Masquerading Politics

John Thabiti Willis

Description

In West Africa, especially among Yoruba people, masquerades have the power to kill enemies, appoint kings, and grant fertility. John Thabiti Willis takes a close look at masquerade traditions in the Yoruba town of Otta, exploring transformations in performers, performances, and the institutional structures in which masquerade was used to reveal ongoing changes in notions of gender, kinship, and ethnic identity. As Willis focuses on performers and spectators, he reveals a history of masquerade that is rich and complex. His research offers a more nuanced understanding of performance practices in Africa and their role in forging alliances, consolidating state power, incorporating immigrants, executing criminals, and projecting individual and group power on both sides of the Afro-Atlantic world.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Early History of Otta and the Origins of Egungun and Gelede
2. "Children" and "Wives" in the Politics of the Oyo Empire during the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade
3. The Emergence of New Warriors, Wards, and Masquerades: The Otta Kingdom during the Era of Imperial Collapse
4. "A Thing to Govern the Town": Gendered Masquerades and the Politics of the Chiefs and the Monarchy in the Rebuilding of a Town, 1848–1859
5. Wives, Warriors, and Masks: Kinship, Gender, and Ethnicity in Otta, 1871–1928
Conclusion: Egungun and Gelede at Otta Today
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• African Studies
• Performance art
• Anthropology
• Art
• Performance

