Philosophy Of Ubuntu Research Articles

Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in Enterobacter Spp Isolated at the Yaounde University Teaching Hospital from January 2008 to November 2019

Purpose: A study was conducted to evaluate the evolution of the resistance of Enterobacter spp to antibiotics during twelve years and to update the data. Method: A retro-prospective study was carried from January 2008 to November 2019. Data was extracted from the registers of the bacteriology laboratory and the strains from samples received from the different units of the YUTH. The study of the antibiotic resistance profile of these species and phenotypic analysis was carried out by the method of discs diffusion in Mueller-Hinton agar. Phenotypic characterization was carried out by synergy test and modified Hodge test. Findings: A total of 109 strains were isolated in our study. Enterobacter species showed high resistance with a peak in 2012 for cephalosporins, in 2011 for aminoglycosides, in 2018 for quinolones, in 2019 for carbapenems with the frequencies of 80%, 45%, 37% and 36,1% respectively. These species exhibited 30% resistance to colistin. The resistance peak to the majority of antibiotics between 2018 and 2019 reflects an increase of resistance. The Extended Spectrum  - Lactamases (ESBL) phenotype was the most represented with frequency of 32.4%. Unique contri bution to theory, practice and policy: To Update the data on the evolution of Enterobacter spp, which will help to establish a surveillance strategy in Cameroonand adapt an adequate treatment regimen.

Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa ed. by Kenneth Amaeshi, Adun Okupe and Uwafiokun Idemudia

Reviewed by: Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa ed. by Kenneth Amaeshi, Adun Okupe and Uwafiokun Idemudia Matthew C. Kolasa Amaeshi, Kenneth, Adun Okupe, and Uwafiokun Idemudia, eds. Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018. In Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa, editors Kenneth Amaeshi and Adun Okupe, at the University of Edinburgh, and Uwafiokun Idemudia, at York University in Toronto, support the new economic philosophy of Africapitalism (a term coined by Nigerian economist Tony Elumelu, who wrote the book’s foreword). Attesting to the relevance of Elumelu’s contributions and ideas, Time magazine named him one of the world’s one hundred most influential people in 2020. This creative and well-written interdisciplinary collection of eleven essays brings African voices from around the globe to the fore. Africapitalism, a uniquely African approach to developing economies, involves the interconnectivity of stakeholders, social welfare, and communities. It seeks to maximize profits while improving employee, consumer, and national outcomes with a sense of community and patriotism. The authors begin by assessing African economies. Underdeveloped institutions and industrialization pose a problem as developed countries enjoy distinctive advantages. Combine this with the stunting effects of extractive exploitation and colonialism and the odds are against African economies. Meanwhile, the well-meaning international development community fosters aid dependence. The authors posit while parts of Africa have nurtured capitalist classes and growth, competition from capitalist metropoles necessitate a new approach. Enter the new paradigm of Africapitalism. The authors argue that entrepreneurs must take the lead by bringing South Africa’s Ubuntu philosophy to business, introducing principles of progress, prosperity, parity, peace, and place. Africapitalism critiques crony capitalism and corruption in [End Page 220] favor of longer-term views of building society, workforce, and market. Far from a social inevitability, they argue leaders can mold capitalism’s character. The attempt to bring this Africa-centered approach to business is ambitious. In many areas, regulation has proven more convincing than patriotism, but one can work with the other, as fighting corruption can combine with a business strategy and grow into a deep-rooted indigenous variety of capitalism and management. An especially compelling chapter is Amon Chizema and Nceku Nyathi’s discussion of Chinese investment in Africa. As overcapacity and market saturation at home bring Chinese businesspeople to Africa seeking resources and low-cost opportunities, results are mixed. Chizema and Nyathi note while some welcome Chinese no-strings-attached investment as a sign of respect, others question whether this reflects Africapitalism or mere business calculus. Chinese enterprises hire majorities of local laborers but managers and specialists hail from China. While Asian development states deftly required local co-ownership and technology transfers to accompany FDI, African governments seldom make such requirements. The treatment of China in Africa is more nuanced than alarmist warnings or fawningly laudatory reports that typify the topic. Other chapters show the dynamism of Africapitalism. Lyal White and Adrian Kitimbo provide a case study in “Good African Coffee: Adding Value and Driving Community Development in Uganda.” Significantly, the authors explain why so few businesses like it exist. Challenges seem insurmountable: cost of entry, access to credit, skilled labor, infrastructure, limited overseas connections, and stereotypical suspicion of African businesses plagued the project. Given these difficulties, the book’s thesis would be more convincing if it could provide more case studies highlighting the success of Africapitalism. Stella Nkomo puts Africapitalism in context in the last chapter. She acknowledges Africapitalism is more pre-paradigmatic ideology than mature theory. Nkomo predicts the path forward will not be easy as homegrown change requires asking “how to create something new, unfettered from what has always been positioned as the universal” (276). While the authors emphasize the diversity of sub-Saharan Africa and the need to look at different regions differently, the book nonetheless opens itself to criticism. Africapitalism has parallels in earlier continent-wide movements like African socialism. Africapitalism relies on Ubuntu, an influential South [End Page 221] African philosophy, but the authors assume Ubuntu applies across Africa. Can one approach apply to Nigeria and Malawi? Future research must assess Afri-capitalism’s generalizability. Although the book leaves questions unanswered, that is the...

