twofold; he firstly seeks to show the shortcomi…
Negotiating the present, facing the past
Migration reshapes South Africa’s religious and political landscape, yet the experiences of African youth who traverse the continent remain under-examined. Drawing on biographical interviews and participant observation with Nigerian and Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg (2024–25), this article explores how young people negotiate xenophobia, post-apartheid inequality and the unfinished business of decolonization through religious and spiritual p…
The Nature of Opposition in Kwasi Wiredu's Democracy by Consensus
Kwasi Wiredu has argued that democracy by consensus, unlike majoritarian democracy, posits a political system that is not characterised by competition for power between political parties. While majoritarian democracy vests political power in the party that has won a simple majority at the polls, hence proscribing losers to opposition, democracy by consensus seeks to avoid appropriation of power to winners on the basis of majority votes. Two of th…
Beyond ubuntu and decoloniality
This article is conceived against the background of value systems that seek to understand and represent African reality vis-à-vis African migration. The two major systems of thought to be evaluated against the realities of migration are ubuntu and decoloniality. I seek to suggest that while these theories seek to account for experiences in modern Africa, there is a possible system of thought that may comprehensively capture African reality. Preca…
Tempels’ Philosophical Racialism
Placide Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy has largely been met with hostility from African philosophers. Whilst Tempels intended to show that the Bantu were not only capable of thinking, but also that they had a distinct and coherent philosophy of their own, his project seems to have achieved exactly the opposite. Temples’ project sought to expose the racism of thinkers such as Lucien Levy-Bruhl, thereby raising the African to the same status as the West…
The place of South African philosophy in the future of South African philosophy
The title of my paper reads like an oxymoron if not downright confusion. However, it is not meant to be an oxymoron and it does not betray my private confusion. It is deliberate and perhaps a bit political. These two words “South Africa” rightly conjure up an image of things that are either in the south of Africa or things that are African in the south. I find the first image deserving of attention for my purposes. Juxtaposing the concerns of aca…
Ubuntu and Violence
Rationality and Consensus in Kwasi Wiredu’s Traditional African Polities
The disagreement over what was responsible for arriving at consensual positions, in traditional African polities, is best captured in the classic debate between Kwasi Wiredu and Emmanuel Eze. The former holds that rational persuasion was the sole informant of decision-making while the latter argues that non-rational factors played a crucial role in securing a consensual decision. If Wiredu is correct then consensus could work in modern society as…
Universalism and African philosophy
In some quarter there exists a domineering view of philosophy as objective and universal in character. Any philosophical activity that fails to live up to the set standards is dismissed as retaining a non-epistemic/philosophical status. However, this view is not universal as it is opposed by a camp that seeks to defend what Emmanuel Eze calls the anti-import position. The opposing camp condemns both the philosophical method and feigned superiorit…
A Response to Eze’s critique of Wiredu’s consensual democracy
The question of what political system best suites post colonial/independent African states remain alive and ever more pertinent particularly in the face of failed attempts at democratisation. Kwasi Wiredu notes that the adversarial nature of Western democratic practices along party political lines may not be well suited for African politics. Instead he suggests that the practice of consensual democracy as practised in the traditional Ashanti soci…
Radicals versus Moderates
The communitarian conception of person is a widely accepted view in African thought. Kwame Gyekye thinks there is a distinction between what he calls radical communitarianism and his own version of moderate communitarianism. He is of the view that radical communitarianism is faced with insurmountable problems and ought to be jettisoned in favour of his moderate communitarianism. Gyekye's strategy is twofold; he firstly seeks to show the shortcomi…
Quandaries of Legitimacy
Tempels’ Philosophical Racialism
Placide Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy has largely been met with hostility from African philosophers. Whilst Tempels intended to show that the Bantu were not only capable of thinking, but also that they had a distinct and coherent philosophy of their own, his project seems to have achieved exactly the opposite. Temples’ project sought to expose the racism of thinkers such as Lucien Levy-Bruhl, thereby raising the African to the same status as the West…
Democracy, Consensus, and Africa
The end of ubuntu
Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, there has been a concerted effort at reviving the notion of ubuntu. Variously conceived, it is seen as the authentic African ethical concept, a way of life, an authentic mode of being African, an individual ideal, the appropriate public spirit, a definition of life itself and the preferred manner of conducting public and private business. Thus, among other public displays of the spirit of ubuntu, the…
The Nature of Opposition in Kwasi Wiredu's Democracy by Consensus
Kwasi Wiredu has argued that democracy by consensus, unlike majoritarian democracy, posits a political system that is not characterised by competition for power between political parties. While majoritarian democracy vests political power in the party that has won a simple majority at the polls, hence proscribing losers to opposition, democracy by consensus seeks to avoid appropriation of power to winners on the basis of majority votes. Two of th…
A response to Metz's reply on the end of ubuntu
Thaddeus Metz argues against our position that ubuntu has reached its end. He rejects our recommendation that ubuntu both as a way of life and as an ethical theory must be jettisoned as it is no longer applicable to modern conditions. He thinks that both our recommendations are wrong. Hence he seeks to show that ubuntu is defensible both as an ethical theory and as a way of life. Further, he thinks there is a role to be played by ubuntu in how li…
Universalism and African philosophy
