On February 29, 5:30PM-7PM, Dr. Sindiso MnisiWeeks will speak about “Ubuntu as Alter-Native Justice” at Shaw Hall on the UMass Amherst Mount Ida Campus in Newton, as part of the university’s faculty speaker series. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP by calling 617-243-1119 or emailing jhreynolds@umass.edu.
All of humanity comes “out of Africa” – at least, genetically. Yet the foundational role of the “mother
continent” is muted in conventional understandings of social justice, which draw their inspiration from
European-derived ideas and sources. The indigenous African concept, Ubu-Ntu, captures the worldview
that “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” (a person is a person in, through, and because of other people).
Translated into English, the hyphenated “alter-native” justice represents another possibility and thus
challenges norms drawn from deeply flawed colonial histories about “the Natives.” In her talk, Dr. MnisiWeeks will describe Ubu-Ntu’s global promise.
Dr. MnisiWeeks is Associate Professor in the Legal Studies Program in the Political Science
Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Adjunct Associate Professor in Public Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She previously worked in the Rural Women’s Action Research
Programme at UCT, combining community-based participatory research, advocacy, and policy work on
women, property, governance, and dispute management under indigenous law and the South African Constitution.
