Orisa Ibeji

Ahmed Yerima's play celebrates the phenomenon of twins among the Yoruba people. Orisa Ibeji is also about man's fear of death and love of life; destiny and reincarnation; and the place of the gods in human affairs. Yerima employs simple and beautiful language, dynamic characters and deft skill to navigate the labyrinth that is Orisa Ibeji

Die Yoruba in Nigeria betrachten die Geburt von Zwillingen als einen besonderen Segen. Wegen der hohen Sterblichkeitsrate sind Yoruba-Mütter aber häufig mit dem Tod eines Kindes konfrontiert. Die Yoruba glauben, dass die Zwillinge gemeinsam nur eine einzige Seele haben. Beim Ableben eines Zwillings wäre der überlebende Zwilling lebensunfähig. Die angefertigte Ibeji-Statue für den verstorbenen Zwillingsteil kann somit die andere halbe Seele enthalten. Darüber hinaus ist die Linie zwischen Leben und Tod für die Yoruba nicht absolut. Es gibt für sie ein enges Wechselspiel zwischen der spirituellen und der materiellen Welt. Der Zwillingskult zählt zu den ältesten Kulten der Menschheit. The Yoruba people of Nigeria consider the birth of twins a special blessing. Due to the high mortality rate of twins, Yoruba mothers are often confronted with a child’s death. The twins are believed to share only one soul. When a twin dies, the surviving twin would be unable to live. The Ibeji sculpture for the deceased twin can thus contain the other half of the soul. Yorubas do not draw a strict line between life and death. To them there is a close interaction between the spiritual and the material world. The Twin Cult is one of the oldest known cults of mankind.

This handbook offers the most comprehensive, analytic, and multidisciplinary study of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the African Diaspora to date. Preeminent scholars Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola assemble a team of leading and rising stars across African Studies research to retrieve and renew the scholarship of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the Diaspora just as critical concerns about their survival are pushed to the forefront of the field. With five sections on the central themes within orality and folklore – including engagement ranging from popular culture to technology, methods to pedagogy – this handbook is an indispensable resource to scholars, students, and practitioners of oral traditions and folklore preservation alike. This definitive reference is the first to provide detailed, systematic discussion, and up-to-date analysis of African oral traditions and folklore.

EJIRE (MYTHICAL TWINS) is a monograph about the phenomenon of twins and their deification as cognized and practiced in Yoruba culture. The book in concise headings explore the spiritual, artistic and modernist aspects of the Ibeji tradition, highlighting its peculiarities and the special place twins occupy in the scheme of traditional society. Featured with illustration, the book is written by foremost Neo Negritudian, Wale Sasamura Owoeye.

From crab divination in the Cameroon to friction oracles in the Congo Basin, from reading cast objects in Mozambique to spirit possession in Cote d'Ivoire, from Sudanese ebony diviners to South African Xhosa healers, divination systems throughout Africa serve their communities by answering questions and resolving problems. Divination helps people chart a course in their lives through a deeper understanding of past and present. This important book reveals the extraordinary diversity and complexity of African divination systems, focusing on self-knowledge, social reality, and intercultural and historical relations. (Series: African Studies / Afrikanische Studien - Vol. 50)

Describes the exceptional wealth of missionary archives and the major contributions they can make not only to the study of the processes of Christian evangelism and Western imperialism but also their value in documenting and analysing the nature of Western encounters with indigenous societies.

Explores the power and potency of surfaces in African sculpture

This volume honours one of the great scholars of our era, Professor Jacob Olupona. Although he has conducted significant portions of his career outside of Nigeria, he has not separated himself from his colleagues or from interests in religions in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. His publications and presentations offer the international scholarly community important critical insights into a range of religious activities, life ways and ideas originating in Africans and the African Diaspora. In spite of the diversity in the thoughts and opinions expressed, and equally of the range of disciplines and topics contained in the book, one can say that the contributors have developed a shared concern about the role of African Indigenous Religious Traditions in the processes of development and the context within which it (development) had or is taking place. The book guides us to a deep understanding and appreciation of how Africans in their varied situations grapple with existential problems through philosophical ruminations, complex ritual processes, cultivated memory and organized coping strategies.