By Leo Igwe
I have been tasked to present ‘African humanism’ and highlight the basic philosophy especially how African humanism differs from ‘Western humanism’, and by extension other cognates such as Eastern humanism, Asian humanism, Oceanian humanism, etc. I cannot pretend that this task is easy or without descriptive minefields. I am presenting ‘African humanism’ in English. I am using a Western language to discuss a non-Western phenomenon. That is difficult. But is that not all that we got? I am conflicted about strictly presenting humanism in African, Asian, or European forms because these compartmentalizations do not resonate. While the distinctions may make some explanatory sense, and promise to tell us more about strands of humanism, these grand narratives are fundamentally flawed, incompatible, and inconsistent with the universal outlook embedded in humanist philosophy. Considering these conceptual conflicts, contradictions, and inconsistencies, regionalized humanisms constitute vague representations; they explain very little. In situating this task, I have adopted a working title, African humanism as everything, anything, nothing, and something.
Africa is not a Western region, and Africans are not Westerners. So, seen as strictly Western, humanism beyond the West is not. African humanism could be argued as nothing, empty and devoid of real, substantial, and meaningful content. So conceived, the humanist cosmos leaves no room, no dignified place for the other or another, for the African. The African humanist cosmology is nothing but a poor imitation and mimicking of Western humanism, some exotic freakish formation or expression.
Traced to an intellectual movement in 14th- and early-15th-century Europe, the humanist outlook is often represented as a Western phenomenon and heritage, even though, the values and ideals codified in Western humanism apply to other cultures and societies. Incidentally, nothing is said about similar intellectual movements in Africa especially campaigns for cultural reformation and rebirth, the tension and contention with religious dogmas, magic, and superstitious orthodoxies. The timeline of Western humanism relates to Africa in ways that do not resonate with humanist values. The legacies of the contacts of Westerners with Africa since the 15th century constitute a mixed bag of conquest, slavery, colonialism, racism, apartheid, and other currents, and experiences that are incompatible with so-called Western humanist ideals and values. So, with Western humanism as the epitome and standard for humanism, an African humanism that deserves reckoning has to be differently framed.
Meanwhile, if the narrative that We are all Africans is anything to go by, then African humanism is arguably everything. It is the fulcrum and mother of humanism. Other humanisms are offshoots and take their bearing from the African humanist cosmology. They are extensions of the African humanist formation. So whether, Western and Eastern, Northern or Southern, American or European, Asian or Australian, humanisms of all stripes, shades, and colors constitute adaptations, configurations, and reflections of African humanism.
The plausibility of this proposition lies not only in the out of African explanation of the origin and spread of modern humans but also in the fact that humanism codifies a set of values and principles that resonate with, not just Western but all human beings – individual freedom and responsibility, reason, critical thinking, tolerance, compassion and cooperation with one another.
Just like the proposition that Western humanism is everything, African humanism as everything risks conflating varieties of humanist experience. It omits or ignores the particularities of universal humanism and other specificities that speak to and reflect the situations and contexts of cultures and societies over the ages. It is in highlighting these specificities and particularities that humanism could be presented in its fullness and richness.
Meanwhile, in arguing that African humanism is everything, one risks impressing that African humanism is anything, or could be anything. That African humanism is an anything-goes kind of humanism. Portrayed this way, African humanism lacks basic ideas, philosophies, principles, and values. The humanist outlook loses its credibility and reckoning because as anything, African humanism is bereft of distinct and distinguishing elements and characteristics. One could then argue that humanism is religion or religion is a form of humanism, even that humanism is inhumanism, anti- humanism and humaneism. Anything can be placed in the humanist box. It could also be argued that humanism is Africanism or Westernism. Humanism is dogmatism or racism. Or extremism is a form of humanism etc. So argued, African humanism is denied the rational and moral force, merit, and appeal.
Furthermore, the identification of African humanism with Ubuntu is well known, and constitutes a part of the problem, the problem of the conception and misconception, representation and misrepresentation of ‘African humanism’. Ubuntu, a term that originates from the Zulu and Xhola languages and cultures in South Africa, translates as meaning “I am because you are or I am because we are”. Ubuntu is an expression of African humanism. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of human beings and stresses the link of the individual to the social and physical worlds. Put differently, Ubuntu codifies human connection and community; it stands for common fraternity and humanity of human beings, and how humanity, and yes humanism manifests not only in the other but also with the other. Ubuntu is predicated on the values of sharing, caring, and trust. Ubuntu is a form of humanism forged in contention with traditional forces of supernaturalism and anti-humanity in the Zulu and Xhola cultural worlds. It is pertinent to note that thousands of other cultures, conceptions, configurations, and articulations of humanity and humanness exist and apply, and have always existed and applied as long as human beings have existed. Varieties of translation and adaption of humanistic ideas and impulses feature, and manifest within the region. For instance, concepts of Nwanne or Nwanna among the Igbos of Nigeria, the Yoruba idea of Omoluabi, the Swahili notion of Harambe, and the Wolof idea of Teranga encapsulate configurations and formations that speak to the same entity, humanity, as other humanisms.
Incidentally, cultural outsiders have rendered these concepts in exotic fashions. And their limitations and conceptual shortcomings lace these renditions. Meanwhile, cultural insiders have largely tagged along, they have romanticized these exotic formations, and hence, they have become ‘established’ knowledge. Cultural insiders have been unable to problematize and re-present these notions in nonexotic ways that highlight their universality, richness, and profundities, especially in the face of historical vicissitudes, anti-human encounters, incursions, and experiences, the onslaught of religion, superstitions, and other cultural beliefs and ideologies that degrade and undermine the human being.
As something, African humanism is beyond ubuntu, harambe, teranga, nwanne, and omoluabi cultural formations. African humanism is not a monolithic, but a tapestry that speaks to and reflects the diverse experiences of Africans. Humanism philosophically propels the struggles and anticipations for renewal and rebirth; the yearning for progressive emancipation of the African human spirit. It highlights efforts to contest and overcome traditional, Christian, and Islamic religious orthodoxies, ideological and structural inhibitions, threats, and forces that militate against human liberation, and intellectual and moral progress.
In conclusion, Africa is a crossroads of social, cultural, political, and economic influences that have positively and negatively impacted the region and its people. African humanism finds expression in contending with the crossroads and the disruptions and dilemmas, promises and possibilities. The African humanist testament encapsulates unique experiences and challenges linked to overcoming these tensions, contentions, conflicts, and contradictions that have resulted from these influences and encounters. These experiences are diverse, they differ from time to time, from individual to individual, culture to culture, country to country. They are social, political, economic, and cultural. These disruptions and dilemmas stare Africans in the face; they cast an ominous shadow on the future and prospects of the region. African humanism is a process, not a package, and is always in a state of change and becoming.
African humanism is a continuum, not a constant, a direction, not a destination. It is a constantly unfolding, revealing, and evolving phenomenon that mirrors, and reflects the needs of its time, each time, place, and season. In the absence of a saving and redeeming deity; the face of traditional, Christian, Islamic religious oppression and tyranny, African humanism presents each generation of Africans with opportunities and possibilities to remake itself; to reshape its destiny through creative, critical, and innovative endeavors. Will Africans rise to this challenge? Or will they cower or detour out of fear?
How Africans respond to these challenges and dilemmas; how they deploy humanist excellences; the virtues of defiance, rebellion, assertiveness, affirmation, and compassion, in response to these threats; the ability of Africans to redefine, reinvent, and recreate themselves in tackling these dilemmas would determine the differences and distinctions of African humanism from western humanism and other cognates.
Igwe, PhD, is a board member of Humanists International.
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