Akachi Odoemene

This project investigates and analyses the history, nature (theories, principles, ideologies, and philosophies), and practice of a largely unknown and neglected indigenious conflict management and peace-making mechanism among the Aladimma supgroup of the Igbo people. The study identifies the relevance of the Aladimma's innate qualities to the management of contemporary conflicts in Nigeria, and all of Africa, and through a thorough understanding of this indigenious, grassroots knowledge system, offers alternative model(s) for the management of African conflicts. The project is based on the hypothetical argument that Africa can still get on the pathway of sustained harmony and co-existence if its management strategies can re-focus on such previously abandoned indegenious systems of conflict management and peace-making like the Aladimma’s. It employ an eclectic framework of data collection, involving oral interviews, focus group discussions, archival materials, non-participant observation, and the use of secondary sources.