Expressions of Relationality and Alterity in Contemporary Pluralistic Cultures: A Case Study of Ihievbe Community

Abstract

This chapter addresses the cultural significance of relationality and alterity among the Ihievbe people as grounds for validating the use of hospitality and friendship as dialogical tools. This chapter presents the importance of social harmony in Ihievbe worldview. Since social harmony among the Ihievbe people is made possible by the role such virtues as hospitality and friendship play in the community, I argue that a workable dialogical model can truly be constructed by using these two virtues. Finally, this chapter extrapolates from the results of the surveys and interviews a sense of Christian salvation history that affirms and attests to religious diversities as understood by the Catholic community in the town.