Abstract
Armstrong (1993, 2009), Ferguson (1995) and others have convincingly
demonstrated that different people conceptualise different god ideas to suit their
diverse socio-cultural contexts. Their work laid the necessary groundwork for
this study which juxtaposed god and Ubuntu constructs, affirming the fact that
people are natural social constructivists involved in a continuous process of
conceptualising ideas (ideologies/theologies) that work for them and give
meaning to their contexts. Extending the ongoing construction of new god ideas
also to that of Ubuntu, different sets of ideas of Ubuntu were investigated. This
proved that this basic idea of African “humanness” similarly becomes
concretised within diverse interest groups. Thus the thesis of this study as
reflected in its title, “The end of essentialist gods andUbuntu: A feminist critical
investigation” was substantiated.
Two research methods, one general (social constructivism) and one specific
(feminism) were employed to conduct the study. Social constructivism is a
theory developed to understand human interactions and consequent ideas. It
has two essential elements known as philosophical idealism and philosophical
materialism; and culture and context form its basis. Insights of the notion of
philosophical idealism were employed to analyse the ideationist constructs of
religion (gods) and of Ubuntu. Whereas social-constuctivism served as the
broad overarching hermeneutical tool, feminism was used as the specific
interpretive framework to critically scrutinise mostly patriarchally biased
conceptualisations of god and Ubuntu...
D.Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)