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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Oriki, Women and the Proliferation and Merging of Orisa |
| Author: | Barber, Karin |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
| Volume: | 60 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 313-337 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Nigeria |
| Subjects: | African religions deities cults Yoruba women Religion and Witchcraft Women's Issues Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Cultural Roles |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160110 |
| Abstract: | The religion of the Yoruba of Nigeria has two faces. On one side, it can be seen as a teeming array of colourful, strongly distinctive spiritual personalities, which fall into recognizable categories, such as the 'òrì.sà' (gods). Each one is assigned a definite personality. But on the other side of the coin is a pervasive indeterminacy about their identity. They appear to exist in multiple and reduplicated forms and to have numerous manifestations. In most publications on Yoruba religion, the prevailing tendency has been to emphasize the distinctive and individual side of òrì.sà. This tendency has been assisted by the almost universal use of 'ìtàn', narratives or myths, as the principal source of ideas about the òrì.sà. 'Oríkì òrì.sà', the praise poetry attributed to the gods, is cited only as a supplement to the narrative. The author argues that inconsistency, fragmentation and merging of òrì.sà are central features of Yoruba religious thought and practice, and that oríkì are the principal oral genre involved in the propitiation and characterization of òrì.sà, and ìtàn should be treated as an adjunct to oríkì rather than the reverse. Women play an important role in òrì.sà cults through their mastery of oríkì. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French. |
