Ubuntu among the ‘born frees’: Exploring the transmission of social values through community engagement in South Africa

Theoretical guidance for Ubuntu transmission and application

As a reference point for our research questions, the bio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006) offered guidance on how Ubuntu transmission and application may occur in this ‘born free’ group. This theory posits that sustained interactive processes within one’s family, peer and community environments can create ‘potent’ influences on perceptions and behaviour. For example, Roby and Maistry (2010) found that orphaned children who felt loved by God and the staff of a Child and Youth Care Centre reported higher rates of praying for their extended families and other children in the facility. Furthermore, these ‘microsystems’ of family, peers and community are also interdependent and interconnected, and can work together to have a compounding impact on development (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006). Ideally, a collaboration between universities, schools, churches, communities and other organisations could strongly reinforce Ubuntu through caring adults (Etieyibo, 2017; Mabasa, 2020; Mugumbate and Chereni, 2019; Quan-Baffour, 2014).

However, Bronfenbrenner and Morris’s (2006) theory also highlights a higher order of systems, called macrosystems, which include economies, political systems and culture, that influence the transmission of specific values and behaviours. Challenges within these environments could potentially erode or frustrate the application of Ubuntu, which has been observed by Matolino and Kwindingwi (2013) in South Africa. We are unaware of any studies that have directly explored trends in the modern status of the Ubuntu philosophy in South Africa, but socioeconomic data suggest that it has been in decline (Matolino and Kwindingwi, 2013). Because of this, Kamwangamalu (2013) expressed the view that Ubuntu must be nurtured and restored.

These variables led us to ask the following questions: What factors have directly influenced the transmission of Ubuntu to a modern generation, particularly in South Africa (the ‘born frees’)? To what degree do these young adults identify with or embrace the Ubuntu philosophy, and are there obstacles that may discourage them from applying it in their communities? To explore these questions, we conducted a qualitative study with young adults of university age in KwaZulu-Natal. The interviews explored awareness around Ubuntu, how it was taught to them, to what degree they identified with it and intended to be guided by it, and what they perceived as barriers to living its principles in the 21st century.

After reviewing our findings, we discuss the potential of nurturing Ubuntu application through social work education, especially through community engagement within service-learning courses. Community engagement refers to ‘. . . initiatives and processes through which the expertise of the higher education institutions in the areas of teaching, learning and research are applied to address issues relevant to the community’ (Higher Education Quality Committee, 2004). Community engagement takes on a variety of forms, ranging from informal and relatively unstructured. While community engagement in its different forms is practised by various disciplines, our focus is on the transmission of Ubuntu values, and how social work education could nurture Ubuntu to the next generation through community education or engagement.

Research questions

Given the exploratory nature of this study, and the limited information available in peer-reviewed research, we chose the following research questions:

Study sample

Thirty South African young adults were recruited on the campus of a university of technology in KwaZulu-Natal through purposive sampling, which provides context-rich and detailed accounts of specific populations and locations (Ravitch and Carl, 2016), and is a more rigorous and appropriate method for qualitative research (Marshall, 1996). Ages of students ranged from 17 to 30 years and the sample comprised 21 male and 9 female students. To avoid bias among students with a social studies or community development emphasis (which may highlight Ubuntu more regularly), students from various disciplines across campus were approached, as well as students who would reflect racial and ethnic demographics representative of the university population. Students self-identified themselves racially, and as a group were aggregated as 75 percent African (69% Zulu and 6% Xhosa), 13 percent Indian, 9 percent White and 3 percent Coloured.

Measures and procedures

Semi-structured interviews were based on an exploratory design loosely founded on the bio-ecological model as a method of transmission and influence on the individual’s perspective. A principal investigator approached students sitting outside department buildings who were preparing for study or waiting to attend their next course. Following interview protocol (Saldaña, 2013), each student was informed about the general premise of the study, with an acceptance rate of 83 percent among students approached. Each individual was offered a consent form and interviewed out of earshot of others. As each student reviewed the consent form, the interviewer emphasised anonymity, confidentiality and security storage of information. Each student received a small gift (worth approximately R5) upon completion of the interview. Each semi-structured interview ranged between 10 and 20 minutes, addressing all of the research questions and was recorded with an audio device.

