The Ìbàdàn school of history, Ṣàbúrí Bíọ́bákú and Bọ́lánlé Awé, Tóyìn Fálọlá, Ayọ̀ Bámgbóṣé and Adébóyè Bàbálọlá on Yoruba language and oral poetry, Rowland Abíọ́dún and Babátúndé Lawal on art, and Akínwùnmí Ògúndìran on archaeology.
Machine na im translate dis page and no person don check am. The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, the meanings and the citations dey exactly as the original. Everything else fit wrong.
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.
Dem build Yoruba history as academic subject for one single place inside about twenty years. From early 1950s, University College Ìbàdàn produce one group of historians wey argue say African society get history wey person fit document, say oral tradition na evidence wey person fit use if dem critically check am, and say na from inside African society dem suppose write African history, no be just like one chapter for how Europe take expand. Dat argument dey radical dat time wey dem make am, but now e don become standard, and na im be di foundation wey body of work like dis one stand on. Dis file cover dose historians and di linguists, art historians, and archaeologists wey do dat kind work for dia own fields.
Na Kenneth Onwuka Dike (1917 to 1983) found di Ìbàdàn school; na Igbo man, no be Yoruba, but we mention am here because person no fit describe di school without him. Dike na di first African professor of history and head of history department for Nigeria, and im book Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta (1956) na di major turning point for African historiography . E push make African historians dey use oral evidence in a systematic way, and e build di department wey train di generation wey follow after am .
Di programme of di school get three parts . First, say African history dey as subject wey get sources, wey dey contrary to wetin Europeans believe dat time, wey Hugh Trevor-Roper even talk openly reach 1963 say na only European history for Africa dey. Second, say person fit use oral tradition as historical evidence if dem gather am systematically, cross-check am with oda traditions, archaeology, and linguistics, and examine am well for im own biases. Third, say na di internal dynamics of African societies, no be di encounter with colonial masters, suppose be di main subject of study.
Di school also be nationalist project, and dem no hide am. Dem write am around di years of independence to give di new country past wey dem document, and di criticism say e make dem put eye pass for precolonial achievement and unity instead of conflict and division make sense, and people generally accept am now, even by di scholars wey inherit di work.
Bíọ́bákú arrange how dem take collect Yoruba oral tradition wey almost all later work depend on.
Dem born am on 16 June 1918 for Abẹ́òkúta and e die for 2001 . Im doctoral work wey dem publish as The Egba and their Neighbours, 1842-1872 (Oxford, 1957), na di model monograph for di school: study of one Yoruba state over one specific period using oral tradition, missionary records, and colonial archive togeda .
Im bigger contribution na di Yoruba Historical Research Scheme, wey e direct from Ìbàdàn for mid-1950s. Di scheme send trained collectors go across Yorubaland to record oral traditions town by town, in a systematic way, before di generation wey hold di knowledge die. Di archive wey come out from am, and di book Sources of Yoruba History (Oxford, 1973) wey e edit, na di foundation of Yoruba historiography . E serve as Vice-Chancellor for University of Lagos.
Scholars wey come later, especially dose wey dey work on non-Ọ̀yọ́ Yoruba, criticize im Ọ̀yọ́-centred and Ifẹ̀-origin framing say e show only di perspective of di dominant states inside di traditions wey e collect. Dat criticism na about wetin e emphasize, no be about di method wey e use.
Awé na di first woman wey get academic appointment for any Nigerian university and na Nigeria first female professor of history, and im scholarly contribution dey even deeper pass just dose first positions .
Dem born am as Bọ́lánlé Fájẹ̀mbọ́lá on 28 January 1933 for Ìlésà, and e study for Somerville College, Oxford . Im 1964 doctoral thesis about how Ìbàdàn take rise as Yoruba power na di earliest full study about di city .
Two main parts of im work matter pass. Di first one na oríkì as historical evidence. E argue and show say praise poetry get historical information wey person fit date about lineages, migrations, wars, and titles, and say person fit use am as source if dem understand how di genre work. Dat one open up materials wey people bin dey treat as literature or folklore make historians fit use am. Di second one na di political role of Yoruba women, especially im essay about Ìyálóde inside traditional Yoruba political system, wey establish say Yoruba women bin hold formal political office with clear jurisdiction, against older books wey assume otherwise . Almost every study wey come after on Yoruba women authority build on top am.
E serve as director of di Institute of African Studies for Ìbàdàn and chair di Nigerian National Commission for Women.