Critics of Delegation and Decentralization in Abdicating Authority and Upholding Ubuntu Philosophy in Social Welfare Organizations

The purpose of this paper is to reach the augment of the critics of delegation and decentralization in abducting authority and upholding Ubuntu philosophy in Social Welfare Organizations in Zimbabwe. The systematic distribution of authority by the top management in social welfare organizations remains a contested issue in abdicating authority and upholding Ubuntu Philosophy. Abdicating respect and human dignity in delegating responsibility is one of the critical issues in social welfare organizations as some community-based organizations fail to consider the inherent worth of employees before conducting some projects and allocating tasks. In governmental parastatals participatory democratic values are not effectively implemented when delegating duties, the top management restricts itself to major decisions areas like policymaking, coordination and control. The lower-level managers have enough decision-making authority and support to introduce innovativeness in their work. A desktop review was used in accordance with the case study for the study, qualitative and qualitative research methods were used to gather data collected from the research. Data collection methods that were used included observations, focus group discussions and interviews. The targeted population included international, statutory and non-statutory organizations in Zimbabwe. Findings from the study concluded that delegation and decentralization in social welfare organizations are criticized as a result of local beurocracy and inequalities that exist in organizations. Respondents articulated that decentralization becomes an important handicap in upholding the organizational values and ethics. In social welfare organizations, some executives do not understand the basic need for basic respect and compassion for other employees like sharing the responsibility of decision-making.

In The Mirror Game: Ubuntu Philosophy and Umbundu

The Epistemologies of the South awaken our reflection to knowledge and practices of the traditional African culture which have been silenced in the historical unfolding. Such is the case of Ubuntu. In this philosophy of life, we have an existence which is only an existence because there are other existences. In this culture, which has an almost endless capacity for seeking consensus and reconciliation, a shift has taken place from an excluding notion of identity “I am because you are not” to an inclusive notion “I am because we are, and because we are then I am”. In this sense, we formulate as starting question to know how the concerns contained in the Ubuntu philosophy find expression in the oral heritage of Umbundu, given that they belong to the same linguistic matrix of Bantu. As core goal of this study we highlight: to interpret how Umbundu has integrated, preserved and disseminated the principles of the Ubuntu philosophy of life. We selected as sources of this research elements of the oral heritage (folk songs, folk poetry, proverbs, lullabies, chants). The methodology used focuses on the analysis of the structuring principles of the Ubuntu philosophy: 1) to live at peace with oneself (relation with self); 2) to live at peace with the other (relation with the others); and 3) to live in harmony with nature and the cosmos (relation with the universe). The findings of our research have led us to conclude that principles can be found in the oral heritage of Umbundu that have helped perpetuate and disseminate the Ubuntu philosophy. So, the oral heritage of Umbundu has contributed to renew the spirit of solidarity and the spirit of belonging to the universe and to the human community, through the belief that everything in the universe exists in full connection.

