War and Peace in Yorubaland, 1793-1893

War and Peace in Yorubaland, 1793-1893 PDF Author: I. A. Akinjogbin
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Limited
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 548

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Book Description
Whilst there is existing literature on Yorubaland in the nineteenth century, it has not taken a global, comprehensive look at the causes, course and consequences of the wars. Nor has it considered the changes - peaceful or cataclysmic - after one hundred years of peace. With a view to filling this gap, a centenary conference of the 1886 Kirji/Ekiti Parapo Peace Treaty was held, with the prime objective of examining the socio-political and economic development of Yorubaland in the age of revolutionary wars. The premise is that whilst three kingdoms were destroyed, and forced migrations produced terrible suffering, nonetheless there were positive outcomes. New kingdoms and towns were founded - Abeokuta, Ibadan and New Oyo - and the end result was greater cultural cohesion of Yorubaland through the integration of the refugees. The four sections in the book group the papers from the conference into War and Peace in Yorubaland; the Generals and their War Tactics; External Involvement and the Search for Peace; and The Political and Cultural Consequences.

War and Peace in Yorubaland, 1793-1893

War and Peace in Yorubaland, 1793-1893 PDF Author: I. A. Akinjogbin
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Limited
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 548

Get Book Here

Book Description
Whilst there is existing literature on Yorubaland in the nineteenth century, it has not taken a global, comprehensive look at the causes, course and consequences of the wars. Nor has it considered the changes - peaceful or cataclysmic - after one hundred years of peace. With a view to filling this gap, a centenary conference of the 1886 Kirji/Ekiti Parapo Peace Treaty was held, with the prime objective of examining the socio-political and economic development of Yorubaland in the age of revolutionary wars. The premise is that whilst three kingdoms were destroyed, and forced migrations produced terrible suffering, nonetheless there were positive outcomes. New kingdoms and towns were founded - Abeokuta, Ibadan and New Oyo - and the end result was greater cultural cohesion of Yorubaland through the integration of the refugees. The four sections in the book group the papers from the conference into War and Peace in Yorubaland; the Generals and their War Tactics; External Involvement and the Search for Peace; and The Political and Cultural Consequences.

The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present

The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present PDF Author: Aribidesi Usman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107064600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 519

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Book Description
A rich and accessible account of Yoruba history, society and culture from the pre-colonial period to the present.

Vigilant Things

Vigilant Things PDF Author: David T Doris
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295802499
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Winner of the 2012 Melville J. Herskovits award (African Studies Association) Throughout southwestern Nigeria, Yoruba men and women create objects called aale to protect their properties�farms, gardens, market goods, firewood�from the ravages of thieves. Aale are objects of such unassuming appearance that a non-Yoruba viewer might not register their important presence in the Yoruba visual landscape: a dried seedpod tied with palm fronds to the trunk of a fruit tree, a burnt corncob suspended on a wire, an old shoe tied with a rag to a worn-out broom and broken comb, a ripe red pepper pierced with a single broom straw and set atop a pile of eggs. Consequently, aale have rarely been discussed in print, and then only as peripheral elements in studies devoted to other issues. Yet aale are in no way peripheral to Yoruba culture or aesthetics. In Vigilant Things, David T. Doris argues that aale are keys to understanding how images function in Yoruba social and cultural life. The humble, often degraded objects that comprise aale reveal as eloquently as any canonical artwork the channels of power that underlie the surfaces of the visible. Aale are warnings, intended to trigger the work of conscience. Aale objects symbolically threaten suffering as the consequence of transgression�the suffering of disease, loss, barrenness, paralysis, accident, madness, fruitless labor, or death�and as such are often the useless residues of things that were once positively valued: empty snail shells, shards of pottery, fragments of rusted iron, and the like. If these objects share �suffering� and �uselessness� as constitutive elements, it is because they already have been made to suffer and become useless. Aale offer would-be thieves an opportunity to recognize themselves in advance of their actions and to avoid the thievery that would make the "useless" people.

