Achievement as Value in the Igbo/African Identity

Book excerpt: Achievement seems to be a first-class value in our world today. With the ongoing global debate on what constitutes identity, can we include achievement as one of the constituents? In the Igbo/African identity, the achievement instinct is basically innate. The ethics of this phenomenon needs an evaluation, aimed at improving the status quo. What is the plight of the Igbo/African "achieving" in the face of modern capitalistic tendencies? What has become of the many other values in her identity, which has been her pride as a race? How is her religiosity (which is inseparable from daily living) affected by "modernity" and its new trends of the achievement ethos? These are some of the issues that are addressed in this book with the conviction that theology, achievement and identity are continuity.