Honour and Violence

Honour creates common conceptual grounds or social foundations on which human cooperation can take place. It maps terrains of trust relationships that individuals and cultures enable. Thus, for example, honour does not accrue to strangers. Citizens, unlike strangers, are known and can be bearers of honour. Honour gives people the sense of being entitled to respect in a community of peers. Unfortunately, very little work has been done south of the Sahara on African honour cultures. This chapter contends that we must recover African perspectives on honour and re-articulate sport's role in developing individuals and societies. Doing this will yield new and fascinating insights that will enable us, in later chapters, to discuss better ways of loving, playing, administering, and supporting rugby.