Learning Paths

Four ways to follow read this whole collection, each one arrange well, and each one get time estimate 1. The estimates na reading time if you dey read jeje, and dem assume say you no dey stop to check every single source, even though you suppose do that one sometimes.

The collection get ten sections: foundations, language, history, cosmology, Ifá, òrìṣà, arts, diaspora, social, and this onboarding section 1. The cross-reference dem dey point to topic instead of file number throughout. Every file frontmatter get confidence marker and things wey you suppose read first, so you fit always check whether the thing wey you dey read na contested topic before you quote am 1.

Two things wey you suppose leave open for another tab no matter which path you follow: the glossary wey dey this section, and the pronunciation guide, wey be fifteen minutes well spent for the very beginning of any path.

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Path 1: The person wey just dey curious

For: person wey never get any connection to Yorùbá culture before, wey want genuine understanding pass just surface survey-course knowledge.

Total: about 12 to 15 hours.

Stage one, orientation (about 2 hours)

1. Start Here for foundations. Wetin the collection be, who the Yorùbá be, how to use the material.
2. Pronunciation Guide for this section. Do this one early; e go make everything after am easy to read.
3. The four fifteen-minute explainers for this section, in order: Ifá, the òrìṣà, history, Yorùbá thought. In practice, dem long pass fifteen minutes each.
4. A Conceptual Map for foundations. Twenty core concepts, each one inside two sentences 1.

For this point, you don get correct working picture and you fit face any direction.

Stage two, foundations proper (about 2 hours)

5. How This Corpus Handles Evidence for foundations. The three registers, the confidence markers, why gap dem dey left as gap dem. Read this one before you start to quote anything 1.
6. What Yorùbá Tradition Is Not for foundations. Twelve misconceptions wey dem correct from both sides, wey go save you make you no repeat wetin you don already absorb from somewhere.

Stage three, the main matter (about 6 to 8 hours)

7. The history section, starting with im method file and im chronology, then the periods wey interest you.
8. The cosmology section, na where dem treat the conceptual vocabulary well.
9. The Ifá section.
10. The òrìṣà section.

Stage four, breadth (about 3 hours)

11. The language section, at least im files on tone and on proverbs.
12. The arts section.
13. The diaspora section.
14. The social section.

If na only two hours you get throughout: do stages one and two, stop for item 6.

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Path 2: The diaspora Yorùbá wey wan reconnect

For: person wey be Yorùbá by descent, wey dem train for outside or train for Nigeria without the tradition, wey want im own inheritance back on accurate terms. Na this path get pass for emotional weight, and dem arrange am make e account for that.

Total: about 14 to 18 hours, and e good make you spread am across weeks.

Stage one, clear the obstacle first (about 3 hours)

1. Start Here for foundations.
2. The Demonization for foundations. Read this one before any other substantive thing. Na the longest file for the section and dem make am specifically for reader wey dem teach say this heritage na evil. E document how that teaching take start, with dates and names, and e no attack anybody faith 1.
3. What Yorùbá Tradition Is Not for foundations.
4. Being Yorùbá and Christian or Muslim for foundations. The different positions wey Yorùbá people actually hold, without taking sides.

Reason dey why e arrange like this. Almost everybody for this path dey carry inherited mindset wey dey block dem to examine the material, and reading the main matter before handling that one dey produce ongoing argument for the reader mind wey go make nothing enter.

Stage two, the language, because na your own (about 3 hours)

5. Pronunciation Guide for this section.
6. The language section files on the language itself, on tone, and on names and naming. Na the naming file be where most people for this path dey discover say their own name get specific meaning wey dem no know before.
7. The language section file on proverbs and the file on oríkì.

Stage three, the concepts (about 4 hours)

8. A Conceptual Map for foundations.
9. Yorùbá Thought in Fifteen Minutes for this section.
10. The cosmology section in full. Orí, àyànmọ́, ìwà, ẹ̀mí, personhood, ethics.

Stage four, history and the rest (about 4 to 6 hours)

11. The history section, in order.
12. The Ifá and òrìṣà sections.
13. The diaspora section, wey go matter more or less depending on which diaspora you dey. If you dey the Americas with Afro-Atlantic connection, move this one go stage three.
14. The FAQ for this section, especially the questions on faith, on initiation, and on whether you must choose.

Small note on how to pace am. People for this path dey often try do the whole thing for one weekend, and e dey end up say either e overwhelm dem or dem carry certainty wey dem no plan to get. The material better when you take am jeje, and the questions wey e dey bring up about how dem raise person no be questions wey dey resolve on schedule.

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Path 3: Ifá as an information system

For: the reader wey find out say Ifá get formal binary structure and wan understand am properly, without making am look like magic or bringing am down.

Total: about 8 to 10 hours.

Stage one, the mechanics, wey come first (about 2 hours)

1. Ifá in Fifteen Minutes for dis section. Di whole mechanism: how cast dey produce sign, how di sign dey link di corpus, and di exact place where di binary claim correct and where e overreach.
2. A Conceptual Map for foundations, for di vocabulary.
3. What Yorùbá Tradition Is Not for foundations, especially di section on top di overclaims. Read dis one before you repeat di talk say "Ifá invent computing" for anywhere, because e wrong and di true version make sense pass.

