Can Afro-Communitarianism Be Useful in Combating the Challenge of Human Interaction Posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic?

ABSTRACT

Can Afro-communitarianism serve as a viable ideology for addressing the human interaction challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic? The ongoing pandemic poses many challenges to the normal functioning of societies around the world. For example, it has caused problems ranging from social, economic, and political disruption to various forms of hardship, including pain, suffering, and millions of deaths. One problem that is not attracting sufficient attention is a disruption to human interaction that leads to isolation, depression, mental health, and emotional crises. This paper will investigate whether Afro-communitarianism can function as an ideological option for addressing this challenge. This ideology, in our opinion, can foster social integration and the type of informal solidarity that engenders emotionally helpful interactions among humans. We will also argue that Afro-communitarian orientation can overturn the individualistic tendencies that hamper efforts aimed at curtailing the spread of the coronavirus.