Dismemberment and family separation as historical injustices in Africa: Ubuntu understanding and remedy

What is the long-term impact of forced family separation in the context of historical colonial violence and how do we assess and remedy such injustices? This article draws from the experiences of mixed-race (métis) children in Belgium Congo-Ruanda-Urundi and Black families in apartheid South Africa to argue that this violence was at the heart of the colonial policy of dehumanising and subjugating racialised people. African families were separated and disintegrated as the basis to carry out the white civilising mission, segregation of the civilised from the savages, and upholding the superiority of Western morality. Using an Afro-communitarian and Ubuntu lens, this violence is understood not only as dismembering Africans from their kins and ancestors, but also disconnecting them from the broader human commune. It has outlived the formal end of colonial and apartheid rule and is largely responsible for the crisis of broken family and social misery in postcolonial African societies. Remedying this grave injustice requires deep processes of restoration and removal of colonial structures responsible for domination, inequality, and deprivation. By centring family through Ubuntu and relationality, the article challenges international justice, international law, and human rights, which are usually state-centric and more preoccupied with the violations of individual civil and political rights.