Papers on Language and Culture: an African Perspective

© 2009 Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Ph.D.. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/10/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-1236-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-2735-3 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About the Author

To my Loving Husband,

Humphrey Wamai Muciiri,

Who gave me the chance to go back

to school, despite many criticisms from

both my friends and his.

He was also brave enough to do the same years later.

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to all who contributed in the discussions after the papers were presented at various venues and the editors of the publications where some of the papers have been published, for their insights that helped me in the revision of these papers.

Of particular note are graduate students and faculty of Bowling Green State University, in Ohio, where the paper on Bantu Rhetoric was first presented. They had such an extensive and useful discussion that I have reproduced it separately from the paper itself.

I am also grateful to my husband, Dr. Humphrey Muciiri, who gave me the freedom to go and present anywhere I wanted, as he took the responsibility of the family, sometimes at very great odds.

Finally I thank my parents who taught me my mother tongue and helped me to find it an academic pursuit. This was at a time in our country’s history when we were punished for speaking our mother tongues. We were supposed to use the civilized English language of the colonizer and forget the primitive languages of our ancestors!

I hope these papers will contribute a little towards the rebuilding of our national dignity after many years of humiliation, and help the future generations find a place to start during their quest for the past and the values of their forefathers.

1. Extending the Concept of Ubuntu

Chapter 1

Extending the Concept of

Ubuntu from South Africa

This Paper Was First Presented at the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies (ISAPS) conference, Wooster, Ohio. March 8-10-2002, and Revised in August 2007 for this Publication.



Abstract.

The Gikuyu language, (also known as Kikuyu), belongs to the Bantu group of languages and is spoken by the largest ethnic group in Kenya. Through an examination of its semantic domains, its culture and some of its proverbs, I hope to show that the concept of Ubuntu, is not restricted to South Africa, but is familiar to most of the Bantu peoples of Africa.

I have chosen to concentrate on the linguistic semantic domains of the Gikuyu language because these give an overview of the group’s World View, and the proverbs because they are specific examples of such a World View. The two constitute some of the most important components of the group’s value system, as Barra (1994) points out in his foreword to the 1000 Kikuyu Proverbs, the collection I have used for reference.

The proverbs are the quintessence of Kikuyu eloquence, and represented for centuries the code of tribal laws used for lack of written books. They are full of wisdom and embody the maxims of natural law written by God in the heart of all men. Therefore, they are, for the Agikuyu, a precious inheritance, which must not be lost in the changes now taking place.

Even a casual look at the artistic works of African writers from West and East Africa, like Chinua Achebe or Ngugi wa Thiong’o, will show that proverbs are one of the most important representations of African wisdom and philosophy. I shall, therefore, investigate how the concept, called "Umundu" (humanness) in Gikuyu, is similar or different to that of Ubuntu as it has been defined in the South African context. I shall also consider how Ubuntu may contribute to a universal idea of humanness that may constitute Africa’s contribution to the current global discourses on peace making.

Introduction

A quick browse on the internet made me aware of the many contexts that the word Ubuntu is currently being used. So, as stated in the abstract, I discuss the term only as used in the South African context, specifically to refer to the transition from apartheid to democracy.

Perhaps more than all others, the former president, Mandela, and Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu, are the two people who have come to be most associated with the fight against apartheid. Wilson in (Doing Justice…) refers to Ubuntu as restorative justice. He says:

Ubuntu is a concept of justice unfamiliar to many modern non- African societies. It implies a system of justice based on mutual reconciliation. To give a simple example: one man has stolen a goat. When his act is discovered, he is asked to return the goat and to loan an additional goat to the victim’s family to make up for the lost resources. More importantly, he is expected to reach an understanding with the victim’s family, to honestly explain his actions and to atone with his neighbors. In this way, the cycle of hostility is halted.

The main purpose of the payment that is required of the culprit is not merely to restore justice but also to end the hostility between the two parties. It is also not just between the individuals but between the two communities. (Emphasis added).

Wilson goes on to explain that the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC), is the embodiment of Ubuntu, in its attempt to allow, for perpetrators of apartheid, both black and white, to be granted diplomatic immunity and freedom from imprisonment with the main requirement of, A full confession before the committee, the victim’s relatives, and through the press, the world community. Through these open confessions, it is hoped that the people will reach a common understanding.

