Abstract
The romanticized rereading of a communal past is a central theme for a considerable part of critical thinking in the global periphery of capitalism. Concepts based on a holistic and communitarian vision of the world, extended family, and community, mixed with elements of European political philosophy, are recurrent. The idea of a shared communal heritage that ensures a direct transition to an egalitarian society, without the need to go through the trials of classical capitalist development, seems to be the common reason for peripheral critical thinking. These proposals assume a specific relationship with historical time: they project a future articulated with the past. It suggests that a common perception is that if something was possible in the past, it may be possible in the future. This kind of propositions is analysed in this chapter comparing two original projects of development, proposed in several countries in Latin America and Africa through two key concepts: the Sumak Kawsay/Suma Qamaña (good living) in Latin America and Ubuntu in Africa.
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Notes
- 1.
Sometimes the expression ñande reko is used as a complement, which could be understood as “harmonious life”. Generally, the expression appears as a synonym for sumak kawsay or suma qamaña in political speeches, but it does not necessarily have the same meaning for Guarani Indian intellectuals or for specialists of lifestyles of this nation. In addition, the concepts are currently used by ethnic groups with which they had no previous relations, such as the Guaranis themselves, the Shuar, the Afro-Equatorians and even the indigenous Mapuche and Maia movements (these more distant from its geographic origin).
- 2.
I have noted a single reference from before the 2000s and that proposes ideas for this notional body: it comes from the book compiled by the scientist Simón Yampara with the title Naciones autóctonos originárias: vivir y convivialir in tolerancia y diferencia, published in 1991 (Yampara 1991).
- 3.
There are others with meanings deemed similar by many specialists: umunthu (chewa), umundu (yawo), bunhu (tsonga), unhu / hunhu (shona), botho (sotho and tswana), umuntu (zulu), vhutu (venda), yumunhu (changani), utu (swahili)
- 4.
Not enough can be said about this quote that comes from John Mbiti’s classic work African Religions and Philosophy, published in 1969 (Mbiti 1969).
- 5.
There are also conservative or reactionary uses - particularly in the case of ubuntu, which gradually assumes a sense of moral regeneration or entrepreneurial reorganization. But this lies outside the limits of this text which deals with concepts taken from critical thinking.
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Pereira da Silva, F. (2021). The Community and the Paths of Critical Thinking in the Global Periphery: The Cases of sumak kawsay/suma qamaña and Ubuntu. In: Bourqia, R., Sili, M. (eds) New Paths of Development. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56096-6_15
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