Despite the large amount of local appropriation, the factors discussed in part II clearly originated historically from much larger contexts than that of the Igbo local community. By contrast, this part of the book focuses on three dimensions of local communal self-definition that originated to a much greater extent within the local sphere itself and became of prime relevance as instruments for the construction of the community by representing (or claiming to represent) it in its entirety. The term “representing” is used here in its double meaning—“speaking for” the community as well as “depicting” it, explicitly or in symbolic forms.

The chapters 7 and 8 focus on forms of institutionalization of the Igbo local community: the town union as core part of its diverse associational life and as embodiment of local identity, and the “traditional ruler” in the “autonomous community” which has sprung up—quite surprisingly in a society without much tradition of kingship—from the late 1950s and on a larger scale since the late 1970s. Chapter 9 looks at attempts by local intellectuals to conceptualize the local community and represent it to a wider world, by writing local historical literature.

Once more, it could be debated to what extent, and in what sense, these forms of community self-organization and representation are truly internal. None of them is entirely local or has solely local origins. They all draw on institutional or intellectual models that also exist(ed) elsewhere, and they may even be described as copies or examples of those models. But this is not the point here. All the forms of community self-organization and construction discussed in chapter 7 are strongly shaped by local conditions; they are filled with local content, often to such a degree that they can rightfully claim to represent a particular community in its entirety. Town unions have historically evolved among migrants in urban diasporas first, reflecting the fact that their members have to act in an environment different from that at home. Still, in many places they have become the most important form of incorporation and institutionalization of the modern Igbo community. The institution of the traditional ruler, in the Igbo area, is (at least as regards the legal and political framework) a product and part of the postcolonial state.