Ludic Ubuntu: An Appeal Toward Transformative Justice
8 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2015
Date Written: November 1, 2014
Abstract
Providing a vision for moving from (mass) incarceration to an abolitionist penal future with the concept of Ludic Ubuntu. South African philosopher Mogobe Ramose says that Westerners have the strange habit of “being in time,” in other words, of being ruled by time; Africans, by contrast, used to “make time.” Prisoners are told and have internalized the punitive aspect of “doing time.” Nowhere else does one “do time;” and yet, calendars are forbidden in prison (in the U.S.). So, the punishment, even if it lasts a few days, feels eternal; it feels even worse when committed to the “box” (solitary confinement).
Keywords: Ludic Ubuntu, restorative justice, transformative justice, penal abolition
JEL Classification: Z1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation