Mythical images, historical thought, and Ondo religion: the Oramfe myth as clue to Ondo-Yoruba identity

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Periodical article

Title:	Mythical images, historical thought, and Ondo religion: the Oramfe myth as clue to Ondo-Yoruba identity
Author:	Lawuyi, Olatunde Bayo
Year:	1990
Periodical:	Africa: rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione
Volume:	45
Issue:	1
Pages:	55-71
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Yoruba myths (form)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/40760458
Abstract:	This paper analyses the Oramfe origin myth of the Ondo Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria in the context of Ondo sociopolitical structure and identity construction. Mythic images are used to explain the historical process of Ondo identity construction. Two versions of the Oramfe myth are analysed as they relate, firstly, to the way in which the Ondo assert their independence from Ife, the cradle of Yoruba civilization, centre of the Yoruba political universe, and ancestral city of Oramfe; and, secondly, to the ways in which Ondo subgroups organize their independence. The political as well as the religious implications of the myth are examined. Notes, ref., sum. in French and Italian.