Community and human well-being in an African culture

Abstract

An interest in community has remained the concern of philosophers and other thinkers from the period of known history. All through the history of thought, there have been those who have tried to denigrate community and who have seen it as something that could be jettisoned or discarded by humans. Among Africans, however, it is generally held that it is in the community of other human beings that the life of the individual can have meaning or significance. This paper pursues this line of thought and examines how the Igbo people of Nigeria, Africa, conceive of the relationship between the individual and the community. The conclusion the paper reaches is that both as individuals and as groups, people need the protective cover that community life offers if their lives are to have any meaning or significance. Community, the paper adds, is the only essential means by which humans can achieve their social goals and aspirations.