The Porous Self and the Buffered Self

Abstract

Taylor’s typology of the porous and the buffered self are central to his thesis on secularisation in the Western world. The porous self is a characteristic of the enchanted world and the buffered self of the disenchanted world. He differentiates between these characterisations in terms of particular themes such as meaning, agency, boundaries, vulnerability, individual vs. society, and belief. Applying these characterisations to the African context using particular case studies reveals that the porous self continues to feature in the contemporary African context. This raises the question of the kinds of theologies that are commensurate with them and how they are manifest in the African context.