Ancient Ife: A Reassessment

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Periodical article

Title:	Ancient Ife: A Reassessment
Author:	Horton, Robin
Year:	1979
Periodical:	Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
Volume:	9
Issue:	4
Period:	June
Pages:	69-149
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Yoruba urban history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration Anthropology and Archaeology
Abstract:	S. Johnson's 'The History of the Yorubas' (Lagos, 1921) is perhaps the most significant of the writings on the Yoruba-speaking peoples, because although devoting only a few passages specifically to Ife, it did much to set the city in the context of Yoruba history generally, and to convey a sense of its brooding presence, down through the ages, in the collective consciousness of the Yoruba peoples. Other significant reference to Ife emerged from works by R. Dennett and L. Frobenius. From these various sources, there emerged an amalgam of views about Ife, the so-called 'Johnsonian Consensus'. The author gives a brief outline of the Johnsonian Consensus on Ife, sketches some of the more cogent modem critiques of the consensual view, and thereafter presents his own critical appraisal of these challenges. In this context, he offers a fresh account aiming at resolving the outstanding problems in this area. Finally, he offers some suggestions as to how the validity of this account may be further tested. - Fig., notes, sum.