MODULE 2
“SANKOFA”: RE-INVENTING AFRIKA
The Sankofa symbol shows a
bird reaching back for an egg. It
is an indigenous Akan (Ghana)
metaphor of inspiration for
revival.
A Focus on the Homogeneity in the
Heterogeneity
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri 2016
CONTENTS OF PRESENTATION:









Introduction: “Sankofa” (Re-invention; Revival)
Introduction: Superficial Diversities
Ubuntu
The Human Factor
Superficial Diversity: Evidence
Superficial Commonalities: Evidence
Pre-colonial Deep Commonalities: Evidence
Colonial and Postcolonial Deep Commonalities:
Evidence
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION: “SANKOFA”
(Re-invention; Revival)

CENTRAL QUESTION:
Why is it necessary, and what strategies can we use, to
look beyond the diversities in contemporary African
countries and focus on their deep commonalities?

MAIN THESIS


“Sankof”: The re-invention or revival of pre-colonial deep
commonalities of Africa, particularly Human Factor
Competency (HFC) Education and its underlying UBUNTU
philosophy, could bridge the superficial diversities,
eliminate the deep colonial and postcolonial negative
commonalities, and thus re-reconstruct Africa to work for
Africans and their allies.
INTRODUCTION: “SANKOFA”
(Re-invention; Revival)



Main Arguement
Racialized enslavery and colonization of Africa and Africans
succeeded in creating and reproducing superficial diversities and
negative deep commonalities in African societies. This is mainly
because these invasive social engineering systems broke down the
high human factor competency (HFC) and its foundational
philosophy of UBUNTU in African societies, and consequently
unleashed the neoliberal ideologies of
 Scarcity of resources
 zero-sum power relations
 privatizing gains and socializing losses
 “TINA” (There Is No Alternative) syndrome
Therefore, the re-invention and application of high HFC and its
underlying UBUNTU philosophy in contemporary African societies
are likely to minimize, if not eliminate, the superficial diversities
that overshadow the deep negative commonalities and prevent
Africans and their allies from successfully re-creating their own
INTRODUCTION:
Superficial Diversities


Most non-African scholars of Africa tend to
emphasize the heterogeneity [diversity]of the
African continent and to imply that the
differences that exist outweigh the values and
institutions that Africans share in common, but
also that these differences are somehow
unbridgeable (Khapoya 2010, p. 21). Even some
Africans fall for this fallacy.
However, the facts are 1) many of these
diversities are superficial and therefore
bridgeable and 2) there are values, institutions
and characteristics that Africans and their
countries have in common at a deeper level.
INTRODUCTION:
Superficial Diversities

Edgar Mitchell (an Astronaut): Develop a global
mindset and realize that our differences are petty
and that a global consciousness can unite us.

In space: "You develop an instant global
consciousness, a people orientation, an
intense dissatisfaction with the state of
the world, and a compulsion to do
something about it. From out there on
the moon, international politics looks so
petty”
(https://www.bkconnection.com/blog/posts/five-lessons-from-five-
astronauts?utm_source=%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2BJS+February+5%2C+2015+Newsletter&utm_campaign=10
%2F2%2F14+communique&utm_medium=email
INTRODUCTION:
Superficial Diversities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWlF
4lrf1Fg
UBUNTU
UBUNTU

Ubuntu is a classical Afrikan, specifically
Nguni peoples of Eastern and Southern
Africa (Christian Gade 2012), concept and
humanistic philosophy that embodies
people's allegiances and empowering
relations with each other.
UBUNTU

The ubuntu world view [as a social force]
expresses an ontology [reality] that
addresses relations among people,
relations with the living and the nonliving,
and a spiritual existence that promotes
love and harmony among peoples and
communities (Chilisa 2012, p. 109)
UBUNTU: DESMOND TUTU’S
DEFINITION

…It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my
humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am
human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks
about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable,
warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and
available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do
not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a
proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong
in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when
others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed,
diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who
they are. The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling
them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to
dehumanize them (Tutu 2004).
NELSON MANDELA & DESMOND
TUTU’S COMMENTS ON UBUNTU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDc6G6
cjUt4
PRINCIPLES OF THE UBUNTU
PHILOSOPHY

There are three maxims that shape the Ubuntu philosophy:
 1. The first maxim asserts that 'To be human is to affirm
one's humanity by recognizing the humanity of others
and, on that basis, establish respectful human relations
with them.'


