Prof. Dr. Shola Adenekan: Principal Investigator:

In the introduction to his dictionary, A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (1852), Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, makes an important statement about Yoruba people, of which he was one:
As the Natives have much to do with reckoning they very early begin to teach their children to count. This is effected simply by frequent exercise in counting cowries or stones: and it is astonishing how very soon little boys and girls can reckon a large number of cowries. They first begin by counting one by one: when they can do that with readiness, they begin by twos, and then by fives. A person cannot be more insulted for his stupidity in arithmetic, than by telling him, “O daju danu, o o mo essan messan,” “With all your cleverness and sagacity, you do not know nine times nine” (39).
Crowther’s statement shows the many contradictions of print culture in many African societies; the development of Yoruba orthography was mainly aimed at fostering Europe’s colonial agenda, of which Christianity was an essential part. Crowther as a formerly enslaved African who later earned a doctorate degree from Oxford University, and also became the first African bishop of the Church of England was therefore the ultimate insider-outsider used as a champion of Europe’s civilising mission. On the other hand, however, Crowther’s statement can be read as a subversive attempt at asserting African humanity. Crowther’s dictionary embodies the way in which print publications simultaneously perform many functions; they are factual, fictional, a tool of marginalisation and at the same time a tool of self-determination. Crowther’s book, which was financed by the Church Missionary Society of England, marked a significant turning point in Yoruba history because it became a catalyst for a vibrant print culture, in which thoughts, ideas and the worldview of Yoruba people moved from solely being orally-based to one that combines the oral tradition with the print tradition. By using Crowther’s dictionary as the foundation for this research, I want to show how such patronage of African publishing networks signifies the dynamic of global power that still exists today with regard to African literature.

Dr. Oluseun Tanimomo: Postdoc Researcher:

In a series of letters to the newspaper, Iroyin Yoruba, several writers sought to ‘educate’ readers on the history of certain Yoruba towns. An overarching goal, usually stated by the writers, was to provide the history of these towns so that the past would not be lost to the younger generation. In this sense, the writers saw themselves as ambassadors for their respective towns, and they appeared to anticipate Chinua Achebe’s idea of the writer as a teacher. This intention of writing to preserve also highlights these mini-histories within a whole as political and cultural inscriptions that attempt to legitimise the identities of descendants of these towns.

By analysing these letters by different authors about different Yoruba towns, my research will examine the narrative framing of these histories. The importance of these towns in their geographical location and geopolitical importance to the overall project of ‘Yoruba nationhood’ will be analysed by evaluating their emplotment, their implication on the Yoruba project and argumentative aspects.  By studying these letters on these towns, I will demonstrate how the idea of being Yoruba is built not entirely on the linear connections with a centre or a progenitor but also by drawing on ideations of modern Yoruba sensibilities and contingent history. The narrative template through which the writers and respondents establish their authorities and narratives will be analysed by engaging these texts with Hayden White’s concept of Metahistory, and Gilles DeLeuze and Felix Guatarri’s concept of the Rhizome. The paper will be developed within the existing important scholarship of print culture by drawing on works by Olorunshola Adenekan, Wale Adebanwi, Karin Barber, and Stephanie Newell.

Mr. Nureni Bakenne: Doctoral Candidate