Africa: the Unknown

During the 2019-2020 Academic Year, Sinderesi School wanted to discover Africa as a continent of resources and gains. Without ignoring its well-known problems and limits, the articles and scientific studies collected here encourage all of us to have a different view of the cradle of humanity. In particular, Ubuntu, the traditional African understanding of the human person as relatedness, could represent an original inspiration to counteract egoistic individualism that poisons the world, to support reconciliation and mutual comprehension between conflicting parts pushed to look beyond their particular interests towards the common good and, eventually, to find a solution for the present-day economic and environmental crisis. As Pope Francis warned in the Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti, a renewed human society, beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, will be possible if each country, especially the poorest: "will be helped to grow in its own distinct way and to develop its capacity for innovation while respecting the values of its proper culture" (n.51).