JATREP - Journal of African Traditional Religion and Philosophy

Autonomy is derived from the Greek word “autos”, which means self, and “nomos”, which means rule, governance or law. Generally, it means the power or right of selfgovernment. However, in relation to persons, it means freedom from interference by others and limitations that prevent meaningful choices. The autonomous individual acts freely in accordance with a self-chosen plan, analogous to the way an independent government manages its territories and establishes its policies. A person of diminished autonomy, by contrast is in some respect controlled by others or incapable of deliberating or acting on the basis of his or her desires and plans. One of the cases against the structure of African societies is that the African individual has a diminished autonomy. This perspective is based on the misinterpretation of the African universe which is characterized by common origin, common world-view, common language, shared culture, shared race, colour and habits, common historical experience and a common destiny, the sense of community, etc. Contrary to this perspective, this work argues that the individual African has autonomy, and the argument is built on the Igbo-African concept of the self. While remaining within the scope of autonomy in African ontology, the hermeneutic and phenomenological methods of inquiry would be employed for this research.

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