An African Reading of Community and Self Autonomy in Michael Sandel

Abstract

This paper attempts an African reading of Michael Sandel by focusing on the concepts of community and self-autonomy in his thought. Thus, it seeks to evaluate the idea of community and self-autonomy in Sandel in the light of an African imaginary by deploying the hermeneutical method to provide an African reading of Sandel’s thought, thereby offering insightful critiques and analyses of these fundamental ideas, challenging traditional notions and prompting profound reflections on balancing the tension between individual agency and communal obligations/entanglements. The paper concludes that the challenges of contemporary society require persistent reworking of frameworks that underlie the various segments of human civilization in ways that pay attention to changing times and evolving problems in society.