Racism Dehumanises the Racist: A Deep Dive into the African Philosophy of Ubuntu and Concepts of Transactional Analysis

Robert Kudakwashe Chigangaidze emphasises seeing oneself through others and others authenticating an individual’s humanness. Tapping from the concepts of Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis such as life positions, transgenerational scripting, stroking and others, this chapter analyses how racism dehumanises the racist from an Ubuntu perspective. The chapter argues that racism does not only dehumanise the racist, but also undermines the humanity of those that have nurtured the racist. The chapter calls for reconsideration of past events and how these have impacted the present and likely to have a bearing in future generations, if they are not dealt with at this stage. Racism is discussed in the chronosystem and power relations. Fundamentally, the chapter calls for an anti-racist stance that is Ubuntu informed. It informs how racist practices are far from being human, acceptable and socially just. The chapter illustrates the biopsychosocial and spiritual effects of racist practices. At its end, the chapter calls for Ubuntu values such as forgiveness, love, acceptance, genuineness, humanness, compassion, social connectedness and social justice as fundamental tools for an anti-racist practice. Ubuntu is considered as a philosophy with an essential axiological base to address the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 of reducing inequalities.