Communal Knowing in Nursing: A Novel Pattern of Knowing From the African Philosophical Lens

Communal Knowing in Nursing: A Novel Pattern of Knowing From the African Philosophical Lens

African philosophical thoughts suggest that personhood is founded on and can be understood as emerging from the community. Thus, the community is essential to understanding personhood. In other words, we cannot know the person, without first knowing the community. This assertion brings to the fore a potentially novel pattern of knowing which has received limited attention in the discipline of nursing: communal knowing. This paper presents the authors preliminary thoughts on communal knowing as a novel pattern of knowing from the African philosophical perspective. Communal knowing, an epistemology deeply rooted in African philosophical traditions prioritizes interdependence, collective wisdom, and harmony over individualism. This approach to generating and transmitting knowledge is context-dependent and arises from dynamic social interactions, shared experiences, and the guidance of elders, ancestors, and community leaders. The primary aim of communal knowing is the restoration and preservation of social, spiritual, and environmental equilibrium—where healing is understood not as an isolated biological event but as the re-establishment of balance within the collective. Knowledge in this system is embedded in cultural symbols, oral traditions—such as proverbs, storytelling, poetry, and rituals—and expressive forms like Adinkra and Samai symbols, which encode values like unity, humility, resilience, and mutual support. These mediums serve as vehicles for moral education, critical reflection, and the reinforcement of virtues essential for communal well-being. The community itself acts as an educational institution, where learning is continuous, relational, and hierarchically structured—integrating the living with ancestral wisdom. This epistemology challenges Western individualistic models by framing knowledge as a process rather than a possession, inseparable from culture, spirituality, and relational contexts.

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