Character is Beauty: Redefining Yoruba culture and identity (IWALEWA-HAUS, 1981-1996)

Iwalewa-Haus, under the directorship of Ulli Beier has actively participated in the revitalization and continuation of the different cultural and artistic lives of the Third World societies. Within the small, in-house publication operation of Iwalewa-Haus can be found almost every third world culture and society, but because of Ulli Beier's special connection with Yoruba society and people, its collection and publications on that society are unique--including numerous interviews with Wole Soyinka and other Yoruba scholars on Yoruba music, art, philosophy, religion, and culture. In addition, the house has been actively promoting all aspects of Yoruba theatrical performances and artistic practices where they are active, or reviving and supporting them where they have been threatened. The papers herein deal with the past and present state of Yoruba society and culture. The connected themes of past glory, (brief) renaissance, and present crises are made coherent. The motivation to assemble the papers which make this book is more than merely academic. In the tradition of Ulli Beier himself and Iwalewa-Haus it aims to directly intervene and provoke debate and take action. This book is addressed to Yoruba English-reading/speaking audiences and to all (Black) African societies facing the same kind of crisis the Yoruba face. All have been existing precariously in the cusp between technologized modernity and traditional ways. Thus, although this collection is specifically on Yoruba society, its broad concerns apply to most African societies. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Olu Obafemi is professor of English and Dramatic Literature at the department of Modern European languages at the University of Ilorin. Wole Ogundeleis a Senior lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Femi Abodunrin is a Humboldt fellow at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. "Taken from a poem by Niyi Osundare, "Atlantic Cross Currents/Transatlantiques" was the theme of the 1993 meeting of the African Literature Association, held in Guadeloupe. The term suggested the movement of people, languages, cultures and ideas, the very themes that should be highlighted in the ALA's first meeting to take place in the Caribbean. 1993 marked the quincentennial of Columbus' voyage to Guadeloupe, and rather than entrenched notions of "discovery," ALA members were especially mindful of the coerced movement of millions of Africans through the Middle Passage and their forced entry into brutal servitude in the Americas.". "The Caribbean has since served as a crucible for major intellectual movements of black resistance and empowerment, from negritude and Pan-Africanism to creolite. Guadeloupe thus seemed to make plain the necessity of conference participants' reading between the continents to grasp the movement of peoples and cultures not only as an historical reality, but as an ongoing phenomenon that continues to shape the Caribbean and the lands on either sides.". "Appropriately, invited guests and participants represented at least four continents: Among them, Guadeloupean novelist Daniel Maximin. Martinician playwright Ina Cesaire and poet/performer Joby Bernabe, Lorna Goodison of Jamaica, Ahmadou Kourouma and Veronique Tadjo of Ivory Coast, Werewere Liking of Cameroon, Kofi Anyidoho of Ghana, Dennis Brutus of South Africa, John Edgar Wideman of the United States.". "The papers included in this volume are a microcosm of the many presentations made in Guadeloupe and are divided into three clusters. "Currents of Language" focuses on forms of linguistic communication such as Creole and French and literary genres such as tales, epistolary narratives, and travel writing. "Currents of Feminist Riposte" focuses on the construction of gender, memory, history and revolt against patriarchy. Political change and nation-building are the subject of contributions in the third section, "Currents of Revolution and Repression.""--BOOK JACKET. Character Is Beauty: Redefining Yoruba Culture & Identity Contents Introduction Preface: Forty Years in African Art and Life: Reflections on Ulli Beier (Olu Obafemi)) I. The Crisis of Yoruba Culture The Crisis of Yoruba Culture (Wole Soyinka & Ulli Beier) The Osun Grove of Oshogbo: Symbol of the Crisis of Yoruba Culture (Susanne Wenger & Uli Beier) The Age of Miracles: Crises in Contemporary Yoruba Society (Wole Ogundele & Ulli Beier) II. Theater The Returm of Shango: The Theater of Duro Ladipo (Ulli Beier) The Yoruba Operatic Theater: A World in Search of Harmony and Social Order: Ladipo, Ogunde and Olaiya (Olu Obafeminn)) Esu-Elegbara and the Carnivalesque (Femi Adodunrin) III. Religion & Philosophy Orisha Liberates the Mind (Ulli Beier & Wole Soyinka) Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala (Sangodare & Susanne Wenger) Death and the King’s Horseman (Wole Soyinka & Ulli Beier) IV. Art Yoruba Aesthetics (Roland Abiodun & Ulli Beier) To Organise is to Destroy: The Oshogbo Art School (Georgina Beier) V. Yoruba Society Womanhood in Yoruba Traditional Thought (Sophie B. Oluwole) Yoruba Women (Roland Abiodun & Ulli Beier) Yoruba Values (Roland Abiodun & Ulli Beier) Iconography of Order & Disorder: Conversation with Ulli Beier (Femi Abodunrin) VI. Music The Music of Yoruba Gods (Akin Euba) A Gift of the Gods: The Story of the Invention of the "ODU" Gongs and the Rediscovery of the Ancient Lithophone (Ademola Omibonokula) A Career in Music & Theater (Muraina Oyelami) The Making of a Multicultural Musician (Wole Ogundele & Femi Abodunrin talk to Tunji Beier) VI. Colonialism Wole Soyinka on "Identity" (From a Conversation with Ulli Beter) The Making of a Philosopher (Ulli Beier Talks to Dr. Sophie Oluwole) Edited By Susan Z. Andrade ... [et Al.]. Papers Presented At The 19th Annual Meeting Of The African Literature Association Held Apr. 16-21 1993, Gosier, Guadeloupe. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.