Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications

Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications
Author: Mukuni, Joseph
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2021-05-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1799879496

Given the importance of cross-cultural competence, it is important that scholars from different parts of the world describe the conceptual frameworks underlying their cultures to provide people with knowledge helpful for understanding and navigating cultural barriers and promoting harmony and productivity in places of work. The literature is replete with reference points for understanding Eurocentric worldviews. Little has been written about non-Eurocentric worldviews with respect to the subject of socio-cultural harmony and interpersonal relations such as Ubuntu, Africa’s indigenous philosophy and its relevancy. This philosophy teaches the importance of maintaining good human relations and sensitivity to the wellbeing of other people both as individuals and collectively. In the teachings of this African conceptual framework, the wellbeing of others is more important than that of self. Another important distinguishing feature of Ubuntu is that it places great value on communalism as opposed to individualism. The tenets of Ubuntu include human-centeredness, teamwork, collaboration, cooperation, respect for diversity of opinion, and joint consideration of problems. These tenets can be applied for intercultural competence and communications. Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications sheds some light on Ubuntu, Africa’s unique philosophy, and explores how the knowledge of Ubuntu can help minimize cross-cultural communication barriers. Within this context, the chapters work to make readers aware of the existence of an African worldview, specifically Ubuntu, and its possible contribution to interpersonal communication. This book also shares the lived experiences of being born and raised in sub-Saharan Africa where Ubuntu is a way of life. This book is essential for businesses seeking to expand internationally and managers overseeing diverse workforces as well as business executives, government officials, public relations officers, academicians, researchers, and students including those studying African studies, world religions, international business, international relations, management, communication, and more.

The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice

The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice
Author: Fania E. Davis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2019-04-16
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1680993445

In our era of mass incarceration, gun violence, and Black Lives Matters, a handbook showing how racial justice and restorative justice can transform the African-American experience in America. This timely work will inform scholars and practitioners on the subjects of pervasive racial inequity and the healing offered by restorative justice practices. Addressing the intersectionality of race and the US criminal justice system, social activist Fania E. Davis explores how restorative justice has the capacity to disrupt patterns of mass incarceration through effective, equitable, and transformative approaches. Eager to break the still-pervasive, centuries-long cycles of racial prejudice and trauma in America, Davis unites the racial justice and restorative justice movements, aspiring to increase awareness of deep-seated problems as well as positive action toward change. Davis highlights real restorative justice initiatives that function from a racial justice perspective; these programs are utilized in schools, justice systems, and communities, intentionally seeking to ameliorate racial disparities and systemic inequities. Chapters include: Chapter 1: The Journey to Racial Justice and Restorative Justice Chapter 2: Ubuntu: The Indigenous Ethos of Restorative Justice Chapter 3: Integrating Racial Justice and Restorative Justice Chapter 4: Race, Restorative Justice, and Schools Chapter 5: Restorative Justice and Transforming Mass Incarceration Chapter 6: Toward a Racial Reckoning: Imagining a Truth Process for Police Violence Chapter 7: A Way Forward She looks at initiatives that strive to address the historical harms against African Americans throughout the nation. This newest addition the Justice and Peacebuilding series is a much needed and long overdue examination of the issue of race in America as well as a beacon of hope as we learn to work together to repair damage, change perspectives, and strive to do better.

Reconstructing Restorative Justice Philosophy

Reconstructing Restorative Justice Philosophy
Author: Dr Theo Gavrielides
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2014-01-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1409470733

This book takes bold steps in forming much-needed philosophical foundations for restorative justice through deconstructing and reconstructing various models of thinking. It challenges current debates through the consideration and integration of various disciplines such as law, criminology, philosophy and human rights into restorative justice theory, resulting in the development of new and stimulating arguments. Topics covered include the close relationship and convergence of restorative justice and human rights, some of the challenges of engagement with human rights, the need for the recognition of the teachings of restorative justice at both the theoretical and the applied level, the Aristotelian theory on restorative justice, the role of restorative justice in schools and in police practice and a discussion of the humanistic African philosophy of Ubuntu. With international contributions from various disciplines and through the use of value based research methods, the book deconstructs existing concepts and suggests a new conceptual model for restorative justice. This unique book will be of interest to academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

UBuntu and the Law

UBuntu and the Law
Author: Nyoko Muvangua
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0823233820

This book brings together the uBuntu jurisprudence of South Africa, as well as the most cutting-edge critical essays about South African jurisprudence on uBuntu. Can indigenous values be rendered compatible with a modern legal system? This book raises some of the most pressing questions in cultural, political, and legal theory.

Ubuntu and the Reconstitution of Community

Ubuntu and the Reconstitution of Community
Author: James Ogude
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2019-05-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0253042143

Ubuntu is premised on the ethical belief that an individual's humanity is fostered in a network of human relationships: I am because you are; we are because you are. The essays in this lively volume elevate the debate about ubuntu beyond the buzzword it has become, especially within South African religious and political contexts. The seasoned scholars and younger voices gathered here grapple with a range of challenges that ubuntu puts forward. They break down its history and analyze its intellectual surroundings in African philosophical traditions, European modernism, religious contexts, and human rights discourses. The discussion embraces questions about what it means to be human and to be a part of a community, giving attention to moments of loss and fragmentation in postcolonial modernity, to come to a more meaningful definition of belonging in a globalizing world. Taken together, these essays offer a rich understanding of ubuntu in all of its complexity and reflect on a value system rooted in the everyday practices of ordinary people in their daily encounters with churches, schools, and other social institutions.