Analysis

After all interviews were completed, the audio files were transcribed and transferred to an electronic qualitative coding software called QDA Miner 4.0^®. Data were coded using a qualitative grounded approach and its three-step operational guidelines (Henwood and Pidgeon, 2003; Saldaña, 2013), of open coding, identifying emerging themes, and reaching theoretical saturation. Theoretical saturation was not the purpose of this explorative study, yet this analytic process was followed so that core themes would be identified and linked to existing literature.

Awareness of Ubuntu

Students expressed a general familiarity with Ubuntu within and across ethnic groups, with South Africans of African Descent (SAADs) particularly expressing emotional attachment to Ubuntu. By ethnic group, 26 out of 26 (expressed as 26/26) SAADs were able to identify Ubuntu as a concept, and 24 out of 26 could define Ubuntu in their own words. Two out of three White students recognised the word Ubuntu but could not define it in their own words. One White student could define it due to association with Zulu farmers in his local community. One Coloured interviewee could identify and define Ubuntu conceptually, but considered it to be outside her own personal culture. All four Indian students recognised the word Ubuntu, and two could define it in their own words. Students defined Ubuntu using words such as respect (17/26), helping others (16/26), caring (11/26) and sharing (8/26). These word associations are consistent with historical writings on Ubuntu within the Afrocentric context of the Shalapo Canicandala, such as respecting one’s elders, communal living and sharing of one’s resources (Mukuka, 2013), and socialising, universal descriptions of Ubuntu (Gade, 2012) such as ‘I am because we are’. Other words of note included humanity (6/26), unity (4/26), togetherness (4/26) and love (4/26). Six respondents (23%) specifically used the aphorism umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (‘a person is a person because of others’), a modern definition that emerged in the 1990s (Gade, 2011). Frequent conversation topics were how to respect others (especially elders) by keeping social rules and being polite (15/30), how to have self-discipline and responsibility in order to help others (8/30), and to help others who may eventually reciprocate (7/30). Students represented Ubuntu as showing respect to elders, giving material goods to the poor, taking care of orphaned children, socialising in the community in gatherings (such as a braai or ceremony), accommodating strangers, helping a neighbour find a job and greeting others warmly.

Transmission of Ubuntu

Consistent with bio-ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006), 17 of the 26 respondents who could define Ubuntu said they learnt about it primarily from family members; 11 said they also learned about Ubuntu from school teachers; six said it was simply the ‘way of life’ in South Africa; four learned about it from community members; three from friends and two learned about it at a local church. Some students mentioned learning about it from multiple sources, following the interdependency of microsystems in bio-ecological theory. Hence, families and teachers had the greatest influence on the transmission of Ubuntu among these students.

Methods of teaching were mostly through examples of service, kindness and respect in daily life, and through informal conversations. One Zulu male (age 23) explained,

It’s something that’s just there – she won’t say, ‘This is Ubuntu’ but your mother teaches you and your father teaches you how to treat people. They teach you by telling you when you’re going off line . . . like, how you are supposed to behave, like in the social environment. Also, by their actions towards others, because you tend to act like how your parents act.

One Zulu female (age 19) explained, ‘. . . mother will always say to me, “In this world, you have to respect in order to be respected”.’ Another young Zulu male (age 17) explained,

. . . when I grew up, my dad always tells me, always, even if you don’t know a person, even if you see the person for the first time, treat that person as though you have known that person . . . ’cause, the way you treat a person, the person can help you in the future.

