In search of a real freedom:Ubuntuand the media

Ubuntuismas a framework for South African media practice and performance: Can it work?

“…e.g. Kasoma 1996;Blankenberg 1999;Kamwangamalu 1999). As Popper (1966) has shown, such a search for and idealisation of the traditional is characteristic of thinkers and their societies during times of social, cultural and political transformation (as South Africa is presently experiencing).…”

“…What are the possible consequences of ubuntuism's emphasis on collectivism for an African emphasis on the community as point of departure, Blankenberg (1999), Christians (2004), Okigbo (1996), Shutte (2001), and Wasserman and De Beer (2004) show how an ubuntu normative framework may emphasise a media and journalism whose primary role may be to provide a space for the concerns, ideas and opinions of the community. The overall purpose of the media may be to play a developmental role in the sense of stimulating citizen and community participation, and obtaining consensus based on widespread consultation with the community.…”

“…For the following brief overview of some of the main characteristics of ubuntuism, I mainly rely on the work of Blankenberg (1999), Christians (2004), Hamminga (2005), Louw (2004), Nussbaum (2003), Ramose (2002) and Shutte (2001). Ubuntuism can be understood as a social philosophy, a collective African consciousness, a way of being, a code of ethics and behaviour deeply embedded in African culture.…”

The local in the global: Challenges of teaching global journalism

“…In this regard, the concepts of ubuntu and communitarianism (Blankenberg 1999;Christians 2004;Nyamnjoh 2005;Wasserman and De Beer 2006) have often been cited as philosophies that could underpin journalism theory and praxis. The idea that journalism studies should become more African by drawing on African philosophies speaks directly to local contexts of how journalism is practised in South Africa, and requires its own place in the curriculum.…”

Violent communication is not alien toubuntu: Nothing human is alien to Africans

“…Genocide is a blatant manifestation of what can happen when those acting in a warped participatory mode decide to harm and kill those they regard as threatening outsiders. Participation, justified by extreme misappropriations of ubuntu, has been used to justify heinous acts of violence by Africans who have, for example, declared others traitors (Blankenberg 1999) or who have sought to preserve patriarchal control over women's bodies (Vincent 2006). It is justifiable to be suspicious of any claim regarding ubuntu that does not admit to the violence which is at the heart of human existence.…”