Ubuntu and the value of self-expression in the mass media

ABSTRACT

In this article I consider what the implications of ubuntu, interpreted as an African moral philosophy, are for self-expression as a value that the mass media could help to promote. In contrast to the natural hunches that self-expression is merely a kind of narcissism or makes sense for only individualist cultures to prize, I argue that an attractive construal of ubuntu entails that self-expression can play an important communitarian role. The mass media can be obligated to enable people to express themselves, since doing so can be one way for people to share with and care for others.

Keywords:

• African ethics
• collectivism
• individualism
• relationality
• self-expression
• ubuntu