O-okun Yoruba in Yoruba art historiography: History, problems and prospects Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Ijagbemi, Bayo, 1963- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 17:04:21 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/278548 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter fece, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zedj Road, Ann Aibor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 O-OKUN YORUBA IN YORUBA ART HISTORIOGRAPHY: HISTORY, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS by Bayo Ijagbemi Copyright ® Bayo Ijagbemi 1996 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ART In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN ART HISTORY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 6 UMI Number: 1381785 Copyright 1996 by 1Jagbeml, Bayo All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1381785 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Request for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. .~ . ' 0 r-~· SIGNED: ~~ { > ~( APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Mikelle Smith Omari-Obayemi Professor of Art History 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The acknowledgments made below are in consonance with the Yoruba tradition of going back to one's benefactor the following day to say 'thank you.' An Ijumu proverb: oni ba dupe ore ano, ari minrin gbaa (when you show appreciation for a favor received, you are likely to be showered with more) says it all. My first thanks goes to my wife, Bosede Ijagbemi who has endured my absence for the past three years, and to my parents, Chief Adesayo and Ibimilo Ijagbemi, for their ceaseless prayers of support and letters of encouragement from home (Ikoyi-Ijumu, Nigeria). I will also want to acknowledge the moral support and assistance I received from many friends I made at the University of Arizona, most especially, Mrs. Cecilia Onaiyekan and Ms. Mimi Hernandez (Art Librarian, University Main Library). As I have done at every opportunity, I want to thank the entire Faculty of the Art History Program for their love and support, particularly my Committee Members - Dr. Sarah Moore and Dr. Julie Plax. I also wish to express my gratitude to the staff of the U A Museum of Art, particularly, Dr. Peter Briggs, the Curator of Collections, for their support and exhilarating jokes. My greatest gratitude for making this thesis a reality and possible for me to study at the University of Arizona goes to Dr. Mikelle Smith Omari-Obayemi. In addition to serving as my Advisor and mentor. Dr. Omari-Obayemi also served as a confidant, reliable friend and egbon (big sister). Since I can never thank her enough, I guess I will forever continue to say, mo dupe ore ano. npnTr-BTTOM This thesis is dedicated to: AKODI AFRIKA (formerly knovm as AKODI 0-KUN) (Cultural Centre, Museum and Institute) Iffe - Ijumu Kogi State, Nigeria 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 6 ABSTRACT 7 Chapter I INTRODUCTION 8 Research Objectives 11 Methodology 12 O-okun Yoriiba: The Land, People and Culture 15 Chapter II YORUBA STUDIES AND HISTORIOGRAPHY: ISSUES AND TRENDS 22 Chapter III O-OKUN YORUBA IN YORUBA ART HISTORIOGRAPHY 45 Chapter IV PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF O-OKUN YORUBA ART STUDIES 78 APPENDIX A 107 APPENDIX B 108 GLOSSARY 109 REFERENCES HQ 6 LIST Of ILLUSTRATIONS MAP 1. Map of Yorxibaland showing the subgroups 9 MAP 2. Map of 0-okun Yoruba speaking groups 16 ILLUSTRATION 1. Sketch of a Double Metal Gong (Agogo) 98 ILLUSTRATION 2. Sketch of a Drum 99 ILLUSTRATION 3. Sketch of a Chieftaincy Staff (Opa Oye) ..101 7 ABSTRACT One of the most obtrusive features of Yoriiba studies has been its clear pattern of regional preferences and biases in its scholarship. This pattern is reflected in the present concentration of studies on the southwest, the northwest, the central subgroups of Ife, Owo, Ijesha, Egba, Ijebu, Oyo, and Ilorin on one hand, and the paucity of works on the northeast and southeast subgroups of the 0-okun Yoruba, the Igbomina, the Ikale and the Ilaje on the other. There is no other subgroup where this particularistic trend in Yoruba studies and especially, art historiography can better be observed than with the scholarly neglect of the 0- okun peoples, the most northeasterly of the Yoruba subgroups. An important goal of this thesis is to foreground the multi- culturalistic tendencies among the Yoruba and underscore the necessity to provide comparable scholarly attention to neglected subgroups, the 0-okun peoples in particular. 8 Chapter I INTRODUCTION This study is a critical review of the representative literature on Yoruba art history, and specifically, a critique and detailed study of the 0-okun Yoruba in Yorxiba art historiography. A close examination of Yoruba studies (history, religion, archaeology, sociology, warfare, biography) reveals clear patterns of regional preferences and biases in scholarship. These patterns are reflected in the present concentration of studies on the southwest, the northwest, the central subgroups of Ife, Owo, Ijesha, Egba, Ijebu, Oyo, and Ilorin on one hand, and the paucity of works on the northeast and southeast subgroups of the 0-okun Yoruba, the Igbomina, the Ikale and the Ilaje on the other hand.' (See Map 1.) The semblance of hostility and intra-ethnic squabbles reflected in the scholarship on the Yoruba culture group is played out in the castigation and, sometimes, outright dismissal of studies that tend to challenge the ideologies of 'See David and Charlene Baldwin, The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria: An Indexed Bibliography (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1976). This comprehensive bibliography of about 3488 references on the Yoruba has a negligible number of citations on the 0-okun Yoruba. That this project could not escape from the narrowly focussed scholarship on the Yoruba is borne out by the basic restriction of the study to the single administrative unit of the former Western state. All the Yoruba subgroups outside this administrative unit with the exception of Ilorin were excluded. 9 1\1 I a,- P-.. I ;'-} ,tJ / ..tf~ i . ·r"' .."'!J.,q_ + ,____ /. ;' ~ "<) .. ( r ·· .. .. .. : •• · /.-· ·-., -t"".:~· -. 'I ..• ,.-· / ~.:...,..... =. .: ( .. 1 ; : ~·./· ~ · · •.. 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