2. And 'the second maxim means that if and when one is
faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the
preservation of the life of another human being, then
one should opt for the preservation of life'.
3. The third 'maxim' as a 'principle deeply embedded in
traditional African political philosophy' says 'that the
king owed his status, including all the powers associated
with it, to the will of the people under him‘ (Samkange
1980).
 UBUNTU
AND HUMAN FACTOR
COMPETENCY
 Indigenous
Africa practiced the
Ubuntu wisdom with the knowledge
and skills-set of human factor
competency (HFC)
HUMAN FACTOR COMPETENCY (HFC)

Human Factor Competency (HFC)
constitutes peoples’ thinking and
humanitarian abilities that inspire and
facilitate their acquisition and application
of appropriate resources to connect with
our common humanity and the
environment emotionally, morally and
spiritually to make a sustainable difference
in society (Adu-Febiri 2014)
HUMAN FACTOR: WHAT IS IT?





1. More than Human capital: Economics focuses on Human Capital:
the labour dimension of the factors of production.
2. Beyond Human Agency: Sociology focuses on Human Agency:
Selective, synthesizing activities of human beings (Kottak and
Kozatis 2008, p. 44).
2. More than human consciousness: Jaffee focuses on Conscious
and reflective interaction of employees (excluding managers) of
organizations (Jaffee 2001: 22-28).
3. The human factor (HF) refers to “a spectrum of personality
characteristics that enable social, economic, and political
institutions to function and remain functional over time.” These
include human capital, spiritual capital, moral capital, aesthetic
capital, human abilities, and human potential (Senyo Adjibolosoo
(1995: 33 and 36).
4. Analyzing the existing definitions of the HF, Adu-Febiri and
Rubin (2004) concluded that these definitions are rigid and
narrow. Hence their redefinition of the HF as the human capacity
and conduct resulting from a complex interaction of knowledges,
skills, habits, principles, policies, institutional structures and
normative practices that work for the betterment or debasement
of the individuals, organizations, institutions and society.
THE HUMAN FACTOR AS A DYNAMIC SET OF HUMAN
QUALITIES (Pierre Bourdieu 1977, Adjibolosoo 1995, Kevin Thomson 1998,
Adu-Febiri 2011: Apart from Adjibolosoo, the other authors don’t refer to the
Human Factor concept their views on the human factor are partial )
HUMNAN QUALITY
COMPONENTS
Human Capital (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Knowledge and skills used to enhance human productivity,
and have market value.
Cultural Capital (Pierre Bourdieu 1977)
Values, beliefs, traditions, customs, practices/rituals, skills,
knowledge, attitude, education, and language to connect to
people, community, institutions, material world, and life.
Social Capital (Coleman 1990)
Durable network of more or less institutionalized
relationships; group membership, relationships, networks.
Spiritual Capital (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Insight into human condition, the world, and cosmos
beyond the five senses; advanced capabilities to create,
invent, innovate, and connect to the universal laws and
principles of human life.
Moral Capital (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Principles relating to right and wrong; good and
bad; ethics; conscience.
Emotional Capital (Thomson 1998, AduFebiri 2011)
Feelings; sentiments; affective connections to self,
others, community, and the world.
Aesthetic Capital (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Sense and love for beauty; passion for the arts that
connect to people and the physical environment.
Human Abilities (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Acquired and naturally endowed abilities beyond
skills and knowledge; talents.
Human Potential (Adjibolosoo 1995)
Unused dimensions of the HF
HUMAN FACTOR COMPETENCY (HFC)

Human factor Competency education
equips, engages and inspires people to
develop deep emotional, moral, and
spiritual connections [this is the DNA of
sustainable social relationships] with our
common humanity, the environment and
the cosmos (Adu-Febiri 2014).
HUMAN FACTOR COMPETENCY (HFC)

Without the reinvention of high HFC in African
societies/countries, the politics of diversity will
make superficial heterogeneities (diversities)
drown the deep positive homogeneities
(commonalities) which are the foundation and
hope of Africa’s desire to eliminate the
colonial/postcolonial negative deep
commonalities and pave the way for African
renaissance and sustainable development.
 SUPERFICIAL
DIVERSITY
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY


Differences that are only of degree rather
than in kind.
These are inconsequential Differences:

Differences that don’t matter much to human
and societal well-being.

