Abstract
The chapter defends a lesser-known formulation of the concept of human dignity understood in terms of seriti in Sesotho culture. I analyse two Sesotho proverbs, motho ha se ntja ha a lahloe and o se re ho moroa, moroa toe (Moroa is singular for Baroa (Bushman). Baroa also known as San or Khoi-San are indigenous hunter gatherer people and earliest inhabitants of modern day Lesotho and much of precolonial southern African. Many of their settlements can be traced to many of their paintings that can still be found in several caves in Lesotho today. Baroa lived in many of places that today are inhabited by Basotho people and much of Sesotho speaking cultures in Southern African. Descendants of Baroa can still be found today in parts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, among others.) as quintessential expressions of a long-standing tradition to respect the dignity of motho (a person). I use these proverbs as vantage points for analysis to reflect on the Basotho perspective of human dignity, which is both inwards looking and outwards looking. I contend that this account is an attractive interpretation of human dignity and is relevant first in informing policy development to address contemporary challenges of inclusiveness around pressing issues of gay and lesbian rights, migration, xenophobia and the recent rise of anti-immigrants’ sentiments. Second, this perspective can enrich contemporary conceptions of human dignity underpinning current international norms and standards. The chapter contends that the concept of seriti offers a fresh understanding and framing of the concept of human dignity worth consideration as an avenue for further study of the concept in ways that resonate with African cultures and, more specifically, African ethics and the key concept of botho (ubuntu).
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Notes
- 1.
This is the culture of the Basotho people of present-day Lesotho in Southern Africa.
- 2.
I am aware that there is ‘no one single African concept of human dignity because there are many different and often complementary conceptions (ACLARS 2019: para. 1).
- 3.
The choice of these proverbs is because their interpretation connotes a cluster of uses of human dignity, we find in the literature that are connected to the ideas of inalienability, universality and unconditionality of the status of motho as a human that occupy special places among other created beings as a species (Vellem 2013: 315; Riley n.d.) and the required relationships following from this.
- 4.
In this chapter this concept will be used interchangeable with dignity.
- 5.
I am thinking here of international instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.
- 6.
The word motho in Sesotho culture has two meanings, it can mean a human being, i.e., a being that is of human species. This definition of the term has no moral meaning. The second meaning with is moral is where motho describes a human being that shows and displays qualities of botho and good moral character. Here the term is use in its first sense.
- 7.
This means that far from consciously reflecting a truly global articulation of global norms and standards protecting human dignity, current human rights standards, which are one of the key instruments through which human dignity is championed today, reflect the bias towards Western culture and thinking. It is for this reason that for instance, and hence often the emphasis they make reflects conception of self and the values and views of dominant cultures of the West and Global North.
- 8.
The paradox of this is with its inherent manipulative relationships, that individuals get involved in, which in turn undermines the rights and dignity of the other, is well argued by MacIntyre in his description of the predicament of that very modern creature, the autonomous moral agent (MacIntyre 2007: 69–70).
- 9.
I am aware that seriti at another level is used to describes a person who commands respects and is thus regarded as dignified (Vellem 2013: 317)
- 10.
In Sesotho culture, life is understood in deeply religious terms which unlike in the modern western thinking there is no separation between the sacred and profane, or faith and social life, which is influenced by a belief in ancestors. See Kasenene (1994) and Manyeli (1992: 46). Thus, in their spirituality Basotho regard human life as sacred and this is implied in these proverbs.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
The word ‘sehole’ in Sesotho language refers to a crippled person (adult or child) sometime referred to as “sebupuoa” which denote a creature of God’s creation.
- 14.
For more on Basotho consciousness of deity and the supreme being see (Manyeli 1992).
- 15.
The proverb depicts a surrendering person in a battle who raises their arms mimicking and the horns of a cow, and in terms of traditional convention this act, evokes a plea to the victors to spare human life. Hence, invocation let your spears not pass over the life of cow metaphorically symbolised by the surrendering person) and take that of a human being by killing the surrender (Sekese 1994: 112).
- 16.
The premise of this of this injunction is not too dissimilar to that underpinning the Kantian idea of treating every human being as an end not as a means.
- 17.
- 18.
I use the term outsiders interchangeably with foreigners and in its broadest sense to signify any form of negative exclusion of others from membership of particular social grouping especially where this involves disregarding and undermining the dignity of others.
- 19.
Violations of dignity ordinarily conjures active and direct acts that dehumanises a person and often cause harm including physical. In contrast omissions of respect for dignity, denotes indifference and an attitude that refuses to recognise human dignity of other, such as found in some social attitudes to migrants and foreigners.
- 20.
I am thinking here of recent acts of xenophobia in places like South Africa where foreign African nationals were not treated with dignity by the attacks they suffered, including by recent acts targeting other people from most African countries. banner of movement. In Europe we see growing anti-immigrant sentiments and rise of nationalist movements where the dignity of migrants and refugees is often not acknowledged in public discourse.
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Mokolatsie, C.N. (2023). Motho Ha Se Ntja Ha Lahloe: The Philosophy of Human Dignity in Sesotho Culture. In: Molefe, M., Allsobrook, C. (eds) Human Dignity in an African Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37341-1_12
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