Identity, Religion/spirituality, character values and development in youth Africa

Abstract

n spite of enormous scientific and technological advancements, and hundreds of years of global development activities, human suffering and senseless loss of life remains a reality. Rudimentary issues of food, ignorance, and disease are rife across the globe, even with innovative and high sounding terms, such as sustainability and equitable development. Paradoxically, Africans seem to suffer the most even though their continent is the cradle of humanity. This chapter seeks to explain the paradox of development by propounding the argument that the current concept, measures, and practice of development is too materialistic and too individualistic to facilitate the flourishing of not just human beings but also the rest of creation. Drawing from indigenous African understanding of human persons and of the need for healthy relationships among all creation, the chapter proposes that this moment of African adolescence is the perfect moment to rethink identity of human persons, African identity, and African spirituality for Africa’s development. Overcoming poverty, the focus of Sustainable Development Goal 1, only becomes a possibility when these concepts are critiqued. Two lessons from the ongoing (at the time of writing) COVID-19 crises resonate with this proposal.