The angst of the Dehumanized: Ubuntu for Solidarity

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to delve into the multiple forms of violence experienced by South African women, within the theoretical framework of the ecological model of abuse proposed by Lori L. Heise (1998). The objective of the article is to explore how the communitarian dimension of ubuntu is absent when the womenfolk is in question. Their existence itself appears to be insignificant compared to their counterparts. Ubuntu cannot be lived or practiced while some are excluded from this concept. Gender inequality and inequitable status of existence cannot be part of ubuntu, as "I am, because you are" or the meaning of ubuntu cannot be fully experienced in such unbalanced circumstances. The violence against women by members of the same community and family is quite alarming. It is evident in such instances that women are commodified for the benefit of men due to their patriarchal nature. The subtle ways in which patriarchy operates, silence women and make them incapable of standing for their rights or resisting the oppression. The article thus discusses the oppressive social systems that exist in South Africa and their implications for the practical living of ubuntu.