How knowledge was taught and preserved before schools existed, the memorization systems, the specialist knowledge classes, initiation as pedagogy, and what mission and colonial schooling replaced.
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.
Yoruba society pass down heavy amount of knowledge without writing, including divination corpus of hundreds of thousands of verses, list of hundreds of medicinal plants and animals, family history and praise poetry of every lineage for every town, and full technical knowledge of many different crafts. Dem do am through different institutions wey dem deliberately design to teach people, no be say na just by accident people pick am up. Wetin this file dey try do na to help person understand those institutions, and the first thing to understand na say because writing no dey no mean say curriculum no dey.
The main goal no be just to pack information, but to produce particular kind of human being. The principles of Yoruba traditional education stand on the concept of ọmọlúàbí, wey mean roughly person wey get good character and ideal life , and the full meaning of that ideal dey inside Values and Social Ethics in Practice. Everything wey dey below dey arranged towards this goal.
The compound. Na the main place. Pikin grow up among many adult people, wey most of dem be family, and senior children get responsibility to look after younger ones. Wetin dem dey learn there na language, greeting, respect for seniority, the lineage oríkì and its eewọ̀, and everyday work for house. Because the compound na workplace too, and many times workplace wey dey specialize for one craft, pikin go don master the basic ideas of the family work long before formal training start.
Observation and graduated participation. The main method for all Yoruba learning na to watch first, then help, then do work under supervision, before doing am by oneself. Pikin dey follow adults go farm and market, and dem dey give dem real work wey fit their power. Vocational training rely well well on apprenticeship system, where relatives, master craftsmen or friends dey train children . Nothing for this system separate learning from real work, and na this one be the main difference between am and formal school.
Story, proverb and riddle in the evening. The organized spoken teaching dey happen for night, after work, inside the compound courtyard. Storytelling, proverbs and myths play big role , and the structure na participatory instead of person just to dey preach: the storyteller dey call and the children go answer, songs dey inside the stories wey the audience dey join sing, and riddles, àlọ́ àpamọ̀, na wetin dem dey throw give each other to compete. The àlọ́ ìjàpá cycle, tortoise stories, na the most popular collection of Yoruba stories for children, and the moral lesson dey usually show the other side, since Ìjàpá the trickster dey usually win first before punishment go meet am, to teach wetin dey happen when person get sense but no get good character.
Proverbs na the most concentrated tool. Yoruba people dey treat proverb as vehicle to make point or argument, and to fit use proverb well na sign of mature adult. Because proverbs dey pack deep judgment inside short line wey easy to remember, dem be both the curriculum content and the way dem dey store am. Dem discuss dem for Òwe: Proverbs.
Ceremony and festival as instruction. Cultural rituals and ceremonies play big role, as festivals, initiations and sacred ceremonies dey teach children Yoruba history, spiritual matters and moral values . Festival na event wey dem design to teach: e dey tell story of ìtàn, give people roles, show the town history and all the groups wey make up the town in clear order, and e dey repeat every year, wey be clear example of curriculum wey dem dey deliver through performance.
The memory technologies na the part of the system wey people dey often overlook pass, and e dey very impressive.
Structural indexing. The Ifá corpus na the ultimate example and e make sense to understand am as information system. The 256 odù form fixed, ordered index wey come from binary system. Each odù get group of ẹsẹ, or verses, wey attach to am, and each verse carry story, precedent, prescription, and many times knowledge about plants and medicine. A babaláwo no dey just memorise things rough rough without order; e dey memorise many items wey dem arrange under 256 addresses, and the divination process dey bring out the exact address. Na the structure make the heavy volume easy to handle, and na why Ifá be the single most effective tool to preserve knowledge wey the society produce. Dem treat the system for section 05.
Verse form. Material wey dem wan remember dey put inside verse: tone patterns, parallel lines, standard ways to start, fixed descriptive names, and regular rhythm dey help prevent mistake, because any line wey don change no go fit rhythm or balance with the parallel line again. Na this same principle preserve Homeric epic and Vedic recitation, and e work for the same reasons.
