Arts and Material Culture: Index
Guide to the thirteen files covering Yoruba aesthetics, sculpture, textiles, beadwork, craft, architecture, body arts, music, dance and theatre, with reading paths and a note on what is contested.
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Guide to the thirteen files covering Yoruba aesthetics, sculpture, textiles, beadwork, craft, architecture, body arts, music, dance and theatre, with reading paths and a note on what is contested.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Dis section dey cover wetin Yoruba people make and how dem judge am: wood sculpture, terracotta and copper alloy, cloth, beads, pot, calabash, building, hair, drum, dance and drama. Dem arrange am around one main argument wey di first file lay out and di rest apply: Yoruba art get im own criticism inside im own vocabulary, and to apply European art-history categories on top am dey cause clear and specific distortion.
Read di first file before di others if you no go read any oda tin in order. Everything downstream depend on knowing say jíjọra, moderate resemblance, na di standard, because without am, all di work go appear like say na series of failure to be naturalistic.
01. The Yoruba Aesthetic Framework arts-aesthetic-framework
Thompson fieldwork on Yoruba art criticism and di criteria wey e find: jíjọra, ìfarahàn, dídón, gígùn, ọ̀dọ́, tútù. Abiodun argument say Yoruba language and oríkì na di method instead of just background, ìwà as aesthetic term, di critique of Abiodun position, and di specific ways wey European categories dey distort dis material. Start from here.
02. Ifẹ̀ Sculpture and Its Reception arts-ife-sculpture
Di copper-alloy and terracotta work dem, di accidental discovery for Wunmonije and Ita Yemòó, lost-wax technique and imported copper, di holes wey show say veil and crown dey di head dem, di argument about second-burial function, di disagreement between Blier and Willett on top dating and attribution, Frobenius and di Atlantis claim, and where di objects dey now.
03. Wood Sculpture and the Named-Carver Tradition arts-wood-sculpture-and-named-carvers
Di genres: ọpọ́n Ifá, agere Ifá, ọ̀ṣé Ṣàngó, arugbá, epa, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́, doors and veranda posts. Di masters: Olówè of Ìṣẹ̀, Àrẹ̀ògún of Òsi-Ilọrin, Bámgbóyè of Odò-Owà, Agbọnbíọ̀fẹ́ Adéṣínà, di Adúgbólógè workshop, Lamidi Fakeye. E include one oríkì wey dem compose for Olówè when e dey alive, and di argument say anonymity na practice of collectors rather than fact about di tradition.
04. Ẹrẹ̀ Ìbejì: The Twin Figures arts-ibeji
Di demography behind di practice, with di Ìgbó-Òra rate of about 45 dizygotic twins per thousand compare to world rate of 8 to 16. Táíwò and Kẹ́hìndé and why di second-born na di senior. Di oríkì of twins. Wetin dem dey do with di figure: washing, feeding, dressing, carrying. Why dem carve di figures as adult. And how plenty of dem take commot Nigeria.
05. Textiles: Aṣọ Òkè, Adìrẹ and Aṣọ Ẹbí arts-textiles
Di men narrow-strip treadle loom and di women upright broadloom. Sányán, alááàrì and ẹtù. Di three adìrẹ resist technique and di tin tea-chest stencil. Indigo chemistry and di dye pot wey dem bury for ground. Abẹ́òkúta, Byfield dyers, and di collapse of 1937 to 1939 wey caustic soda cause. Di revival through Nike Davies-Okundaye. Aṣọ ẹbí as twentieth-century institution and how im economics actually dey work.
06. Beadwork and Regalia arts-beadwork-and-regalia
Di adé and wetin e dey do constitutionally, di ọba aládé and baálẹ̀ distinction, di Odùduwà descent claim and how e consolidate for nineteenth century, Thompson on top how di veil dey turn king into dynasty, di birds and di two ways to read dem, coral and ṣẹ̀gi and lágídígba, and di men bead workshop dem for Èfọ̀n-Aláàyè.
07. Metal, Pottery, Calabash and Leather arts-metal-pottery-calabash-leather
Ògún and di alágbẹ̀dẹ, di Modakẹ́kẹ́ smelting evidence and warning about Igbo dates wey dem apply wrongly. Di ẹdan Ògbóni as argument wey dem make inside two metals. Women potters, hand-building without wheel, and di ritual pots wey di dye industry depend on. Calabash carving for Ọ̀yọ́. Leather for Ìlọrin. And palace patronage as di frame wey hold all of dem together.
08. Architecture and the Built Town arts-architecture
Di àgbo ilé and im rain-catching impluvium, and how corrugated iron destroy am. Di àáfin as di same building for maximum scale, with im carved ọ̀pó. Di town around palace and market, im wards and im earthworks wey include Sungbo's Eredo. Afro-Brazilian Lagos, im named Àgùdà builders, and di 2016 demolition of one listed national monument. Osun-Osogbo and di question wey Susanne Wenger work raise.
09. Body Arts: Marking, Hair and Cosmetics arts-body-arts
Ìlà, di facial marks, di olóolà wey dey cut dem, di named patterns and dia towns, and how di practice almost stop completely within two generations. Ìrun dídì and ìrun kíkọ́ and di named styles. Camwood, chalk, antimony and indigo for body.
10. Instruments and the Drum Language arts-music-instruments-and-drum-language
How dem dey build di dùndún and why di cords dey bypass di wood. Di bàtá and why im fixed heads change everything. Àyàn and why lineage transmission dey preserve encoding capacity instead of only etiquette. Den di mechanism, with Akinbo measured frequencies, four worked examples wey include one sentence wey di drummers never hear before, and di dispute between Villepastour and Euba on top whether bàtá dey talk di same way. Di longest and most technical file for di section.
