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Texts and Contexts of Yoruba Hunters'narrative Performance

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Texts and Contexts of Yoruba Hunters'narrative Performance TEXTS AND CONTEXTS OF YORÙBÁ HUNTERS’ NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE BY KÁYỌ̀ DÉ AYỌ̀ BÁMI, ADÉDÙNTÁN B.A. English Studies (Ife), M.A. Literature (Ibadan) Matric No: 113034LIBRARY - A thesis in Performance Studies Submitted to the Institute of African Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of the UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN CODESRIA FEBRUARY, 2009 ii CERTIFICATION I certify that this work was carried out by Káyọ̀ dé Ayọ̀ bámi Adédùntán in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan ……………………………………………..LIBRARY Supervisor- O.O. Layiwola B.A. (Ife), Ph.D. (Leeds) Professor of Performance and Cultural Studies, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria CODESRIA iii DEDICATION To DL …the idea, the teacher, the mentor; he of the gentle hands that make fine marbles out of coarse stones LIBRARY - CODESRIA iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS These acknowledgements, like all attempts at paying bad debts, are not a successful catalogue of all the individuals and institutions to whom I owe the final completion of this research; the limitation of human memory always moderates one’s desire to write such a roll. The immensity of Professor O.O. Layiwola’s supervisory and mentoring efforts transcends the immediate attainment of a PhD. He is a lesson long enough to last a whole career. The University of Ibadan Postgraduate School awarded me the scholarship that, besides the payment of tuition fees, put me on a stipendiary pay-roll throughout the last quarter of the research. I am grateful to the Postgraduate school, and Professors A.U. Iwara and O.O. Layiwola for their recommendation. I am in no small measure indebted to LIBRARYthe Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).- Its Small Grant for Thesis Writing awarded me in 2008 helped to defray a huge part of my field expenses. Dr Sola Olorunyomi (Uncle Ẹ́ ss; Bàmi) is an adept at “intruding” whenever one is in dire need of a hand. He would go to such extent as looting his wife’s kitchen to provision mine. His interventions in those blue moments were so numerous that one simply had to stop thanking him. It was in that climate, conducive to interrogation and intellection, provided by the entire family of Institute of African Studies that this work began and came to fruition. Dr O.I. Pogoson was generous with encouragement and humour that made CODESRIAthe most trying moments seem like trivia. Dr Aderonke Adesanya, the Sub- Dean, worked extra hour to ensure every paper was in the right place. The avuncular counsel and goodwill of Dr O.B. Olaoba and Mr P.B. Unuofin were invaluable. Dr I.A. Jimoh and Dr Adekunle also urged me on like brothers. Rotimi Babatunde is both a reliable friend and an entirely unwise creditor. The processing of some of the data of this work wrecked his computer. He also intervened materially at crucial moments. And Kunle Okesipe is neither a wiser v one. He often yielded too easily to blackmail and would empty his pockets to give all or to prove that there was no salary yet. Those two are kindred spirits that have haunted me for close to two decades. The support from Messrs Biodun Fadiji and Odetunde Dapo was always opportune. They are like my blood brothers. Honourable Tunde Ojo (Fear) put vehicle and personnel at my disposal during my trips to Oke-Ogun sites. As an informant, his cues were so numerous and equally so tempting that it was often difficult to choose final samples. My mum, Bernice Aderoju, was never tired of the restless and footloose son who, instead of working and “settling down”, went back to school and hardly came home. My benevolent angel, Folake, and my sisters, Leye and Sade, generously forgave recurring stress-induced withdrawal and tantrums, and continued to show the needed love and support. In my perennial search for information, the following family of friends never tired of pointing out where to get what and helping with last-minute clarification: Messrs Abiodun Fadiji (Ordinary),LIBRARY Dapo Odetunde (Akala), Ayodele Abiodun (Engineer), Femi Egbebowale (Omo- Egbe), Adekunle Onifade (Sir K), Gbenga Kehinde (Ilora), Segun Taiwo (Sigo), E.B. Adumaradan (Ijesa) and Ademola Joseph (Yellow). Initially, Tope Salawu of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) facilitated my meeting with Mrs Dasola Akinlabi and Mr Lekan Babatunde, producers of Ọdẹ Akọni and Ọdẹ́ tẹ̀ dó respectively. My debt to Kola Akintayo, Olabisi George Gbamolefa, and Yahya Lateef, who volunteered to be my informants in Oyo and Osun States without charges, is invaluable. I am no less grateful to Mrs Akinlabi and Mr Babatunde for guidance and information. The hunters who provided me the data and insights are just too numerous to recount. CODESRIAI acknowledge Alt-I-Native and, especially, Mr Lanre Ogunkola for the