The Theory of Communal-Relational Person-Becoming: A Nursing Theory From the African Philosophical Perspective.

Abstract

Nursing theory has long treated "person" and "human being" as interchangeable, reflecting philosophical traditions that prioritize autonomy and individualism. Thinkers such as John Locke distinguish the biological human organism from the person, defining personhood through inward-looking psychological capacities. This cognitive, individualistic model has shaped conventional nursing theories that frame the person as a self-contained unit. In contrast, African relational ontologies conceptualize personhood as a moral, communal, and developmental achievement. Traditions such as Ubuntu, Ukama, and Consciencism, and the writings of Mbiti, Menkiti, Gyekye, Imafidon, and Wiredu, emphasize that personhood is constituted through relationships, communal belonging, and progressive moral maturation. A human being is born with ontological potential, but personhood is conferred through participation in communal life and alignment with shared values. This paper introduces the Theory of Communal-Relational Person-Becoming, a nursing theory that integrates African relational ontologies to reinterpret the metaparadigm concepts. The theory reframes personhood as dynamic becoming, health as holistic harmony, and nursing as a communal, relational, and moral act. Its novelty lies in offering a nursing framework that explicitly contrasts Western psychological individualism with African relational personhood and systematically integrates African philosophies into nursing theory, thereby expanding the discipline's conceptual repertoire and addressing epistemic exclusions.