African philosophy of education as a response to human rights violations: Cultivating Ubuntu as a virtue in religious education

Abstract

IntroductionIn previous works I have argued extensively that the notion of an African phi- losophy of education in the form of Ubuntu (human interdependence and humaneness) is capable of counteracting inhumane acts, such as genocide, torture, murder and the abuse of human beings (Waghid & Smeyers 2012; Waghid 2014). I have argued that Ubuntu is a moral concept that can contribute towards the eradication of human rights violations, which have become so endemic in many parts of African society - whether perpetrated by military rulers in oppressive Egypt after the Arab Spring (people's revolt against unjust state rule in several northern African countries), or the ongoing rape of thousands of women and the maiming of innocent children in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Hutu militia. These acts of human rights violations have not abated, and the very idea of Ubuntu has been questioned by several critics of the concept as being incapable of disrupting gross inhumanity since more and more people are suffering the fate of genocide, torture and abuse. It is with such an understanding of unabated human rights violations in mind that I offer a reconsidered view of Ubuntu - one that can deal more positively with the inhumanity that seems to be increasing on the African continent.Human Rights Violations on the African ContinentHuman rights violations, in the form of mass slaughter on religious grounds in the Central African Republic, ethnic targeting and civil war in South Sudan, massive loss of life (genocide) and atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and political repression in Egypt by the militarydominated authorities, are poignant examples that all is not well on the African continent. Drawing on the 2014 Human Rights Watch World Report: Africa, the following gross human rights violations are reported in several countries: arbitrary detentions of political dissenters (Angola), ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests of religious worshippers (Burundi), raping of women and girls and destruction of villages by oppositional Seleka forces (Central African Republic), sexual violence against children (Cote d'Ivoire), war crimes against civilians by rebel forces (Democratic Republic of Congo), torture, prolonged detentions and unfair trials against political opposition (Equatorial Guinea), indefinite conscription and forced labour (Eritrea), massacre of civilians (Guinea), extra-judicial killings (Kenya), recruitment of children and child labour (Mali), Boko Haram violence against civilians with the intent to enforce a harsh form of Shari'ah law (Nigeria), genocide (Rwanda), al-Shabaab suicide bombings (Somalia), xenophobic attacks (South Africa), anti-insurgency abuses and ethnic conflict (South Sudan), illegal arrests and detentions (Uganda), and intimidation by security forces (Zimbabwe) (Human Rights World Report: Africa 2014:73-198).All the mentioned atrocities against humanity persist, despite African communities' apparent awareness that Ubuntu should be actualised in their lived experiences, particularly in relations between individuals and others. Ubuntu (human interdependence and humaneness) has been constitutive of African communal practices (and nowadays popularised through the media) for a very long time, to the extent that the practice has been linked to forms of communitarianism that should be actualised, such as having respect for elders, treating the destitute and helpless with care, and cultivating sharing and trust amongst Africa's peoples (Waghid 2014:58-62). One cannot deny the need for Ubuntu to manifest itself in the practices of people, considering the escalating levels of human indignity that have become endemic in certain parts of African society. There are those critics of Ubuntu who use the inhumanity that prevails in certain parts of the continent as reason to take issue with the practice, and even to question whether Africa has the moral commitment to remedy its own continuing societal demise (Horsthemke, 2004). …