Though it has some problems, Wilson adds, like what some see as allowing criminals to re- enter the community, while some young people feel they have nothing to be reconciled to but a foreign and unfamiliar past, yet it has given the people, an opportunity to generate understanding and forgiveness across sometimes impossible boundaries".

An attempt to apply this concept to the global context would be to imagine the leaders of Israel and Palestine at a negotiating table, both confessing the atrocities they have been responsible for, and finally shaking hands as a symbol of forgiveness that would usher a new era of peace in place of the current terrorism. Is this at all possible? I hope by the end of this paper I shall have convinced my readers that it is possible, within specific parameters!

An example of the use of a public confession among the Gikuyu people is given in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s novel, A Grain of wheat, when Gikonyo confesses that he is the one who betrayed Kihika to the white men and no one dares to harm him. The need to confess is the driving force for almost all of Mugo’s life, another character in the same novel. We also find that the White people have learned that confession has great power for the African people, so the main way of alienating them from the other members of the Mau Mau movement is to force then to confess the oath of unity, thereby turning them into betrayers of their own people.

Father Cagnolo (156) also refers to a similar system of restorative justice among the Agikuyu to that described by Wilson when he describes what happened to a thief who commited a serious robbery among them:

The elders publish his name in order that his near relations may appear to arrange for his release. His guilt is known and the penalties are recognized since they are well defined in their traditions. He must pay seven times the things he stole, and if to commit the theft he dug a hole under the wall of the hut he must pay one more goat as compensation. A thief caught reaping in another’s field shall pay a penalty of seven goat skins.

Whether one pays the expected fine or takes an oath that confirms his innocence, the matter ends there and peace is restored between the two communities. Moreover, this applies even to cases of murder, thought to be the most serious, where the whole clan pays indemnity, which amounts to one hundred and ten goats: they must also deliver up a girl who by bearing children will replace the murdered man. A large goat must also be forthcoming for the burial of the dead. (Cagnolo157)

While some may say that the life of a person is not worth one hundred and ten goats, one may also wonder whether bombing thousands of innocent people, for example in Iraq after September 11, and declaring war helps to solve or to create more problems, and how much the lost Iraqi lives are worth, if anything. Others may object to women being used against their will as a form of slavery. This is where the idea may be acceptable, but details of its implementation may need to be worked out to fit the 21st century context, as (Binsbergen in Ubuntu and the Globalization…) explains the South African context.

Under these circumstances the majority of the population of Southern Africa today cannot be properly said to know and to live Ubuntu by virtue of any continuity with village life. They have to be educated to pursue (under the name of Ubuntu) a global and urban reformulation of village values. And they learn this on the authority …of recognized opinion leaders of the globalised center: politicians, university intellectuals. (And only if)…they cast their message in a format that has currency and legitimacy, both for themselves and in the globalised space at large. Ubuntu as a model of thought, therefore, had to take on a globalised format in order to be acceptable to the majority of modern South Africans.

The Historical Context of Ubuntu.

According to (Ubuntu as a Globalizing Concept…) "The noun ubuntu (in Nguni language) means ‘Humanity’ ‘Humanness.’ Its ‘philosophy’ is reflected in the African adage ‘Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu,’ i.e. ‘a person is a person through other people.’ In Kiswahili there is also the saying Mtu ni utu, meaning one is a person through his humane actions, not just his physical attributes. Wilson identifies its four components as follows, The quality and dignity of all people; an emphasis on humanness and brotherhood of mankind and the sacredness of life. (Doing justice…)

Similar qualities are found among the Agikuyu, especially in their kinship system. Every individual is born into a family which belongs to a household, Nyumba . A number of these make up a clan, Muhiriga and the ten clans make up the tribe, Ruriri rwa Gikuyu. A similar saying to that of the Nguni is, I am because we are. The same idea is reflected in the Gikuyu semantic domains (see appendix 1), all of which have at the center, the Person, known as Mundu, Humanness, Umundu, is defined in terms of all the qualities that uphold a person’s dignity, sacredness of life and brotherhood of man, as the following proverbs illustrate. (Numbers refer to those in Barra and those not included in his collection are marked*)

Andu matari ndundu mahuragwo na njuguma imwe (9)

(Lack of unity spells weakness)

