Kwanzaa Principles #3: Ujima and #4: Ujamaa
Glorious Raine
Director of LYLT Expressions wearing the hats of *Author * * Artistic Creator*
Heriza Kwanzaa!?(Happy Kwanzaa). Today is day three of the Kwaanzaa celebration, but I am going to highlight both?Principle #3: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)?and?tomorrow’s?Principle #4: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics).?In my opinion they are synonymous, so when I began writing this series, I decided to combine them into one article.
Ujima?focuses on the building of communities and?Ujamaa?focuses on building wealth through building and maintaining businesses within the community so in my opinion you cannot be successful at one without the other. If the community as a whole is not stable and in need of help in order to sustain itself, then it is virtually impossible to build wealth.
Taking it a step further you can see how there can be no community without unity. Why? You ask; because if we do not know each other how can we work together? In today’s society we may all live next to and near each other, but we do not?know?each other.
What I mean is just because you may know your neighbor’s name and a few other on the surface, small details about them you are not necessarily a friend of theirs or vice versa. You are more like an acquaintance if not a stranger or just “the person who lives next door”. There is no real sharing of self and family.
Most of us do not know how many children if any our neighbor has let alone what their names are. If they do have children, do they play with yours (if you have any) or others in the community? I know that there are people out there who can say yes to these questions and may be good friends with their neighbor, however there are a large amount of people who do not have those connections. For the most part there is no?Unity (Umoja)?among us.
For example, when I was growing up, we could go to the neighbor or they to us and ask for a cup of sugar, glass of milk or an egg and we would receive that item if they had it with no expectations of return and vice versa. I am almost certain this does not happen today (at least not that I have experienced in recent years). All of the families knew each other so when we went to a friend’s house just about all of the kids in the neighborhood were there too and our parents knew that we were at one of the many homes in the community and could call each other if needed.
We had neighborhood 4th of July or Memorial Day Cookouts sometimes and if you got in trouble or did something wrong any other adult in the community could reprimand you (really just telling you to “stop” or “act right”) without your parent taking offense to it, it was expected and accepted.
Over the years I have seen a major shift to the negative of these types of norms and can honestly say that in today’s world just about everything I mentioned is not accepted or is just not that popular anymore and that’s sad. With the understanding of heightened awareness to the dangers in this world, the way communities are built today (location and design) and a host of other changes that occurred naturally overtime it is much harder to create that sense of belonging, comfort, relationship and ultimately?Unity?but not impossible.
It would be nice to see more efforts being made to be?Self-Determined [practicing Kujichagulia] {because it has to start internally for each individual} to build the connections needed to spark?Unity?which will help create?collective works?and?cooperative economics?within our communities. Continue reading to learn more about both?Ujima?and?Ujamaa.
Principle #3: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)?promotes active cooperation by sharing the problems of others, working together as a collective whole to solve them and maintaining community connections.
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Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) focuses on cooperation, and the sharing of hardships and benefits with a commitment to shape their future with their own minds and hands.
?There is a level of understanding and respect for the fact that progress is impossible without collective work and struggles. It is represented by the Adinkra symbol, “Akoma ntoaso” which is a symbol of shared effort and obligation. While this symbol can be made in many different materials and colors the design and meaning are essentially the same. I tried to remain true to the look of the symbol used for the representation of Ujima while painting, but it is not an exact representation. ?
Principle #4: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) means familyhood and Economic Self-Reliance.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) emphasizes the importance of self-reliance in the strengthening and controlling of the economics in their communities. There is a large effort to help those in the community maintain their own stores, shops and other businesses making it possible for profits to be made together thus sharing the work and wealth.
?It is about a commitment to putting in the work necessary to achieve shared social wealth. Ujamaa also promotes an obligation of generosity to those who are vulnerable and less fortunate. It is represented by two interlocking half circles — the “Nsibidi symbol” of togetherness and family.
?This symbol has many variations depending on what it is meant to represent, so as with the “Akoma ntoaso” above my focus was to remain as true as possible to the look of the symbol used for the representation of Ujamaa.
Want to catch up on the “Celebrating Kwanzaa 2022” series click on the underlined December dates in the list below to view the other articles in this series.
?Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles):
Reference: Click here