Abstract: The article under the title, "Offence and Rites of Reconciliation" seeks to explore African understanding of offence and the practice of reconciliation among community members. In this topic the objective is to reveal about African sense of guilt, something that is denied by some Western scholars. Moreover, the paper reveals about African community members concern about an offence to affect the whole clan or community of which the issue of reconciliation is not only inevitable but a concern of all community members.
The paper also tells how an offence affects secular as well as religious aspect due to the fact that in African life, there is no line of demarcation between secular and religious life. In this paper, the issue about family, although is in the form of extended, but it is related also to the departed members. In the language of the Western scholars, the departed members are known as ancestors. However, in African world view they are known as "forebears" or "elders." Since offence of an individual member affects the entire community as well as forebears and God, healing is in the form of restorative justice unlike the Western system of adversarial justice.
Keywords: sin; offence; taboo, shame; guilt; kisiki-munu, forebear and reconciliation.
Title: Offence and Rites of Reconciliation in African Context
Author: Falres Ilomo
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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