Complete personhood in African thought requires rites, not just biological birth

Evidence

According to Mbiti, the range of man’s life, from birth to death, in effect moves gradually from sasa to zamani. Man experiences two births: the first is physical and biological, and the second takes place soon after initiation, when the person is considered to be mature and able to transmit life. From that point onwards the individual is considered to be complete. … As the individual gets older, he is in effect moving gradually from the sasa to the zamani. His birth is a slow process, which is finalised long after the person, has been physically born. In many societies, a person is not considered a full human being until he has gone through the whole process of physical birth, naming ceremonies, puberty and initiation rites, and finally marriage (or even procreation). Then he is fully “born”, he is a complete person. … But the living-dead does not vanish out of existence: they now enter into the state of collective immortality. The departed in this state become members of the family or community of the spirits. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 274

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to personhood debates in African philosophy (Wiredu, Menkiti) and to the living-dead concept.
• SHARE: The ‘collective immortality’ through community of spirits point is worth sharing with anyone interested in African concepts of afterlife.