Make you try not to skip di mechanics. Di part wey interesting no be di comparison to binary arithmetic, na di main architecture: which problem di structure dey solve, and why oral tradition go build addressing scheme.

Stage two, the system properly (around 4 hours)

4. Di full Ifá section: di 256 Odù and how dem arrange dem, di ẹsẹ and wetin dey inside dem, babaláwo training, di ọpọ́n, di ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ and di ikin, di ranking of di Odù, and di regional variation 1.
5. Di cosmology section files on top àyànmọ́ and orí, because di corpus na about destiny and person no go fit understand di system if dem no know wetin di system dey work for.

Stage three, the context that makes it make sense (around 2 to 4 hours)

6. Di language section files on top tone and on top oríkì. Di corpus na verse and e get tone, and di wahala to memorise am na linguistic matter before e even be information-design matter.
7. Di history section file on top method, to know how dem take know all dis things.
8. Di òrìṣà section on top Ọ̀rúnmìlà and on top Èṣù. Èṣù's structural role inside divination no be decoration; noting dey reach where e dey go without am, wey be interesting design feature on im own.
9. Di diaspora section on top how dem pass di system and modify am for Cuba and Brazil, wey be natural experiment on wetin dey survive when oral system move go another place.

Wetin you no go get: di content for initiated people. Ifá get restricted material and dis corpus mark dat boundary instead of filling am with speculation 1. If you want di whole system, you need teacher, and dat one na different journey entirely from dis one.

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Path 4: The parent who wants to teach children

For: parent or guardian wey want give children accurate explanation of their inheritance wey no go scare dem, no matter wetin be di family religious position.

Total: around 6 hours of your own reading, plus continuous reading.

Stage one, get yourself straight first (around 3 hours)

1. Start Here for foundations.
2. The Demonization for foundations. You need to know where di version wey you absorb come from, because children dey notice when person no sure, and na your discomfort dem go absorb instead of your words.
3. What Yorùbá Tradition Is Not for foundations.
4. Being Yorùbá and Christian or Muslim for foundations, so dat you go fit show di different views with honesty instead of presenting your own position as di only one 1.

Stage two, the material children can actually use (around 3 hours)

5. Di language section on top names and naming. Na dis one be di single best entry point for child, because di child own name na di material. Yorùbá names na sentences and most of dem dey talk specific things about di condition wey dem take born person or di position of family.
6. Di language section on top proverbs. Òwe na how dem dey always take do Yorùbá teaching for children; dem short, and dem carry moral lessons without requiring any religious commitment.
7. Di language section on top oríkì, especially lineage oríkì, wey be family history inside verse.
8. Yorùbá Thought in Fifteen Minutes for dis section, for ìwà and ọmọlúàbí. Person fit teach di ọmọlúàbí virtues directly to children of almost any age, and e no dey clash with Christian or Muslim upbringing.
9. Di arts section on top music, drumming, and masquerade, and di social section on top food and di calendar.
10. Di history section files on top Ifẹ̀ and on top Ọ̀yọ́, wey be where children go get wetin most of dem never get before: di fact say their ancestors build cities and make art wey di whole world come look.

What to teach in what order, roughly

Age wey reach around 7: di child own name and wetin e mean. Greetings and ways to show respect. Food. Songs. Small proverbs. Noting about religion for any side.

Age 7 to 12: lineage oríkì and who di family be. Proverbs wey dem dey use for real situations. Ọmọlúàbí and di virtues by name. Di history: Ifẹ̀, di sculpture, di cities, Ọ̀yọ́ and di constitutional limits on top kings. Ifá as system of signs and verses, wey dem describe accurately without fear or alarm.

Age 12 and above: di demonization, for form wey fit their age. Na dis stage child go encounter di demonic version from film, from their mates, or from church, and e better make dem meet am after person don tell dem where e come from. Di nineteenth century, including slave trade and how Yorùbá participate inside am. Di range of positions wey people hold, including your own and why you hold am.

Two cautions

No overcorrect. Child wey dem train to believe say di tradition na demonic, and later train to believe say na one perfect lost civilization, don get two false pictures instead of one. Di claims say e originate from Egypt and di claims say dem invent computing dey sweet to tell children, but dem no be true; and teenager wey repeat dem and people correct am for public go conclude say dem fabricate every other thing too.

No use silence take answer their religious question for dem. If your family na Christian or Muslim, talk am, talk wetin your tradition hold, and talk say Yorùbá people hold different positions on top dis matter. Child wey later find out say all dis different positions exist and you no mention dem no go thank you for am.

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If you want single hour

Read am for dis order: Start Here, den any one out of di four fifteen-minute explainer wey match wetin bring you here, den A Conceptual Map 1. Dat one na correct foundation and e dey honest about im own limits, wey pass wetin most single hour on top dis subject dey give.