In some quarter there exists a domineering view of philosophy as objective and universal in character. Any philosophical activity that fails to live up to the set standards is dismissed as retaining a non-epistemic/philosophical status. However, this view is not universal as it is opposed by a camp that seeks to defend what Emmanuel Eze calls the anti-import position. The opposing camp condemns both the philosophical method and feigned superiorit…
The place of South African philosophy in the future of South African philosophy
The title of my paper reads like an oxymoron if not downright confusion. However, it is not meant to be an oxymoron and it does not betray my private confusion. It is deliberate and perhaps a bit political. These two words “South Africa” rightly conjure up an image of things that are either in the south of Africa or things that are African in the south. I find the first image deserving of attention for my purposes. Juxtaposing the concerns of aca…
Rationality and Consensus in Kwasi Wiredu’s Traditional African Polities
The disagreement over what was responsible for arriving at consensual positions, in traditional African polities, is best captured in the classic debate between Kwasi Wiredu and Emmanuel Eze. The former holds that rational persuasion was the sole informant of decision-making while the latter argues that non-rational factors played a crucial role in securing a consensual decision. If Wiredu is correct then consensus could work in modern society as…
Consensus as Democracy in Africa
The politics of limited communitarianism
The debate on the communitarian notion of personhood as initiated by Gyekye, in response to Menkiti, is both exhaustive and exhausted. Its exhaustiveness and exhaustion lies in the fact that, in all probability whatever can be said around it has been said, with truly nothing new likely ever being added. What is possibly left, is the potential for further additions to be more strident in their picking of sides or repeating that Gyekye and Menkiti …
Restating Rights in African Communitarianism
In classical African communitarianism, individual rights have tended to be accorded a secondary status to the good of the community. What is prioritised are the duties and obligations the individual has to the whole as opposed to the entitlements one can expect to derive from a community qua individual. I seek to show that this view, by its own standards and assumptions, is erroneous in framing rights as secondary to the good of the community. I …
Are we finished with the ethnophilosophy debate? A multi-perspective conversation
In line with the tradition of the Conversational School of Philosophy, this essay provides a rare and unique space of discourse for the authors to converse about the place of the ‘ethno’ in African philosophy. This conversation is a revisit, a renewal of the key positions that have coloured the ethnophilosophy debate by the conversers who themselves are notable contributors to arguments for and against the importance of ethnophilosophy in the unf…
Whither Epistemic Decolonization
Epistemic decolonization, in its various conceptual formulations and presentations, could be taken to hold promise for either the completion of the anti-colonial struggle or the self-re-discovery of the formerly colonized and oppressed. In Africa this project has had a long history as both a counter to hegemonic histories of claimed Western epistemological superiority as well as theories of racism and racist practices against black people of Afri…
“Why Race Still Matters”
While there is no proof that there are distinct races among humans, racial divisions remain alive and relevant. Discrimination feeds into racism and sponsors beliefs in differences among races. Race as a social issue and a topic of analysis is generally treated as if it were a concept that could be understood on its own terms and independently of some other issues. One of the most promising attempts at understanding race is its relation to percep…
The Relational Problem in Metz’s Relational Theory
While Thaddeus Metz’s relational theory is ingenious and more refreshing than some of its predecessors, it still presents problems that are common to relational theories. These problems have got to do with the grounds on which the relationalists base their theories. The target of my appraisal is the second section of Metz’s book. Firstly, I will seek to show that the theories critiqued are not that different from Metz’s theory as they all share t…
Belonging in a Disrupted Environment
Belonging presupposes a certain stability within both individuals and environments to which belonging is claimed. This stability is absent for most individuals in Africa and the actual societies they belong to. The disintegration of communities and the inability of individuals to have stable identities can be traced to the damaging effects of the colonial project. Africa's postcolonial states have failed to shirk off the effects of colonialism an…
Ubuntu and Violence
Introduction
This Special Issue examines the intersections of migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth, offering a decolonial and youth-centred perspective on mobility and belonging. Drawing on comparative, multi-sited ethnography in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, the contributionscentre on young Africans’ agency as they navigate structural inequality, postcolonial legacies, racialised bordering and digital c…
Negotiating the present, facing the past
Migration reshapes South Africa’s religious and political landscape, yet the experiences of African youth who traverse the continent remain under-examined. Drawing on biographical interviews and participant observation with Nigerian and Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg (2024–25), this article explores how young people negotiate xenophobia, post-apartheid inequality and the unfinished business of decolonization through religious and spiritual p…
Beyond ubuntu and decoloniality
This article is conceived against the background of value systems that seek to understand and represent African reality vis-à-vis African migration. The two major systems of thought to be evaluated against the realities of migration are ubuntu and decoloniality. I seek to suggest that while these theories seek to account for experiences in modern Africa, there is a possible system of thought that may comprehensively capture African reality. Preca…
African cultural and philosophical studies (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Law (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Politics (13 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · African philosophy (6 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (6 works) · Law (6 works)