Afro-Communitarian personhood and the political philosophy of needs

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between Afro-communitarian personhood, and the political philosophy of needs. If one takes an Afro-communitarian understanding of personhood, what would this mean for applying the political philosophy of needs? I will explain what it is that the Afro-communitarian framework I am referring to entails, and assess the political philosophy of needs approach to distributive justice within this framework. I will argue for the conclusion that an African political philosophy of needs is obliged to emphasise three features which are implied by Afro-communitarian personhood. These features are (1) that providing for the needs of others is an essential feature of being human, (2) that it matters by whom and how a need is satisfied and (3) that context and history matter in terms of distributive justice.