Training
Research
We-ism is a doctrine that willingly exposes itself to criticism. Our reference work devotes entire sections to its own limits, its blind spots, and the most serious objections that can be raised against it — because a doctrine that survives only by avoiding contradiction is not a solid doctrine.
Tuzafrika supports and welcomes:
- Research work in political philosophy, geopolitics, and relational anthropology
- Academic collaborations around the case study of the Lake Kivu basin and the Great Lakes region
- An openly assumed critical dialogue with the communitarian, pan-African, and Western traditions that We-ism draws upon or distinguishes itself from
Research programme
The central question
Tuzafrika's research programme is organised around one guiding question: how can ethical, social and geopolitical relations be rebuilt on a global scale, given that exclusive individualism (the "I") leads to the asphyxiation of the human bond, and that uniform collectivism (the "All") destroys personal freedom?
Three corollary questions structure the whole of the institute's work:
- On what ontological and metaphorical principle can the value of human existence be redefined, outside the sole logic of possession or scarcity?
- How can this ethics of relation be transposed from the micro-individual scale to the macro-geopolitical scale, particularly in zones of fracture and intense physical interdependence such as the African Great Lakes region?
- What rigorous method of action is available to civil society and institutions to substitute horizontal alliance for the sterile verticality of charity?
Three working hypotheses
- Human existence finds its ontological consistency only through usefulness rendered to others — canonical formula: "I am useful, therefore We are. We are, therefore I exist."
- At the macroscopic scale, neighbouring states and peoples are not watertight entities engaged in a zero-sum game, but strands of one and the same geopolitical rope (the Knot of Destinies).
- The praxis of Awakened Service, structured around four concrete disciplines, provides a transposable and effective method of action for building a credible alternative to vertical charity and extractive capitalism.
Methodology and scope
The approach is one of interdisciplinary critical analysis, combining political philosophy, historical sociology, the anthropology of relation and strategic geopolitics, across three complementary registers: textual and doctrinal analysis of the founding texts, an empirical and geophysical case study (notably the Lake Kivu and Ruzizi basin), and a phenomenology of praxis — the clinical observation of the institute's field practices.
The study is empirically anchored in the African Great Lakes region while claiming a universal vocation, and focuses exclusively on the doctrinal trilogy of We-ism — Useful-Existence, the Knot of Destinies, Awakened Service — leaving aside matters of the association's internal management.
Bibliography
Bibliography and theoretical lineage
The corpus drawn upon by the doctrine is organised into ten families of references.
Philosophy of relation and personalism
- Buber, M. — I and Thou [Ich und Du], 1923 — dialogical philosophy and the asymmetry of relation.
- Levinas, E. — Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, 1961 — ethics of the Other and the injunction of the face.
- Mounier, E. — Le Personnalisme, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1949.
- Taylor, C. — the concept of dialogical identity.
- Arendt, H. — The Human Condition, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1958 — the plurality of action and forgiveness as a political faculty.
African sources and pan-Africanism
- Tempels, P. — Bantu Philosophy [orig. Bantoe-filosofie, 1945; French trans. Présence Africaine, 1949].
- Mbiti, J. S. — African Religions and Philosophy, London, Heinemann, 1969.
- Nkrumah, K. — Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization, London, Heinemann, 1964.
- Nyerere, J. K. — Freedom and Socialism / Uhuru na Ujamaa, Oxford University Press, 1968.
Critique of radical individualism
- Descartes, R. — Discourse on the Method, 1637.
- Stirner, M. — The Ego and Its Own, 1844 — absolute egoism (critical analysis).
- Rand, A. — Atlas Shrugged, 1957 — objectivism and rational egoism (critical analysis).
- Nietzsche, F. — The Will to Power (critical analysis of secession).
- Spencer, H. — Social Darwinism (critical analysis).
- Schmitt, C. — the friend–enemy distinction in political philosophy (critical analysis).
- Sartre, J.-P. — Existentialism Is a Humanism, 1946 — the formula "existence precedes essence," integrated into and surpassed by the doctrine.
Classical utilitarianism (distinguished from Useful-Existence)
- Bentham, J. — An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789.
- Mill, J. S. — Utilitarianism, 1863.
Marxism and collectivism (partial convergence, fundamental divergence)
- Marx, K. — The 1844 Manuscripts (Economic and Philosophic) — the critique of alienation.
- Marx, K. and Engels, F. — The Communist Manifesto, 1848.
Geopolitics and international relations
- Keohane, R. O. and Nye, J. S. — Power and Interdependence, 1977 — the theorisation of complex interdependence.
- Krasner, S. D. — Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy, 1999 — the deconstruction of exclusive territorial state sovereignty.
Solidarism and reciprocity
- Bourgeois, L. — Solidarité, Paris, Armand Colin, 1896 — the social debt and the quasi-contract.
- Mauss, M. — The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies, 1923–1924.
Conflict resolution and communication
- Habermas, J. — The Theory of Communicative Action, 1981.
- Lederach, J. P. — Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 1997.
Social economy and the governance of the commons
- Ostrom, E. — Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- Illich, I. — Tools for Conviviality, 1973 — a critique of bureaucratic institutionalisation.
Critique of development and pedagogy
- Esteva, G. — "Development," in Sachs, W. (ed.), The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power, London, Zed Books, 1992.
- Freire, P. — Pedagogy of the Oppressed [written 1968, published in Spanish 1970], Rio de Janeiro, Paz e Terra.
Empirical and institutional sources — the Lake Kivu case study
- Eawag — Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology — limnological and demographic data on the Lake Kivu basin.
- Tietze, K. — 1974/1978 — the historical reference on the dissolved gases of Lake Kivu.
- ContourGlobal & Rwanda Energy Group (REG) — technical and operational data on the KivuWatt project.
- SINELAC — technical documentation of the Ruzizi I, II and III power plants.
- Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure — June 2025 — financial and demographic data on the Ruzizi III project.
- ABAKIR international convention — integrated management of the water resources of the Lake Kivu catchment basin and the Rusizi River, signed 4 November 2014.
Doctrinal texts of the institute
- Shema, T. — The Manifesto: The Way of "We".
- Shema, T. — Doctrinal research: What We-ism brings (Research framework).
- Shema, T. — The Charter of Companions of the Way of "We".
- Shema, T. — The Way of "We": Foundations and Application of We-ism, Tuzafrika ASBL, 2026 — reference work, six chapters.
Contributing to the research
Researchers, doctoral candidates and academic institutions working on the philosophy of relation, the geopolitics of border areas, or the social and solidarity economy are invited to contact the institute for any collaboration, critical review, or proposal for a complementary field of study.
Are you a researcher or a student? We are open to collaborations, critical reviews, and comparative work.