A spirit of Ubuntu gestures towards both an embrace and a challenge that holds Others to greater moral accountability, and calls on them to be ethical subjects. Ubuntu is fundamental in both ethics and politics, and is relevant to the embodied politics of forgiveness after mass trauma and violence. I will elaborate on this notion …
Continue reading “Session V – Reparative Humanism: Exploring the Meaning of Ubuntu”
Growing recognition of the benefits of contemplative practice for the reduction of harmful stress and the improvement of prosocial behavior is prompting research into how these effects arise. We define contemplative practice as intentionally attempting to suspend all discursive and evaluative thought. In practice, most forms of contemplative practice emphasize compassion for self and others, …
How can the role and nature of Botho/Ubuntu in African societies be reconciled with the many incidences of violations of women and children’s rights we witness in modern society? How have African societies travelled from historical perspectives that highlighted definitions of integrated individual and collective humanity of all peoples to current violations that include far …
Relations between groups can be peaceful and mutually beneficial. Human groups co-exist, trade goods and care for one another. But relations between groups can also be competitive, and sometimes violent. Indeed, the human ability to care for “us” (our in-group) often seems to coincide with an ability to compete against “them” (out-groups). In our work …
Continue reading “Session IV – The Biology of Care and Conflict in Groups”
The concept of Botho/Ubuntu encapsulates the fundamental values, belief systems, cosmological worldviews and livelihood practices of indigenous Africans generally and Batswana in particular. Botho/Ubuntu is manifested in the Botswana internal and external environment, and it guides the manner in which communities interact with one another and with their external environment. Tswana idioms and proverbs, and …
The Botho/Ubuntu view of “a person is a person through other persons” can illuminate both the best and the worst sides of humanity. Our research investigates how the brain responses of individuals are shaped by their interaction with other brains. We test how the brain responses of listeners, during verbal communication, are shaped to match …
My presentation develops an understanding of the art of traditional healing as one pillar of the lived community experience of Botho/Ubuntu cosmology. Such healing holistically addresses afflictions at multiple levels — self, community, 11 nature and spirit. It signifies the co-agencies of God (creator/life-giver), ancestors (guiding/protecting), spirit-mediums (messengers between spirit/ material worlds), chiefs (custodian of …
The common conception of Botho/Ubuntu is that it is a theory of African humanism. Many reasons suggest however, that its application and understanding in the contemporary socio-political imagination in societies where Botho/ Ubuntu is preached, is merely as a practical ideology. Viewed as an ideology, its role as an ethical guide for conduct is also …
The welcome session featured a performance of the National Anthem of Botswana, introductory remarks, official welcomes from Botho University, the Republic of Botswana, and Mind & Life, and a video message from the Dalai Lama. Participants Mind & Life Connections
The Botswana Dialogue brings African humanitarian and spiritual leaders, scholars and healers into conversation with international neuroscientists about the African worldview of Botho/Ubuntu, during five sessions followed by a concert performance by Vusi Mahlasela.
Defining humanity through our connections with one another, Botho/Ubuntu is expressed as: “I am because you are.” Examining African values and healing practices in light of new scientific research on social connection and trauma, the Dialogue in Botswana explores the potential of Botho/Ubuntu as a framework for healing the legacy and trauma of wars and colonialism, and advancing social justice and women’s equality.