The fact of diversity is not the problem; it is
the politics of diversity that exaggerates
superficial diversities which is the problem
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY:
“Superficial Differences Exaggerated” (President Nkrumah,
1963)
 Economic Diversity
 Level of Economic development
 Political Diversity
 Level of Political Stability
 Ideological Diversity
 Capitalism – Communism Continuum
 Colonial Diversity
 Ties to former colonial masters
 Ethnic [tribal?] Diversity
 Core values, beliefs, and practices
 Cultural Diversity




Inheritance practices
Marriage and family practices
Language
Technology
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY

Economic Diversity


Level of Economic development
There is not much substantive difference
between the “big” economies of Nigeria,
Kenya, Botswana, Libya and South Africa
on the one hand and that of the small
economies of the other African countries
on the other.
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY

Political Diversity


Level of Political Stability
Does the political stability in Botswana,
Ghana, and Senegal make a big difference
in the lifeworlds of their citizens than that
of the citizens in politically unstable
African countries such as Central African
Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Somalia, and Sudan? No!
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY

Ideological Diversity


Capitalism – Communism Continuum
How substantive is the difference in the
leadership practices and the lifeworlds of the
citizens of African countries that espouse the
neoliberal or free market ideology (Kenya,
Nigeria, Ghana), socialist ideology (Libya,
Burkina Faso, Muzambique), monarchical
ideology (Morocco, Lesotho, Swaziland), and
mixed ideologies (Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe)?
Not much!
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY

Colonial Diversity


Ties to former colonial masters
Is there any substantive difference in the
contemporary political, economic and social
experiences among African countries who
remain neo-colonially tied to Britain (Ghana,
Nigeria, Kenya), France (Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire,
DRC), the United States (Liberia), and those
African countries who claim to have severed
their neo-colonial ties (Libya), and the ones that
don’t have colonial ties (Ethiopia)? No!
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY
Ethnic [Tribal?] Diversity:
 There are so many similarities in the
core values, beliefs, and practices of
the various ethnic [tribal?] groups in
Africa that tend to render ethnic
diversity superficial.


The significance of “tribalism” in Africa is more
political than the fact of diversity. It is a
“superficial difference exaggerated” (President
Kwame Nkrumah 1965 speech)
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY

Cultural Diversity




Descent
Language
Is there any big difference in the quality of life in
the African societies that practice patrilineal
inheritance (Yoruba, Berber, Luo), matrilineal
inheritance (Ashanti, Bakongo), bilateral
inheritance (Fanti, Hausa)? No!
To what extent is linguistic diversity of Africa a
barrier to migration, interaction, and social
integration of the peoples on the continent? Not
much!
SUPERFICIAL DIVERSITY, BUT
CONSEQUENTIAL


The similarities in the social-cultural
conditions of Africans, the physical
environment in which they live, their past
and contemporary experiences, and their
collective needs tend to render as
superficial the diversities in Africa that
some scholars, development practitioners
and activists highlight.
The socially constructed diversity in Africa,
however, is not inconsequential.
POLITICS OF DIVERSITY:
“DIVIDE AND CONQUER”






The socially constructed superficial
diversities in Africa have serious
implications for:
Political Integration
Political Stability
Economies of Scale
Social Integration and solidarity
Human Rights protection
COMMONALITIES
SUPERFICIAL COMMONALITIES

These are Colonial Constructs such
as:
 “All African women are oppressed”:
 Gender
region
 “Africa
 Many
relations differ from region to
is the poorest continent”:
regions of Africa are super rich
in natural resources.
DEEP COMMONALITIES














Africans’ feelings towards one another
Marriage
Collectivist Ethos/Extended Family
Significance of marriage and having children
Marriage arrangements and payments
Respect for old people
Spirituality
The Youth Culture
The Economy
The State
The Human Factor
Politics of Diversity
Totemism
Gender Gap and Income Gap

PRE-COLONIAL DEEP COMMONALITIES
PRE-COLONIAL DEEP
COMMONALITIES









a) Africans’ feelings towards one another
b) Marriage
 Significance of marriage and having children
 Marriage arrangements and payments
c) Collectivist Ethos/Extended Family
d) Respect for old people
e) Spirituality
f) Relationships
g) Sacredness of life
h) Hospitality
i) Totemism
a) FEELINGS TOWARD ONE
ANOTHER

There seems to be a deep affinity among
African’s that is not easily amenable to
quantitative measurement or description.
That is, somehow Africans from different
parts of the continent tend to be very
much at ease when interacting with each
other either on the continent or in the
diaspora.
b) MARRIAGE



1. POLYGAMY:
Polygyny is practiced in all African
countries/societies where it has not been
outlawed by legislation (Khapoya 2010).
 Nigeria: 30% of marriages are polygynous
 Benin, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya,
Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and the DRC:
Polygynous marriages range from 20.4% to
36.4%
Polyandry is absent from all African
countries/societies (Khapoya 2010).
b) MARRIAGE

