PERSON AND COMMUNITY IN AFRICA N

TRADITIONAL THOUGH T

Ifeanyi A . Menkit i

My aim in this paper is to articulate a certain conceptio n

of the person found in African traditional thought . I shal l
attempt do this in an idiom, or language, familiar to moder n
philosophy . In this regard it is helpful to begin by pointing to a
few significant contrasts between this African conception of th e
person and various other conceptions found in Western thought .

The first contrast worth noting is that, whereas mos t

Western views of man abstract this or that feature of the lon e
individual and then proceed to make it the defining or essentia l
characteristic which entities aspiring to the description " man "
must have, the African view of man denies that persons can b e
defined by focusing on this or that physical or psychologica l
characteristic of . the lone individual . Rather, man is defined b y
reference to the environing community . As John Mbiti notes, th e
African view of the person can be summed up in this statement :
" I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am . " '

One obvious conclusion to be drawn from this dictum i s

that, as far as Africans are concerned, the reality of the commu-
nal world takes precedence over the reality of individual lif e
histories, whatever these may be . And this primacy is meant t o
apply not only ontologically, but also in regard to epistemi c
accessibility . It is in rootedness in an ongoing human communit y

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IFEANYI A . MENKITI Person and Community in African Traditional Thought

that the individual comes to see himself as man, and it is by firs t

knowing this community as a stubborn perduring fact of th e In light of the above observations I think it would b e
psychophysical world that the individual also comes to kno w accurate to say that whereas Western conceptions of man go fo r
himself as a durable, more or less permanent, fact of this world . what might be described as a minimal definition of the person--
In the language of certain familiar Western disciplines, we coul d -whoever has soul, or rationality, or will, or memory, is seen a s
say that not only the biological set through which the individua l entitled to the description ' person ' --the African view reache s
is capable of identification by reference to a communal gene pool , instead for what might be described as a maximal definition of th e
but also the language which he speaks and which is no smal l person . As far as African societies are concerned, personhood i s
factor in the constitution of his mental dispositions and attitudes , something at which individuals could fail, at which they could b e
belong to this or that specific human group . What is more, th e competent or ineffective, better or worse . Hence, the Africa n
sense of self-identity which the individual comes to posses s emphasized the rituals of incorporation and the overarchin g
cannot be made sense of except by reference to these collectiv e necessity of learning the social rules by which the communit y
facts . And thus, just as the navel points men to umbilical link- lives, so that what was initially biologically given can come t o
age with generations preceding them, so also does language an d attain social self-hood, i . e . , become a person with all the inbuil t
its associated social rules point them to a mental commonwealt h excellencies implied by the term .
with others whose life histories encompass the past, present, an d
future . That full personhood is not perceived as simply given a t
the very beginning of one ' s life, but is attained after one is wel l
A crucial distinction thus exists between the Africa n along in society, indicates straight away that the older an indi-
view of man and the view of man found in Western thought : i n vidual gets the more of a person he becomes . As an Igbo prov-
the African view it is the . community which defines the person a s erb has it, " What an old man sees sitting down, a young ma n
person, not some isolated static quality of rationality, will, o r cannot see standing up . " The proverb applies, it' must be added ,
memory . not just to the incremental growth of wisdom as one ages ; it als o
applies to the ingathering of the other excellencies considered t o
This brings us to the second point of contrast betwee n be definitive of full personhood . What we have here then is bot h
the two views of man, namely, the processual nature of being i n a claim that a qualitative difference exists between old an d
African thought--the fact that persons become persons only afte r young, and a claim that some sort of ontological progressio n
a process of incorporation . Without incorporation into this o r exists between infancy and ripening old age . Ohe does not jus t
that community, individuals are considered to be mere danglers t o take on additional features, one also undergoes fundamenta l
whom the description ' person ' does not fully apply . For person- changes at the very core of one's being .
hood is something which has to be achieved, and is not give n
simply because one is born of human seed . This is perhaps th e Now, admittedly, the whole idea of ontological progres-
burden of the distinction which Placide Tempels' native informant s sion is something in need of elaboration . Offhand it may not sit
saw fit to emphasize to him--i .e . the distinction between a munt u very well in the minds of those unaccustomed to the view o f
mutupu (a man of middling importance) and muntu muku/umpe ( a personhood being presented here . The temptation might b e
powerful man, a man with a great deal of force) . Because th e strong in some quarters to retort that either an entity is a
word " muntu" includes an idea of excellence, of plenitude of forc e person or it is not ; that there can be no two ways about it . I n
at maturation, the expression ' ke muntu po ' , which translates a s response to this misgiving let me note that the notion of a n
' this is not a man', 2 may be used in reference to a human being . acquisition of personhood is supported by the natural tendency i n
Thus, it is not enough to have before us the biological organism , many languages, English included, of referring : to children an d
with whatever rudimentary psychological characteristics are see n new-borns as It . Consider this expression : " We rushed the chil d
as attaching to it . We must also conceive of this organism a s to the hospital but before we arrived It was dead . " We woul d
going through a long process of social and ritual transformatio n never say this of a grown person . Of course, with a child o r
until it attains the full complement of excellencies seen as trul y new-born, reference could also be made by use of a persona l
definitive of man . And during this long process of attainment , pronoun, with the statement reading instead : " We rushed th e
the community plays a vital role as catalyst and as prescriber o f child to the hospital but before we arrived he/she was dead . "
norms . This personalizing option does not, however, defeat the poin t

