Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics, and The Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria

441 Pages·2011·6.925 MB·English

by  David Todd Doris

Vigilant things

V ig i l a n t
t h i ng s
On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics,
and the Strange Fates of
Ordinary Objects in Nigeria
DaViD t. Doris
UniVersity of Washington Press
Seattle & London
Publication of Vigilant Things was made possible in part by generous grants from
the University of Michigan’s Department of the History of Art and Department
for Afroamerican and African Studies, the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for
Academic Affairs, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas G. Armstrong also provided generous support.
Copyright © 2011 by University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in China
Design by Thomas Eykemans
Composed in Minion, designed by Robert Slimbach
Display type set in Didot, designed by Firmin Didot
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All photographs are by the author unless otherwise indicated.
Portions of this book have appeared in The Southern Review, African Arts, and Res.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
UniVersity of Washington Press
P.o. Box 50096, Seattle, Wa 98145, U.s.a.
www.washington.edu/uwpress
library of Congress Cataloging-in-PUbliCation Data
Doris, David Todd.
Vigilant things : on thieves, Yoruba anti-aesthetics,
and the strange fates of ordinary objects in Nigeria / David T. Doris.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-295-99073-6 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Yoruba (African people)—Material culture.
2. Art, Yoruba.
3. Philosophy, Yoruba.
4. Yoruba (African people)—Communication.
5. Yoruba (African people)—Social life and customs. 
i. Title.
Dt515.45.y67D67 2011
305.896’333—dc2 2011009697
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48–1984.
frontisPieCe: Àrokò: erèé bean, cowrie shells, seeds, fiber (see page 153).
For Melissa, Marcella, and Diane
an ePigraPh, a CaVeat, anD
a Prayer for the reaDer
Der Gegenstand ist einfach.
Objects are simple.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Imú ni àlejò fi í ríran.
The stranger usually sees through the nose.
—A Yoruba proverb
Ohun tí o máa jẹ lo wá dé ibí,
o ò ní pàdé ohun tí yóó jẹ �.
The thing you seek to eat in this place—
may you not meet the thing that will eat you.
Contents
MaP 1. Yorubaland xi
MaP 2. Detail of Map 1 xii
Acknowledgments xiii
A Note on Orthography xviii
A Note on Language and Translation xix
A Note on Photography xx

introDUCtion 3
An old something, a traditional something 3 • Suffering in the midst of
plenty 7 • First contact 11 • What it is, and what it may not be 14 • Looking
through some picture windows 18 • “Yoruba aesthetics,” celebration, and ordinary
evil 20 • A thing like rope, a thing like bronze 25 • Dancing partners 27 • The
shape of the book 32
Part i
Creating ÀÀlè
Presence, Power, and the Past 37
A few scraps of history 37 • The Yoruba artist, the Yoruba subject 40 • The
person as representation 42 • The midpoint 45 • The relational quality of
essence 51 • Ojú: The index of power 58 • Not just an ordinary rag 60 • Ìlutí:
Good hearing and appropriate response 63 • Ìpínhùn: Making an agreement
with ààlè 66 • Ayáj�: We borrow the day 69 • Ìjúbà: Paying homage to the
sources of power 72 • The “truth” of the property owner 76 • A handful of
earth 77 • Ojú: The eyes, the face, the presence of power 83
Palm Fronds (Màrìwò) 86
An emblem of sacredness and warning 86 • An ààlè màrìwò for Ṣàngó 91 • 
Five fingers in the trash heap 96 • How they used to make ààlè 100

Part ii
Call-anD-resPonse
What We Look at and Remember 123
Communicating 123 • The oscillating farmland and the names of ààlè 124 • When
a pen is hung from a tree in a farm as ààlè, it is ààlè 128 • Ojú, reprised 129 • The
shock you get as you see it 133 • A very serious ààlè 140 • Something like
a proverb 145 • Àrokò: How to do words with things 148 • Two protective
cruciforms 159 • Àwòrán: Looking and remembering 163 • “I am telling you
just once” 166 • Agà: A ladder, a signpost 171 • Conscience and the birth of
ààlè 175 • The limits of the allowable 184
Color (Àw�) 187
Three colors 187 • Black (Dúdú): Beauty, power, and indeterminacy 191 • Red
(Pupa/P�n): Suffering and supreme presence 197 • White (Funfun): Origins
and authority 203 • Colors in combination 1: White and black 207 • Colors in
combination 2: White and red 211
Part iii
Portraits anD PUnishMents
An Ontology of the Broken 217
Description, transition, separation 218 • The unfunctioning baby 221 • Destiny,
thievery, and what we return to meet 222 • A universe of absolute
inversion 226 • Analogy and abandonment 231 • A catalogue of torments,
part 1: The ajogun vs. humanity 234 • A catalogue of torments, part 2: If
. . . then . . . 239 • The shoe is always suffering 244 • The usefully useless
thing 247 • End point mimesis: A portrait of the thief as an old rag 250 • The
story of Alẹso: How ààlè came into the world 260 • Yà: Ordinary difference and
tragic displacement 264 • Combs, beauty, and suffering 267 • Being “finished,”
being “useless” 270
Corncobs (Ṣùkù Àgbàdo) 280
The support of the multitude 280 • Maize returns home with good luck 282 • As
the corncob goes to the farm nakedly . . . 285 • . . . so too must you be walking
nakedly 288 • Mrs. Awól�w�’s ààlè 290 • The negative part 293 • The corncob
does not fight the farmer 296 • It perishes inside the bush 297 • The useful
redundancy of dirt 299 • Cheapened and worthless 300
Snail Shells (Ìkarawun Ìgbín) 303
Hand of easiness, hand of hardship 303 • The meat of Òrìṣànlá 306 • Not quite
a wind chime 308 • The things that are in it 311 • Empty/drained 318 • Snail
bites man, story at 11 320
Brooms (Ìgbál�) 324
Sweepings 324 • Coming together 327 • Falling apart 332 • Operation Sweep:
Kill and go 337 • Ọbasanjọ’s broom 340