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253031457
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MASQUERADING POLITICS
AFRICAN EXPRESSIVE CULTURES
Patrick McNaughton, editor
Associate editors
Catherine M. Cole
Barbara G. Hoffman
Eileen Julien
Kassim Kon
D. A. Masolo
Elisha Renne
Z. S. Strother
MASQUERADING POLITICS
Kinship, Gender, and Ethnicity in a Yoruba Town
John Thabiti Willis
Indiana University Press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2018 by John Thabiti Willis
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Willis, John Thabiti, [date] author.
Title: Masquerading politics : kinship, gender, and ethnicity in a Yoruba town / John Thabiti Willis.
Description: Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2018. | Series: African expressive cultures | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009278 (print) | LCCN 2017011919 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253031457 (e-book) | ISBN 9780253031440 (cloth) | ISBN 9780253031464 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Yoruba (African people)-Rites and ceremonies. | Yoruba (African people)-Nigeria-Otta-History. | Otta (Nigeria)-History. | Yoruba (African people)-Politics and government. | Masks, Yoruba-Nigeria-Otta-History. | Masquerades-Nigeria-Otta-History. | Egungun (Cult)-Nigeria-Otta. | Gelede (Yoruba rite)-Nigeria-Otta.
Classification: LCC DT515.45.Y67 (ebook) | LCC DT515.45.Y67 W55 2018 (print) | DDC 305.896333-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009278
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To our parents, elders, and ancestors-
on whose shoulders we stand as we reach for the stars-
and to our children, we pray we have made this world
a better place than we found it
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Early History of Otta and the Origins of Egungun and Gelede
2 Children and Wives in the Politics of the Oyo Empire during the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade
3 The Emergence of New Warriors, Wards, and Masquerades: The Otta Kingdom during the Era of Oyo Imperial Collapse
4 A Thing to Govern the Town : Gendered Masquerades and the Politics of the Chiefs and the Monarchy in the Rebuilding of a Town, 1848-1859
5 Wives, Warriors, and Masks: Kinship, Gender, and Ethnicity in Otta, 1871-1928
Conclusion: Egungun and Gelede in Otta Today
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
T HE MOST REWARDING aspects of writing this book are the wide-ranging, deep, and meaningful relationships that made it possible. I am incredibly grateful for the ways in which people opened their minds, hearts, spirits, and homes to me.
The University of Lagos (UniLag) provided an initial intellectual and institutional home in Lagos, Nigeria, and it was from there that I was able to conceive and conduct my field and archival research. I am particularly grateful to Professor Ayodeji Olukoju (now the vice chancellor at Caleb University), as well as the faculty members and administrative assistants who comprise the Department of History and Strategic Studies at UniLag, along with its graduate students, particularly Paul Osifodunrin and Gboyega Adebayo, and the Department of Psychology, especially Olufemi Lawal. It was with the guidance of these individuals at UniLag that I developed strategies for how best to begin my research of Otta.
I am thankful to the residents of Otta for supporting this work. Among the individuals who were instrumental in helping me get my research started in Otta are Dr. Adeboyega Salami (the chairman of the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government), Dr. Isaac Ayinde Adalemo (Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of Lagos), Mr. Yinka Dada and his family, Prince Waidi Ogunleye (the secretary and personal assistant of the king of Otta), and Oba Moshood Adetoro Oyede III (the Olota of Otta). Prince Kunle Andrew and Mr. Egi Ogbe introduced me to many of the masquerade chiefs and their families. I am most indebted to the Egungun chiefs, particularly Chief S. Asanbe (the Oloponda ) and members of the Iya Agba Oje (most notably the Elesho), as well as the families that mask as Egungun at Otta: the Ajofoyinbo, Arogunmola, Ayoka, Itimoko, Lebe, and Owolafe families. Prince Wasiu Ashola Ojugbele (the Aru Efe Egbe Alase Otta), Mr. Salawu Abioru Olaniyan (the Olori Gelede), and other Gelede chiefs and performers provided an opportunity for me to experience the spectacle that is Gelede. Other residents of Otta who deepened my understanding of this town s rich history and culture include Chief Sikiru Anibere Matoro Aso Akiolo (the Onikosi of Otta), Alaji Fatusi (son of the former Oloponda of Otta), Chief Solomon Adebiyi Isiyemi (the Baale of Atan), Chief R. S. O. Ojolowo, and Ruholla Ajibola Salako.
Residents of other Yoruba towns also enhanced my knowledge of Egungun and gender in Yoruba history and culture. They include Dr. Remi Ajala and Mrs. Toyin Ajala of Ibadan, Chief (Mrs.) Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi (the Yeye Aresin Alabola Masifa Lano), and Chief Muraina Oyelami (the Esa of Iragbiji). My experience at Oshogbo was made particularly sweet by the conversation and play with many of the children living at the house of Adunni Olorisha on Ibokun Road. I am also grateful to Omolola Olarinde and other members of her family for their hospitality and assistance with my research in Ibadan. Moreover, Mr. Gbamidele Ajayi has been a most faithful friend, companion, and guide since 2005, and I am privileged to call him a brother.
I also developed a lifelong relationship with two families in Nigeria: the Adelekes and the Animashawuns. The Adeleke family includes Deola, Shade, Shofi, Shonola, Tinu, and Wole, while the Animashawun family includes Abi, Reverend (Mr.) and Mrs. Aishida, Bukky, Dele, Fela, Femi, Kehinde, Segun, Shubumi, and Taiwo. Both families have exhibited exceptional generosity and love toward me and my visitors (including family and friends from the United States) during our time in Nigeria. Taiwo Animashawun and Wole Adeleke have treated me like a brother, and their collegial and diplomatic natures have shown me new ways to engage and resolve the conflicts that often occur during cross-cultural encounters. I am also grateful to the Farunkmi family (Seye in particular).
A contingent of scholars based in the United Kingdom provided critical support for this project. The late J. D. Y. Peel not only produced pioneering research on the encounter of nineteenth-century Yoruba speakers and Christian missionaries but also first directed me to the work of James White. The scholars based at the Centre of West African Studies at the University of Birmingham have played a significant role in my development. Karin Barber has provided a model of groundbreaking research into African oral traditions and performance culture, and her warmth, humility, and charisma have been both inspiring and welcoming. Insa Nolte has been a gem from our first conversations in Nigeria to our repeated encounters in England. I am thankful to Insa as well as her husband, Simon, and her three children-Ana, Taiwo, and Kehinde-for welcoming me into their home and hearts. William Rea of the University of Leeds has been producing a body of scholarship on the masquerades of Ikole Ekiti that has has been very formative in my thinking, and it is for his work and collegiality that I am grateful.
Faculty, staff, administrators, and students from Emory University and Spelman College have offered support that has been pertinent to my intellectual and professional development during my years of graduate study at Emory. They include Chante Baker, Rudolph Bird, Stacy Boyd, Leroy Davis, Zakiya Farris, Kharen Fulton, Akeba Harper, Kamili Hayes, Sherice Henry, Rosemary Hines, Ada Jackson, Denise James, Theresa Cox Kinney, Miriam Petty, Virginia Shadron, Cynthia Spence, Brenda Tindal, Shirley Toland-Dix, Queen Watson, and Ulrica Wilson. The late Kharen Fulton was a mother figure and mentor from the beginning of my graduate years at Emory, and the depth of my gratitude for her life and legacy is immeasurable.
This book also has been realized with the endless support of Jean DeSilva, Carrie Crompton, Jeri Neuman, and William Barnet. Other individuals whose assistance with the writing was critical include Yvette Wing and Jennifer Miller. Leah Lewis and Maurita Poole have been dear friends and colleagues, and their support has been vital.
My advisers from Emory were the backbone of this work. Sidney Kasfir s course Masks and Theory, and her research on masquerades, provided my initial introduction to West African masquerade traditions. It also was in this course that I first learned of the need for historians to study masquerades and other African art forms. Similarly, in Randall Packard s African Historiography course, I first encountered Edna Bay s work on Dahomey. Her book spoke to my interests in African ritual traditions. Dianne Stewart served as a great mentor in understanding the place of Yoruba ritual practices within the study of Afro-Atlantic religious traditions and