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IFEANYI A . MENKITI

of a person ' s life as one of " collective immortality " (in contrast t o
presently being made . For the important thing is that we hav e the " personal immortality " that marks the stage of ancestral exis-
the choice of an it for referring to children and new-borns , tence, a stage in which the departed are remembered by name b y
whereas we have no such choice in referring to older persons . the living, and do genuinely form a community of their own) . "

The fact, then, that a flexibility of referential- designa- But the expression " collective immortality " is misleadin g
tion exists in regard to the earliest stages of human life, but no t and problematic . At the stage of total dis-incorporation marke d
in regard to the more established later stages, is something wel l by the term, the mere its that the dead have now become canno t
worth keeping in mind . What we have is not just a distinction o f form a collectivity of any kind ; and, since by definition no on e
language but a distinction laden with ontological significance . I n now remembers them, there is not much sense in saying of the m
the particular context of Africa, anthropologists have long note d that they are immortal either . They no longer have an adequat e
the relative absence of ritualized grief when the death of a youn g sense of self ; and having lost their names, lose also the means b y
child occurs, whereas with the death of an older person, th e which they could be immortalized . Hence, it is better to refer t o
burial ceremony becomes more elaborate and the grief more ritual- them by the term the nameless dead, rather than . designate thei r
ized--indicating a significant difference in the conferral of ontolo- stage of existence by such a term as "collective immortality, "
gical status . thereby opening up the possibility of describing them a s
"collective immortals, " which certainly they are not . This emen-
Before moving away from the foregoing observation s dation apart, however, Mbiti is quite right when . he states tha t
made in support of the notion of personhood as acquired, let m e for African man no ontological progression is possible beyond th e
note, in addition, that in African societies the ultimate terminatio n spirit world : " Beyond the state of the spirits, men, cannot go o r
of personal existence is also marked by an ' it ' designation ; thus , develop . This is the destiny of man as far as African ontology i s
the same depersonalized 'reference marking the beginning o f concerned ." '
personal existence also marks the end of that existence . Afte r
birth the individual goes through the different rites of incorpora- The point can be made then, that a significant symmetr y
tion, including those of initiation at puberty time, before becom- exists between the opening phase of an individual's quest fo r
ing a full person in the eyes of the community . And then, o f personhood and the terminal phase of that quest . Both are
course, there is procreation, old age, death, and entry into th e marked by an absence of incorporation and this absence is mad e
community of departed ancestral spirits--a community viewed a s abundantly evident by the related absence of collectively confer-
continuous with the community of living men and women, and wit h red names . Just as the child has no name when it tumbles ou t
which it is conceived as being in constant interaction . into the world to begin the journey towards selfhood, so likewise ,
at the very end, it will have no name again . At both points it i s
Following John Mbiti, we could call the inhabitants o f considered quite appropriate to use an ' it ' designation precisel y
the ancestral community by the name of the " living dead ."' Fo r because what we are dealing with are entities in regard to whic h
the ancestral dead are not dead in the world of spirits, nor ar e there is a total absence of incorporation .
they dead in the memory of living men and women who continue t o
remember them, and who incessantly ask their help through vari- Finally, it is perhaps worth noting that this phenomeno n
ous acts of libation and sacrificial offering . At the stage o f of a depersonalized status at the two polarities of existence make s
ancestral existence, the dead still retain their personhood an d a great deal of sense given the absence of moral function . Th e
are, as a matter of fact, addressed by their various names ver y child, we all know, is usually preoccupied with his physica l
much as if they were still at center stage . Later, however, afte r
needs ; and younger persons, generally, are notoriously lacking i n
several generations, the ancestors cease to be remembered b y moral perception . Most often they have a tendency toward s
their personal names ; from this moment on they slide int o self-centeredness in action, a tendency to see the world exclu-
personal non-existence, and lose all that they once possessed b y sively through' their own vantage point . This absence of mora l
way of personal identity . This, for the traditional Africa n function cannot but have an effect on the view of them a s
world-view, is the termination of personal existence, with entitie s persons . Likewise for the completely departed ancestral spirits ,
that were once fully human agents becoming once again mere its , who, at the terminal point of their personal existence, have no w
ending their worldly sojourn as they had started out--as un-in- become mere Its, their contact with the human communit y
corporated non-persons . Mbiti has described this terminal stage
17 5
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IFEANYI A . MENKITI Person and Community in African Traditional Thought

