CHUKWUBE, O: Renewing the Community and Fashioning the Indiv

Community living is one of the most important values of the Igbo people of Nigeria. They believe that by living and interacting well with the world around the individual is actualized. In and through the community a person draws life. Outside the community life is extremely difficult. Therefore, they expend much time and resources creating and maintaining harmonious living. One of the ways they do this is through the traditional practice of communal reconciliation. In this study, the author re- evaluates Igbo traditional communal reconciliation with the aim of finding out why the Igbo people still value this practice; and how this practice leads to authentic and lasting transformation of the community and the individual. The author thinks that the relationship-building strategy of Igbo traditional communal reconciliation is relevant not only to the Igbo but to the larger society in forging stronger bonds between people.