Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba SocietyHow can we account for the power of ritual? This is the guiding question of Black Critics and Kings, which examines how Yoruba forms of ritual and knowledge shape politics, history, and resistance against the state. Focusing on "deep" knowledge in Yoruba cosmology as an interpretive space for configuring difference, Andrew Apter analyzes ritual empowerment as an essentially critical practice, one that revises authoritative discourses of space, time, gender, and sovereignty to promote political—-and even violent—-change. Documenting the development of a Yoruba kingdom from its nineteenth-century genesis to Nigeria's 1983 elections and subsequent military coup, Apter identifies the central role of ritual in reconfiguring power relations both internally and in relation to wider political arenas. What emerges is an ethnography of an interpretive vision that has broadened the horizons of local knowledge to embrace Christianity, colonialism, class formation, and the contemporary Nigerian state. In this capacity, Yoruba òrìsà worship remains a critical site of response to hegemonic interventions. With sustained theoretical argument and empirical rigor, Apter answers critical anthropologists who interrogate the possibility of ethnography. He reveals how an indigenous hermeneutics of power is put into ritual practice—-with multiple voices, self-reflexive awareness, and concrete political results. Black Critics and Kings eloquently illustrates the ethnographic value of listening to the voice of the other, with implications extending beyond anthropology to engage leading debates in black critical theory. |
Contents
Ancient Ife and Old Oyo | 13 |
The Founding of Ayede | 35 |
Dialectics of Power in Local Politics | 71 |
Sacred Kingship and Female Power | 97 |
The Language of Ase | 117 |
Interpreting the Pantheon | 149 |
The Genius of Paganism | 165 |
Other editions - View all
Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society Andrew Apter Limited preview - 1992 |
Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society Andrew Apter No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
African age-sets Ajasin Ajayi Akerele Akerele's àre Àtá Ata's authority àwòrò Ayede Ayede's Balógun Ààfin beaded crown Beier bush shrine calabash chapter chieftaincy Christian civil chiefs Comaroff critical Crowther cult's cultural deities devotees dialect discourse divination egúngún Ekiti elders Eshu Eshubiyi founding myths Gabriel Osho head hegemony hermeneutics Ibadan ibid Ife-centric Ijebu Ikole Ile-Ife Ilesha interpretation Isaoye Johnson jùjú Kábíyèsí king king's kingship lineage military Nigeria oba's Obatala Oduduwa official Ogboni Ogun Old Oyo Olokun Olú Olua Ondo oríkì òrişà òrişà cults òrişà worship Orisha Ojuna cult Osanyin Osho Oshun Owaiye Oyo empire pagan palace political praise priests religion represents ritual field ritual power royal rule sacred sacrifice senior Shango social spirit structures subordinate towns subversive symbolic texts tion town shrine traditions University Press witchcraft witches Yemoja cult Yemoja festival Yemoja priestesses yín Yoruba kingdoms Yoruba ritual