completely severed . The various societies found in traditiona l

Africa routinely accept this fact that personhood is the sort o f If it is generally conceded, then, that persons are th e
thing which has to be attained, and is attained in direct propor- sort of entities that are owed the duties of justice, it must als o
tion as one participates in communal life through the discharge o f be allowed that each time we find an ascription of any of th e
the various obligations defined by one ' s stations . It is th e various rights implied by these duties of justice, the conclusio n
carrying out of these obligations that transforms one from th e naturally follows that the possessor of the rights in questio n
it-status of early childhood, marked by an absence of moral func- cannot be other than a person . That is so because the basis o f
tion, into the person-status of later years, marked by a widene d such rights ascription has now been made dependent on a posses-
maturity of ethical sense--an ethical maturity without whic h sion of a capacity for moral sense, a capacity, which though i t
personhood is conceived' as eluding one . need not be realized, is nonetheless made most evident by a
concrete exercise of duties of justice towards others in the ongo -
John Rawls, of the Western-born philosophers, come s ing relationships of everyday life .
closest to a recognition of this importance of ethical sense . in th e
definition of personhood . In A Theory of Justice he makes The foregoing interpretation would incidentally rule out ,
explicit part of what is meant by the general ethical requiremen t I believe, some dangerous tendencies currently fashionable i n
of respect for persons, noting that those who are capable of a some philosophical circles of ascribing rights to animals .' Th e
sense of justice are owed the duties of justice, with this capabil- danger as I see it is that such an extension of moral language t o
ity construed in its sense of a potentiality which may or may no t the domain of animals is bound to undermine, sooner or later, th e
have been realized . He writes : clearness of. .our conception of what it means to be a person . Th e
practical consequences are also something for us to worry about .
Equal justice is' owed to those who hav e For if there is legitimacy in ascribing rights to animals the n
the capacity to take part in and to act i n human beings could come to be compelled to share resources wit h
accordance with the public understandin g them . In such a situation, for instance, the various governmen-
of the initial situation . One shoul d tal programs designed to eradicate poverty in the inner cities o f
observe that moral personality is her e the United States could conceivably come under fire from th e
defined as a potentiality that is ordinaril y United Animal Lovers of America, or some other such group, wit h
realized in due course . It is this poten- the claim seriously being lodged that everything was being don e
tiality which brings the claims of justic e for the poor, but not enough for the equally deserving cats an d
into play . . . . The sufficient condition fo r dogs . . Minority persons might then find themselves the victims o f
equal justice [is] the capacity for mora l a peculiar philosophy in which the constitutive elements in th e
personality . ' definition of human personhood have become blurred throug h
unwarranted extensions to non-human entities .
I take it that an important implication of this claim i s
that if an individual comes to deserve the duties of justice (an d Before bringing to a close the various comments made s o
the confirmation therein implied of the individual ' s worth as a far, it might be helpful to focus on two issues discussed earlier ,
person) only through possession of a capacity for moral personal- in an effort to forestall possible misunderstanding . One issue i s
ity, then morality ought to be considered as essential to ou r the acquisition of personhood, since the possibility exists of
sense of ourselves as persons . And indeed Rawls has argued i n confusing the African viewpoint with the viewpoint known in th e
another context that a • Kantian interpretation is possible in whic h West as Existentialist Philosophy . The other issue is the articu-
the transgression of accepted moral rules gives rise not just to a lation of the specific sense in which the term ' community ' ha s
feeling of guilt but to a feeling of shame--the point being tha t been used in these pages, so as to avoid possible misinterpreta-
once morality is conceived as a fundamental part of what it mean s tion .
to be a person, then an agent is bound to feel himself incomplet e
in violating its rules, thus provoking in himself the feeling prop- To begin with the first, it must be emphasized that th e
erly describable as shame, with its usual intimation of deformit y African concept of man contrasts in significant measure with Exis-
and unwholeness .' tentialism (which on the face of things appears to be its mos t
natural ally among the various Western philosophers of th e

