2 - Individuals, Conglomerates, Persons, and Communities
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 25 No. 1 (2021): African Sociological Review
Abstract
Literature seems to regard a community as a grouping of individuals united for a common purpose. In this paper, I augment the discrete constituents – the social units ‘individual’ and ‘group or community’ – to form a matrix with four categories in an attempt to better explain pluralistic realities witnessed in Africa. I show how individuals (which I define as human beings seen separately from their social connections) group together to form ‘conglomerates’ (grouping of individuals to achieve a common goal), while ‘communities’ consist of ‘persons’ (human beings in constant reflexivity to their social connections), not individuals. In building the argument, I categorise the social units, elaborate on categories and affiliated concepts from two main perspectives (non-Western and Western), and provide multi-focal nuances. The paper contributes a conceptual framing with the hope to move the discourse on how humans group as social beings, and how these groups can be called and recognised in practice.
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- Appiah, K. A. (2018). The lies that bind. Rethinking identity. London: Profile Books. Asante, M. K.
- (2017). The philosophy of Afrocentricity. In D. Afolayan & T. Falola (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 231–244. Bidwell, N. J.,
- Reitmaier, T., Rey-Moreno, C., Roro, Z., Siya, M. J., & Dlutu-Siya, B. (2013). Timely relations in rural Africa. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the IFIP 9.4 Working Group on Social Implications of Computers in
- Development Countries, 19–22 May 2013, Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
- Bigirimana, S. S. J. (2017). Beyond the thinking and doing dichotomy: Integrating individual and institutional rationality. Kybernetes, 46(9), 1597–1610.
- Brumen, A. S. L. (2019). Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger.
- Anthropological Notebooks, 25(3), 5–22.
- Burawoy, M. (2009). The extended case method. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Buskens, I.,& van Reisen, M.(2016).Theorising agency in ICT4D: Epistemic sovereignty and transformation-in-Connection. In M. Mawere (ed.), Underdevelopment, Development and the Future of Africa. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 394–432.
- Giddens, A. (1986). The constitution of society. Malden: Polity Press.
- Grosfoguel, R.(2012). Decolonizing Western uni-versalisms: Decolonial pluri-versalism from Aimé Césaire to the Zapatistas. TransModernity: Journal of Peripheraluction of the Luso-Hispanic World, (Spring), 88–104.
- Gudynas, E. (2011). Buen vivir: Today’s tomorrow. Development, 54(4), 441–447. https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2011.86
- Hlabangane, N.(2018). Can a methodology subvert the logics of its principal? Decolonial meditations. Perspectives on Science, 26(6), 658–693.
- Jetten, J., Postmes, T., & McAuliffe, B. J. (2002). “We’re all individuals”: Group norms of individualism and collectivism, levels of identification and identity threat. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32(2), 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.65
- Kapuściński, R. (2008). The other. (A. Lloyd-Jones, ed.) New York: Verso.
- Levinas, E. (1961). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority. Pittsburg: Duquesne University Press.
- Malinowski, B. (1935). Coral gardens and their magic: A study of the methods of tilling the soil and of agricultural rites in the Trobriand Islands. Routledge.
- Masolo, D. A. (2002). Community, identity and the cultural space. Rue Descartes, 36, 21–51.
- Mamdani, M. (2012). Define and rule: Native as political identity (Kindle). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Mawere, M., & Nhemachena, A. (Eds.). (2016). Theory, knowledge, development and politics: What role for the academy in the sustainability of Africa?. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG Mawere, M., van Reisen, M., & van Stam, G. (2019). Language dominance in the framing of problems and solutions: The language of mobility. In M. van Reisen,
- M. Mawere, M. Stokmans, & K. A. Gebre-Egziabher (eds), Mobile Africa: Human Trafficking and the Digital Divide. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 527– 558.
- Mawere, M.,& van Stam, G.(2016). Ubuntu/unhu as communal love: Critical reflections on the sociology of ubuntu and communal life in sub-Saharan Africa. In M. Mawere & N. Marongwe (eds.),
- Violence, Politics and Conflict Management in Africa: Envisioning Transformation, Peace and Unity in the Twenty-First Century. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 287–304.
