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Cultural Intelligence · Expand Your Borders
Ubuntu — "I am because we are" — is a Southern African idea this module uses to illustrate a broad pattern: communal interdependence as a worldview, not a policy. It is an illustration, not a description of everyone across a region of dozens of countries and hundreds of cultures.
45–50 minutes · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning
The Ubuntu Cluster. Ubuntu — "I am because we are" — is a Southern African idea used here to illustrate a broad pattern of communal interdependence. The region spans dozens of countries and hundreds of cultures, so the pattern is a starting point for questions, not a description of any one person.
A relational sense of time is a documented pattern across this cluster, and knowing it can keep you from reading a late start as disrespect. It cannot tell you why any one person is late. The useful move is to agree on expectations explicitly.
When elder authority and communal consultation are central, a client's decision may genuinely wait for a respected elder's input. Serving that well means making room for it, without assuming every client wants it.
A team can shift how it recognizes achievement toward the collective, communal framing this cluster's research describes, as a standing practice available to everyone, without asking any colleague to stop valuing individual recognition personally.
Practice one suggestive behavior from this module in your next interaction with a colleague or partner connected to the Sub-Saharan Africa cluster.
Ubuntu — "I am because we are" — is a Southern African idea that this module uses to illustrate the pattern cross-cultural research describes for this cluster: communal interdependence as a worldview, not a policy. In that pattern, decisions are made through community consensus, elders hold honored authority, time is relational rather than clock-driven, and oral tradition, storytelling, and shared presence carry wisdom and joy. Hold the illustration loosely. Sub-Saharan Africa spans dozens of countries and hundreds of distinct cultures, speaking well over a thousand languages, and no single concept describes all of them. In Minnesota, the colleagues, clients, and partners connected to this cluster include Somali, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Liberian, Kenyan, Nigerian, and many other communities. Their histories, languages, and paths to Minnesota differ greatly, and so do the people within each community. Use the pattern to ask better questions, never to decide what any one person believes.
Ubuntu — "I am because we are" — is a profound expression of collectivism that goes beyond shared goals. It is a claim that human identity itself is constituted through community relationships.
Keep the Sub-Saharan Africa cluster’s key patterns and suggestive practices ready for your next cross-cultural interaction.
Apply one suggestive practice from this module in your next relevant interaction.
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
Source framework for the ten cultural clusters, their key dimensions, and this module's scenario and practice content.