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ABSTRACT
This article explores shared African philosophical values and cultural assumptions that could inform the continent's health communication campaigns and interventions. It reintroduces the overlooked and uniquely African concept of ubuntu, and invites further discussions of culture-centered perspectives on health communication theory, research, and practice. In ubuntu, the community is ontologically prior to an individual. The main assumptions of ubuntu center around values of inclusiveness, tolerance, transparency, and consensus-building, and can be translated from Zulu as “I am because we are”—in drastic contrast to Descartian/Western “I think therefore I am.” The article discusses theoretical and practical applications of ubuntu, suggesting scholars and practitioners reconsider health campaign approaches, specifically in Africa. More broadly, ubuntu can also be useful in Western settings, especially in contexts wherein the notion of community is heightened, even in individualistic societies. Focus on ubuntu crystallizes the potential of scholars and practitioners utilizing African perspectives to differentiate themselves from Western communication approaches and contribute unique viewpoints derived from the continent's cultural diversity. The article concludes with a call for the purposeful incorporation of ubuntu into health communication thinking.
KEYWORDS:
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the reviewers and editors for their insightful feedback and patience.
Notes
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81 Dukhi et al., “Compliance with Lockdown Regulations during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” 53. See also Staunton, Swanepoel, and Labuschagine, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”; Mangaliso, “Building Competitive Advantage from Ubuntu.”
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83 Dukhi et al., “Compliance with Lockdown Regulations during the COVID-19 Pandemic”; Devermont and Mukulu, “South Africa's Bold Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic.”
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86 Moosa, Mpako, and Felton, “South Africans Support Government's Covid-19 Response but Are Critical of Corruption and Skeptical of Vaccines”; Guy Oliver, “South Africa's Daunting COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout,” The New Humanitarian, April 28, 2021, accessed July 31, 2021, https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2021/4/28/south-africas-daunting-COVID-19-vaccine-rollout.
87 Devermont and Mukulu, “South Africa's Bold Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic”; Burger, “South Africans Are Keener to Get Vaccinated.”
88 Moosa, Mpako, and Felton, “South Africans Support Government's Covid-19 Response but Are Critical of Corruption and Skeptical of Vaccines”; Mangaliso, “Building Competitive Advantage from Ubuntu.”
89 Mangaliso, “Building Competitive Advantage from Ubuntu,” 29.
90 Chasi and Omarjee, “It Begins with You?” 232.
91 Sambala, Cooper, and Manderson, “Ubuntu as a Framework.”
92 Mangaliso, “Building Competitive Advantage from Ubuntu.”