11. The Popular Music Lineage: Sákárà to Afrobeats arts-popular-music-lineage
Sákárà, àpàlà, wéré enter fújì, wàkà, jùjú from Tunde King pass through I. K. Dairo and Obey reach Sunny Adé, highlife, and how Fela construct Afrobeat including im own story of where di beat come from, and Steve Rhodes on top di Orò-derived bass drum. E end with honest statement about wetin person fit claim and wetin person no fit claim about contemporary Afrobeats.
12. Dance and Theatre arts-dance-and-theatre
Wetin make dancer must understand drum language, the contest between drummer and dancer, how body dey use different parts dance at the same time, and how person go dance with hot energy but keep cool face. Then the theatre line: Aláàrìnjó wey come out from Egúngún, Ogunde and how dem ban Yoruba Ronu, Duro Ladipo and Ọba Kò So, Ogunmola Palmwine Drinkard, and the road wey lead go Tunde Kelani and the Yoruba-language epic films wey dey now.
13. Where to See It arts-where-to-see-it
Practical guide. The collections wey dey Nigeria, the big museums abroad and wetin each of dem get, how to search museum database well to see wetin you dey find, wetin dey open access, and clear facts about the matter of returning artworks wey keep the Benin, Ifẹ̀ and purchased-object cases separate from each other.
If na the argument you want. File 1, 2, 3. The aesthetic framework, then the sculpture wey European people refuse to gree say Africans do am, then the carvers wey dem no write their names down.
If na the living tradition you want. File 5, 9, 10, 11. Cloth, body, drum dem, and the music wey dey play now.
If you want understand one particular object wey you don see. File 3 for wood, 4 for twin figures, 6 for crown and bead dem, 7 for metal and pot dem, then 13 to find where e dey and wetin the label no talk.
If you dey go Nigeria. File 13, 8 and 5, according to how dem follow each other.
The corpus mark disagreement for each file. The main questions wey still open na:
If person fit link individual Ifẹ̀ head dem to named Ọ̀ọ̀ni. Blier say yes based on combined thermoluminescence and king-list evidence; the conservative position, wey close to Willett own, talk say the king list no fit carry that kind weight. File 2.
Wetin the line dem for face of the Ifẹ̀ head dem mean. Willett give two possible meanings and nothing dey to choose between dem. File 2.
If to sabi language reach and e also dey compulsory to fit explain Yoruba art. People challenge the strong argument wey Abiodun bring, on top the ground say everybody dey outside object from fourteenth century. File 1.
If the bird dem on top beaded crown dey talk about royal access to sacred things, to the power of the mothers, or to both. File 6.
If bàtá dey carry speech pass through ẹ̀ná as linguistic interface wey dey compulsory, as Villepastour argue, or if ẹ̀ná na device for teaching and for people inside the group, as Euba and as González and Oludare hold. Na this dispute hot pass for this section now. File 10.
The membership of the ìgbìn ensemble, wey two published sources disagree on top and no third one dey to confirm am. File 10.
The time wey dùndún enter jùjú, wey three different dates dey circulate for am. File 11.
If dem don prove say connection dey between fújì and contemporary Afrobeats or na just mouth dem take talk am. File 11.
Dem search for several terms and figures and dem no fit verify dem, and dem record dem say dem no dey instead of to just guess fill dem in: petuje as cloth type, ààwẹ̀ as pottery form, ọtútù ọ̀pọ̀n as bead type, the Yoruba technical term for the veil wey dey crown face, the Yoruba originals of the Olówè and Adúgbólógè oríkì, and the full list of Thompson canons of fine form for way wey person fit quote. Scholarship no fit document Wàkà as genre at all. Dem call out these gaps inside the files wey concern dem.
The òrìṣà dem, their theology, their priesthoods and their festivals as religious events dey inside 06-orisa. This section treat Ṣàngó's bàtá, Ọbàtálá's ìgbìn, Ọ̀ṣun's grove and Egúngún costume as artistic and material practices, and e direct the religious matter go that section.
Literature, oríkì as verbal genre, and the linguistics of Yoruba tone dey inside 02-language. File 10 assume say person already know the tone system instead of to explain am, and file 1, 3 and 4 use oríkì without to teach wetin e mean again.
The history of Ifẹ̀ as city and polity, its glass industry, its trade and its relations with Benin dey inside 03-history, especially inside the file on the Ifẹ̀ classical age. Na only the sculpture and how people receive am File 2 cover.
The diaspora forms of these arts, for Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and the United States, dey inside 08-diaspora.
The criteria Yoruba critics actually use to judge a carving, why the language and its praise poetry are the entry point rather than the ornament, and what goes wrong when European art-historical categories are applied to this material.
The copper-alloy and terracotta sculpture of medieval Ilé-Ifẹ̀, how it was made, what it was probably for, the century of European refusal to credit Africans with making it, and where the objects are now.
The genres of Yoruba wood carving, from Ifá trays to palace doors to epa masks, the master carvers and family workshops who made them, and the reason so much of this work sits in museums without an artist's name attached.
How the hourglass pressure drum is built and why it can speak, how bàtá encodes speech differently and why scholars disagree about it, the Àyàn drumming lineages, and worked examples of drummed Yoruba with the acoustic measurements behind them.
The carved figures made when a Yoruba twin dies, what the family does with them, the genuinely exceptional twinning rate that produced them, and how tens of thousands of them ended up in Western collections.
The two Yoruba loom traditions and who works them, the named prestige cloths, the full range of adire resist-dyeing and the indigo behind it, the industry's collapse in the 1930s and its revival, and why everyone at a Nigerian wedding is dressed alike.