software used to apply the tone marks and diacritics on the Yoruba texts in the work. Ali Hassan, Anthony Ebika, Ropo Ewenla, Mr Wale Ajayi, Mrs Remi Aduradola, Aafa Mustapha Nasir Labaranali, MST Tijani and Mr Babawale Taiwo were also supportive till the very end. To all that I have tried and failed to recall, these acknowledgements are just an infinitesimal fragment of the huge eternal debt I owe all of you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification………………………………………………………………… iii Dedication…………………………………………………………………... iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………......v Table of contents…………………………………………………………......vii Abstract………………………………………………………………………xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH 1.1.1 Hunting, hunter and a Yoruba cosmology……………………………1LIBRARY 1.1.2 Some roles of the Yoruba hunter……………………………………..3- 1.1.3 The hunter in Yoruba society………………………………………....6 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM……………………………………...13 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS……………………………………………….16 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY………………………………………….16 1.5 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY………………………………………...17 1.6 CULTURE AND ECOLOGY OF STUDY AREA……………………….19 1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY…………………………..20 1.8 DEFINITIONSCODESRIA 1.8.1 Text…………………………………………………………………....21 1.8.2 Context……………………………………………………………….22 1.8.3 Performance…………………………………………………………..22 1.8.4 Performance Studies………………………………………………….22 1.8 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS……………………………………………....23 vii CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL APPROACH 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.1 The place of poetry in hunters’ culture…………………………….25 2.1.2 Yoruba hunter in modern prose fiction…………………………….34 2.1.3 Conceptualizing narrativity………………………………………...48 2.1.4 Limen of the actual and the fabulous……………………………....62 2.1.5 African cultural discourse and dualist formation…………………..67 2.2 THEORETICAL APPROACH 2.2.1 Structuralism……………………………………………………….71 2.2.2 Narratology………………………………………………………...77 2.2.3 Theoretical positions in cultural andLIBRARY performance studies………...79 2.2.4 Conclusion………………………………………………………....95- CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….97 3.2 STUDY POPULATION………………………………………………....97 3.3 RATIONALE FOR THE CHOICE OF STUDY POPULATION AND LOCATIONS…………………………………….98 3.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION…………………………………..98 3.4.1 Participant Observation…………………………………………….99 3.4.2CODESRIA Non-Participant Observation………………………………………. 99 3.4.3 Focus Group Discussion…………………………………………...100 3.4.4 In-depth Interviews………………………………………………..101 3.4.5 Key Informant Technique…………………………………………101 3.5 PROBLEMS OF DATA COLLECTION………………………………102 viii CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 INTRODUCTION 4.1.1 Hunter, the ethic of silence and the imperative of narrativity………111 4.2 TEXTS OF YORUBA HUNTERS’ NARRATIVES 4.2.1 The hunter and the Other in agonistic relation……………………...114 4.2.2 Man the hunter as pacifier of the wild……………………………...115 4.2.3 Negotiating and surviving the formidable……………………….....129 4.2.4 The forest as indeterminate kaleidoscope…………………………..145 4.3 CONTEXTS OF YORUBA HUNTERS’ NARRATIVES 4.3.1 Hunters’ narratives, economy and the electronic media…………....149 4.3.2 The performance art of hunters’ narratives…………………………157 Ìbà (acknowledgement and appeal)…….………………………158 Evoking the code of silence………………………………….....160 Familiarization and defamiliarization…………………………..161 Proverb…………………………………………………………163LIBRARY Oríkì………………………………………………………….....167- Ọfọ̀ (incantation)..……………………………………………....169 Truth, mythmaking and management of credibility risk…….....170 Language and the portrait of anOther world………...................172 4.3.3 Radio performance and the “sin” of narrative reconstruction………176 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..185 5.2 RECOMMENDATION………………………………………………….190 CODESRIA WORKS CITED……………………………………………………………..192 APPENDICES APPENDIX I The narrative of Ásìmíyù Ògúndépò Pabíẹkùn…………………………….205 APPENDIX II The narrative of Alhaji Táníátù Akínkúnmi Akéwejẹ̀ ……………………..212 APPENDIX III The narrative of Kìlání Alápó performed by Ḳ ó lá Akíntáyọ̀ ……………219 ix APPENDIX IV The narrative of Yẹ̀ kínì Ọláwuyì Omítóògùn Améringùn………………227 APPENDIX V The narrative of Rábíù Òjó performed by the hunter and Kọ́ lá Akíntáyọ̀ .…………………………………………….234 APPENDIX VI The narrative of Músílíù Àlàgbé Fìríàáríkú…………………………………..240 APPENDIX VII The narrative of Rábíù Òjó……………………………………………………..243 APPENDIX VIII The narrative of Moses Ògúnwálé…………………………………………..246 APPENDIX IX The narrative of Jọ́ ògún Àlàdé…………………………………………………255 APPENDIX X Some pictures from the field………………………………..258 LIBRARY - CODESRIA x List of plates 1.1. The Alágogo boy and mates making the night rounds…………………..10 1.2. Participants converge as a family arrives on a motorbike……………...10 1.3. The Alágogo gives his blessing
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