Individual and Community Relationships in Postmodern Africa
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Date
2022
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John Archers Publishers Ltd
Abstract
The notion that man is necessarily a being with others is a belief that is deeply rooted in African ontology. African cultures strongly emphasise that a person can only be a person with the aid of other persons. For this reason, individualism which is a major trait of modernism is alien to autochthonous African culture. It is replete in literature that the influx of individualistic tendencies is straining communal and inter-subjective life. Other-centeredness and effective individual and community relationships which have served as strong means of religious advancements, economic growth, cultural and moral development in the society are experiencing a dearth. These waning values along with relativism are the observable tenets of post-modernism. This paper conceives of a means of cultivating an effective relationship between the individual and the community in a post-modern Africa. It is of the opinion that modernism which has contributed immensely to the civilisation of Africa is in some ways changing the face of communal life negatively. The paper investigates how the tenets of post-modernism can initiate a reversal of this negative trend through the restoration of lost values such as; togetherness, solidarity, care, and concern for others. The paper employs the qualitative method of research, involving interviews, focus groups, content analysis on the one hand; and using philosophical tools of conceptual elucidation and critical analysis on the other hand. It employs Donald Davidson’s Principle of ‘Rational Accommodation’ which proposes ambiguity for the greater goal of understanding issues which might prove useful in the final analysis.