Personhood in Bantu thought is completed only through gradual social rites after physical birth

Evidence

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_…, 275

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the sasa-zamani temporal framework and how personhood is achieved gradually, not at biological birth.
• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s stated purpose of deep understanding of Bantu philosophy; also relates to anthropological literature on rites of passage (van Gennep, Turner).