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First published in 1921, and cited on the Africa's Best 100 Books List, this is a standard work on the history of theYorubas from the earliest times to the beginning of the British Protectorate. The first part of the book discusses the people, theircountry and language, religion, government, land law, manners and customs. The second part is divided into four periods, dealing first with mytheological kings and deified heroes; with the growth, prosperity and oppression of the Yoruba people; the time of revolutionary wars and disruption; and, finally, the arrest of disintegration, inter-tribal wars, and the coming of the British. There are two appendices, on dealing with treaties and agreements, the other giving tables of Yoruba kings, rulers, and chiefs. The book also includes an index and map of the Yoruba country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great service! Please keep it up going!
The comment that came with the book's advert was: NEW. Thus, I was and still exceedingly happy that the book (The History of the Yorubas) you sent to me via UPS is indeed NEW. Secondly, I am very surprised that this book (The History of the Yoruba) was shipped to me immediately, which made me get itwithin three to four days! Thank you very much. I really enjoy your customer service! Please keep it up going.

A classic work
The author of this classic work is not to be confused with Samuel Johnson (1709-84), the English essayist, poet, and lexicographer usually known as "Dr Johnson".This Samuel Johnson (1846-1901) was an Anglican vicar of African descent.He was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, but spent his adult life in Nigeria. His peace-efforts in the 1870s contributed to the eventual end of the Yoruba wars in 1886.

In 1880 Samuel Johnson became a deacon and was ordained a vicar in 1888.Claiming Yoruba ancestry, he was concerned that his people were losing their own history and completed the original manuscript of his history of the Yoruba people from his notes in 1897.Whether by accident or design, this completed manuscript was sadly lost.However, after his death, his brother, Dr Obadiah Johnson, produced this work from his notes.It was at last published in 1921.Unfortunately, Obadiah died in 1920 so neither he nor Samuel saw the finished product.

It remains a key resource for the understanding of Yoruba history.

Great Book
There are considerably information about Yoruba's History and Religion.
If you are a priest or worshipper of Orixa , you need to buy this book.

Monumentof the Age to come!
This book is one of the foundation materials that informs the depth of the Omoluabi Matrix. Inbetween the pages of this volume we can trace the concept of Omoluabi civilzation which is the single factor responsible for the continued survival and advancement of our race. Ignoring the obvious Oyo bias of the author this resource material alongside others, details the incontrovertible evidence of an ancient African civilization on which the principles of democracy could rest. It details the cultural concepts that helped to overcome the colonial beast and gives a name to terrorism in ancient times. The only draw back is that the book did not investigate the insidious root of the word "Yoruba" - an abusive 18th century coinage of ancient terrorists. The original Olukumi tag would have furthered the cause of our national reawakening.

Yoruba History
I remember reading this book when I was in secondary school over 25 years ago and I can still recall how amazed I was to discover that we Yorubas had organized govermental inititutions.I found out why we as a people are so defragmented, the origin of the Yoruba people and different tribes, the power and might of various tribal empires.I don't think there is another book that has this amount of detail regarding the Yoruba people.Now I need a copy for my library and is now difficult to get hold of. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Product Overview
The product I received was in excellent condition as stated.It came in a plastic wrapping which helped perserve the book.My only concern is I didn't recieve the book in the timeframe I anticipated.Luckily my class didn't call for the book early in the semester so it hasn't interfered with my class. ... Read more

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Based on Cohen's fieldwork in the 60s among the Hausa migrants, this is a landmark work in urban anthropology and provides a comparative framework for studying political processes in African societies. ... Read more

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Throughout southwestern Nigeria, Yoruba men and women create objects called aale to protect their properties--farms, gardens, market goods, firewood--from the ravages of thieves. Aale are objects of such unassuming appearance that anon-Yoruba viewer might not register their important presence in the Yoruba visual landscape: a dried seedpod tied with palm fronds to the trunk of a fruit tree, a burnt corncob suspended on a wire, an old shoe tied with a rag to a worn-out broom and broken comb, a ripe red pepper pierced with a single broom straw and set atop a pile of eggs. Consequently, aale have rarely been discussed in print, and then only as peripheral elements in studies devoted to other issues. Yet aale are in no way peripheral to Yoruba culture or aesthetics.

