Ubuntu is homeless

An urban theological reflection

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12856413
AutoresStephan De Beer (0000-0002-8614-099X, University of Pretoria, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume36
Fascículo2
Data de publicação2015-06-08
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoVerbum et Ecclesia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1609-9982 • E-ISSN: 2074-7705
EditoraAOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.4102/ve.v36i2.1471
OpenAlexW2107149937
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências 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