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IFEANYI A . MENKITI Person and Community in African Traditional Thought

person) . Jean-Paul Sartre tells us that prior to the choice of hi s measure, as a result of which it is then argued that they, an d
fundamental project an individual is " nothing [and] will not b e they alone, can define for themselves the selves that they are t o
anything until later, and then he will be what he make s be, each in his own way . As Anthony Manser has put it, and I
himself ."' Such a statement immediately evokes favorable compari- entirely agree, " It would seem that little remains of the freedom
sons between the African view of man and the Existentialist view , Sartre has been emphasizing . . . ; it is hard to see how an infan t
both views being regarded as adopting a notion of personhood, o r can be aware of what he is doing, and if not then it is odd t o
self-hood, as something acquired . call him responsible . "1 2
But this, it must be warned, is a hasty conclusion t o In the light of the foregoing observations, I take i t
draw . For the Sartrean view that man is a free unconditione d then that the African view of human personhood and the Existen-
being, a being not constrained by social or historical circumstan- tialist view should not be conflated . Even though both view s
ces, flies in the face of African beliefs . Given its emphasis o n adopt a dynamic, non-static approach to the problem of definitio n
individuals solely constituting themselves into the selves that the y of human self-hood, the underpinning metaphysical assumption s
are to become, by dint of their private choices, such a vie w diverge significantly . Above all, whereas in the African under-
cannot but encourage eccentricity and individualism--traits whic h standing human community plays a crucial role in the individual ' s
run counter to African ideals of what the human person is al l acquisition of full personhood, in the Sartrean existentialist view ,
about . Although in important ways existence does preced e the individual alone defines the self, or person, he is to become .
essence, it is not for the reasons that Sartre gives . We simpl y Such collectivist insistences as we find in the African world-vie w
cannot postulate man's freedom and independence from all deter- are utterly lacking in the Existentialist tradition . And thi s
mining factors, including even reason, which is sometimes viewe d difference in the two approaches is not accidental . Rather i t
by Sartre as unduly circumscribing the individual in his quest fo r arises because there is at bottom a fundamental disagreement a s
a free and spontaneously authentic existence . As Professo r to what reality is all about .
William Abraham has pointed out in his book, The Mind of Africa ,
if possession of reason is part of our nature, then we cannot b e Finally, let me try to clarify the sehse in which th e
enslaved by reason as Sartre sometimes seems to suggest ; for n o
term ' community ' has been used throughout this paper . Wester n
entity can be enslaved by its own nature . " writers have generally interpreted the term 'community' in such a
way that it signifies nothing more than a mere collection of self-
Nor is the above the only point at which Existentialis t interested persons, each with his private set of preferences, bu t
philosophy diverges from the African in the conception of man .
all of . whom get together nonetheless because they realize, each t o
Because of the controlling force of freedom, Sartre was led t o each, that in association they can accomplish things which the y
postulate an equality of status between infant and child, on th e are not able to accomplish otherwise . In this ' primarily additiv e
one hand, and the grown adult, on the other . What all individu- approach, whenever the term ' community ' or 'society ' is used, we
als have in common is that they choose ; and choice is freedom , are meant to think of the aggregated sum of individuals compris-
and freedom choice . As he puts it elsewhere, " Man does not
ing it . And this is argued, not just as an ontological claim, bu t
exist in order to be free subsequently ; there is no differenc e
also as a methodological recommendation to the various social o r
between the being of man and his being free . i1 ' But this collaps- humanistic disciplines interested in the investigation of th e
ing of the ontological distinction between young child and grow n phenomenon of individuals in groups ; hence the term 'Methodolo-
man is an illegitimate and absurd move . Even assuming tha t
gical Individualism ' so much bandied around in the literature .
Sartrean freedom is a sine qua non of the metaphysics of
persons, how can children with their quite obvious lack of intelli- Now this understanding of human community, and of th e
gent appreciation of the circumstances of their lives and of th e approach to' its study, is something completely at odds with th e
alternatives open to them, choose rationally? Is a choice under- African view of community . When Mbiti says that the Africa n
taken in childish ignorance a choice that is truly free ? says to himself, "I am because we are, " the we referred to her e
is not an additive 'we' but a thoroughly fused collective 'we' . I t
These misgivings are serious ; and it is frankly quit e is possible to distinguish three senses of human grouping, th e
difficult to understand what is meant by the type of freedo m first of which I shall call collectivities in the truest sense ; th e
which Sartre insists both adults and children have in equa l second of which might be called constituted human groups ; an d
1 78 17 9
 Person and Community in African Traditional Though t
IFEANYI A . MENKITI