An exposition of humanistic- existential social work in light of ubuntu philosophy: Towards theorizing ubuntu in social work practice

ABSTRACT The article stimulates a discourse for theorizing ubuntu as part of a humanistic-existential approach in social work. The article expatiates on the ontologies and axiology of the humanistic-existential approach in light of ubuntu in an effort to theorize the latter through a comparative analysis of the two. Nine features of the humanistic-existential approach are explored: self-awareness, self-determination, human dignity, holism, the pursuit of social justice and human rights, motivation, social cohesion, spirituality, and death. The article calls for theorizing ubuntu philosophy in social work practice and education. It contradicts with other claims that deny ubuntu its place in the humanistic-existential approach.

UBUNTU and the Challenges of Africa-Rooted Public Policy Evaluation Approach

African evaluation experts and scholars have been trying to establish a public policy evaluation approach which is based on the African indigenous philosophy of Ubuntu for many years. This type of public policy evaluation has been variously referred to as 'Africa-rooted evaluation' or 'Made in Africa evaluation' (MAE) and many other similar names. The objective of this article is to critically analyse the challenges evaluation scholars, academics and practitioners must overcome in order to establish an Africa-rooted public policy evaluation approach. The methodological approach used in this analysis is mainly qualitative and it is based on a robust review of existing topics of evaluation, Africa-rooted public policy evaluation (and similar concepts) to determine whether it is possible to establish an Africa-rooted public policy evaluation in an African context. This research finds that, the establishment of an Africa-rooted public policy evaluation approach will depend on two important transformations. First, indigenous African evaluation and non-indigenous African scholars and experts must agree on the African values, practices, and traditions on which such public policy evaluation approach should be based. Second, the indigenous African philosophy of Ubuntu has its own downsides which have serious implications for public policy evaluation in Africa. These weaknesses and their implications should be addressed before making Ubuntu the foundation of the envisaged Africa-rooted public policy evaluation approach. The challenge facing African evaluation scholars, experts and practitioners is to establish an Africa-rooted public policy evaluation approach which benefits the African indigenous people without excluding citizens of African countries who do not subscribe to the Ubuntu African philosophy.

Ubuntuism and Africa: Actualised, Misappropriated, Endangered, and Reappraised

Ubuntuism and Africa: Actualised, Misappropriated, Endangered, and Reappraised

Oxylipins - biologically active substances of food

Oxylipins are biologically active molecules that are formed in all aerobic organisms enzymatically or as a result of the action of free radicals and reactive oxygen species. The value of oxylipins for plants is comparable to the value of eicosanoids for animals and humans. In the human organism, the oxylipins' formation occurs through enzymatic or non-enzymatic oxygenation of various ω-6 and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) obtained from food. Being "local hormones", oxylipins are involved in the regulation of inflammation, pain response, cell adhesion, migration and proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, regulation of blood pressure, blood coagulation, and blood vessel permeability. There is a hypothesis that the molecular structure of oxylipins allows them to be positioned as adaptogens and justifies the use of plants as potential sources of oxylipins in traditional medicine. The aim of this research is a brief analytical review of publications characterizing the adaptogenic potential and promising sources of oxylipins (plant, cyanobacteria, and algae). Results. The publications of the last decade indicate an increased interest in the oxylipins of plants, cyanobacteria, and algae. In total, about 150 oxylipins and their derivatives are known in plants and fungi. Of the plant sources of oxylipins, Peruvian poppy root (Lepidium meyenii), white bryony (Bryonia alba L.), blackcurrant seed oil (Ribes nigrum), and licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) are of particular interest. Some macroalgae are capable of non-enzymatically or enzymatically synthesizing a variety of oxylipins, including antiinflammatory prostaglandins, resolvins, an d leukotrienes. In addition, to common oxidized derivatives of fatty acids, macroalgae also contain a number of complex and unique oxylipins. Other sour ces of oxylipin producers include macroscopic gelatin colonies of freshwater cyanobacteria Aphanothece sacrum. As the analysis of the presented in the review publications showed, most anti-inflammatory and pro-resolvent oxylipins have antiproliferative properties, have adaptogenic potential, and can protect the body at the system level, contribu ting to the formation of favorable bacterial clearance. Conclusion. The results of numerous studies indicate that plants, algae, and even bacteria can be a promising source of oxylipins, both for their use in their native form and for the targeted isolation of oxylipins from them in order to conduct further studies of their adaptogenic potential, cardio- and geroprotective properties. In the future , establishing the adequate daily intake of these substances and the development on their basis of dietary preventive and specialized products for various purposes will be relevant.