Oríkì. Praise poetry dey attach to individual people, lineages, towns, òrìṣà and even animals and plants, and na the main vehicle to remember family tree and historical memory. One lineage oríkì orílẹ̀ dey store their town of origin, their qualities, their eewọ̀ and their historical claims, and dem dey perform am for public during occasions where those claims matter. The performers, wey often be women, na specialists. Dem treat Oríkì inside Oríkì, and how e serve as historical evidence inside History: Method.
Drum language. The talking drum dey copy the tone patterns of Yoruba speech, wey make am medium to pass spoken message instead of just musical instrument, and the collection of drummed oríkì and proverbs form another way to store information. Drumming na lineage craft wey get its own apprenticeship, wey dem treat for section 07.
Repetition against a check. For all these things, the teacher dey listen as the student dey recite and e go correct am, for many years. The check na the most important element: knowledge wey person memorise without correction dey drift go another thing, and the institutional arrangement wey matter na the long relationship between master and student where dem dey catch errors.
Apprenticeship na di way dem dey take pass handwork and professional knowledge both, and dem describe di structure for Economy and the Market. Diviners, weavers, potters, blacksmiths, wood-carvers and stone-workers, all of dem train through apprenticeship and under master . Di apprentice, ọmọ iṣẹ́, dey enter di master house as junior member, go work without pay for some number of years, and dem go do freedom ceremony release am.
Two things make am different from school. Di first one na say e dey teach deep practical skill, di kind knowledge wey person no fit just put down for speech or theory, through putting di learner inside di work for long time till judgment form. Di second one na say e dey transfer social position join di skill: di person wey graduate no just know how to do blacksmith work alone, e don become member of di blacksmiths ẹgbẹ́ with di obligations wey follow am, di ritual duties to Ògún and di control authority wey dem get over am.
Di training of babaláwo na di one wey long pass and dey demand pass, e dey take many years under master, and e involve memorising full body of knowledge, learning plants and medicine knowledge, and initiation. Di training of oníṣègùn follow di same pattern, combining memorised material, knowing plants for bush, and supervised practice.
Initiation into cult, society or priesthood na institution for teaching, and e dey do several things at di same time wey normal school no dey do.
E dey separate di learner from normal life for some time, wey go make attention focus well and show say di knowledge get different special value. E dey pass knowledge wey get restriction, so dat di initiation na di teaching at di same time and di licence to hold di teaching. E dey change di status of di person wey dem initiate, so dat wetin di person learn and who e don become no fit separate. And e dey tie di initiate with oath say make e no talk am out, wey be di way dem dey enforce di restriction.
Dis thing get direct effect on wetin person fit write inside dis kind corpus. Plenty of Yoruba specialist knowledge na initiate-held and no dey open to public, and di honest position na to talk am like dat instead of to fake wetin no dey. Onadeko experience with Ògbóni na di documented example: di people wey give am info wey be initiate refuse to reveal secret, say na because of dia oath, and earlier research wey one judge wey be initiate do no bring out anything . Where dis corpus keep quiet about di inside secret of any society, dat silence na di true state of wetin dey open to public, no be say dem forget am.
Di teaching logic behind restriction deserve make person explain am fairly instead of to look am with suspicion. Knowledge wey carry power, over health, over legal matter, over how other people dey do, dey dangerous for hand of person wey never ready, and system wey put gate for front of am with long apprenticeship, oath, and change of status dey follow clear policy wey make sense. Modern professions dey use similar way take protect medical and legal knowledge.
Yoruba society maintain recognized bodies of specialist knowledge, and each one get im own way wey dem dey take pass am down.
Babaláwo, di Ifá diviners, wey hold di divination corpus and plenty of di medical and plant knowledge wey follow am.
Oníṣègùn and adáhunṣe, di healers, wey hold di medicine knowledge, wey dem treat for Medicine and Healing.
Aṣọ̀ọ́sì and ọdẹ, di hunters, wey hold di ìjálá poetic tradition, plenty knowledge about forest and animals, and di fighting skill wey make dem be di raw material for Yoruba armies.
