Get the Definition of Ubuntu, a Nguni Word with Several Meanings

Bound together.

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Ubuntu is a complex word from the Nguni language with several definitions, all of them difficult to translate into English. The Nguni languages are a group of related languages that are spoken in Southern Africa, mostly in South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe: each of several languages share the word, and, at the heart of each definition, though, is the connectedness that exists or should exist between people.

Ubuntu is best known outside of Africa as a humanist philosophy associated with Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (born 1931). Curiosity about the name may also come from it being used for the open source operating system called Ubuntu.

Meanings of Ubuntu

One meaning of Ubuntu is correct behavior, but correct in this sense is defined by a person's relations with other people. Ubuntu refers to behaving well towards others or acting in ways that benefit the community. Such acts could be as simple as helping a stranger in need, or much more complex ways of relating with others. A person who behaves in these ways has ubuntu. He or she is a full person.

For some, Ubuntu is something akin to a soul force—an actual metaphysical connection shared between people and which helps us connect to each other. Ubuntu will push one toward selfless acts.

There are related words in many sub-Saharan African cultures and languages, and the word Ubuntu is now widely known and used outside of South Africa.

Philosophy of Ubuntu

During the era of decolonization, ubuntu was increasingly described as an African, humanist philosophy. Ubuntu in this sense is a way of thinking about what it means to be human, and how we, as humans, should behave towards others.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously described ubuntu as meaning "My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours." In the 1960s and early 70s, several intellectuals and nationalists referred to ubuntu when they argued that an Africanization of politics and society would mean a greater sense of communalism and socialism.

Ubuntu and the End of Apartheid

In the 1990s, people began to describe ubuntu increasingly in terms of the Nguni proverb translated as "a person is a person through other persons." Christian Gade has speculated that the sense of connectedness appealed to South Africans as they turned away from the separation of Apartheid.

Ubuntu also referred to the need for forgiveness and reconciliation rather than vengeance. It was an underlying concept in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the writings of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu raised awareness of the term outside of Africa.

President Barack Obama included mention of Ubuntu in his memorial to Nelson Mandela, saying it was a concept that Mandela embodied and taught to millions.

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Thompsell, Angela. "Get the Definition of Ubuntu, a Nguni Word with Several Meanings." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307. Thompsell, Angela. (2021, February 16). Get the Definition of Ubuntu, a Nguni Word with Several Meanings. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307 Thompsell, Angela. "Get the Definition of Ubuntu, a Nguni Word with Several Meanings." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307 (accessed March 19, 2024).