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Fresno State prof Dr. Michael Onyebuchi Eze.
The doctrine of Ubuntu, the African signifier of contented that emphasizes interconnectedness and assemblage arsenic a mode of life, has reached a wider assemblage acknowledgment to Fresno State Africana studies prof and philosopher Dr. Michael Onyebuchi Eze’s quality connected Max Joseph’s “Happiness” docuseries connected YouTube.
Eze makes an quality connected the 3rd occurrence of the bid titled “Happiness: The Philosophical Secret to Happiness.”
The bid centers connected Joseph’s (pictured above) travel to larn however and what it means to beryllium happy. Episodes are astir 20 minutes agelong and instrumentality Joseph astir the satellite visiting aggregate locations, including Fresno State’s campus.
“The filmmakers came implicit to Fresno State for my ain occurrence and with the enactment of the dean of [the College of] Social Sciences, Dr. Elizabeth Lowham, it was a time of laughter, joyousness and happiness,” Eze said.
Eze lends his expertise connected the taxable of Ubuntu to the series. The Ubuntu proverb focuses connected interconnectedness and community, however a idiosyncratic is simply a idiosyncratic done different people.
“It says, ‘I americium due to the fact that you are; since you are, truthful I am,’ and this includes not lone humans but also, plants, animals, seas, the living, the unborn and the departed,” Eze said.
According to the documentary, the Ubuntu doctrine defines happiness otherwise than the wide known European intelligence perspective.
In occidental doctrine a cardinal pillar of happiness is ‘finding our purpose” oregon “self-actualizing” arsenic described by Abraham Maslow successful his mentation of the hierarchy of quality needs.
In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a idiosyncratic works their mode done a pyramid, with our carnal needs specified arsenic food, h2o and remainder astatine the bottom, followed by needs similar information and safety, belonging and love, a request for intimate relationships and friends, and esteem needs. Once each those needs are met a idiosyncratic is capable to “self-actualize.”
However, arsenic writer and writer Jill Filipovic points out, not everyone has the aforesaid enactment to self-actualize successful the mode Maslow described. The world for galore women successful nine is that determination “is nary support” for women to find the clip to self-actualize.
“I deliberation we saw this during the COVID-19 pandemic erstwhile it became really, truly wide that America’s backup program for beauteous overmuch everything was overwhelmingly mothers,” Flipavic is quoted arsenic saying successful the documentary.
During the pandemic, mothers were mostly successful complaint of childcare, teaching and taking attraction of the home. When women are expected to instrumentality connected the brunt of childcare and simultaneously to enactment extracurricular the home, it leaves small clip to “pursue knowledge” oregon “chase meaning.” To enactment it successful presumption of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Flipivic points out, successful occidental civilization women are tasked with the load to transportation the bottommost portion of the pyramid for others, leaving them small clip to question cognition and self-actualize arsenic individuals themselves.
Under occidental doctrine it would look self-actualization is babelike connected the time, entree and resources the idiosyncratic has.
Whereas Ubuntu focuses connected the self-actualization of the collective.
“Maslow speaks from a circumstantial European humanities tradition. ‘I americium what I have’,” Eze said successful the documentary. “Your story, who you are, however you’re seen successful society, is babelike connected your status, connected your possessive-ism, connected your web and that is problematic.”
In applying the contented of Ubuntu, Eze said happiness is focused much connected assemblage and its interconnectedness.
“During the conversation, what stood retired for maine was that happiness is needfully a travel of self-discovery. In African doctrine we talk of happiness arsenic a corporate joy. It is not astir what you have, but who you are irrespective of your presumption successful life,” Eze said.
Dr. Jennifer Randles, interim subordinate dean of the College of Social Sciences astatine Fresno State, said learning a wide scope of planetary perspectives teaches students to deliberation clearly, critically and analytically.
Randles pointed to the ngo of the assemblage which states it, “fosters respect for quality diverseness and a consciousness of work for the enlightened stewardship of the ecosystems of which we are a part. Thus, we endeavor to hole students to accommodate some wisely and resourcefully to the ever-changing world.”
In advancing students’ cognition of societies and cultures, she said they summation a planetary awareness, knowing and appreciation of antithetic backgrounds, which is an indispensable accomplishment for engaging successful solutions to analyzable societal problems.
“Many of our programs thatch astir our interconnectedness, obligations to 1 another, and promoting the societal bully and assemblage uplift,” Randles said. “The Ubuntu doctrine seems to align with that, that we’re portion of thing greater than conscionable ourselves, and that lone done our societal relationships with 1 another, bash we make meaning, worth and dignity.”
To Eze, who joined the College of Social Sciences successful 2023 and present teaches galore classes that code these themes of interconnectedness and societal value, happiness is simply a find that “we are each bound unneurotic successful a shared humanity and that quality is simply a acquisition and not a threat.”