Plurilingualism and Intercultural Pedagogy Revisited: Integrating Decolonial Perspectives in Tertiary English Curricula

The 21^st global era of massive migration and rapid change is characterised by social, cultural, scientific, political and economic upheavals hence highlighting the need for intercultural education as intervention to improve student performance, social*cohesion, economic development and peaceful coexistence. In South Africa (henceforth SA), English second language (EL2) educators are debating a transformation model of the humanities curricula to reduce intercultural incompetence and education inequality. This article uses the qualitative in-depth critical analysis method of the affordances and controversies of plurilingualism, as well as multilingualism. Specifically, it assesses the feasibility of adopting the intercultural communicative language teaching (iCLT) and language learning (ILL) framework to integrate intercultural perspectives, decolonise the EL2 curricula and promote multilingualism for higher education transformation. Educators are encouraged to shift perspectives by being eclectic in incorporating intercultural perspectives, the philosophy of Ubuntu, as well as understanding the crucial role of using SA indigenous languages/inter-cultures in scaffolding EL2 curricula for effective development of students' plurilingual and intercultural competence (IC). Finally, implications are outlined for using pedagogical strategies such as translanguation, technical computer-mediated support, instructional and research design, to innovatively develop students' academic proficiency, intercultural competence, socio-cultural identity construction, and democracy in multilingual SA and the cosmopolitan global village.

Praising the poor and blaming the rich: A panegyric reading of Luke 6:20–49 in Malawian context

The article presented a panegyric reading of the Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:20–49) in the Malawian context. It observed that, unlike its Matthean counterpart (Mt 5–7), the Sermon holds an insignificant place in African hermeneutics. Based on the Sermon’s structure and content the article proposed the Greco-Roman panegyric, whose function was to inculcate commonly held values, as a framework for reading of the Sermon. It argued that when read in its original context as a Greco-Roman panegyric, the Sermon’s radical stance on poverty and riches had significant implications for African and Malawian socio-economic realities. It brought into light the complicated relationships between the poor and rich both among Luke’s original audience and the contemporary Malawian context. The panegyric reading of the Sermon also had a significant bearing on the application of the ubuntu philosophy in socio-economic interrelationships in Malawi. The article posited that the socio-economic inequalities in Malawi caused by corrupt, cronyism and nepotism not only challenge the majority Christian status of the nation but also the foundations of the African values of ubuntu . As a panegyric, the Sermon therefore challenges Malawian Christians to rethink their values and the relationship between the rich and the poor. Contribution: The article provides a new perspective to the interpretation of the Sermon on the Plain in African context. Against the background of its apparent neglect in African hermeneutics, the article underscores the relevance of the Sermon on the Plain to -socio-economic discourse in Malawi in particular and Africa in general.

Deliberative Theory and African Philosophy: The Future of Deliberation in Transitional Societies

This article invites a conversation about the role of the media and the responsibility of journalists in post-colonial societies in transition to becoming stable democracies. It outlines some of the specific challenges such societies face in cultivating a discursive environment underpinned by complementarity and mutuality. The article introduces the African philosophy of Ubuntu, a normative basis for journalism and deliberative democracy, which exhibits a distinctly non-partisan approach and resolves some of the exigencies of diversely constituted democracies. It argues that, through the lens of Ubuntu, the media can be seen to act both in the public and the national interest. Overall, this article seeks to redefine the role of media from that of gatekeepers and watchdogs of power to that of mediators for the purpose of seeking consensus among members of society as well as between people and government.

