social philosophy of ubuntu/hunhu among the shona
The argument in this paper is based on two assumptions. The first assumption states that, the Shona people like any other group of people of Bantu Nguni origin, share a common social philosophy of life called Hunhu in Shona and ubuntu in Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa and Swati (Ramose, 1999; Mapara, 2012).Secondly, the Shona people like any other human society, had its own focused broad system of educating its young members, long before the inception of colonialism (Agbemabiese, 2010).Therefore, this writer opines that the education of the Shona people, just like any other sphere of their life(politics, law, religion, medicine) was focused due to the fact that it was guided by their philosophy of Hunhuism/Ubuntuism.The purpose of this paper ,therefore, is to sustain the argument by way of illustrating how the pre-colonial education of the Shona people flowed naturally from their philosophy of hunhuism
This writer observes that hunhu/ubuntu as an indigenous African philosophy in general and specifically from the Shona perspective is well articulated in the works of many thinkers. The philosophy is well covered especially in Samkange and Samkange (1980), Pearce (1990), Makuvaza (1996 and 2008) and recently Mangena (2012) just to mention, but a few prominent ones. The Shona people are described by Bourdillon(1991) and Gwavaranda and Masaka(2008) as the largest ethnic group in Zimbabwe, which is made up of the following dialectical groups ;Karanga,Ndau,Manyika,Zezuru,Korekore and Kalanga.
An understanding of the concept of hunhu can be achieved through any analysis of definitions drawn from a number of thinkers and writers .Broodryk (2002:56) gives a descriptive definition of ubuntu as an ancient African worldview based on the primary values of intense humanness, caring, sharing, respect, compassion, and associated values, ensuring a happy and qualitative human community life in the spirit of family.
Important points coming out from Broodryk’s definition are the
This writer observes that hunhu/ubuntu as an indigenous African philosophy in general and specifically from the Shona perspective is well articulated in the works of many thinkers. The philosophy is well covered especially in Samkange and Samkange (1980), Pearce (1990), Makuvaza (1996 and 2008) and recently Mangena (2012) just to mention, but a few prominent ones. The Shona people are described by Bourdillon(1991) and Gwavaranda and Masaka(2008) as the largest ethnic group in Zimbabwe, which is made up of the following dialectical groups ;Karanga,Ndau,Manyika,Zezuru,Korekore and Kalanga.
An understanding of the concept of hunhu can be achieved through any analysis of definitions drawn from a number of thinkers and writers .Broodryk (2002:56) gives a descriptive definition of ubuntu as an ancient African worldview based on the primary values of intense humanness, caring, sharing, respect, compassion, and associated values, ensuring a happy and qualitative human community life in the spirit of family.
Important points coming out from Broodryk’s definition are the
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