Akínjọ́gbìn work for Ifẹ̀ and write Dahomey and its Neighbours 1708-1818 (Cambridge, 1967), wey be di standard study on Dahomey relationship with Ọ̀yọ́ . Im major theoretical contribution to Yoruba history na di ebí concept, di argument say Yoruba states understand dia relationship with each oda like family, where Ifẹ̀ be di parent and oda towns be di children, and say na dis family model instead of notion of sovereignty organize inter-state relations before di nineteenth century. Historians dey contest dis thesis because dem feel say e dey carry later ideological claim of Ifẹ̀ seniority go back put inside political past, but e still remain di most serious attempt to explain indigenous model of Yoruba interstate order.
Ajàyí, alongside Dike, na bin di main pesin for di school, and im book Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891: The Making of a New Elite (Longmans, 1965) na di standard account of how di Nigerian educated class take form . Im bigger argument, wey im make plenty times and wey dey go against both colonial and nationalist writing, na say colonial rule na just one episode for African history instead of to be di main thing wey define am, and say African societies maintain dia continuity and power to act through am. Dat kind framing na wetin everybody don dey accept now as mainstream position.
Fálọlá na di historian of Africa wey write pass among di ones wey dey alive, and na im be di main pesin wey dey carry di Ìbàdàn school programme go front today.
Dem born am on 1 January 1953 for Ìbàdàn, im do im first degree and doctorate for history for University of Ifẹ̀, finish di doctorate for 1981, teach for Ifẹ̀ from 1981, and move go University of Texas at Austin for 1991, where im hold di Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities . Na im write or edit pass one hundred books, and im be president of di African Studies Association from 2014 to 2015 . Im don receive di Cheikh Anta Diop Award, di Amistad Award, and plenty honorary doctorate degrees .
Im work on Yorubaland cover nineteenth-century political economy, di history of Ìbàdàn, colonial tax and resistance, how Yoruba identity take form, and di intellectual history of African studies itself. Im don also do pass any pesin to make di field stand well as institution, through di annual conference wey dey carry im name, through di book series wey im dey edit, and through di training of plenty scholars.
Im memoir A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir (University of Michigan Press, 2004) sweet to read even without di academic work. Na story of how im grow up as Yoruba pikin for 1950s and 1960s Ìbàdàn, and e do wetin historical monographs no fit do: e show how life really be for society wey traditional and modern things no be separate worlds.
Bámgbóṣé na bin di first professor of linguistics for Nigeria and di pesin wey put Yoruba grammar on top modern descriptive foundation .
Dem born am on 27 January 1932, im join University of Ìbàdàn as lecturer for 1963, become senior lecturer for 1966, and professor for 1968 . Im die for 2026 at di age of ninety-four .
A Grammar of Yoruba (Cambridge University Press, 1966) still remain di standard formal description of di language and na di reference point for later work on Yoruba syntax . Im write twenty-one books , including The Novels of D. O. Fagunwa (1974), and Yoruba Orthography (1965) wey form di base for di standard orthography wey dis corpus dey use.
Im second body of work na on language policy for Africa, and for there im make strong argument say African languages must be languages of education and public life, say using only former colonial languages for education na way to exclude people, and say di technical work to develop terminology and standard forms na condition wey must dey first. Im hold di Nigerian National Order of Merit.
Bàbálọlá do for ìjálá, di hunters poetry of di Ògún cult, wetin Wándé Abímbọ́lá do for Ifá.
Dem born am on 17 December 1926 and im die on 15 December 2008 . Im go school for Nigeria, Ghana, and Cambridge, and im get im doctorate from University of London . Im be lecturer for Institute of African Studies for Ifẹ̀, principal of Igbobi College Lagos, and professor of African languages and literatures for University of Lagos .
The Content and Form of Yoruba Ijala (Oxford, 1966) na both critical study of di genre and annotated anthology with translations, and e win di Amaury Talbot Prize . E establish ìjálá as formal poetic genre with rules, repertoire, named performers, and performance context, instead of just ordinary folk song, and how e handle di relationship between di poetry and di Ògún cult na di main reference for dat material.
Im also compile di standard Yoruba dictionary work and write well-well on oríkì. Together with Bámgbóṣé and Abímbọ́lá, dem form di generation wey make Yoruba turn into documented literary language for academic sense.
Abíọ́dún na di John C. Newton Professor of Art, the History of Art, and Black Studies for Amherst College, and im main claim dey on methodology .