- Metz, T. (2011). An African theory of dignity and a relational conception of poverty. In J. W. de Gruchy (ed.), The Humanist Imperative in South Africa. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
- Metz, T. (2015). How the West was one: The Western as individualist, the African as communitarian.
- Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(11), 1175–1184.
- Mokgoro, Y. J. (1998). Ubuntu and the law in South Africa. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 1(1), 317–323. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/1998/v1i1a2897 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2013). The entrapment of Africa within the global colonial. Journal of Developing Societies, 29(4), 331–353.
- Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2016). #RHODESMUSTFALL. Nibbling at resilient colonialism in South Africa.
- Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG.
- Roest, G.-J. (2016). The Gospel in the Western context. A missiological reading of Christology in dialogue with Hendrikus Berkhof and Colin Gunton. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.
- Tönnies, F. (1887). Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag. Tischner, J. (2006).
- Filozofia Dramatu. Krakow: Znak.
- Tutu, D. (1999). No future without forgiveness (Kindle). London: Random House. van Stam, G. (2011).
- Placemark. Macha: Gertjan van Stam.
- van Stam, G. (2013). Information and knowledge transfer in the rural community of Macha, Zambia.
- The Journal of Community Informatics, 9(1).
- van Stam, G. (2017a). Reflections: A narrative on displacement of technology and meaning in an African place. Harare, Masvingo, Macha, Tilburg: Gertjan van Stam.
- van Stam, G. (2017b). The coming-of-age of super-colonialism. In M. Mawere & T. R. Mubaya (eds), African Studies in the Academy. The Cornucopia of Theory, Praxis and Transformation in Africa?.
- Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 13–40.
- van Stam, G. (2017c). Decolonising science: Switching the paradigm to ‘community.’ Invited Address, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa, 6 November 2017.
- van Stam, G. (2019). Method of research in a we-paradigm, lessons on living research in Africa. In P. Nielsen & H. C. Kimaro (eds), Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
- Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D. ICT4D 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Vol 552. Cham: Springer, pp. 72–82.
- van Stam, G. (2021). List of publications. https://gertjanvanstam.wordpress.com (accessed 16 March 2021)
- Waters, T. (2015). Gemeinschaft und gesellschaft societies. In Encyclopedia of Sociology (second edition).
- Wiredu, K. (1996). Cultural universals and particulars: An African perspective. on: Indiana University Press.
References
Appiah, K. A. (2018). The lies that bind. Rethinking identity. London: Profile Books. Asante, M. K.
(2017). The philosophy of Afrocentricity. In D. Afolayan & T. Falola (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 231–244. Bidwell, N. J.,
Reitmaier, T., Rey-Moreno, C., Roro, Z., Siya, M. J., & Dlutu-Siya, B. (2013). Timely relations in rural Africa. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the IFIP 9.4 Working Group on Social Implications of Computers in
Development Countries, 19–22 May 2013, Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Bigirimana, S. S. J. (2017). Beyond the thinking and doing dichotomy: Integrating individual and institutional rationality. Kybernetes, 46(9), 1597–1610.
Brumen, A. S. L. (2019). Beyond occidentalism: Critique of life in Europe by Tuaregs in Niger.
Anthropological Notebooks, 25(3), 5–22.
Burawoy, M. (2009). The extended case method. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Buskens, I.,& van Reisen, M.(2016).Theorising agency in ICT4D: Epistemic sovereignty and transformation-in-Connection. In M. Mawere (ed.), Underdevelopment, Development and the Future of Africa. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 394–432.
Giddens, A. (1986). The constitution of society. Malden: Polity Press.
Grosfoguel, R.(2012). Decolonizing Western uni-versalisms: Decolonial pluri-versalism from Aimé Césaire to the Zapatistas. TransModernity: Journal of Peripheraluction of the Luso-Hispanic World, (Spring), 88–104.
