04 · Explore
Society, governance and justice in Igboland
A decentralized, republican world where leadership had to be earned and could be lost.
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Igbo communities had a saying that no one person owns the whole of wisdom. These pages show how villages governed, who held power and how people earned respect.
In this chapter
01Umunna and village democracy
Villages where decisions are made by talking until people agree.
1 min read →
02Three political models compared
Kings, councils or assemblies? Igbo communities invented several ways to govern.
1 min read →
03The Ozo title system
A title you earn by character and generosity, not by birth.
1 min read →
04Women in power: the Omu and the Umuada
Queens, market leaders and the women’s councils that could shut down a town.
1 min read →
05Ofo na Ogu: justice as moral conduct
The staff of truth and the idea that justice is a way of living.
1 min read →