Explorar

Character as the whole content of Yoruba ethics, iwa pele and iwa rere, the identity of character with beauty, patience as the source of character, and an ethical system grounded in consequence and community rather than divine command.

The concept that runs from "so be it" at the end of a prayer to the force by which anything happens at all, why both "power" and "life force" are inadequate translations, and how ase works in speech, ritual and art.

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 foundational tripartite colour system of the Yoruba world, organizing visual, thermal, and spiritual realities into chromatic temperaments rather than narrow spectral wavelengths.

How much of generically African-diasporic music, food, language and aesthetics is specifically Yoruba-derived, separating demonstrated retention from plausible resemblance and naming the overclaims common in popular writing.

How Yorùbá men's and women's garments combine into a complete ensemble, and how the resulting silhouette communicates character, status, and occasion.

An analysis of Rowland Abíọ́dún's scholarship, his indigenous linguistic paradigm for Yorùbá art history, and the debates surrounding his methodology.

The carving technique, cosmological iconography, aesthetic principles, museum provenance, and historical debates surrounding the consecrated Yoruba divination tray.