Àwọn onílù, di drummers, wey hold di drum language and di repertoires wey connect to lineages and òrìṣà.
Arọ̀kìn, court historians and reciters for Ọ̀yọ́ and other places, wey hold di list of kings and di dynastic ìtàn. Dia existence na di strongest evidence say Yoruba historical memory na institution dey maintain am pass say people just dey remember am, and na also di reason why person suppose dey careful about dat memory, since palace reciter get employer wey dey pay am.
Priesthoods of each òrìṣà, wey hold di liturgy, di songs, di herbal and ritual knowledge wey belong specifically to di deity.
Craft guilds, wey hold di technical knowledge of blacksmithing, weaving, dyeing, carving, beadwork and pottery.
Women's specialist knowledge, wey literature no really talk about well, and wey include di whole area of midwifery and baby care, di dyeing and broadloom weaving traditions, di market and business knowledge, and plenty of di oríkì performance tradition.
Christian mission schooling enter Yorubaland from di 1840s and e come turn di main way to get literacy, salary work and colonial administration position. Di results no be di same everywhere and person no suppose just summarize am for only one direction.
Wetin e bring. Literacy for Yoruba and English, written orthography for di language, printing of Yoruba texts including dictionary and Bible, and way to enter different professions. Di Yoruba enthusiasm for education no be colonial imposition but na Yoruba own response, and di Sàró returnees from Sierra Leone dey among di first and strongest people wey promote am. Awólọ́wọ̀'s free universal primary education for Western Region from 1955 na di peak of dat response, and e make di region become di one wey get school pass for Nigeria.
Wetin e push comot. Mission schooling no just be neutral addition. E take children comot from compound during working hours, wey break di system of learning by watching and joining body. E replace apprenticeship as di way to make progress for ambitious people, wey make di guilds lose talents. E teach with curriculum wey get European content and frame local knowledge as superstition, so dat as di child dey learn how to read, na so e dey learn at di same time say wetin im grandmama know no be knowledge. And for some cases, e require make people renounce dia practices, including Ifá consultation and òrìṣà observance, as condition before dem go fit participate.
Di way dem change di calendar wey dem document for Time and the Calendar na di typical example: missionary education force one kind belief about time, and dem push di four-day week give traditional worshippers, and di loss happen because of schooling, no be say any argument win .
Wetin survive. E plenty pass wetin people dey usually assume. Apprenticeship still remain di main way to enter most Nigerian trades. Using proverb still remain mark of person wey sabi Yoruba speech well. Dem still dey perform Oríkì. Ifá training dey continue, and e don even expand because of diaspora demand. Di compound-level way dem dey pass down greeting, seniority, and moral training dey continue inside Yoruba families of every religion, because dose ones no be purely religious matter, so dem never target am.
Di situation now. Two things dey happen at di same time. Di way specialist knowledge dey pass down dey really thin out, since apprentices dey go school, practitioners dey grow old, forest and di plants inside dey disappear, and di way children for city and diaspora sabi speak Yoruba language don drop. At di same time, serious work dey go on to document and revive am: dem don record and publish di Ifá corpus, ethnobotanical survey dey active, university departments dey teach Yoruba language and literature, and diaspora don bring demand wey dey sustain lineages of practice. Di threat dey real and di response dey real, and e no go correct to present only one side.
What greeting encodes and why it is so elaborate, respect and seniority in daily conduct, hospitality, the full content of omoluabi, and how shame and reputation actually enforced behaviour.
The market as an economic, social and political institution, the four-day cycle, women's control of trade and what it bought them, guilds, esusu credit, family land, apprenticeship and the cocoa century.
The knowledge system of the onisegun, the categories of oogun, what pharmacological research has and has not confirmed about Yoruba herbal medicine, and the specialist practitioners.
What Yorùbá proverbs do in speech and in law, and a worked collection of more than forty proverbs in original, literal gloss, and idiomatic English.
What oríkì are, the different kinds, who performs them and why, and how they carry history that written records do not.
How a Yoruba person is located among relatives, in a physical compound and in a descent group, and why seniority rather than sex does most of the organizing work.