In Vigilant Things, David T. Doris argues that aale are keys to understanding how images function in Yoruba social and cultural life. The humble, often degraded objects that comprise aale reveal as eloquently as any canonical artwork the channels of power that underlie the surfaces of the visible. Aale are warnings, intended to trigger the work of conscience. Aale objects symbolically threaten suffering as the consequence of transgression--the suffering of disease, loss, barrenness, paralysis, accident, madness, fruitless labor, or death--and as such are often the useless residues of things that were once positively valued: empty snail shells, shards of pottery, fragments of rusted iron, and the like. If these objects share "suffering" and "uselessness" as constitutive elements, it is because they already have been made to suffer and become useless. Aale offer thieves, regarded as "useless" people, an opportunity to recognize themselves in advance of their actions, to see what they will become.

David T. Doris is associate professor of the history of African art at the University of Michigan.

... Read more

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This book focuses on indigenous painting traditions found on ancestral shrines of Yoruba divinities collectively known as orisa in southwestern Nigeria. The devotional activity of orisa painting often enacted in honor and veneration of departed ancestors for healing, empowerment, and transformation continues to find expression today in the creative works of contemporary artists who have been influenced by this enduring traditional art far beyond the shores of Yorubaland.Using the sacred iconography of the orisa as the basis of its critical vocabulary, the book examines sixteen shrine paintings found in rural and urban centers including paintings created by women in silence, those created in group accompanied with music and dance, those created in public by a restricted group of female painters and those created in isolation by male artists. Painting for the Gods also explores the symbolism of color focusing on the temperament and characters of the orisa. The affective qualities of color found on the shrine walls represent a means of veneration and worshiping of departed ancestors. Color employed on orisa murals as well as on wooden sculptures might provide a new touchstone for evaluating African art and suggest a model for the interpretation of other African art objects. Among the Yoruba color makes things happen. This book demonstrates the dynamic ways in which color is consciously applied thereby offering a unique lens for interpretation, grounded in the specific traditions of artistic cultures that might be applicable cross-culturally. In Painting for the gods: art and aesthetics of Yoruba religious murals, Bolaji Campbell sheds brilliant light on the sacred shrine paintings by Yoruba women.A little known art form that celebrates the Yoruba deities (orisha), these paintings have been overshadowed until now by widely admired Yoruba sculpture.Although Campbell grew up in a world where these shrine paintings and orisha worship existed, it was not until he was an art student that he looked at them with a fresh eye as a rich field for investigation into the connections between verbal and visual arts.He explores the aesthetics, iconography, and symbolism of this elusive and ephemeral but deeply religious mural art.Symbolism of colors and their relationships with the orisha are central themes of this study, as are the processes of periodic renewal of the paintings and associated rituals.Yourba shrine paintings, traditionally a women's art, have attracted and influenced men artists, and Campbell explores this phenomenon.Painting for the gods is highly recommended for all those interested in women artists, religious painting, Yoruba religion, and African art.Janet L. Stanley, Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC ... Read more

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In the quest to promote "universal knowledge" and createWestern institutions in Africa, the intellectual contributions ofAfricans without university certificates or connections to the academyhave been maligned, ignored or slighted. Yet, as Toyin Falola's bookpoints out, there are African scholars and thinkers without academiccredentials doing important works. Here is a book that shows thatintellectual contributions need not be divorced from the concerns oflocal communities or deliberately promote narrative inequality anddistance. ... Read more

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The sights and sounds of the Yor˜b· cosmos are made manifest through the pervasive use of beads. This spectacular book represents a collaboration between art historian Henry John Drewal and Yor˜b· priest John Mason. From the forests of Africa a thousand years ago to the bustling cities of New York, Havana, and Salvador, today, Yor˜b· religion has used beads to convey the artistic spirit and deep connection to the other world that its practitioners feel. This beautifully illustrated volume traces the history of the beads, their use, and Yor˜b· aesthetics and artistry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing book. A must have.
This book is packed with beautiful pictures and info. I loved it. especially the Ochun crown, fan, and ide, made by James Norman. All of the artist in this book should be praised for this amazing art.The exhibit was amazing too. We need more books and exhibits like this. My words can't begin to describe the beautiful orisha beadwork in this book, you really have to see it yourself.

