Ubuntu, African epistemology and development: contributions, contradictions, tensions, and possibilities

Citation

Swanson DM (2012) Ubuntu, African epistemology and development: contributions, contradictions, tensions, and possibilities. In: Wright H & Abdi A (eds.) The Dialectics of African education and Western discourses: counter-hegemonic perspectives. Black Studies and Critical Thinking, 21. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 27-52. http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=58924&concordeid=311378

Abstract
First paragraph: This chapter is a discussion in three parts and a closing argument. It begins with a discussion on development and references some of the philosophical difficulties with its Western-inspired conceptualization and ideological deployment in the African context. It discusses the implications for Africa globally and for a notion of development in terms of a commitment to deep democracy. This is situated in tension with (mis)conceptions of African epistemology from Western perspectives. It responds by offering productive possibilities for an African epistemology of Ubuntu in its contribution to development as freedom in Africa.