A Critical Review of African Communitarianism

Abstract

What motivates this paper is the over-romanticization of African communitarianism in the philosophies of some African scholars where the subjectivity (individual-self) of the community-members is subsumed under the communality of the community (social-self). This over-romanticization has triggered the question of right and freedom of both the community-member and the community itself. Its scholarly response is the emergence of a dual conceptual versions of communitarianism referred to as ‘radical’ and ‘moderate’. This paper therefore argues that in as much as the centre can no longer hold following the division of Africans among varieties of belief system and creeds, that the communitarian radicalism held by some African scholars is no more obtainable hence the proposition of a communitarian version where individuals’ rights are observed to the extent that they contribute positively to the ‘community-welfarism’. In other words, it advocates for a version of communitarianism that begins from the notion of individuality to community, and resolves the question of freedom. This paper shall employ philosophical contextual analysis in addressing the issue.