Kihoto ni indo/ kiringaga ruui ruiyuru (267/269)

(Justice is riches/ crosses a flooded river)

Kaara Kamwe gatiuragaga ndaa (222)

(One finger does not kill a louse)

Kamuingi koyaga ndiri (235)

(Many people make work light)

*Kionje kia mundu ti kia muti

(A lame man is not a crooked stick)

Rurira rutithambanagio ruui (814)

(Family ties cannot be washed at the river)

Thakame ndiri ndugu (832)

(Blood has no need of friendship)

All the above proverbs emphasize family ties and the need to work together and look after the interests of all the members of the society, including the weak or lame. The same spirit is expressed in the African American maxim, I need you to survive. Some may see this as a way of excluding those who do not belong to the particular community. This may have been true, considering the constant wars that raged between the Agikuyu and the Maasai, for example. But this is where these ideas need to be reinterpreted in the context of a global community, as I have done in the next part of this paper.

Cunningham reports on how the concept of Ubuntu was probably adopted as a guiding principle in the South African context. He quotes Yvonne Mokgoro, the first woman to be appointed to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, as urging , "that interpretation of that country’s newly created constitution should borrow from the traditional African social philosophy of Ubuntu." Makgoro said that doing so would help incorporate concepts like personhood and humanness as well as concern for the social good. She defined it as an African World View, or philosophy of life, that incorporates the values of personhood, humanness, morality, honesty and concern for the social good.

Mokgoro went on to explain that because it grows out of a historical scarcity of resources, Ubuntu values family obligations and the pooling of community resources. It ought to be seen as the potential of being human. She also thought that death penalty was inconsistent with Ubuntu, since it seeks to restore people’s dignity.

While it is not clear whether death penalty was traditionally absent from the concept of Ubuntu, among the Bantu tribes of South Africa, it was certainly part and parcel of the Gikuyu system of justice, though only used when everything else failed. This then would be one of the differences between the two groups. However, the pooling together of resources is the concept that has come to be known as Harambee in Kenya. Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta popularized it as "Harambee "in the Kiswahili language. However, it originates from the Gikuyu word "karambi." The word was chanted to help a group of people achieve rhythmic movement for example when pulling a huge log to make a bridge over a wide river. (karaaaaaaaaaaambi. Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii).

As a result of the idea of harambee many projects were possible soon after Kenya became independent from British colonial rule in 1963. Many women groups and co-operative movements came into being and were responsible for the development of schools, hospitals and other public facilities. However, as many other things that are good can be misused, it has been abused due to corruption and may need to be rid of its bad name before it can be recommended to others. For example, some government officials demand bribes and call them harambee. The two are, however, incompatible because harambee is supposed to be voluntary and based on one’s ability to contribute to the needs of his or her community. Some members of the Christian church have also criticized the practice of announcing the amounts that each person gives, saying that The right hand should not know what the left hand has given. However, when used in the right way, it becomes a powerful method of empowering poor people to do great things for their communities.

The Teaching on Ubuntu.

Though I could not trace the actual document that prescribed the adoption of Ubuntu in South African schools, I came across a lesson in Social Studies where the concept was introduced to school children (A South African Peace Lesson) as follows:

This lesson presents the concept of Ubuntu, both in order to appreciate its wisdom as philosophy, and to provide perspective for studying the remarkable changes in South Africa .

To provide context for the lesson, the following are mentioned: South Africa’s location, its multicultural make up, the apartheid period, the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, his release and subsequent election as president. Then the question is posed: How could Nelson Mandela, having spent 27 years in prison, lead his nation through change by calling for understanding and reconciliation?

The following answer is then given: The answer may best lie in an appreciation of Ubuntu, both in impact on South Africa, and what it may hold for the world. The lesson is then fully developed as per the following summary:

Ubuntu is a Zulu word. It articulates a World View, or vision of humanity. Ubuntu regards humanity as an integral part of eco-systems that lead to a common responsibility to sustain life. Human life is based on social, cultural and spiritual criteria. Natural resources are shared on principle of equity among and between generations.

