"Twenty-five years after the delivery of political democracy, the Edenic projects of nonracialism and the Rainbow Nation have failed because there was no fuller appreciation of what is meant by ubuntu. The version of ubuntu that was used and applied immediately after 1994 should have focused first on re-empowering the Black social groups. Instead, attempts to rebuild all races and forge social cohesion were made through the defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission and short-term sporting codes like the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. That understanding of ubuntu was a sanitised quick fix that could not undo centuries of dehumanisation, as characterised by apartheid. Ubuntu Beyond Identities presents the true meaning of ubuntu, which has its roots in communitarian societies and their value systems, and redefines it within the premises of lived African experiences. As part of an international benchmark on the viability of local value systems aimed at a fulfilled citizenry, the book compares ubuntu to its counterparts of Jantelagen in Sweden and Confucianism in China. The book emphasises that society is a lived space beyond the monetary capital production and seeks to empower South Africans with conceptual and practical tools to become dignified and fulfilled citizens. It explains the notions of ownership and examines two types: the private, which promotes individual profits aimed at a zero-sum game, and the primordial, which is meant to deliver to the communal table of society for the benefit of an entire nation." -- Twenty-five years after the delivery of political democracy, the Edenic projects of nonracialism and the Rainbow Nation have failed because there was no fuller appreciation of what is meant by ubuntu. The version of ubuntu that was used and applied after 1994 should have focused first on re-empowering the Black social groups but instead, attempts were made through the defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 1995 Rugby World Cup, 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, and 2010 FIFA World Cup. That understanding of ubuntu was a sanitised quick fix that could not undo centuries of dehumanisation, as characterised by apartheid. This book presents the true meaning of ubuntu, which has its roots in communitarian societies and their value systems, and redefines it within the premises of lived African experiences. As part of an international benchmark on the viability of local value systems aimed at a fulfilled citizenry, the book compares ubuntu to its counterparts of Jantelagen in Sweden and Confucianism in China. It emphasises that society is a lived space beyond the activities of monetary capital production and seeks to empower South Africans to become dignified, fulfilled citizens.
