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

Abstract

Ubuntu was recently adopted as the first theme for the 2020–2030 global agenda for social work, and yet little research is available to explore how it is transmitted and implemented in communities. The authors present findings of a qualitative study conducted in an academic setting in South Africa, where the transmission of Ubuntu was discussed among 30 young adult ‘born frees’. Students seemed to embrace principles of Ubuntu as a whole; however, economic, social and cultural strains are documented as obstacles to its pragmatic application. Implications of community engagement through service learning as a means of strengthening Ubuntu are discussed.

Keywords

Bio-ecological model community engagement service learning social work South Africa Ubuntu

Introduction

Ubuntu has been described as a worldview or philosophy deeply embedded in the Indigenous cultures of the sub-Saharan African region (Gade, 2012; van Breda, 2019). As an interpretive lens for understanding reality, it has the potential to exert a powerful influence on one’s motivation and behaviour (Gichure, 2018). Its main facet involves the belief that one’s life has meaning due to the identity and membership afforded by the collective – ‘I am because we are’ (Dillard et al., 2020) – and that interdependence brings the greater good for all. Its core values include humanness, caring, sharing, respect and compassion (Matolino and Kwindingwi, 2013). Kamwangamalu (2013) concludes that Ubuntu is a value system against which members of a community measure their ‘humanness’.

Ubuntu has emerged as a gathering force in global social work dialogue, as evidenced by its selection as the theme for the 2021 World Social Work Day sponsored by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW, 2021a). Furthermore, Ubuntu is the theme for the first 2 years (2020–2022) of the 2020–2030 Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development Framework, entitled ‘Co-building Inclusive Social Transformation’ (IFSW, 2021b).

Beyond serving as a theme and platform, the concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am because we are’ – has breathed a new sense of identity and direction among the social work community, particularly in Africa (Chigangaidze, 2020; van Breda, 2019). Mugumbate and Chereni (2020) proudly announce, ‘Now, the theory of Ubuntu has its space in social work’ (p. v). Indeed, a special issue of the African Journal of Social Work introduces the term ‘Ubuntu social work’, referring to ‘social work that is theoretically, pedagogically and practically grounded in Ubuntu’ (p. v). Ubuntu is viewed as a conceptual approach to working with children to empower individuals, families and communities (Mugumbate and Chereni, 2019) and helping youth transition in residential care (Moodley et al., 2020), while others have found its application in mental health work (Chigangaidze, 2021).

There is a little doubt that there is a sense of hope and excitement surrounding Ubuntu as a conceptual platform for global social work. However, beyond philosophical discussion, there is little research to understand how Ubuntu is effectively transmitted and applied in a community. While Ubuntu is a globally applicable concept, it is helpful to investigate regions where Ubuntu has already had a historical presence, and explore factors that may influence its implementation. In this article, we share the findings and potential implications of a qualitative study conducted in a diverse academic setting in South Africa among the ‘born frees’, a group of modern young adults exposed to Ubuntu by former generations. These findings may shed light on variables that influence the longevity of Ubuntu as a social value in a community, how it inspires community engagement and vice versa. Social work professionals and educators may glean insight from this transmission process, as they seek to inculcate similar values and practices in their communities.

Background

South Africa has centuries-old history of Ubuntu as a guiding societal philosophy (Gade, 2011), which makes it a prime location to explore a case of Ubuntu’s transmission and application over time. For example, South Africa’s peaceful transformation from apartheid to democracy in 1994 was widely attributed to the long-standing tradition of Ubuntu (Otieno, 2020). The Truth and Reconciliation process and the African Renaissance (Libin, 2020) were also proposed under the umbrella of the Ubuntu philosophy, to usher in restorative justice and community revitalisation among racial and social classes (Gade, 2012; Metz, 2017; Migheli, 2017). All South Africans were called upon to embrace Ubuntu to ensure progress, quality of life and healing (Otieno, 2020).

