{"id":51918,"date":"2024-12-18T11:02:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T19:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanities.org\/?p=51918"},"modified":"2024-12-18T11:43:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T19:43:33","slug":"ubuntu-african-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanities.org\/spark\/ubuntu-african-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Because We Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

Itohan Idumwonyi was in her first year as a professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University when COVID stopped everything. While 2020 was hard on everybody, it presented particular difficulties for Idumwonyi and her two children, Ik and Duwa. Since they were new to the area, no one, she thought, would come knocking on their door to see if her family was okay. Until someone did.<\/p>\n

One of her children\u2019s math teachers from Gonzaga Prep, John Tombari, knocked, introducing himself. \u201cI\u2019m here to welcome you and support your son,\u201d he said, and he meant it. Though he lived across town, he picked up her son every morning to bring him to school, since driving her son to and from school conflicted with Idumwonyi\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n

This teacher\u2013who Idumwonyi calls \u201cthe face of humanity\u201d\u2013gave her inspiration during a time when it was sorely needed. In a city far from her birthplace, she found a warmth of human feeling that felt very familiar to her. Mr. Tombari had extended a generosity that made her feel human. Though he would not use the word, he practiced what Idumwonyi calls Ubuntu<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Being the recipient of Ubuntu<\/em> from someone who did not know this African practice motivated Idumwonyi. She already brings this practice into her teaching, but the math teacher\u2019s open-heartedness helped her see that outside of the university, people yearn to find a way through an epidemic of loneliness. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warns that social isolation has the same impacts on health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But addressing this illness does not require complicated medical intervention; the remedy is to build relationships. Ubuntu<\/em> offers a way. Ubuntu<\/em> is a rich tradition built on the idea that we are human first before all the other labels\u2013profession, race, gender, citizenship\u2013that we may bear day to day. One act of kindness can change the outlook of another person by serving as a living reminder of this basic fact.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu<\/em>, as Idumwonyi explains it, is more than just one person treating another kindly. It is a \u201ccultural intelligence\u201d that creates a system of care that encourages individuals to not act as isolated units, but as the interconnected people we are. \u201cA little show of kindness can make a turnaround for a person to feel loved, to feel human, to feel accepted, to feel embraced, even though a person is going through the storm of life,\u201d Idumwonyi explains. \u201cSo when you come within the space of Ubuntu<\/em>, I tell people you don\u2019t need to connect with everybody in this space. Start with the person next to you. Whatever story you hear from that person may open you up to forming connections beyond that space.\u201d Such listening and exchange of stories builds human flourishing. Recognizing, creating, and nourishing Ubuntu<\/em> is what has helped Idumwonyi create her own happiness wherever she goes, in whatever situation. \u201cYou need other people to make this happiness,\u201d says Idumwonyi, to start your story afresh when life brings you unanticipated twists. In a space of Ubuntu<\/em>, where \u201cI am because we are,\u201d she feels her authentic self. As part of Humanities Washington\u2019s Speakers Bureau, she has delighted in building Ubuntu<\/em> by modeling how human flourishing starts\u2013with the simple act of sharing stories that guide us in knowing how to look out for one another as a remedy to loneliness and alienation.<\/p>\n

The following interview was edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Itohan Idumwonyi<\/p><\/div>\n

Humanities Washington: How does the concept of Ubuntu<\/em> help us see our connections to others differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Itohan Idumwonyi: You cannot say you are who you are, without looking back at those who have been in your life: your parents, your family, your neighbors. Ubuntu<\/em> asks you to think of all the little and huge ways all these people support you. You\u2019re not going to say, \u201cI became who I am today by myself,\u201d no. Instead: I am because we are. We need each other to survive, and we say \u201cthank you\u201d for giving me your shoulders to lean on.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu<\/em>\u2019s mantra is, \u201cI am because we are, and we are because I am interconnectedness.\u201d It doesn\u2019t matter whether you are American, whether you are Asian, whether you are African. Irrespective of where you are from, there is this essence of humanity that we all go to or come from, that we draw from before you became African, Native, American, Asian. You are human first.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu<\/em> pushes us to move beyond saying \u201cI can\u2019t help this one\u201d because this one is different from me. Moving beyond asks you first to see the human in me. And to listen to the thing inside of you crying out to support this person. This is what Ubuntu<\/em> points to. Ubuntu<\/em> tells you to raise support for another person within your neighborhood, your immediate environment. We need each other to survive and flourish. And if I\u2019m not in a position to help myself, it will be hard to help others. So the first thing is, I need to be well, to have the energy, to have the strength, to have the grace to stretch my hand to another person. If I am so weak, down and out, it will be hard for me to reach out. Thinking of your own flourishing helps you support another person. You don\u2019t own another person\u2019s problem. You only support them to also become.<\/p>\n

How does Ubuntu<\/em> help guide people to see our interconnectedness?<\/strong>
\nWhen you meet somebody, remember that however they react to you, it\u2019s not because they don\u2019t like your face. They have their demons they are fighting. You start building Ubuntu<\/em> by connecting with the person beside you.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Irrespective of where you are from, there is this essence of humanity that we all go to or come from, that we draw from before you became African, Native, American, Asian. You are human first.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I\u2019m teaching or doing a Humanities Washington talk, I pose some questions as conversation starters. Whatever story you hear from the other person, it\u2019s a way of opening up to the person. Just starting a conversation with that one person you meet can make a difference. It nourishes a cultural intelligence that unites through shared humanity.<\/p>\n

We need to connect. We are interconnected people, we are social beings. Living in isolation is demoralizing and depressing. It puts us in a space where we don\u2019t get help because either we are too ashamed to ask for help or we think we\u2019re supposed to have everything put together. But no, we all don\u2019t have everything put together. Ubuntu<\/em> allows you to be reached, and allows you to reach other people.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s something you enjoy about talking about Ubuntu<\/em> with audiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been in situations where people do not welcome others until they are introduced as professor of XYZ. But when I do Humanities Washington talks, I like to be introduced as me. I am just Itohan Idumwonyi. I like to be treated as human, not because of whatever I have added. Let us shed all the labels that put us into separate compartments. Compartmentalization breeds division. Ubuntu<\/em> is telling us, hey, look away from all this division. When we do this, we will speak to our authenticity, and our authenticity will foster human flourishing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in talks where people tear up. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s me, if it\u2019s the Ubuntu<\/em> conversation, I honestly don\u2019t know. But it gives me a sense that the talk is having an impact. You\u2019re getting handshakes, you\u2019re getting hugs, you\u2019re getting thanks for creating conversations that impact people\u2013 conversations that help us better interact in loving and accepting ways. Let your hand be the bridge that supports human flourishing\u2013UBUNTU!<\/em><\/p>\n

Michelle Liu is a professor of English and the associate director of writing programs at the University of Washington. She is a former member of Humanities Washington\u2019s Speakers Bureau.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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