Patterns of inter-group relations between Nneato and Umunze of Abia and Anambra States

Abstract

This article examines the nature of change and continuity between the Nneato and Umunze communities of south-eastern Nigeria in marriage, war, politics, trade, and other forms of social and economic exchanges in their relationship with each other. It is important to state that societies and ethnic groups in Africa were communally interdependent and coexisted as a whole in the pre-colonial era. In the colonial era, the pattern of intergroup relations experienced serious changes, especially in the socio-economic and political realities of the time. At the end of colonial rule, the nature of inter-group relations took a different measure as it faced the post-independence dynamics of the Nigerian state. Among others, this article argues that inter-group relations between the two communities served as catalysts of beneficial cultural exchanges on the one hand, and as well created avenues for certain effects, especially through external contacts on the other hand.