Curriculum change and teachers’ representations of challenges: the case of the social studies curriculum in Zimbabwe

This article investigates the origin of challenges teachers faced in implementing the new Zimbabwean 2015–2022 social studies curriculum, tapping insights from the Ubuntu philosophy. The research, cast as an interpretive case study engrained in the qualitative paradigm, made use of semi-structured interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and observations to elicit data from 12 purposively sampled teachers drawn from urban, growth point, rural, boarding, farm and mission primary schools in Zimbabwe. It emerged that teachers faced trenchant challenges which manifested because of the way the curriculum was cascaded: non-Africanisation of social studies content and poor relations among implementers. The study elucidates the need for educational changes to be located within the context of the community in which it exists, wherein teachers’ voices are heard. It recommends the employment of a society-driven approach in curriculum design and development, the engagement of teachers as curriculum developers and the seeding of human relations in schools to better educational policies and practices.

Role of Value Creating Education and Ubuntu Philosophy in Fostering Humanism in Africa


 
 
 Soka (value creating) education is a Japanese concept propounded by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and further developed by Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. This educational philosophy aims to foster individuals who can find meaning in their lives and contribute to the well-being of others to better society. Ubuntu, an African philosophy, espouses togetherness and collectivism. Like value creating education, Ubuntu promotes working for the good of all not solely the individual. Examining these two philosophies, this paper explored their role in promoting humanism. Focusing on the education system in Kenya, this paper investigated how the institutionalization of both philosophies can foster global citizens and realize a more humane Kenya. Furthermore, this paper illustrated the importance of educators as agents of change, aiding students to become global citizens who work towards building a more humanistic society. This paper concluded that integrating both value creating education and Ubuntu in the education system can serve as a tool to nurture individuals who will not only improve their quality of life but also contribute positively to promote a more just and prosperous world.
 
 
 
 

Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Organizational Paradox

Increased attention to paradoxical tensions has informed our understanding of organizations, challenging us to frame tensions as an inevitable part of organizational functioning which, when worked through effectively, can enable creativity and more sustainable institutions (Bednarek, Paroutis, & Sillince, 2017; Clegg, Cunha, & Cunha, 2002; Schad, Lewis, Raisch, & Smith, 2016). Yet even as paradox theory emerged more recently within organizational theory, the roots of these ideas date back thousands of years (Smith, Lewis, Jarzabkowski, & Langley, 2017). Initially viewed through the fields of logic, philosophy, and religion, insights about paradox have informed and have been developed in a broad range of disciplines. As such, paradox arrives at the shores of organization theory from vast and varied fields. Expanding our insight about paradox and organizational theory therefore depends on both returning to and reconnecting with these rich interdisciplinary foundations, and using these insights to offer novel cutting-edge research. In this symposium, we engage more deliberately and deeply with these multidisciplinary roots in order to expand our insights about paradox scholarship in organizational theory, while also igniting opportunities for paradox theory to impact critical conversations in other disciplines. By doing so, we accept the challenge of the Academy of Management’s annual theme to ‘Broaden our Sights’ by diminishing false dichotomies and creating connections across broad disciplines and ideologies – including connections to theology, physics, music, and mathematics. This symposium showcases and provides a discussion point for a pending special issue to the Research in the Sociology of Organizations on the same topic, seeking to both look backwards to the multidisciplinary foundations of paradox theory and forward to its ongoing development via this foundation. In doing so, it showcases several thought-pieces in this volume (four papers), advances perspectives on how disciplinary roots can further advance paradox and organizational theory, and also fosters discourse and debate to explore similarities and differences across different foundational disciplines. Specifically, in this symposium, we showcase the breadth of multidisciplinary foundations. We showcase four papers from the special issue (shifting from logics to Ubuntu philosophy; from gender studies to quantum physics). We also offer space to reflect together on this multidisciplinary project via our distinguished discussant who will offer reflections and commentary on this issue and the specific papers at hand. Logic(s) and Paradox Presenter: Marco Berti; U. of Technology, Sydney Beyond Paradox Theory Orthodoxy, East and West: The Case of Ubuntu Presenter: Medhanie Gaim; Umea U. Presenter: Stewart R. Clegg; U. of Technology, Sydney Untangling the Paradoxical Knot: Sexual Harassment, Gender, and Resilience Presenter: Linda L. Putnam; U. of California, Santa Barbara Presenter: Avigail McClelland-Cohen; U. of California, Santa Barbara Paradox and Quantum Mechanics – Implications for the Management of Organizational Paradox Presenter: Tobias Hahn; ESADE Business School Presenter: Eric Knight; U. Of Sydney