Gudynas, E. (2011). Buen vivir: Today’s tomorrow. Development, 54(4), 441–447. https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2011.86
Hlabangane, N.(2018). Can a methodology subvert the logics of its principal? Decolonial meditations. Perspectives on Science, 26(6), 658–693.
Jetten, J., Postmes, T., & McAuliffe, B. J. (2002). “We’re all individuals”: Group norms of individualism and collectivism, levels of identification and identity threat. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32(2), 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.65
Kapuściński, R. (2008). The other. (A. Lloyd-Jones, ed.) New York: Verso.
Levinas, E. (1961). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority. Pittsburg: Duquesne University Press.
Malinowski, B. (1935). Coral gardens and their magic: A study of the methods of tilling the soil and of agricultural rites in the Trobriand Islands. Routledge.
Masolo, D. A. (2002). Community, identity and the cultural space. Rue Descartes, 36, 21–51.
Mamdani, M. (2012). Define and rule: Native as political identity (Kindle). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Mawere, M., & Nhemachena, A. (Eds.). (2016). Theory, knowledge, development and politics: What role for the academy in the sustainability of Africa?. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG Mawere, M., van Reisen, M., & van Stam, G. (2019). Language dominance in the framing of problems and solutions: The language of mobility. In M. van Reisen,
M. Mawere, M. Stokmans, & K. A. Gebre-Egziabher (eds), Mobile Africa: Human Trafficking and the Digital Divide. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 527– 558.
Mawere, M.,& van Stam, G.(2016). Ubuntu/unhu as communal love: Critical reflections on the sociology of ubuntu and communal life in sub-Saharan Africa. In M. Mawere & N. Marongwe (eds.),
Violence, Politics and Conflict Management in Africa: Envisioning Transformation, Peace and Unity in the Twenty-First Century. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 287–304.
Metz, T. (2011). An African theory of dignity and a relational conception of poverty. In J. W. de Gruchy (ed.), The Humanist Imperative in South Africa. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
Metz, T. (2015). How the West was one: The Western as individualist, the African as communitarian.
Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(11), 1175–1184.
Mokgoro, Y. J. (1998). Ubuntu and the law in South Africa. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 1(1), 317–323. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/1998/v1i1a2897 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2013). The entrapment of Africa within the global colonial. Journal of Developing Societies, 29(4), 331–353.
Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2016). #RHODESMUSTFALL. Nibbling at resilient colonialism in South Africa.
Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG.
Roest, G.-J. (2016). The Gospel in the Western context. A missiological reading of Christology in dialogue with Hendrikus Berkhof and Colin Gunton. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.
Tönnies, F. (1887). Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. Leipzig: Fues’s Verlag. Tischner, J. (2006).
Filozofia Dramatu. Krakow: Znak.
Tutu, D. (1999). No future without forgiveness (Kindle). London: Random House. van Stam, G. (2011).
Placemark. Macha: Gertjan van Stam.
van Stam, G. (2013). Information and knowledge transfer in the rural community of Macha, Zambia.
The Journal of Community Informatics, 9(1).
van Stam, G. (2017a). Reflections: A narrative on displacement of technology and meaning in an African place. Harare, Masvingo, Macha, Tilburg: Gertjan van Stam.
van Stam, G. (2017b). The coming-of-age of super-colonialism. In M. Mawere & T. R. Mubaya (eds), African Studies in the Academy. The Cornucopia of Theory, Praxis and Transformation in Africa?.
Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, pp. 13–40.
van Stam, G. (2017c). Decolonising science: Switching the paradigm to ‘community.’ Invited Address, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa, 6 November 2017.
van Stam, G. (2019). Method of research in a we-paradigm, lessons on living research in Africa. In P. Nielsen & H. C. Kimaro (eds), Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D. ICT4D 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Vol 552. Cham: Springer, pp. 72–82.
van Stam, G. (2021). List of publications. https://gertjanvanstam.wordpress.com (accessed 16 March 2021)
Waters, T. (2015). Gemeinschaft und gesellschaft societies. In Encyclopedia of Sociology (second edition).
Wiredu, K. (1996). Cultural universals and particulars: An African perspective. on: Indiana University Press.