Security Challenges and Management in Modern Nigeria

Security Challenges and Management in Modern Nigeria PDF Author: Abimbola Adesoji
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527525570
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 679

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Book Description
This collection of essays explores the critical and fluid nature of security challenges that have plagued Nigeria since colonial times. Insecurity in diverse forms remains the bane of growth and progressive development in the country, and has the capability to derail a society no matter how sophisticated. What has generated insecurity at the macro- and micro-levels? How has insecurity been tackled? Why have security challenges escalated particularly in the post-independence period? What lessons could be learnt from the way security matters have been (mis)handled in the past? This volume presents chapters on the historical roots and antecedents of security challenges, and considers the nexus between the economy, political leadership and development, and its impacts on security in modern Nigeria. It also explores the effectiveness of the strategies employed to address security challenges, and discusses why some security challenges have lingered.

Ori-Oke Spirituality and Social Change in Africa

Ori-Oke Spirituality and Social Change in Africa PDF Author: Nathanael Yaovi
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9956550280
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
The dynamic nature of Christianity has necessitated its movement from the cathedral to the mountain top. This has occasioned a proliferation of Prayer Mountains throughout Africa. In Yorubaland of southwestern Nigeria, Prayer Mountain is known as Ori-Oke. Like many communities in Africa, the Yoruba are confronted with fundamental challenges in life for which people do not rest until they find solutions. Within the praxis of Nigerian Christian lexicon Ori-Oke is synonymous with the enactment of a sacred space on a mountain top characterised by various prayer regimes, rituals, exorcism and religious practices, aimed at eliciting the help of the divine to alleviate the existential challenges of devotees. This book explores the resacralisation of space on the mountains, highlighting how humans and the divine interact in Yorubaland. It brings into conversation 35 empirically rich scholarly essays on the role of Ori-Oke to those seeking divine intervention in their lives. Today, Ori-Oke have become centres of pilgrimage as a result of the lived experiences of devotees, creating unique religious value quite distinct from the aesthetic value of these mountain tops. The spirituality of Ori-Oke is anchored on the absolute belief in God and the infusion of traditional African worldview sensibilities in religious rites and worship. Ori-Oke spirituality employs resources of Christian tradition, introduced by the formal agents of Christianity, synthesised with traditional culture, to develop a life based on the precepts of an African Christianity. The book is an intellectual discourse on Ori-Oke spirituality, reflecting its contemporary relevance in a context of religious innovation and competition.

Understanding Modern Nigeria

Understanding Modern Nigeria PDF Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108944140
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
Since its independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has emerged as Africa's second largest economy and one of the biggest producers of oil in the world. Despite its economic success, however, there are deep divisions among its two hundred and fifty ethnic groups. Centered around three of the dominant themes of Nigeria's post-colonial narrative - ethnicity, democracy and governance, this is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the history and events that have shaped these three areas. World-renowned expert in Nigerian history, Toyin Falola shows us how the British laid the foundations of modern Nigeria, with colonialism breading competition for resources and power and the widening cleavages between the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo ethnic groups that had been forced together under British rule, the choice of federalism as a political system, and the religious and political pluralism that have shaped its institutions and practices. Using an examination of the outcomes of this history, manifested in hunger, violence, poverty, human rights violations, threats of secession and corruption, where power and resources are used to reproduce underdevelopment, Falola offers insights and recommendations for the future of policy and the potential for intervention in the country.

