Resumo

In recent years, increasing awareness has been drawn to the flaws of culturally irrelevant human rights education. Several factors, including a general lack of culturally appropriate approach, lack of integration of indigenous values, failure to provide human rights education that is responsive to community perspectives have created a gap between the conceptualisation and practice of human rights by indigenous communities. So widespread is this feeling that parents are beginning to abdicate their roles of instilling values to their children and are blaming government for introducing human rights education which encourages unacceptable behaviour in communities.

The presentation is a critical discussion and analysis of the key tenets of ubuntu. It also spells out the three main critiques of ubuntu, that is, it is vague and admits of any interpretation, it is collectivist in nature and it is based on anachronism.  It concludes by explaining how ubuntu tenets can be utilised as an axiological framework for human rights education in South Africa. The presentation is based on fieldwork observation, particularly among women, in the Province of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.


Nota biográfica

Nokulunga Queeneth  Mkabela-Castiano  is an academic, author and a public servant in a political office. Currently she is the Honourary Professor at the University of South Africa, in the Institute for African Renaissance. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the accredited International Journal Indilinga: African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. She is the General Manager of the Democracy Support Services Unit within the Office of the Premier in KwaZulu-Natal Province South Africa.  She is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the Gender, Disability, Children, Senior Citizens, Human Rights Protection and Ombudsman Programmes for the whole Province of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa


Atividade no âmbito do Núcleo de Estudos sobre Democracia, Cidadania e Direito (DECIDe) e do projeto de investigação ALICE - Espelhos estranhos, lições imprevistas: definindo para a Europa um novo modo de partilhar as experiências do mundo