Twenty years after the end of apartheid rule, the claim that democratic South Africa is founded on the 'spirit of law' (nomos) of our shared humanity is questionable, to say the least. Some would argue that all talk of Ubuntu (or African humanism) should be dismissed as a passing fad of an exhausted nationalism. But, a different response to the present is possible; one that proceeds from a temporary suspension (epoche) of the nationalist matrix, and all the dead-end questions that have resulted from it, in order to reposition Ubuntu in the more cosmopolitan terms of a critical humanism that...

In South Africa, Ubuntu is the term for a kind of humanist philosophy, ethic, or ideology. This book contextualizes the discourse on Ubuntu within the wider historical framework of postcolonial attempts to rearticulate African humanism as a substantial philosophy and emancipatory ideology. As such, the emergence of Ubuntu as a postcolonial philosophy is posited as both a function of and a critical response to Western modernity. The central question addressed is: Was Ubuntu's emancipatory potential confined to and perhaps exhausted by South Africa's transition to democracy, or does the notion...

This collection is, in the best sense of the term, a homage to Valentin Mudimbe. The festschrift's essays honor the intellectual legacy of Mudimbe - for decades now, one of Africa and the diaspora's most significant minds - by taking up the challenges his work poses, be they ethical, political, philosophical, literary, sociological, anthropological, or psychological challenges. The book gathers a group of US- and Africa-based scholars, many of whom are long-time Mudimbe collaborators and colleagues, who use the questions posed, the critiques and insights offered, and the paradigms constructed...

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are regarded by many as vital role players in improving the lives of the poor and bringing about social justice. This book includes contributions from NGO workers, academics and social movement activists in order to provide varying perspectives on what possible role NGOs can rightly play in popular struggles. Consequently, the essays included here do not have a single message about what role NGOs ought to play in struggles for social justice, but rather invite careful reflection and critical discussion on their role both in South Africa and further...