Dreaming Ubuntu: Jungian Studies, Forgiveness, and Jung’s Recalcitrant Fourth

Jung’s recalcitrant fourth comes in from a place of opposition, demanding that what has been neglected be considered. It is in the spirit of the fourth that the author examines the use of Ubuntu in Jungian literature, cautioning against a decontextualized appropriation of the notion that overlooks its diverse interpretations and usages, particularly in terms of its role in shaping the new South Africa. The author notes a tendency among Jungian scholars to view Ubuntu as the exotic Other, inadvertently perpetuating the same colonial mindset that Jung held towards non-European cultures. Moreover, she suggests that the Jungian viewpoint on Ubuntu has been heavily influenced by Desmond Tutu’s Christianized version of the notion, and that this assimilation holds significant implications. As chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the archbishop employed the idea of Ubuntu in the service of nation building. Ubuntu was part of a political strategy designed to reconcile the South African people, whilst also silencing critics of a process that failed to fully address structural injustices. Now assimilated into Jungian literature, this version of Ubuntu took on aspects of a punitive cultural superego, thereby undermining its original appeal as an autochthonous form of humanism invoked to liberate the oppressed.