Bumuntu

Muntu, Kintu, and Bumuntu are the three fundamental concepts involved in the definition of a human being in the African context. Bumuntu means the quintessence of personhood, that fundamental authentic mode of being humane. Bumuntu stands for the content of a Muntu, the moral character, the essence of genuine humanity, and the essence of a deeply humane being. This word is widespread in Bantu languages. Ubuntu, [Page 142]for instance, is a linguistic variant of Bumuntu in southern Africa. In other African cultural groups, one finds profound similarities to the Bantu paradigm. In fact, the Akan Tiboa-Aboa paradigm of personhood, the Muntu-Kintu paradigm of the Luba religion or the vision of humanity in Yoruba religion, all point to the existence of a common African vision of personhood.

In the Kiluba language, a human being (man or woman) is referred to as a Muntu (pi. Bantu). Muntu is not an ethnic concept, but rather a generic term for every human being. It is found in closely related variants in other Bantu languages. The word Kintu refers to things and to human beings who have lost their dignity. All over Africa, we find a clear distinction between genuine humans and bad ones. Thus, to the fundamental existential question “What is a human being?” Africans respond: Bumuntu. This notion conveys the fundamental African understanding of genuine personhood or authentic humanity. It is indeed the Bumuntu that defines personal virtue, sacredness, or gentlemanness.

The distinctive characteristic of Bumuntu is the feeling of humanity toward our fellow human beings. As John Mbiti pointed out so eloquendy, a genuine human being does not define her or his humanity merely in the Cartesian “Cogito ergo sum” terms. Rather, he or she focuses on those thoughts of goodness and compassion toward others. Thus, the Bumuntu is defined in terms of hospitality and solidarity: “I am because we are, and because we are therefore I am.” This is well translated in daily greetings. Among the Shona people of Zimbabwe, for example, greetings go as follows:

• Mangwani. Marara set? (“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”)
• Ndarara, kana mararawo. (“I slept well, if you slept well.”)
• Maswera set? (“How has your day been?”)
• Ndaswera, kana maswerawo. (“My day has been good, if your day has been good.”)

Such forms of greetings clearly exemplify the feeling of humanity toward others. Thus, the Bumuntu, as Bishop Desmond Tutu put it, is the feeling that “My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours” or that “A person is a person through other persons,” as a proverb has it. The Muntu wa Bumuntu is the Muntu wa Buntu (“a generous person”), one who feels that the joy and pain of others are also her or his own joy and pain, that her or his humanity is humiliated or diminished whenever other people are dehumanized. A person with ubuntu does not feel threatened that others are good or successful. She or he celebrates cooperation over competition. The Bumuntu is then that good character that believes in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. It is that ontological authenticity that governs the African quest for well-being and the African celebration of the humanity of other fellow humans. Such solidarity is not a superficial condescendence. It stems from the understanding of the common origin of humanity as defined in African cosmologies. Creation myths indicate that Bumuntu derives from the transcendent origin of human beings. As an Akan proverb has it, “All human beings are children of God, no one is a child of the earth” (Nnipa nyinaa ye Onyame mma, obi nnye asase ba). For the Baluba people, as for the Akan, all human beings, men and women, are Bantu ba Leza (“God's people”) and Bana ba Vidye Mukulu (“Children of the Great Spirit”).

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