The Third Wave of Historical Scholarship on Nigeria

The Third Wave of Historical Scholarship on Nigeria PDF Author: Saheed Aderinto
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443847127
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
This festschrift in honor of Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, one of Nigeria’s brightest historians, brings together scholarship representative of the third wave of historical scholarship on Nigeria. Olukoju, a pioneering historian of Nigerian maritime history, also produced significant revisionist scholarship in the areas of economic, urban, and infrastructure history. The contributions in this volume epitomize the groundbreaking directions of his career; they are marked by a search for new explanations and venture into uncharted terrain in Nigerian history. Aside from its critical engagement of Olukoju’s impressive scholarship, this volume presents chapters on such underresearched aspects of Nigerian history as sexuality, children and youth, crime, memory, and HIV/AIDS. It offers historical explanations of a host of development challenges confronting Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, and resilient reinterpretations of the place of history in nation building. The contributors, pioneering experts in their various subfields, bring their research and teaching experience to the fore and deploy neglected data as they unfold topics that shed light on Nigeria, its peoples, and cultures. They show that history, both as a daily practice and as an academic endeavor, remains vital as Africans seek solutions to the continent’s critical development challenges.

African Military History

African Military History PDF Author: John Lamphear
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351960377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
This collection of essays on pre-colonial sub-Saharan African military history is drawn from a number of academic journals and includes some which are considered milestones in African historiographical discourse, as well as others which, while lesser known, provide remarkable insight into the unique nature of African military history. Selections were made so as to produce an introduction to the understudied field of pre-colonial African military history that will be useful to specialists and non-specialists alike. The volume also contains an introduction which presents one of the first significant reviews of pre-colonial African military historiography ever attempted.

The Hidden History of Capoeira

The Hidden History of Capoeira PDF Author: Maya Talmon-Chvaicer
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292773587
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Capoeira, a Brazilian battle dance and national sport, has become popular all over the world. First brought to Brazil by African slaves and first documented in the late eighteenth century, capoeira has undergone many transformations as it has diffused throughout Brazilian society and beyond, taking on a multiplicity of meanings for those who participate in it and for the societies in which it is practiced. In this book, Maya Talmon-Chvaicer combines cultural history with anthropological research to offer an in-depth study of the development and meaning of capoeira, starting with the African cultures in which it originated and continuing up to the present day. Using a wealth of primary sources, Talmon-Chvaicer analyzes the outlooks on life, symbols, and rituals of the three major cultures that inspired capoeira—the Congolese (the historic area known today as Congo-Angola), the Yoruban, and the Catholic Portuguese cultures. As she traces the evolution of capoeira through successive historical eras, Talmon-Chvaicer maintains a dual perspective, depicting capoeira as it was experienced, observed, and understood by both Europeans and Africans, as well as by their descendants. This dual perspective uncovers many covert aspects of capoeira that have been repressed by the dominant Brazilian culture. This rich study reclaims the African origins and meanings of capoeira, while also acknowledging the many ways in which Catholic-Christian culture has contributed to it. The book will be fascinating reading not only for scholars but also for capoeira participants who may not know the deeper spiritual meanings of the customs, amulets, and rituals of this jogo da vida, "game of life."

Oil Palm

Oil Palm PDF Author: Jonathan E. Robins
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469662906
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Oil palms are ubiquitous—grown in nearly every tropical country, they supply the world with more edible fat than any other plant and play a role in scores of packaged products, from lipstick and soap to margarine and cookies. And as Jonathan E. Robins shows, sweeping social transformations carried the plant around the planet. First brought to the global stage in the holds of slave ships, palm oil became a quintessential commodity in the Industrial Revolution. Imperialists hungry for cheap fat subjugated Africa's oil palm landscapes and the people who worked them. In the twentieth century, the World Bank promulgated oil palm agriculture as a panacea to rural development in Southeast Asia and across the tropics. As plantation companies tore into rainforests, evicting farmers in the name of progress, the oil palm continued its rise to dominance, sparking new controversies over trade, land and labor rights, human health, and the environment. By telling the story of the oil palm across multiple centuries and continents, Robins demonstrates how the fruits of an African palm tree became a key commodity in the story of global capitalism, beginning in the eras of slavery and imperialism, persisting through decolonization, and stretching to the present day.