Integral Community Enterprise in Africa

At a time of global economic crisis and disillusionment with capitalism, Adodo offers refreshing and positive insight into a more integral way of business management, enterprise and community development as well as holistic healing in Africa. For over three decades, Africa was the recipient of billions of dollars in aid funds that were meant to catapult the continent from undeveloped to developed status. Yet the more the aid poured in, the poorer African countries became. The devastating effect of western economic models in Africa that followed is well documented. Integral Community Enterprise in Africa exposes the limitations of existing theories, such as capitalism, socialism and communism, and shows how western theories were imposed on Africa. Such imposition of concepts and ideas is not only demeaning but also unsustainable, serving only the interest of the elite. Father Anselm Adodo argues for the need to have a southern theory to serve as an alternative to western theories. The majority of African intellectuals and activists, while criticizing existing theories, often do not provide alternative theories to address the prevalent inadequacies entrenched in conventional social, political and economic systems. This revolutionary book aims to address this lapse and proposes the theory of communitalism as a more indigenous, sustainable and integral approach to tackling the social, political, economic and developmental challenges of today's Africa. There is an African alternative to capitalism, socialism and communism - a surer path to sustainable development in and from Africa. This is a book that is positioned at the very core of a much needed African Renaissance. A profoundly new approach to development in Africa, this is essential reading for anyone concerned with authentic development in Africa and in the world.

Anselm Adodo, OSB is the founder and director of Nigeria's foremost herbal research institute, the Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories. He is a prominent advocate of African herbal medicine research, indigenous knowledge systems, rural community development, health policy reform and transformation of education in Africa.

Table of Contents List of figures List of tables About the Author Foreword Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THE INTEGRAL JOURNEY 1: Overview of my research trajectory PART II: ORIGINATION OF RESEARCH: RESEARCH METHOD 2: My subjective inner call: the emotive researcher 3: My objective outer challenge: how I expressed my inner desire in confronting concrete challenges in my society PART III: CONTEXT: PHENOMENOLOGY 4: Uncovering imbalances in my context: a description of Ewu Community, Paxherbal and St Benedict Monastery 5: Unravelling missing depths: my contextual transformational topography PART IV: CO-CREATION 6: Emancipatory critique: introduction to feminism in an African context 7: Towards a true Pax Africana: communitalism as an approach to health, community and enterprise in Ewu, Edo State, Nigeria PART V: CONTRIBUTION AND TRANSFORMATION 8: Participatory action research in an African context: the case of Ewu village, Edo State, Nigeria 9: Cooperative inquiry in an African context: the case of Paxherbal and ACIRD PART VI: DISTILLATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE INTEGRAL JOURNEY CHAPTER 10: CARE-ing for Nigeria: towards an integral university in Africa Index