Africanity and Ubuntu as Decolonizing Discourse

Africanity and Ubuntu as Decolonizing Discourse
Author: Otrude Nontobeko Moyo
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2021-02-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030597857

This book explores and discusses emerging perspectives of Ubuntu from the vantage point of “ordinary” people and connects it to human rights and decolonizing discourses. It engages a decolonizing perspective in writing about Ubuntu as an indigenous concept. The fore grounding argument is that one’s positionality speaks to particular interests that may continue to sustain oppressions instead of confronting and dismantling them. Therefore, a decolonial approach to writing indigenous experiences begins with transparency about the researcher’s own positionality. The emerging perspectives of this volume are contextual, highlighting the need for a critical reading for emerging, transformative and alternative visions in human relations and social structures.

Power, Race, and Justice

Power, Race, and Justice
Author: Theo Gavrielides
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000449939

We are living in a world where power abuse has become the new norm, as well as the biggest, silent driver of persistent inequalities, racism and human rights violations. The COVID-19 socio-economic consequences can only be compared with those that followed World War II. As humanity is getting to grips with them, this timely book challenges current thinking, while creating a much needed normative and practical framework for revealing and challenging the power structures that feed our subconscious feelings of despair and defeatism. Structured around the four concepts of power, race, justice and restorative justice, the book uses empirical new data and normative analysis to reconstruct the way we prevent power abuse and harm at the inter-personal, inter-community and international levels. This book offers new lenses, which allow us to view power, race and justice in a modern reality where communities have been silenced, but through restorative justice are gaining voice. The book is enriched with case studies written by survivors, practitioners and those with direct experiences of power abuse and inequality. Through robust research methodologies, Gavrielides’s new monograph reveals new forms of slavery, while creating a new, philosophical framework for restorative punishment through the acknowledgement of pain and the use of catharsis for internal transformation and individual empowerment. This is a powerful and timely book that generates much needed hope. Through a multi-disciplinary dialogue that uses philosophy and critical theory, social sciences, criminology, law, psychology and human rights, the book opens new avenues for practitioners, researchers and policy makers internationally.

Reconstructing Restorative Justice Philosophy

Reconstructing Restorative Justice Philosophy
Author: Theo Gavrielides
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317070178

This book takes bold steps in forming much-needed philosophical foundations for restorative justice through deconstructing and reconstructing various models of thinking. It challenges current debates through the consideration and integration of various disciplines such as law, criminology, philosophy and human rights into restorative justice theory, resulting in the development of new and stimulating arguments. Topics covered include the close relationship and convergence of restorative justice and human rights, some of the challenges of engagement with human rights, the need for the recognition of the teachings of restorative justice at both the theoretical and the applied level, the Aristotelian theory on restorative justice, the role of restorative justice in schools and in police practice and a discussion of the humanistic African philosophy of Ubuntu. With international contributions from various disciplines and through the use of value based research methods, the book deconstructs existing concepts and suggests a new conceptual model for restorative justice. This unique book will be of interest to academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

Navajo Nation Peacemaking

Navajo Nation Peacemaking
Author: Marianne O. Nielsen
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2005-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816543720

Navajo peacemaking is one of the most renowned restorative justice programs in the world. Neither mediation nor alternative dispute resolution, it has been called a “horizontal system of justice” because all participants are treated as equals with the purpose of preserving ongoing relationships and restoring harmony among involved parties. In peacemaking there is no coercion, and there are no “sides.” No one is labeled the offender or the victim, the plaintiff or the defendant. This is a book about peacemaking as it exists in the Navajo Nation today, describing its origins, history, context, and contributions with an eye toward sharing knowledge between Navajo and European-based criminal justice systems. It provides practitioners with information about important aspects of peacemaking—such as structure, procedures, and outcomes—that will be useful for them as they work with the Navajo courts and the peacemakers. It also offers outsiders the first one-volume overview of this traditional form of justice. The collection comprises insights of individuals who have served within the Navajo Judicial Branch, voices that authoritatively reflect peacemaking from an insider’s point of view. It also features an article by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and includes contributions from other scholars who, with the cooperation of the Navajo Nation, have worked to bring a comparative perspective to peacemaking research. In addition, some chapters describe the personal journey through which peacemaking takes the parties in a dispute, demonstrating that its purpose is not to fulfill some abstract notion of Justice but to restore harmony so that the participants are returned to good relations. Navajo Nation Peacemaking seeks to promote both peacemaking and Navajo common law development. By establishing the foundations of the Navajo way of natural justice and offering a vision for its future, it shows that there are many lessons offered by Navajo peacemaking for those who want to approach old problems in sensible new ways.