Combatting the Imperativeness of Modernity in Students' Unrest: The Need to Decolonise the Minds through Ubuntu

The trajectory of students' unrest in Nigeria universities has been linked to the underside of modernity. By responding to this, the study explores conditions necessary to decolonise the mindset of university authorities and students, against modernity as an offshoot of students' unrest. Ubuntu philosophy rationalised the study while Transformative Paradigm lensed the process with the use of Participatory Action Research design. The study involved ten co-researchers, three university management staff, three students' leaders, two security personnel and two university lecturers were selected using Convenient Sampling Technique. Focus Group Discussion was employed to generate data, and the data were subjected to Conversational Analysis to make sense of the data. Students' involvement in decision-making, democratic and facilitative leadership style, were found as tools to decolonise the space of students' unrest as an underside of modernity. The reconstruction of the university system against social unrest emanating from modernity becomes expedient through Ubuntu cum decoloniality.

Philosophical racism and ubuntu: In dialogue with Mogobe Ramose

This article discusses two complementary themes that play an important role in contemporary South African political philosophy: (1) the racist tradition in Western philosophy; and (2) the role of ubuntu in regaining an authentic African identity, which was systematically suppressed during the colonial past and apartheid. These are also leading themes in Mogobe Ramose’s African Philosophy Through Ubuntu. The first part concentrates on John Locke. It discusses the thesis that the reprehensible racism of many founders of liberal political philosophy has lethally infected liberal theory. This view neglects the distinction between genesis and justification. Political liberalism has since cleansed itself of the prejudices of its spiritual ancestors. Liberal human rights exclude racism as a matter of principle. The second part discusses the claim that the ubuntu philosophy provides a better basis for a constitution in a modern society than political liberalism. A major problem is that ubuntu is an essentially contested concept. Some philosophers consider ubuntu to be a moribund notion (Matolino); others see it as a vital concept par excellence. In the latter case, it is elaborated from sundry incompatible political views, ranging from African nationalism (Ramose) via humanist communitarianism (Metz) to liberalism (Mboti). Conclusion: as an essentially contested ideological concept, ubuntu should not be a decisive constitutional standard for the application of state force. In contrast, the constitutional model of political liberalism provides a reasonable alternative, as it is designed precisely to solve the problem of social plurality and ideological contest.

Ethnic and racial valorisations in Nigeria and South Africa: How ubuntu may harm or help

Diversity is a fact of the social world; however, it can also be a problem if it leads to the valorisation of ethnic or racial identities. The social structures that inform the problems that arise from differences are based on historical, geographical, social, political, and economic stratifications; as well as on thought paradigms that either explicitly or implicitly promote the proliferation of binaries between “us and them”. We argue that an uncritical uptake of the African philosophy of ubuntu may inadvertently support negative identity binaries. Particularly, we argue that a conception of ubuntu premised on unity is – paradoxically – in danger of fostering disunity between communities. In place of “unity”, we explore, and argue for, an interpretation of ubuntu premised on “relationality”. Specifically, we argue that “relationality” is capable of incorporating both identity and difference.