The generation that emerged during this transformative era are referred to as the ‘born frees’ (Mpongo, 2016), or those born in 1994 or later. These youth have been introduced to Ubuntu rhetoric through their elders (Gumbo, 2014; Mukuka, 2013), school curricula (Nussey, 2018), nationally broadcast political speeches (Mugumbate and Nyanguru, 2013) and radio journalism (Libin, 2020). Indeed, Kamwangamalu (2013) has noted that Ubuntu values are not innate, but rather acquired in society and are transmitted from one generation to another. ‘Born frees’ have been intentionally and socially targeted to carry on the South African Ubuntu tradition in their communities, and as a group, could be considered a litmus test for effective inculcation of Ubuntu values.

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.

Methodology

This study was a joint effort between two universities, one in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and one in Utah in the United States. Research questions were originally drafted in consultation among the collaborating faculty members, and all human research approvals and protocols were met at the two universities prior to data collection. The impetus for our approach was to discover, rather than to substantiate the evolving perceptions and behaviours among the ‘born free’ generation regarding Ubuntu. While we expected to deduce a few pre-existing principles of the bio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006) from our data, we felt that an inductive approach would be the most natural means to approach a complex and evolving subject. This perspective suggested a method that would allow for open-ended analysis utilising an interpretivist approach through grounded theory (Gade, 2013; Henwood and Pidgeon, 2003).

Research questions

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

What was the level of awareness about Ubuntu be among the ‘born frees’, and do they have plans to practise it?

Who or what has the greatest influence on Ubuntu learning and practice among ‘born frees’?

Do ‘born frees’ perceive Ubuntu to be increasing or decreasing in South Africa? Why?

Are there possible differences between ethnic groups in understanding and practising Ubuntu?

What are some of the barriers to learning and practising Ubuntu among ‘born frees’?

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.

Results

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.

Economic and political conditions

The economic shift in South Africa (Mwipikeni, 2018) was viewed as a major challenge to Ubuntu for all groups. An African male (age 20) expressed in exasperation, ‘And we’re seeing it as pointless to go to university now; ’cause I’m going to learn, but what if it happened that I’m in a place in two years, and I end up being a waiter at a restaurant?’ He expressed an inability to help others since he was economically unstable. Others cited a sense of racial discrimination. A male student of Indian descent (age 19) reported,

When we do finish qualifying . . . it’s going to be a bit difficult for us seeing that we don’t know the indigenous languages that well . . . there’s a lot of quota systems. Even in [my university], they take a special number of races, just to fit the quota. So you’ve got to be kind of one step ahead at all times.

This student viewed the quota system as exclusionary and racist, making unity through Ubuntu impossible.

Capitalism and competition

The emphasis of capitalism in this generation was also cited as a barrier to Ubuntu living. Some said there was an expectation for the younger generation to be more prosperous than their parents. A Zulu female (age 19) explained,

They want to come on top like the white people were on top, so now, each racial group is trying to be on top . . . so they’re all competing to get to the top. They’re losing their special value of Ubuntu, you know? They’re trying so hard . . . to experience what they hadn’t experienced before, in a way, they are losing who they are.

She seemed to sense that the competitive nature of capitalism was anti-Ubuntu.

Crime

Although some students expressed a desire to help in their community, there was fear that their generosity would be abused. One African male (age 21) expressed concern about helping people on the streets who beg, as one might contribute to their drug problem. Another African male (age 23) explained that while he can be generous to a selective group of people, he cannot trust everyone in the community: ‘Ubuntu is dying out a bit in the townships. Basically, I treat my friends in a certain manner, but not other people. With the issues like now, people are using drugs, whatever . . . circling the street.’ Importantly, this student qualified this comment by saying that Ubuntu was evident in some peaceful, rural areas.

Westernisation through the media

The technological advances of Internet and telecommunications, particularly the infusion of Western programming, were viewed to be factors that decreased the sense of Ubuntu. One African female (age 21) admitted, ‘You know . . . when you’re watching them, you just wanna be like them. I’ve almost forgotten who I am . . . .’ An African male (age 17) explained,

Yeah, the Western culture is the thing that decreases Ubuntu because . . . people tend to think they are better if they’re more Westernised. . . . In this African cultural thing, they will say, ‘Now, we are one, we are brothers, everybody is your brother, everybody is your sister. Treat everybody good, treat everybody as you would like to treat your own family.’ But . . . when they’re Westernised they say, ‘Ah, ah, nah, I don’t care about them, I care about myself, I care about . . . being successful, I care about being rich, I care about going with the car that I see on the TV, the movie stars . . . helping another person will only tear me down.’ So, I think it’s turning the Ubuntu down.

