We have noted above the impact of globalization on African societies and cultur- al orientations. This implies we ought to re-think our conception of sagacity as well. Oruka, as we have seen in Chapter 4, maintains that sages are ‘indigenous’ and have had no contact with modern education. He also argues that these sages produce wise sayings that can be used as moral and metaphysical counselling on human existence. This wisdom exists in a context and is limited to it. This posi- tion is quite similar to what South African philosopher Mogobe Ramose (1999) places to the fore of his ubuntu philosophy. As we discussed in Chapter 2, ubuntu
is seen as a key concept to evoke unadulterated forms of African social life be- fore European conquest. In his conception of sagacity, Oruka does not foresee the need for a globalized sage, and Ramose’s work presents an explicit rupture with that view. According to Ramose, the globalization process is inclined to- wards economic maximization and has no concern for humanity. Globalization is one of those ways the North Atlantic region intends to perpetuate political and cultural hegemony.
From Ramose’s argument, we realize that globalization is an outside phenom- enon, driven by North Atlantic conquest, and has resulted in the destruction of
ubuntu-based communities. Hence, ubuntu, as a form of African philosophy, ought to be revived to counter the course of southern African history and to rem- edy the trauma caused by colonization and the imposition of capitalist relations of production. Our study of intercultural philosophy endorses Ramose’s point that ubuntu philosophy and southern African society have something of great value to offer to the globalized world. However, Ramose does not take into ac- count the fact that both contemporary southern Africa and ubuntu itself are prod- ucts of globalization. Ubuntu is a contemporary academic construct, called forth by the same forces of physical oppression, economic oppression, and cultural alienation that have shaped southern African society over the past two centuries. In this way it can mask real conflict, perpetuate resentment, and hide the fact that someone is using ubuntu in the excessive pursuit of individual gain (van Bins- bergen 2001a, 2003).3 Hence, even though ubuntu may be able to curb some of the effects of globalization, it is a new concept in a globalized format, not a per- ennial village concept in an authentic format as Ramose asserts.
3
Van Binsbergen’s analyses of ubuntu, however, generated some controversy. For more on this debate see, for example, Bewaji & Ramose (2003).
Ubuntu, as a form of philosophy, also reminds us of the necessity to patiently study the rich empirical realities of African societies before making any final judgements. This is because what the ubuntu experts present is a liberation of Black Africa by revisiting and romanticizing the past - rétrodiction (à la Mu- dimbe) or rétrojection (à la Towa). Ramose is concerned with re-dreaming rural Africa along dated ethnographic lines and consequently presenting a static view of traditional Africa. We must also admit that African historical societies have been dynamic, ever changing, and complex, and have been influenced by rela- tions with the outside world.
To assume a self-evident, static African society is reminiscent of Plato’s phi- losophy. As we saw in Chapter 4, Plato used his theory of Forms to account for reality. He argued that what is truly real is not the objects we encounter in senso- ry experience but, rather, Forms, and these can be grasped only intellectually. He used the theory of Forms partly because he assumed that the objects of knowledge must be unchanging and certain rather than changing. His student Aristotle contested this firm and unmovable foundation. According to Aristotle, even though things have essences (what makes them what they are), these es- sences cannot be separated from the things themselves. The essences of a thing exist in that thing, and that is why we recognize it. It is not being and non-being as Plato maintained, but being and potential being for Aristotle.4 Even though Enlightenment philosophers rejected Plato’s world of Forms, they endorsed the fact that one can build on firm, a priori foundations. I submit that in the era of globalization, characterized by intercultural encounters, our sagacity should go beyond Plato’s Forms and be grounded in human realities and existential facts about the human being and his daily condition.
Hence, we must note that the ubuntu experts render a remote etic reconstruc- tion into an alien globalized format, and not an emic one as they may claim. In other words, what we have as ubuntu is global urban reformulation of African values. If the notion did not take this globalized format, it would hardly have made any sense to the majority of South Africans today. Moreover, if we are to accept Ramose’s conception, this would imply that African wisdom and globali- zation are polar opposites with no meeting point. It would therefore be impossi- ble to effectively mediate this wisdom to the rest of the world. Paradoxically, if the whole ubuntu project worked, it was because southern African intellectuals were able to mediate it to others. Since the world is becoming increasingly inter- connected and interdependent, it makes sense to think of a globalized sagacity. In
4 In Aristotle’s The Categories, 1a 24-25, he argues that all non-substances owe their existence to sub- stances. Each of them exists only ‘in’ a subject. That is, each non-substance is in something, not as a part of the thing, and cannot exist separately from what it is in.
145 this way, African wisdom traditions can be put at the disposal of the rest of hu- manity and not limited to a stable, immobile context. A great majority of Afri- cans are exposed to globally circulating cultural, productive, reproductive, and consumptive models, and the influence of ICT. The globalization of African so- ciety is an invitation to us to utilize these technologies for the globalization of African wisdom. A globalized sagacity would help us develop an explicit coun- ter-hegemonic discourse and practice in the global context. In this way it would facilitate promotion of intercultural dialogue. African dance, music, and sangoma
therapy, just to name a few aspects of Africa, have become translatable to a glob- al format thanks to ICT.