Yorùbá Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art (Cambridge University Press, 2014) argue say pesin no fit analyse Yoruba art properly without Yoruba language, because di critical vocabulary of Yoruba aesthetics dey inside Yoruba language and e no get equivalent for English . Words like ìwà, character or essential nature; ẹwà, beauty; àṣẹ, di power to make things happen; and ojú-inú, inner eye or insight, na di categories wey Yoruba people dey really use judge object, and to translate dem into Western art-historical vocabulary dey spoil dia meaning. Im argue further say oríkì na di primary interpretive text for Yoruba object, since di praise poetry of òrìṣà or lineage dey give di frame wey dem dey take understand im images, and say scholar wey no fit read oríkì dey read di objects blind.
Di practical result of dis argument na continuous criticism of how museum dey treat Yoruba art, wey dey classify am by form and material, and dey display objects away from di language and ritual context wey dey give dem meaning.
Lawal na professor emeritus of art history for Virginia Commonwealth University and, alongside Abíọ́dún, im be leading interpreter of Yoruba aesthetics.
Im main book na The Gèlèdé Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture (University of Washington Press, 1996), wey be di standard study of Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́, di masquerade wey dey address di power of women, and of di concept of àwọn ìyá wa, our mothers. Im work on ìwà and ẹwà, on top di relationship between ethical character and visual beauty for Yoruba judgement, show say di two no fit separate for Yoruba usage: somtin dey fine partly because e get ìwà, and ìwà na di more fundamental term.
Di position wey dem share, say make person interpret African symbols inside dia own cosmological frameworks and no be through imported categories, na im be di foundation of di arts files inside dis corpus.
Ògúndìran don produce di first full history of di Yoruba people wey join archaeology with linguistics, oral tradition, and environmental science together.
Na Chancellor's Professor and professor of Africana studies, anthropology and history for University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and editor-in-chief of di African Archaeological Review .
The Yorùbá: A New History (Indiana University Press, 2020) cover roughly 300 BCE go reach 1840, from di origins of Yoruba-speaking populations near di Niger-Benue confluence, pass through di classical age of Ifẹ̀, di rise and fall of Ọ̀yọ́, and di collapse wey happen for nineteenth century . E win di Vinson Sutlive Book Prize and di Isaac Delano Prize in Yoruba Studies for 2022 . Na im be di single best current one-volume history and di most important methodological advance for di field since di Ìbàdàn school, because e put archaeological evidence on equal footing with tradition, instead of to just use am confirm or reject oral accounts.
Im fieldwork on Ìlàrè and on top di Ọ̀yọ́ hinterland, plus im work on cowrie money and on di archaeology of di Atlantic period, answer one question wey documentary sources no fit answer: wetin di Atlantic trade really do to di material life of ordinary Yoruba communities.
Ògúndìran don also publish critical review on top Abíọ́dún's Yorùbá Art and Language, wey dey remind us say dis field na working field wey still get live internal disagreement, no be somtin wey dem don conclude finish .
Adiele Afigbo (1937 to 2009), di historian of di Warrant Chiefs and di major historian of southeastern Nigeria, na Igbo person, dem born am for Ihube for Okigwe, and dis corpus no cover am . Im name dey here because e dey appear alongside di Ìbàdàn school figures for general accounts of Nigerian historiography, and make di distinction dey clear.
One name wey dem give as "Kayode Yusuf" for some lists of Yoruba scholars, dem no fit attach am to any verifiable academic record inside accessible sources wen dem dey prepare dis file, and dem no make any claim about am. Kọ́lé Adé-Odùtọlá, professor of Yoruba for University of Florida, poet and media scholar, na verifiable current figure for Yoruba language pedagogy inside American academy, and na im name dey here instead of dat unverified name .
Wándé Abímbọ́lá and the transcription of the Ifá corpus, Bọlájí Ìdòwú and diffused monotheism, J. Ọmọ́ṣadé Awólàlú, Jacob Olúpọ̀nà, Ṣóphì Olúwọlé, Ṣégun Gbádégẹṣin, Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá and Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí.
The kinds of evidence historians use to reconstruct the Yoruba past, what each kind can and cannot prove, and how one 1921 book shaped everything written since.
What Yorùbá is as a language, which languages it is related to, how its dialects vary across Yorùbáland, and how many people speak it today.
A comprehensive scholarly study of the life, poetics, taxonomic frameworks, critical debates, and legacy of the Nigerian literary scholar and linguist Professor Ọlátúndé Ọlátúnjí.
An analysis of Rowland Abíọ́dún's scholarship, his indigenous linguistic paradigm for Yorùbá art history, and the debates surrounding his methodology.
An examination of the archaeological and historical scholarship of Akínwùmí Ògúndìran, focusing on his deep-time framework for Yorùbá history, material culture, and methodological debates.