Apathy in current culture

Over 45 percent of the students noted that there is apathy about others. One African female (age 19) clarified,

We, this generation of today, we just don’t care! We care about ourselves, we’re just selfish, I don’t know, we’re just different. It’s like . . . we . . . we’re just different from our parents and our grandparents and all of that, ’cause, they lived together, they knew what humanity is. We just don’t care . . . we just do everything, for doing it; for fun.

A Coloured student (age 23) explained that the older generations doted on the younger generations so that the latter would not have the hardships that they had, causing the younger generation to be selfish. Likewise, 16 out of 30 students used the word, ‘selfishness’ as a reason for the decrease in Ubuntu, in essence, because ‘It’s like, I look out for me, and you look out for you, I do what I do, you do what you do, especially if I don’t know you’ (African male, age 23).

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.

Discussion

This study offers a glimpse into some of the perceptions towards Ubuntu and its application among a group of ‘born frees’ enrolled at a technical university, as an example of Ubuntu transmission in a modern community. In summary, many of these young adults could easily identify and define Ubuntu, which frequently involved the words respect, helping others, caring and sharing. Students identified family, school and community as the major method of transmitting and modelling Ubuntu values. As for the state of Ubuntu post-1994, 70 percent of respondents expressed that they felt that Ubuntu is dwindling among the general population. Ubuntu may have become a slogan from a past generation of visionaries, and is struggling to survive the self-interests of the majority group in this generation. However, simultaneously, over 80 percent of these students had desires to do community work in the future. This fact strongly signals the power to nurture Ubuntu through modelling despite grander environmental obstacles. This could be accomplished by social work professionals, such as social workers, community development practitioners, and child and youth care workers. We propose training students in community engagement through service learning as a way of fostering Ubuntu for the next generation.

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.

Conclusion

This study is an example of how Ubuntu can be transmitted in a community, and how it is most potently and organically influenced by individuals’ immediate environments, such as in families, education systems and communities. There are also signs that Ubuntu and its related values of mutuality, social responsibility and interdependency may be at risk of fading among social and economic strains. Furthermore, our findings suggest that modern political, economic and social environments are fanning a more inward focus in South Africa, promoting ‘selfishness’ rather than the ‘caring and sharing’ which is at the core of Ubuntu. Fortunately, among these students, there was evidence that the desire to serve in the community could survive perceived downward trends in Ubuntu. Community engagement, in its various forms, and especially service learning can be resources offered by higher education institutions to provide opportunities for Ubuntu application, and multiple entities such as local governments, institutions of higher learning, churches, schools and communities could work interdependently to emphasise the importance of Ubuntu during difficult times, such as those during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More specific to the social work community, Ubuntu as a means of building social unity and interdependence is a dynamic force, with potential to supply great vision, theory and practice guidance. However, left unattended or overpowered by other social forces, Ubuntu will not thrive without proactive and concerted effort. As articulated by Sewpaul (2021) at the United Nations, ‘Ubuntu is more than an abstract, philosophical ideal. It calls for prosocial values, attitudes and thoughts to be made manifest in acts of solidarity at local, national, regional and global levels.’ Using it as a global social work theme elevates its image; however, it must be operationalised in social work practice by education and training of the next generation of social workers and community development practitioners.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors wish to acknowledge the generous research funding support from the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.

ORCID iDs

Stephanie Blickfeldt Willmore

Jini L Roby

Author biographies

Stephanie Blickfeldt Willmore was a research fellow at the time of this research. Currently she serves as a writer for a consulting company, after retiring as a programme leader for a national social work programme.

Randal Day was Professor of family science and the primary investigator of this project. With the permission of his family, he is listed posthumously for his contribution in the design and data collection phases.

Jini L Roby is Emeritus Professor of social work at Brigham Young University, and serves as a consultant on child protection and social service workforce strengthening in Africa.

Savathrie Maistry has an academic and research focus on social and community development, and is currently a research associate at Grahamstown, South Africa.

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