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The purpose of this paper is to respond to the country report about understanding disability in Nigeria by highlighting the important points that it raises and suggesting further areas for exploration.

The authors identify the main themes of the paper and situate these within an African context, recognizing the diversity of African countries while at the same time arguing that it is imperative for African countries to look to research from each other in addition to that emanating from the Global North.

The issues of terminology and lack of demographic detail in the Nigerian context are discussed and suggestions made as to how these might begin to be addressed. Features of the African context which are apparent in Nigeria, such as poverty, a very young population and the effects of forced migration, are amplified with reference to literature from other low-income countries. The significance of family care in this context is highlighted and identified as a focus for future research.

This paper speaks to the need to build an African body of knowledge around disability that is not ignorant of the literature from the Global North but which incorporates this knowledge in a critical way to understand better the African context.

Spirituality is a foundational concept within African indigenous communities. Spirituality informs the socio-cultural, political, environmental and economic operating systems within these communities. It is perceived as a strength, but with the systemic debasement of the African indigenous spirituality, many systems informed by spirituality have been impacted in various ways, including the ethno-medical livelihood practices.

This chapter is based on a study that used an exploratory ethnographic case study approach with qualitative methods of data collection to explore the understanding of spirituality and its influence on well-being. The study context is Bomvanaland, in the Eastern Province of South Africa. The people of this area are called ‘amaBomvane’. The study is positioned within the social justice, constructivist interpretivist paradigm, combining Resilience theory (Mertens, 2009) with Ubuntu (an African indigenous framework), which is an African moral philosophical framework, as the influencing frameworks of the study. The study outcomes posit a practice of ethno-medical spirituality that is foundational to the identity and culture of the people who come from this area. This practice is embedded in Ubuntu, supporting resilience and well-being that carry the potential to positively influence their economies.