A Great Book from an Interesting Exhibit
I bought this book after going to the museum exhibit which it documents.The book is full of useful information about Santeria/Orisha theology and philosophy.The pictures are beautiful.It is worth buying if you have aninterest in Regla de Ocha or Yoruba religion and art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Yoruba Sacred Kingship
Hardback, 1996, 9.25" x 6.25", 252 Pages, 26 very small color plates featuring tribal chiefs, various small B/W photos.

One Star may not be fair as it represents my own expectation gap. This is very much a specialty book: a detailed account of Yoruba Kingship and tribal chief rites, and probably very good within that context. However...I was expecting coverage of the tribal artifacts employed, but, apart from the cover, this is not the case. ... Read more

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With a population of about thirty million, the Yoruba people constitute one of the largest single ethnic group in sub-Saharan Africa. They are internationally acclaimed for their high art, complex system of government, religion, and philosophy.

This multi-authored book written by distinguished scholars like Ayo Bamgbose, Toyin Falola, Stephen Akintoye, Omofolabo Soyinka-Ajayi, Emmanuel Babatunde, H.O. Danmole, Akinbiyi Akinlabi, and Agbo Folarin, is the first of its kind to cover all the important topics and issues in Yoruba culture. Who were the early Yoruba? Where did they come from? What is Yoruba society like? What is the role of women in the society? What is the nature of their art forms? What is Yoruba philosophy? These questions and many more are answered in this significant book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best textbook available on Yoruba Civilization
In this text, written by Yoruba scholars, we are given scholarly information on the origins of Yoruba Civilization in Southwestern Nigeria and the Benin Republic from both the archeaological evidence and the traditional historians of Yoruba Civilization.

Also included alongside state formation is the religion of the Yoruba and how it is related to the origin of the Yoruba.

Though the medieval Yoruba states are thought to have been established around the year 1100 CE, Yoruba culture is surely older, with roots in the Nok Civilization of Central Nigeria which thrived between 900 BCE and 200 CE.It would of been better if the authors discussed more of the origins of the Yoruba but it is still a good introduction to the culture as a whole. ... Read more

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Text of the first William Fagg Memorial Lecture, a series founded to commemorate the African interests of the BM's Keeper of Ethnography between 1969 and 1974. The title refers to a Yoruba proverb that suggests that we look beyond what is easily observed if we are to understand something. Only if art is placed in an African intellectual context, argues the speaker, can we hope to fully appreciate it. A modern reflection on the `social life of things' which will be of interest to many theoreticians. ... Read more

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This remarkable study explores the use of the visual and performing arts to promote nonviolence and social harmony in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on Gelede, a popular community festival of masquerade, dance, and song, held several times a year by the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. Babatunde Lawal, an art historian and African scholar who has taught in Nigeria, Brazil, and the United States, is himself a Yoruba and has taken an active part in Gelede. He writes from the perspective of an informed participant/observer of his own culture. Lawal bases his book on extensive field research-observations and interviews-conducted over more than two decades as well as on numerous published and unpublished scholarly sources. He casts significant new light on many previously obscure aspects of Gelede, and he demonstrates a useful methodological approach to the study of non-Western art. The book systematically covers the major aspects of the Gelede spectacle, presenting its cultural background and historical origins as preface to a vivid and detailed description of an actual performance.This is followed by a discussion of the iconography and aesthetics of costume, and an examination of the sculpted images on the masks. The book concludes with a discussion of the moral and aesthetic philosophy of Gelede and its responsiveness to technological and social change. The Gelede Spectacle is illustrated in color and black-and-white with over 100 field and museum photographs, including a rare sequence on the dressing of a masquerader. It offers, in addition, more than 60 Gelede song texts, proverbs, and divination verses, each in the original Yoruba as well as in translation. Lawal's interpretations of these pieces indicate the rich complexities of metaphor and analogy inherent in the Yoruba language and art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Thorough and Accurate
One of the best books on Gelede available. Its an exhaustive look at the Gelede society and its purpose in Yoruba culture. Contains prayers, praise poems, accounts from indigenous priests, photos, definitions and informative discourse on Yoruba concepts.

The Gelede Spectacle
Gave as a gift.I was informed that it was very good. ... Read more