In this paper, I explore the relationship between the African philosophy of Ubuntu and the practice of peacebuilding in historical and contemporary Africa. In particular, I seek to establish Ubuntu’s actual and potential value-added to shaping the theory and praxis of peacebuilding in Africa. I make neither pretentious nor romantic assumptions about the universal acceptance and application of the Ubuntu philosophy in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial African governance. In this, I am encouraged by the fact that every global idea was once a “local idea” that forged global consensus through consent and repeated application. I reference Ubuntu as an example amongst many other Afrocentric philosophies and not necessarily as an absolute.
