Odun: Discourses, Strategies and Power in the Yoruba Play of Transformation

368 Pages·2009·1.42 MB·English

by  Cristina Boscolo

Ÿdún
C ro ss
Readings in the Post / Colonial
ultures
Literatures in English
111
Series Editors
Gordon Collier †Hena Maes–Jelinek Geoffrey Davis
(Giessen) (Liège) (Aachen)
Ÿdún

Discourses, Strategies, and Power in
the Yorùbá Play of Transformation
Cristina Boscolo
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009
Cover image: egúngún performances
(photos by Cristina Boscolo)
Cover design: Pier Post
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
“ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for
documents - Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2680-3
E-Book ISBN: 978-90-420-2681-0
© Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2009
Printed in The Netherlands
To my parents

A Italo e, in particolare, a Dirce, per i suoi
“quando xé che ti te fa le to’ robe ti?”

Bí a bá farabalÀ, a lè rí fun àti Ædø eèrà ...
(if you are patient, you can see
the intestines and liver of the ants ...)

Contents

Acknowledgements ix
Note on Orthography xi
Mo bà Ÿdún pàdé – Encounter with Ÿdún xiii
Introduction xvii

PART I
DISCOURSES

Bíi báun kÖ I 3
1 Yorùbá Theatre: An Introductory Outline 5
2 Nigerian Theatre Criticism: ‘Dominant’ Issues 31
3 Critical Discourses and Their Power 49

INTERMEZZO

Bíi báun kÖ II 81
4 Coordinates of an Interpretation 85

PART II
ŸDÚN

Bíi báun kÖ III 151
5 Ÿdún Edì 155
6 Egúngún: The Power of the Ancestors 191
7 ÀàbÕ ¢rÕ… The Yorùbá Play of Transformation 267

Glossary 315
Bibliography 317

Acknowledgements

T
HIS WORK has accompanied me for a long way in my life. I am
responsible for all that is written: for the good points and any
shortcomings. However, along the way I have met so many people
who have given me their help, support, and friendship. I would therefore like
to take this opportunity to acknowledge them.
In the first place, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Kasten-
holz, for allowing me to carry out and complete my project. Then, starting
with the institutions and the persons behind them, I would like to thank the
Landesgraduierten Förderung Rheinland–Pfalz, without whose financial help
I would not have initiated my project. I’m grateful also to the DAAD for
sponsoring my stay in Nigeria, as well as the Sulzmann Stiftung (University
of Mainz), which enabled me to attend the conference ‘Against All Odds’
(Asmara), where I presented and discussed part of my research and received
important feedback from the participants.
To mention all the people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude during my
stay in Nigeria would mean writing a never-ending list of names. For this
reason (Æ jòó Æ máa binú o!), I will shorten it by thanking the Departments of
African Studies and Theatre Arts of the University of Ibadan and the Uni-
versity of Ife. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor
Adelugba for his friendly support and his willingness to discuss important
aspects of my work with me and, of course, my Yorùbá teacher, Chief Bayo
Ogundijo (˜ ‹e púpÕ olùkÖ mi: mo gbìyànjú…).
A very special thank you goes to Professor Akomolafe and the whole
crew of the NIB’s Kurunmi production for sharing their knowledge and
theatre experience with me during the time we spent together. There is also
another crew to whom I owe a lot – that of Afrika Project and, most espe-
cially, Ben Tomoloju, Jide Ogungbade, and Jahman Anikulapo. Thank you
for the unforgettable experience and, above all, for your friendship.