Bolanle Awe's case for oríkì as historical evidence, worked through two towns' founding oríkì, with a plain statement of what a historian can and cannot recover from the form.
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yoruba-oriki inside 02-language bring out Bọlanle Awe 1974 argument say oríkì na proper historical document for society wey no get written record, plus di limit wey dey inside dat kind documentation: oríkì no dey follow order of time, dem dey take side by design, dem dey cut story short, and dem dey change as person dey perform dem. Dis file no dey repeat dat argument. E work through two of Awe own example dem, di Ìbàdàn and Ọ̀fà founding oríkì, to show clearly wetin historian fit bring out from each line and wetin no fit dey recovered, and e bring out di general method wey follow am.
Di fuller one among two version of dis text wey resemble each oda well-well inside di material wey dem gather go like dis:
Ibadan kúre! Ibadan bèrè kí o tó wọ̀ ọ́, Ibadan mesiogo n'ile Oluyole, Nibi ole 'gbe jare olohun, Ibadan kìí gbé onílé bí àjèjì, A kìí wáyé ká má l'árùn kan lára, Ìjàgboro l'árùn Ìbàdàn.
Hail Ibadan! Home of warriors. Ibadan, the town about which you must make investigations before you enter, Ibadan, the child of Esi-the-bush-pig, the home of Oluyole, the town where thieves get the better of the rightful owners, Ibadan which gives more succour to the strangers than to the indigenes. No one comes into the world without some affliction. Street fighting is the affliction of Ibadan.
Translated by Bọlanle Awe, from her 1974 article wey establish oríkì as historical evidence .
Wetin historian fit bring out. Three clear historical claim dey inside dis text, and person fit check each of dem separately against oda nineteenth-century evidence. First, Ìbàdàn reputation as town wey person must check well before e enter, wey mean say for early days dem know am as war camp wey safety no dey sure. Second, di specific claim say Ìbàdàn favour strangers wey just dey come pass people wey don already dey live there, wey align with di historical account say dem settle Ìbàdàn for 1829 as settlement wey absorb refugees and people wey dey find opportunity from di collapsing Ọ̀yọ́ Empire, instead of say e grow from one lineage. Third, di last two lines wey resemble proverb wey name street violence as normal regular thing, wey match Ìbàdàn documented history as militarised settlement wey warlords govern for di first few decades instead of hereditary dynasty.
Wetin historian no fit bring out. No date. No order of events: di text no talk when Ìbàdàn get dis kind reputation compared to Oluyole time of rule, e only talk say di two things true for di town. No neutral voice: "the home of Oluyole" call di name of one particular powerful person among several nineteenth-century Ìbàdàn war chiefs, and text wey dem collect from different lineage or group for di same town fit put another rival chief for front instead. Di proverb about body trouble na way wey di town take dey brand itself as well as historical report, di kind thing wey town dey talk about itself wey fit be performance pass description.
Wetin e mean for method. Awe own framing, wey dem report for yoruba-oriki, na say oríkì of dis kind dey remember important events and achievements just like written record for literate society, and dem get special value because war camp town like Ìbàdàn no produce royal chronicle tradition like di kind wey Ọ̀yọ́ or Ifẹ̀ get . Where written record scarce pass, oríkì na often di only near-contemporary voice wey dey available at all, and na dat make Awe argue say make dem take am serious as evidence instead of just ordinary decoration.
Ìjàkàdí l' ooro t'Offa. Ìjà kan, ìjà kan tí wọ́n jà l'Ọ́fà nílé Olalomi níjọ̀sí. Láàre, búuré. Ọ̀kan ò gbọdọ̀ jukàn l'Ọ́fà.
Wrestling is the tradition of Offa. A fight, a certain fight that was fought in Offa in the home of Olalomi in former times. Cut it fairly, divide it fairly. One must not cheat the other in Offa.
Translated by Karin Barber, from I Could Speak Until Tomorrow .
Wetin historian fit bring out. One founding figure wey get name, Olalomi Olofa, wey dem link to origin dispute wey fight settle and di habit of fair sharing wey follow am. One clear corporate identity, wrestling and straight dealing, wey di town claim for demsef as wetin make dem different. Trace of how people move: Barber broad analysis of dis material notice migration route dem wey dey inside Ọ̀fà oríkì orílẹ̀ wey trace how settlement move from Ọlọ́fà pass earlier places including Ìlofà, Ọ̀fà-Oro and Ọ̀fà-Ìrèsà, wey be di kind movement history wey written Yoruba record of dat period no keep .
Wetin historian no fit bring out. Di date or how long di founding fight take happen, or any confirmed reason wey different from wetin Ọ̀fà's own account talk. Whether "cut fairly, divide fairly" dey describe wetin dem really dey do or na just wishful civic branding of di same kind like Ìbàdàn line about trouble. Clear time sequence of how dem relocate to Ìlofà, Ọ̀fà-Oro and Ọ̀fà-Ìrèsà relative to each oda or to dated external events, since, according to Barber general finding wey dem report for yoruba-oriki, oríkì dey pack centuries enter praise name dem wey scatter and no follow straight line without narrative sequence .
Wetin dis mean for method. Di extra information wey dey here, say Olalomi na di founder, na sometin wey person fit check against di bigger published record of Ọ̀fà royal history for ways wey di material wey dey inside dis corpus no supply by imself; wetin di oríkì dey bring come table na di town own story about di values wey dem take start di town, sometin wey history wey face only politics or royal lineage no go capture at all. Di complete text dem and extra Ọ̀fà material dey inside oriki-orile-oyo-egba-ijebu.
Three main move dey repeat across di two case dem, and person fit apply dem to any oríkì wey dem dey read as history.
Separate di claim wey person fit check from how di town take describe diirself. Di name of founder, name of place, or claim say dem relocate na tins wey person fit check against oda evidence. But claim about good character for di community (like straight dealing, or to welcome stranger) na di town own picture of diirself, and na so person suppose read am: make person no just throway am, but make person no treat am like wetin outsider report too.
No assume say wetin follow each oda happen one after di oda. Di fact say two line stand side by side inside oríkì no mean say na cause-and-effect or say one happen before di oda for time. How di Ìbàdàn text take move from Oluyole compound straight go general proverb about wahala na typical example: to put two tins together no mean say na story wey dey flow chronologically.
First ask who get di oríkì before you believe wetin e dey drag pass. Awe method, and Barber own too, depend on knowing which family lineage or interest group produce di performance, because oríkì dey biased by nature; yoruba-oriki talk about dis tin directly, and e make sense to repeat am here because na di number one way wey oríkì-as-history dey take spoil if person no look am with critical eye: dem go quote one text as "di" main story of a town, when in fact na only one lineage account, wey oda people for di same town wey dem no record fit dey disagree with.
What oríkì are, the different kinds, who performs them and why, and how they carry history that written records do not.
The praise poetry that attaches a person to a place of origin, why Yoruba people carry a town identity they may never have lived in, and how that identity crossed the Atlantic.
Town praise for a war camp, a dyers' sanctuary and a warrior-founded hill town, each read for the specific civic identity its oríkì stakes a claim to.
Lineage and town-of-origin oríkì for four major Yoruba groups, including two variant texts for Ọ̀fà shown side by side rather than merged.
The occasions on which oríkì is actually chanted, the royal awakening and market-day forms, and how payment shapes what a performer says, illustrated with texts the genre files in this section do not carry.
The complete classification of oríkì by subject, orílẹ̀ through eranko, with a worked text for each kind and the boundary cases that show the categories are not airtight.