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Title: | I Could Speak until Tomorrow: Oriki Women and the Past in a Yoruba Town |
Author: | Barber, Karin |
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'. |