the third of which might be called random collections of individu -

als . The African understanding of human society adopts th e
usage in description number one above, whereas the Wester n
understanding would fall closer to description number two ; th e
difference between the two being that in what I have called ' col-
lectivities in the truest sense ' there is assumed to be an organic
FOOTNOTE S
dimension to the relationship between the component individuals ,
whereas in the understanding of human society as somethin g
constituted what we have is a non-organic bringing together o f
1. John Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (New York :
atomic individuals into a unit more akin to an association than t o
Doubleday and Company, 1970), p . 141 .
a community . The difference between the two views of society i s
profound and can be represented diagrammatically thus :
2. Placide Tempels, Bantu Philosophy (Paris : Presence Afri-
caine, 1959), p . 101 .
AFRICAN WESTER N

P P 3. Mbiti, African Religions, p . 32 .

4. Ibid ., p . 33 .

5. Ibid ., p . 34 .

6. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, Mass :

Harvard University Press, 1971), pp . 505-506 .
As can be seen from the diagram, whereas the African vie w
7. Ibid ., p . 445 .
asserts an ontological independence to human society, and move s
from society to individuals, the Western view moves instead fro m
individuals to society . 8. See, for instance, Peter Singer, Animal Liberation (Ne w
York : Random House, 1975) ; as well as Tom Regan & Pete r
In looking at the distinction just noted, it becomes quit e Singer eds ., Animal Rights and Human Obligations (Engle-
wood Cliffs, N . J ., : Prentice Hall, 1976) .
clear why African societies tend to be organized around th e
requirements of duty while Western societies tend to be organize d
9. Jean-Paul Sartre, " Existentialism Is a Humanism " in Nin o
around the postulation of individual rights . In the Africa n Languilli ed ., The Existentialist Tradition : Selected Writ -
understanding, priority is given to the duties which individual s
owe to the collectivity, and their rights, whatever these may be , ings, trans . by Philip Mairet (New York : Doubleday-An -
are seen as secondary to their exercise of their duties . In th e chor Books, 1971), p . 399 .
West, on the other hand, we find a construal of things in whic h
certain specified rights of individuals are seen as antecedent t o 10. William Abraham, The Mind of Africa (Chicago : Th e
the organization of society ; with the function of governmen t University of Chicago Press, 1962), pp . 20-21 .
viewed, consequently, as being the protection and defense o f
these individual rights . 11. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness : An essay o n
Phenomenological Ontology, trans . with an introduction b y
Hazel E . Barnes (New York : The Philosophical Library ,
1956), p . 25 .

12 . Anthony Manser, Sartre : A Philosophical Study (London :

The University of London Press, 1966), p . 122 .

180 181