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Yorùbá Studies Review

Volume 2 : Number 2 : Spring 2018 ISSN 2473-4713   The Yorùbá Studies Review is a refereed biannual journal dedicated to the study of the experience of the Yorùbá peoples and their descendants globally. The journal covers all aspects of the Yorùbá transnational, national, and regional presence, both in their West Africa’s homeland and […]

Yoruba drum ensemble

Èdè Àyàn: The Language of Àyàn in Yorùbá Art and Ritual of Egúngún

Oláwọlé Fámúlẹ̀ University of Wisconsin-Superior ofamule@uwsuper.edu Kò séṇ í m’èdè Àyàn B í e ṇ í m ú k ò ṇ̀ g ó ̣ è ̣ l ó ẉ ó ̣ No one understands the language of Àyàn Better than the drummer who holds the gong in his hand – Yorùbá maxim From the Yorùbá […]

Melting point of traditional architecture

Palace Courtyards in Iléṣà: A Melting Point of Traditional Yorùbá Architecture

Stephen Fọlárànmí Ọbáfémi AwólỌ̀wọ̀ University, Nigeria folasteve@oauife.edu.ng Babásẹhìndè Adémúlẹyá Ọbáfémi AwólỌ̀wọ̀ University, Nigeria babaleya@yahoo.com Abstract The Yorùbá courtyard is an important architectural space in traditional Yorùbá architecture that has not received adequate scholarly attention. This paper examines the courtyards in the palace of certain chiefs and Ọwá Obòkun in Iléṣà, in southwest Nigeria. Fieldwork identified […]

Healthcare delivery in Yoruba

Healthcare Delivery among Yoruba Bonesetters in Southwest Nigeria and the Need for Collaboration with Orthodox Orthopedic Healthcare Services: A Mixed Method Study

Soladoye S. Asa Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria solaasa2000@yahoo.com; sasa@oauife.edu.ng Matthew O. Ilori African Institute for Science Policy and Innovation, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria matthewoilori@gmail.com Lawrence A. Akinyoola Department of Surgery and Orthopaedic, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria aakinyoola@yahoo.co.uk Abstract This study covers three purposively chosen states; Ogun, […]

Yoruba healing system

The Survival of the Yorùbá Healing Systems in the Modern Age

Ilesanmi Akanmidu Paul Department of History and International Studies Adekunle Ajasin University Akiungba-Akoko, Nigeria paul.akanmidu@gmail.com Abstract This study investigates the philosophy and tradition of the Yorùbá healing system and the reasons for its survival into the modern age. The introduction of western-style healthcare by missionaries—which became consolidated under colonial rule, from any point of view […]

African philosophical traditions

Language and the African Philosophical Traditions

Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá Department of Philosophy Howard University Washington, DC kolapo.abimbola@Howard.edu Abstract Are there universal principles, categories, or forms of reasoning that apply to all aspects of human experience—irrespective of culture and epoch? Numerous scholars have explored this very question from Africana perspectives: Kwasi Wiredu (1996) explored the philosophical issue of whether there are culturally defined […]

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Constructing Identities: Amos Tutuola and the Ibadan Literary Elite in the wake of Nigerian Independence

Mackenzie Finley Department of History University of Texas at Austin mackenziejfinley@gmail.com Abstract With Nigerian novelist Amos Tutuola as primary subject, this paper attempts to understand the construction of sociocultural identities in Nigeria in the wake of independence. Despite the international success of his literary publications, Tutuola was denied access to the most intimate discourses on […]

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The Transition from Yorùbá Metaphysics to Islamic Aesthetics in Ọláńrewájú Adépọ̀jù’s Poetry

Stephen Toyin Ogundipe Department of English Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. st.ogundipe@gmail.com; stogundipe@oauife.edu.ng Abstract This paper explores the poetry of Ọláńrewájú Adépọ̀jù, a major contemporary Yorùbá poet, based in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. Much of the scholarship on the poet focuses purely on his sociopolitical interest, but the development of his craft has been largely ignored. […]

nigerian people

Dialetics and Structural Organization in the Ẹ̀bìbì Festival Performances of the Ẹ̀pẹ́ People in Lagos State, Nigeria

Babatunde Olanrewaju Adebua Babcock University, Nigeria adebuab@babcock.edu.ng Mobolanle Ebunoluwa Sotunsa Babcock University, Nigeria sotunsam@babcock.edu.ng Abstract There is growing interest in the study of festivals by literary scholars in African orature. In Nigeria, the festival resources of the Ìjèḅ ú in southwestern Nigeria, specifically the Èḅ ìbì festival, has been given cursory multi-disciplinary attention in areas […]