As can be seen from this lesson, Ubuntu is being cast in post modern terms, for example the idea of eco-systems is certainly meant to start a discussion on the care for the environment. Unlike in South Africa, the concept of Umundu has never been systematically thought through or taught as a coherent philosophy in Kenyan schools. However, Jomo Kenyatta’s political history is very similar to that of Mandela. He, too, was imprisoned before becoming the first Kenyan president. Yet when he was released, he urged people not to retaliate, but to forgive those who had oppressed them for so long. As a result, a blood bath that many had predicted was averted. The Kenya Government, later, introduced a white paper on African Socialism which was never systematically taught in the schools, but which also embraced the three ideas of social, cultural and spiritual aspects of humanity.

However the term African Socialism was variously interpreted, as Kwame Nkuruma reminded his audience in African Socialism Revisited.

The term socialism has become a necessity in the platform diction and political writings of African leaders. It is a term which unites us in the recognition that the restoration of Africa’s humanist and egalitarian principles of society calls for socialism. All of us, therefore, even though pursuing widely contrasting policies in the task of reconstructing our various nation-states, still use socialism to describe our respective efforts…. Consequently, socialism in Africa introduces a new social synthesis in which modern technology is reconciled with human values, in which the advanced technical society is realized without the staggering social malefactions and deep schisms of capitalist industrial society. For true economic and social development cannot be promoted without the real socialization of productive and distributive processes. Those African leaders who believe these principles are the socialists in Africa. (Emphasis added.)

On the other hand, South African Governmental White paper on Welfare officially recognizes Ubuntu as:

The principle of caring for each other’s well-being…and a spirit of mutual support….Each individual’s humanity is ideally expressed through his or her relationship with others and theirs in turn through a recognition of the individual’s humanity….(Government Gazette,02/02/1996).

The Ubuntu philosophy on the community governing process is one of generating agreement or building consensus. African democracy is not simply majority rule. Traditional African democracy operates in the form of discussions. While there are leaders, everyone has a chance to speak, building consensus…. (Emphasis is mine)

Ubuntu inspires us to open ourselves to others, to learn of others as we learn of ourselves….The respect for difference in others is paramount to Ubuntu….

Today, spurred on by the dramatic changes in South Africa, especially the wide world impact of Nelson Mandela, this traditional African philosophy is undergoing a renaissance that is reaching all across the continent. (Emphasis added)

Louw in ("Ubuntu: An African Assessment….), has elaborated on the theme of otherness"and makes three important contrasts between Ubuntu and Western Humanism:

While Western Humanism tends to underestimate or even deny the importance of religious beliefs, Ubuntu, or African Humanism is resiliently religious….The person one is to become through other persons is ultimately an ancestor….Dying is an ultimate homecoming…the living and the dead depend on each other; (not science). Ubuntu underscores the importance of agreement or consensus…and reconciliation; (not majority rule and vengeance). Ubuntu inspires us to expose ourselves to others, to encounter the difference of their humanness so as to inform and enrich our own….To be human is to affirm one’s humanity by recognizing the humanity of others in its infinite variety of content and form," (in opposition to western individualism).

The Need for an African Renaissance.

While Western imposition of their cultures on Africa, during the colonial and Apartheid periods is seen as a great injustice by proponents of Ubuntu, they also see reconciliation as a possibility through an African renaissance. The need for a renaissance is expressed by most of Ubuntu advocates, who are quick to admit that what we have been discussing is the ideal. The reality is that Africa has been dehumanized by slavery, colonialism and currently, globalization. Pityana (Africa: The footprint of God), puts it aptly:

Africa is no longer visible, it has been drowned out in the misery and suffering and exploitation that has become the lot of many in Africa today. Colonization has robbed Africa of its soul. The other problem is that one is inclined to blame everyone else for the fate of Africa except the Africans themselves….This is the theory of victimology and we must avoid it.

As a result of the continent’s history, Louw (Ubuntu: An African assessment…), suggests that the way to stimulate the renaissance is to recognize the ills that plague Africa and practically deal with them, especially in the three areas of poverty, democracy and morality. (Emphasis added)

Eradicating poverty everywhere is more than a moral imperative and a commitment to human solidarity. It is a practical possibility and, in the long run, an economic imperative for global prosperity. And because poverty is no longer inevitable, it should be no longer tolerated….

Louw also cites Kofi Annan in his report to the general assembly, when he refers to the resurgent spirit of Africa that seeks to address meaningfully and honestly the patterns of the past. Among these he mentions human rights and the rule of law as