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Title:I Could Speak until Tomorrow: Oriki Women and the Past in a Yoruba Town
Author:Barber, KarinISNI
Year:1991
Issue:7
Pages:354
Language:English
Series:International African library (ISSN 0951-1377)
City of publisher:Edinburgh
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute, London
ISBN:0748602100
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:Yoruba
women
praise poetry (form)
Historical/Biographical
literature
Cultural Roles
Religion and Witchcraft
Abstract:In Yoruba culture 'oriki', or oral praise poetry, is a major part of both traditional performance and of daily life. In this work, the 'oriki' poetry of Okuku, a small town in the Oyo State of Nigeria, is looked at in detail on the basis of field research carried out between 1974 and 1977, and information gathered during later visits. Women are the main performers of 'oriki'. The study shows how they interpret the poems, and examines the links it gives them between living and dead, human and spiritual, and present and past. Special attention is paid to 'oriki' of origin and 'oriki' of 'big men'. Social organization, political processes, lineages and the hierarchy of the 'big men' throughout Yoruba history show themselves in the 'oriki'.
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