IWOFA: An Historical Survey of the Yoruba Institution of Indenture

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	IWOFA: An Historical Survey of the Yoruba Institution of Indenture
Author:	Oroge, E. Adeniyi
Year:	1985
Periodical:	African Economic History
Volume:	14
Pages:	75-106
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Yoruba forced labour Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3601114
Abstract:	The existing account of the iwofa system, the Yoruba institution of indenture, provide little evidence on the growth of the institution over the years and, in consequence, fail to bring into focus the increasing significance which the institution began to acquire as a source of labour supply from the 1890s when, as a result of the British penetration of the Yoruba interior, the institution of domestic slavery which had hitherto provided the bulk of the labour force began to disintegrate. Viewing iwofa not as a static but as a dynamic social institution, this article analyses its origin, its growth during the nineteenth century, missionary enterprise and the evangelistic value of iwofa, the climax of iwofa in the 1890s, and the last days of the institution, which showed no signs of waning until the third decade of the twentieth century. Notes, ref.