Dressed for leisure: the fashion descriptions in the mondaine chronicles of João do Rio

In recent historiography, there is a consensus that the modernizing reforms promoted in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 20th century have changed the capital’s architecture and the relationship between its population and the urban experience, introd ucing new practices into daily lives of cariocas. Among them was the introduction of sports, with the press being the main vehicle for its dissemination. This article explores the presence of fashion dedicated to sports in chronicles and examines its contr ibution to the validation of a collective imagination about leisure. The literary representation of sportswear gains complexity in the “ civilisation du journal ” , in which social relations are regulated by the production and reading of magazines. Therefore, the aim is to map out the access to fashion paradigms by readers of periodicals. As a case study, two chronicles of João do Rio on the sports theme are analyzed. Published in the column “ A Semana Elegante ” in 1916, they focus on the female presence and th eir clothing in the practice of tennis and sea bathing. We conclude that the importation and representation of sports practices and their fashion acted in the construction of an imaginary of elegance in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The Sustainable Development Goals viewed through Gross National Happiness, Ubuntu, and Buen Vivir

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a normative (non-binding) global international environmental agreement (IEA)—claim to be universal as they were multilaterally negotiated between UN member states. However, is giving the Global South a seat at the table truly inclusive development? This article looks at a cross-cultural comparison of the African philosophy of Ubuntu (specifically in South Africa), the Buddhist Gross National Happiness (Bhutan) and the native American idea of Buen Vivir (e.g. Ecuador) and how they view the SDGs, how they view ‘development’, ‘sustainability’, goals and indicators, the implicit value underpinnings of the SDGs, prioritization of goals, and missing links, and leadership. Viewed through the lens of the three cosmovisions of the Global, the SDGs do not effectively address the human–nature–well-being interrelationship. Other cosmovisions have an inherent biocentric value orientation that is often ignored in academic and diplomatic circles. These claim to be more promising than continuing green development approaches, based in modernism. On the positive side, the SDGs contain language of all three worldviews. However, the SDGs are not biocentric aiming to respect nature for nature’s sake, enabling reciprocity with nature. They embody linear growth/results thinking which requires unlimited resource exploitation, and not cyclical thinking replacing growth with well-being (of all beings). They represent individualism and exclude private sector responsibility. They do not represent collective agency and sharing, implying that there is a need for ‘development as service’, to one another and to the Earth. Including these perspectives may lead to abolishing the word ‘development’ within the SDGs, replacing it by inter-relationship; replacing end-result-oriented ‘goals’ with process thinking; and thinking in cyclical nature, and earth governance, instead of static ‘sustainability’. The glass can be viewed as half full or half empty, but the analysis shows that Western ‘modernism’ is still a strong underpinning of the SDGs. Bridges can be built between Happiness, Ubuntu and Buen Vivir in re-interpreting goal frameworks, global governance and the globalization process. This article is largely based on Van Norren 2017 (Development as service, a Happiness, Ubuntu, and Buen Vivir interdisciplinary view of the Sustainable Development Goals. Doctoral dissertation, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands, 2017). Interview findings are numbered with A (Africa); B (Bhutan); E (Ecuador); S (SDGs).

“I Am Datafied Because We Are Datafied”: an Ubuntu Perspective on (Relational) Privacy

The debate on the ethics of privacy has been mainly dominated by Western perspectives, to the exclusion of broader ethical theories and socio-cultural perspectives. This imbalance carries risks; transplanted ethical norms and values can collide with those of the communities in which they are deployed. The consequent homogenization might also represent a missed opportunity to enrich and develop the current paradigm of privacy protection so as to effectively face new technological challenges. This article introduces and discusses the sub-Saharan philosophy of Ubuntu and argues how its conception of the self helps to reinterpret some of the emerging issues revolving digital information technologies. To begin with, a general overview of the debate on the ethics of privacy is provided by distinguishing between individual and relational privacy. Also, the challenges of 'group privacy' are discussed. Then, we introduce basic principles of Ubuntu focusing on how these may have affected privacy conceptions and related legal practices. By outlining opportunities and risks of intercultural information ethics, we argue how Ubuntu—similarly to other communitarian moral philosophies—strengthens the development of the concept of relational privacy and, in particular, of group privacy.