A blend of informal and formal means of learning Ubuntu was reported by seven students, including school settings where Ubuntu was reviewed as a historically important part of the Constitution. One Indian male (age 22) explained he learned it ‘In school. They taught us . . . how we need to associate with one another. Make friends, because . . . you know, I find out what other people are experiencing, and give them advice, and I kind feel good about myself.’ This is consistent with the proposition of Ubuntu as a ‘way of life’ in South Africa (Gade, 2012) that permeates a person’s immediate environment. One African Zulu speaking male (age 19) explained, ‘We . . . grow up with it. Even though you don’t realise you’re actually living in an Ubuntu community, it’s something that you have in you, and eventually, you will . . . show it.’

Often, the family, community and school combined in teaching Ubuntu. A female Zulu speaking student (age 21) explained, ‘Ya, my family . . . they educate me to spread it out to my community. So it’s where you want show Ubuntu, is in your community.’ Another Zulu female (age 19) related,

Like, for example, in our community, in our community actually, [my father], he’s like helped a lot ’cause . . . there’s some kids who are – who do crime and all the other bad stuff. He always helps them, especially if they are girls. ’Cause, that is how – he takes them in and he teaches them, like, how to be around other people, how to interact with other people. They like start to see life, like, in a different point of view. ’Cause ya – [Ubuntu’s] something like that.

Plans to engage in Ubuntu

When students were asked if they planned to engage in Ubuntu behaviours, 25 out of 30 respondents answered in the affirmative, with no expectation of any rewards. These activities ranged from mentoring street children or troubled youth (n = 10), educational assistance for disadvantaged populations (n = 5), volunteering at orphanages (n = 4), community health education (n = 4), development projects in the community (n = 3), drug abuse prevention (n = 3) and marine life rescue (n = 1). The remaining five students said that they would engage in their communities if it would further their careers.

Perceived increase or decrease in Ubuntu

The majority of students (21/30) stated that they felt Ubuntu is decreasing in South African society. Many stated that decreases were inevitable with time, but some stated that culture should incorporate principles of Ubuntu with both traditional and nontraditional efforts. Students were asked to identify the factors responsible for increasing or decreasing Ubuntu. Economic and political conditions, capitalism, crime, popular media and individualism were listed as major barriers to promoting Ubuntu.

Nurturing Ubuntu in the community

Despite the concern over the perceived decline in Ubuntu, many of these students shared touching examples of how their families and communities embodied and modelled Ubuntu to them in their youth, which may be instructive for those seeking to nurture Ubuntu again. For example, one student expressed,

. . . I think that, Ubuntu will increase, in the following years, compared to now. Because, in the recent years, people who want to achieve their goal for themselves, they do not care about others, only when somebody succeeds they think about themselves only, not about, ‘What about others?’ But now, always, our teachers they’re always helping, always acting as the role of the caregivers to us, or other people, (they’re busy) . . . at the end of the day they always help us. (African female, age 18)

Other students claimed Ubuntu was nurtured by the examples of family members, teachers and clergy, who modelled Ubuntu through generous acts of kindness, including taking community members into their homes when caregivers died, paying for each other’s school fees when funding was short, raising money for scholarships for disadvantaged children, running clothing and food drives, helping orphans, forgiving those who offended them, and more. This modelling left a positive impression on these young adults, who nearly all admitted they planned to help their communities in the future.

Implications for community engagement through higher education

Higher education may play a vital role in promoting and reshaping the values embodied in the Ubuntu perspective through service learning, since 42 percent of students claimed that their awareness of Ubuntu happened in an educational setting. It is obvious that macrosystemic obstacles needed to be acknowledged and considered while instructing students; however, service learning may provide both the conceptual and pragmatic resources necessary for increasing Ubuntu among students, especially through the discipline of social work.

In terms of precedent, the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training requires that social work education ‘. . . adhere to the values and policies of the profession as articulated by the IFSW’ and Indigenous knowledge and practices are to be incorporated in the training, as well as supporting community development (IFSW, 2021b). Since Ubuntu is the first theme for the decade between 2020 and 2030, each training programme should review its curriculum to see how they are meeting this goal.