2. TRANSFER OF BRIDEWEALTH
All marriages in African societies
involve the transfer of bridewealth
(cattle, goats, sheep, money, drinks,
labour, etc.) from the groom’s family
to Bride’s family.
 Dowry, as gift to the bride from her
own family, is virtually non-existent in
African societies.

b) MARRIAGE

3. SIGNIFICANCE OF MARRIAGE AND
HAVING CHILDREN
 African
societies generally elevate
the status of a married person
with children above that of
unmarried persons and married
persons without children.
c) COLLECTIVIST ETHOS


AFRICAN SOCIETIES ARE COLLECTIVIST
SOCIETIES:
 Community-focused:
A popular African proverb comes to mind here to express the
African sense of community. It says: "Go the way that many
people go; if you go alone, you will have reason to lament”. The
African idea of security and its value depends on personal
identification with and within the community. Communalism in
Africa is a system that is both suprasensible and material in its
terms of reference. Both are found in a society that is believed by
the Africans to be originally "godmade" because it transcends the
people who live in it now, and it is "Man-made" because it cannot
be culturally understood independent of those who live in it now.
Therefore, the authentic African is known and identified in, by and
through his community. The community is the custodian of the
individual, hence he must go where the community goes
c) COLLECTIVIST ETHOS


Language, Proverbs and Community:
For the African, if an individual is not able to
communicate with the native language, the
individual, ideologically, puts himself outside the
community. Speaking a language, does not, in
the African sense, depend on the peripheral
knowledge of the language. It depends on the
ability to express oneself adequately in the
proverbs and idioms of the language
community. These proverbs, idioms, riddles are
based and determined by the culture of the
community (http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf.)
c) COLLECTIVIST ETHOS

THE EXTENDED FAMILY:


The extended family is the most prevalent
family system in African countries/societies.
Marriage is a relationship between
two extended families than just
between a man and a woman.
c) COLLECTIVIST ETHOS
LOOSE PARENTAL POSSESSIVENESS
OF CHILDREN:
 In African societies children do not
belong to parents only, but also
belong to community of relatives.
 The kind of parental possessiveness
towards children that one finds in the
Western world is very rare in African
countries/societies.

d) RELATIONSHIPS


At the African grassroots, relationships take
precedence over all other things.
Life in the African community is based on the philosophy
of live-and-let-live. This principle is based on the concept
of the ‘Clan vital’ and applies to a concrete community...
Chieka lfemesia sees Humane Living among an African
people as a concept which is defined as “...a way of life
emphatically centred upon human interests and values;
a mode of living evidently characterized by empathy,
and by consideration and compassion for human beings”
(http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf)
e) DEFERENCE TO OLD PEOPLE
 Old
people are respected for their
age and wisdom presumed to
come with age.
 Young people usually don’t call
older people by their names but
by kinship status.
f) SPIRITUALITY
Africans have a deep sense of their
connectivity with their kin groups—
ancestors, the living and the
unborn—the environment and the
cosmos.
 Syncretism is deeply rooted in subSaharan African communities.

g) Sacredness of Life

Furthermore, the sacredness associated with life goes to explain the
rigidity with which the Africans treat and regard sexual intercourse and
the sex organs. In fact sex taboos and the demand for virginity before
marriage stems from the fact that Africans believe that: “The blood of
virginity is the symbol that life has been preserved, that the spring of life
has not already been flowing wastefully, and that both the girl and her
relatives have preserved the sanctity of human reproduction”. Also, "The
sanctity of human reproduction" derives from the sanctity of life in the
African concept. This idea of sanctity of life makes it an abomination for
anyone, under any circumstances to take his own life. Suicide was never
permitted. Punishment for it was such that the person was not buried
since his corpse was also believed to be abominable to mother earth. The
Africans prize life above every other thing. The Igbo saying: Nduka - life is
supreme - is expressive of the African regard for life. Any form of
materialism which ultimately leads to the destruction of life is alien and
destructive of the African culture and concept of human life and should
therefore be avoided (http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf.)
.
h) Hospitality

The African sense of hospitality is one of the African
values that is still quite alive. The Africans easily
incorporate strangers and give them lands to settle
hoping that they would go one day, and the land would
revert to the owner... Dr. Festus Okafor has summarised
the African attitude to strangers thus: “In traditional
African culture, whenever there is food to be taken,
everyone present is invited to participate even if the
food was prepared for far less number of people without
anticipating the arrival of visitors. It would be a height of
incredible bad manners for one to eat anything however
small, without sharing it with anyone else present, or at
least expressing the intention to do so.
(http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf)

