Beyond the Scar: Selfishness as a Metaphysical Impediment to African Progress
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71204/yz9bzq35Keywords:
Selfishness, African Societies, Accountability, Fatalism, Social Capital, Collective ActionAbstract
Even though external forces like colonialism and slavery can be considered legitimate reasons for Africa's underdevelopment, pervasive selfishness, rather than external historical factors, stands as a formidable impediment to development efforts across African societies. This study, adopting a tripartite methodological procedure, which includes forty-five years of critical participant observation, a systematic empirical examination of the East African media, and theoretical synthesis, has analysed how selfishness (self-interest) is a metaphysical and structural impediment to African progress. African society, at all levels—from individual and household to national—is characterized by a pervasive "me-first" mentality, manifesting as a sina uchungu (I feel no pain) mentality, an inability to act through metaphysical evasiveness, which we refer to as the God-Satan mentality, the political economy of spiritual exploitation, lack of planning, irresponsibility, unaccountability, laziness, and a stifling of critical inquiry. The study reveals how this complex operates within the tension between traditional communitarian philosophies like Ubuntu and contemporary realities of cultural transformation, where historical legacies of extractive institutions intersect with modern religious interpretations to create environments where self-preservation behaviours become rationalized. By demonstrating how these internally rooted cultural and ethical dispositions actively undermine development efforts, the paper calls for a reconceptualization of African advancement that must address not only political-economic structures but also engage in deliberate projects of cultural, ethical, and spiritual renewal to foster the collective responsibility and human agency essential for sustainable progress.
References
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2012). Why nations fail: The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. Crown Business.
Appiah, K. A. (1992). In my father's house: Africa in the philosophy of culture. Oxford University Press.
Arevuo, M. (2023). Adam Smith's moral foundations of self-interest and ethical social order. Economic Affairs, 43(3), 372-387.
Atkinson, P. (2017). Handbook of ethnography. SAGE Publications.
Ayittey, G. B. N. (1998). Africa in chaos: A continent in crisis. St. Martin's Press.
Batson, C. D. (2011). Altruism in humans. Oxford University Press.
Bediako, K. (1995). Christianity in Africa: The renewal of a non-western religion. Edinburgh University Press.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Bussen, T. J., Biggs, H., Bono, T., & Bono, T. (2024). Enlightened self-interest: Individualism, community, and the common good. Georgetown University Press.
Denzin, N. K. (2017). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. Routledge.
DeWalt, K. M., & DeWalt, B. R. (2011). Participant observation: A guide for fieldworkers (2nd ed.). AltaMira Press.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58.
Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to triangulation. WHO.
Fukuyama, F. (2011). The origins of political order: From prehuman times to the French Revolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. Basic Books.
Gifford, P. (1998). African Christianity: Its public role. Indiana University Press.
Gyekye, K. (1997). Tradition and modernity: Philosophical reflections on the African experience. Oxford University Press.
Hansen, A., & Machin, D. (2019). Media and communication research methods (2nd ed.). Red Globe Press.
Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243-1248.
Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan.
Jesson, J., Matheson, L., & Lacey, F. M. (2011). Doing your literature review: Traditional and systematic techniques. SAGE.
Juma, F. (2023, August 15). Magari ya serikali yanayooza mikoa. Mwananchi.
Kato, J. (2022, November 7). Farmers blame poor harvest on witchcraft. The Daily Monitor.
Madison, D. S. (2012). Critical ethnography: Method, ethics, and performance (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African religions and philosophy. Heinemann.
Moyini, J. (2007). Ubuntu: The spirit of human connectedness. South African Institute of International Affairs.
Muthoni, K. (2024, January 22). How side-selling is killing dairy cooperatives in East Africa. The EastAfrican.
Mwangasa, P. (2023, May 10). Mradi wa maji kushindwa kwa kupinga mashetani. The Citizen.
Njagi, D. (2024, March 2). The high cost of faith: Desperate Kenyans bank on prophets for miracles. The Standard.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press.
Niyonzima, E. (2024). Critical Analysis of Causes of African Underdevelopment in History Perspectives. Sci Set J of Economics Res, 3(1), 01-09.
Olson, M. (1965). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard University Press.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). SAGE.
Prior, L. (2008). Researching documents: Emergent methods. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy (Eds.), Handbook of emergent methods (pp. 111-126). The Guilford Press.
Ramose, M. B. (2002). African philosophy through Ubuntu. Mond Books.
Ravitch, S. M., & Riggan, M. (2016). Reason & rigor: How conceptual frameworks guide research (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Howard University Press.
Saiboko, A. (2023, September 18). Wahubiri matajiri wakosowa. Nipashe.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Alfred A. Knopf.
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333-339.
Sturdy, R. C. (2021). *Freedom from Fatalism: Samuel Rutherford's (1600-1661) Doctrine of Divine Providence*. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Tannock, S. (2021). The role of self interest. In Educating for Radical Social Transformation in the Climate Crisis (pp. 195-226). Springer.
Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research. University of Chicago Press.
Tutu, D. (1999). No future without forgiveness. Doubleday.
Waweru, N. (2023, July 30). Neglect and apathy plague Nairobi's public housing. The Star.
Wiredu, K. (1996). Cultural universals and particulars: An African perspective. Indiana University Press.
Zhang, Y. (2023). Next to Normal: A Thesis for Our Scars (Master's thesis, Pratt Institute).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Stewart Mbegu (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors retain copyright of their work, and readers are free to copy, share, adapt, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as appropriate attribution is given.
How to Cite