In general, social work and social development courses should provide opportunities to become aware of others’ needs, and facilitate ways in which young people can connect with and find common humanity across ethnic, political and socioeconomic boundaries. South Africa’s Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 pronounced that the post-apartheid democracy should undergo a transformation to respond better to the development needs of the Republic (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). To that end, the White Paper on the Transformation of Higher Education (Department of Education, 1997) sets out broad national goals, and refers to community engagement as an integral and core responsibility of higher education together with teaching and learning and research. Community engagement serves as a platform to initiate and promote the developmental role of universities in South Africa.

The numerous ways in which community engagement is manifested (volunteerism, service learning and engaged research) have the potential to contribute towards building social cohesion, promoting partnership relationships through community–university collaborations. More specifically, service learning as a form of community engagement is a method of enriching students’ education by engaging in services to the community under supervision of the institution and the partnering with community organisations (see Bringle and Hatcher, 2002).

Service learning is

. . . a course-based, credit bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs, and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civil responsibility. (Bringle and Hatcher, 1995: 112)

International research has shown that learning through classroom lectures combined with hands-on volunteer work can strengthen the learning of not only the course content but also foster a more complex and nuanced understanding (Eyler and Halteman, 1981). Participants often increase in self-esteem (Conrad and Hedin, 1982), ability to see multidimensionality in social problems (Batchelder and Root, 1994) and problem-solving skills (Hamilton and Zeldin, 1987). Their ability to grasp the complexity of social problems is also increased; along with a greater resolve to act on them (Batchelder and Root, 1994).

Service learning produces social benefits as well. For example, students not only increase in their own sense of efficacy – the belief that they can make a difference – but they come to believe that others can also make a difference (Giles and Eyler, 1994). Students tend to become less judgemental about the individuals and communities they serve (Conrad and Hedin, 1982), and feel a greater commitment to get involved – many aspiring to leadership roles in society. Importantly, ethnic stereotypes are often changed through sustained involvement with members of a different ethnicity (Giles and Eyler, 1994) and prosocial decision-making and advanced forms of prosocial reasoning are developed (Batchelder and Root, 1994). There is already strong evidence that service-learning projects among South African university students were an effective means of uniting moral academic theory and practical application, with increased respect for cultural and lingual diversity, greater collaborative skills and awareness of self (Keen and Hall, 2009; Roos et al., 2005). These educational opportunities, provided through organisational and pedagogical collaborations, can be the vehicle for increased Ubuntu living in a community, in which interdependence, unity and mutual gain are produced by social work students.

Limitations

This study is one of the first of its kind to empirically research Ubuntu, yet it is small in scope and exploratory in nature. Interviewing a larger group of students would have been beneficial, including a greater representation of females, and students from varying economic demographics and locales, such as higher income areas. Furthermore, this study was conducted in 2013, and while it captured a snapshot of modern themes among ‘born frees’, the opinions may be outdated and an incomplete picture of how Ubuntu may be viewed today in South Africa. However, recent publications reflect a similar sentiment in both the challenges and desires to nurture Ubuntu in the region (Tusasiirwe et al., 2021). For example, a 25-year review report on the status of South Africa by the Office of the President (2019) indicated that between 1994 and 2018, the country recorded an 11 percent increase in contact crimes, with a growing incidence of gender-based violence, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and femicide (Republic of South Africa, 2019). Despite official policies that were inspired by Ubuntu to decrease inequalities, South African socioeconomic strata seem to be widening (Gordon et al., 2020). Since the high-tide of Ubuntu during the transition to democracy, social and economic strain has escalated (Mwipikeni, 2018), resulting in a national unemployment rate of 31 percent among persons 15–34 years (e.g. ‘born frees’) in 2019 (Statistics South Africa, 2020). However, some have argued an urgent return to Ubuntu, considering the gravity of challenges around healthcare and unemployment brought to South Africans by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic (Struwig et al., 2020). Therefore, this article is simply the beginning of a critical conversation about factors influencing Ubuntu transmission and the role of social work education in the transmission of Ubuntu values. It is highly recommended that more broad and in-depth empirical efforts are sought after by institutions.