COLONIAL & POSTCOLONIAL DEEP
COMMONALITIES
COLONIAL & POSTCOLONIAL
DEEP COMMONALITIES






A) Youth Culture
B) The Economy
C) The State
D) Disenfranchisement, Suffering, Pain
and Poverty
E) Human Factor Decay
F) Gender Gap and Income Gap
A) YOUTH CULTURE
 The
“Cheetah” generation is
virtually westernized:
 Westernized youth culture is
growing in all countries of Africa.
B) THE ECONOMY
 1.
MERCANTILE CAPITALISM:
 African countries engage in buy
and sell economic activities at the
expense of manufacturing.
B) THE ECONOMY
 2.
PRIMARY SECTOR:
 A focus on agricultural and
extractive industries at the
expense of manufacturing.
B) THE ECONOMY

3. THE INFORMAL ECONOMY:
African economies have very large
informal sectors where a large
percentage of the population engage
in petty trading, crafts, fishing, small
scale trades and vocational activities,
etc., that are not captured by the
taxation system.
 This sector is what really sustains
African societies.

B) THE ECONOMY
4. THE FORMAL SECTOR:
 This parasitic sector only accumulates
money and properties for the political
and bureaucratic elite.
 It is the battleground of the elites
creating repression and political
instability—circulation of the elite—in
African countries.

C) THE STATE
 VAMPIRE
STATES; FAILED
STATES
 African countries are operated by
state functionaries such as
politicians and bureaucrats that
convert state resources into
personal wealth.
D) Disenfranchisement, Suffering, Pain and
Poverty.

Beyond the racialized and superficial
cultural diversities, the experiences of
slavery, colonization, westernization,
globalization, and the vampire/failed state
have created for most Africans shared
history and experiences of
disenfranchisement, suffering, pain and
poverty.
E) HUMAN FACTOR DECAY


HUMAN FACTOR DECAY: ABSENCE OF
PRACTICE OF UBUNTU
Most African elites, particularly politicians,
bureaucrats, professionals, and business
tycoons, lack the mental, emotional,
moral, and spiritual connections to their
countries and their communities. They are
therefore bankrupt in relational
accountability, responsibility, dedication,
commitment, caring, sharing, and
selflessness, beyond the extended family.
F) Gender Gap and Income
Gap


Gender gap: The deep gap in educational
and political representations.
Income Gap: The deep gap between the
Rich and the Poor; the gap between the
Privileged and the Oppressed

These are postcolonial diversities that pose
serious problems for Africa and Africans.
Africa needs high HFC index and its
underlying UBUNTU philosophy to resolve
these problems.
CONCLUSION


Projects/programs and actions that focus on the
superficial diversities of Africa such as race,
ethnicity, language, colonial history, political
ideology, etc., weaken Africa and Africans,
making communities vulnerable to neo-colonial
social engineering. Thus preventing Africans to
engage in creating their own capacities to initiate
and do their own development.
“Sankofa”: A focus on the revival and enhancement of
indigenous deep commonalities—using the UBUNTU
philosophy and HFC of pre-colonial Africa--would help
eliminate the superficial diversities and the colonial deep
commonalities that work against Afrika and most
Afrikans.
References


Adjibolosoo, Senyo. 1995. The Human Factor in Developing Africa. London: Praeger.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2014. “Educated for a World that Does not Exist: Issues in
Africa’s Education and Training Programs”. Review of Human Factor Studies. Volume
20 Number 1, pp. 30-72.







Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2011. “Inviting Emotions, Morals and Spirit into Our Classrooms:
A Sociological Perspective on the Human Factor Model of Education”, Review of
Human Factor Studies, Volume 17, Number 1., pp. 40-78.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2001. “Human Factor Competence and the Performance
Effectiveness of Hospitality Professionals.” In Senyo Adjibolosoo, ed., Portraits of
Behavior: The Human Factor in Action. Lanham.
Ayittey, George. 2007. “Cheetahs vs Hippos”.
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html
Kaphoya, Vincent B. 2013. The African Experience. Boston: Pearson
Nkrumah, Kwame. 1963. “Superficial Differences Exaggerated”. Speech to leaders of
Africa’s independence/freedom fighters. Addis Ababa: OAU Summit.
Samkange, Stanlake. 1980. Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A. Zimbabwe Indigenous
Political Philosophy. Graham Pub.
Tutu, Desmond. 2004. God Has A Dream. London: Doubleday