Yoruba Oral Tradition In Islamic Nigeria

This book traces Dàdàkúàdá’s history and artistic vision and discusses its vibrancy as the most popular traditional Yoruba oral art form in Islamic Africa. Foregrounding the role of Dàdàkúàdá in Ilorin, and of Ilorin in Dàdàkúàdá the book covers the history, cultural identity, performance techniques, language, social life and relationship with Islam of the oral genre. The author examines Dàdàkúàdá’s relationship with Islam and discusses how the Dàdàkúàdá singers, through their songs and performances, are able to accommodate Islam in ways that have ensured their continued survival as a traditional African genre in a predominantly Muslim community. This book will be of interest to scholars of traditional African culture, African art history, performance studies and Islam in Africa.

This work develops an African indigenous discourse paradigm for interpreting and understanding literary and cultural materials. By returning the African knowledge system back to its roots and placing it side by side with Western paradigms, Na'Allah has produced a text that will be required reading for scholars and students of African culture and literature.

This research monograph discusses the understudied and often misunderstood aspects of West African culture and religion especially that of the Yoruba people and their Book of Enlightenment (Ife-Ifa) together with its metaphysical importance to the Yoruba as a source of philosophy, religion and literature. Coverage includes chapters on Yoruba origins and ancestry as described in the Ile-Ife, the cultural and trading centers, The Advent of Sacred Literature, referring to the importance of the oral literature. Next, ethical values are discussed and contemporary African anthropological and social science research is analyzed as a tool to describe Yoruba ethical values. The Royal Scrolls are discussed and their role in developing a written language and a school of philosophy is investigated. Material on naming [Olodumare and other divinities], family life, and the dispersal of the oral tradition to other neighboring regions conclude the work.