Yoruba marketing video film industry

Social Media Marketing in the Yorùbá Video Film Industry

Olagoke Alamu Ekiti State University, Nigeria. Email: gatanfeani62@gmail.com Abstract The thrust of this paper is the critical evaluation of the level of acceptance of social media marketing in the Yorùbá film industry. In this age of globalization, many film marketers across the world have abandoned traditional media in favor of online forms of communication, which […]

African man on couch

Individualism, Communitarianism and African Philosophy: A Review Essay on Exploring the Ethics of Individualism and Communitarianism

Enoch Olujide Gbadegesin, Yunusa Kehinde Salami and Kola Abimbola A collection of critical essays on Professor Segun Gbadegesin, one of the most preeminent figures in African philosophy, is by no mean an insignificant feat. This is all the more so because the volume has the objective of achieving a multidisciplinary interrogation of Gbadegesin’s philosophical oeuvre. […]

Yoruba art

Rowland Abiodun Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art

Cambridge University Press, New York, 2014, 386p. Four essays presented at a Roundtable on the book during 2016 African Studies Association (ASA) conference. Ẹlẹ́nu Rírì ati Àmù Ìyá Rẹ̀.1 Mọyọ̀ṣọ́rẹ Òkédìjí University of Texas, Austin moyo.okediji@utexas.edu Ar̀ òko ̣ yi ̀i ́ sẹ aỳ eẁ ̣ ò i ̀di ́ abájo ̣ ti ́ ọ̀ro,̀ […]

Figure 2: Gbárìyẹ̀ Onígba Awẹ́

Yoruba Epistemology, Art, Language and the Universe of Meanings: A Meta-Analysis

Michael O. Afolayan Independent Researcher Òṣogbo, Nigeria mafolayan@yahoo.com Introduction I had the rare privilege of delivering in proxy the original paper of Professor Moyo Okediji at the African Studies Association meeting, where it was first presented on December 2, 2016. Although short in quantity, I consider it to be loaded in quality, contents, intents, intensities, […]

Fig. 2. At right, the forearms of the late 14th-century Tada copper figure have been digitally reconstructed, their position heightening its resemblance to the carved diviner shown at left in a detail from a 20th-century agere-Ifá. Right, created by Paul Chapin, Amherst College, Amherst, MA after piece 79.R.18 in the collection of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. Left, MA 1999.17 The Barry D. Maurer (Class of 1959) Collection of African Art purchased with money from the Amherst College Discretionary Fund and funds from H. Axel Schupf (Class of 1957). Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, MA. Photo by Stephen Peteorsky. Images and comparison courtesy Rowland Abiodun.

The Landbound Chicken and the Deliberate Chameleon yet have their Uses: Yorùbá Art History, Language, and Interpretation

Kathy Curnow Cleveland State University k.curnow@csuohio.edu Abstract Rowland Abiodun’s Yorùbá Art and Language contains many extremely valuable features, wrapped around a question he raises in its introduction: can foreign scholars ever truly understand a work the way its Yorùbá makers and users do? Language mastery certainly provides the native speaker with access to inestimable insights […]

Osun-babalawo

On the Imperative of Language for Understanding African Art

Rowland Abiodun Amherst College roabiodun@amherst.edu I was deeply touched and honored by the roundtable organized at the 2016 African Studies Association Conference to focus on my book, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art (2014). I want to thank Professor Funṣọ Afọlayan for contacting and bringing together a formidable group of scholars […]

Conference Poster

Toyin Falola@65 Conference: African Knowledges and Alternative Futures

Conference Report by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju Compcros Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems Defining Experiences A defining moment for me at the Toyin Falola@65 Conference titled “African Knowledges and Alternative Futures” that ran from the 29th to the 31st of January 2018 at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, was the declaration at a paper presentation session […]

Toyin Falola conference

Toyin Falola@65 Conference: African Knowledges and Alternative Futures

Amber Murrey Department of Sociology, the American University in Cairo, Egypt Edith Phaswana Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa. The Toyin Falola @65 Conference brought together scholars from across the African continent and the world from 29 to 31 January 2018 under the theme, ‘African Knowledges and Alternative Futures.’ Our focus reflected […]

african man speaking

Proverbs and African Modernity: Defining an Ethics of Becoming

Oyekan Owomoyela University of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska African proverbs have, for good reason, attracted considerable attention from scholars, both African and non-African. One notable testimony to such attention is the international conference in South Africa from which came a monumental collection of scholarly articles now available on CD and in print. Another evidence of the […]