USA Africa Dialogue Series - Decolonizing Publishing in African Studies : An Encounter with Masterworks in Yoruba Studies

Bertrand Russell once stated that a student of philosophy who proceeds in their studies without a grounding in ancient Greek philosophy does so ''at their own risk,'' labouring ''under a heavy burden'',  a point I totally agree with in relation to the study of Western philosophy, from my admittedly quite limited understanding of that tradition.

A. N. Whitehead once described Western philosophy as a ''footnote to Plato,'' meaning that all other philosophers in that tradition are responding to ideas first or pioneeringly presented in a particularly trenchant manner by Plato.

I am writing this piece on account of a growing realisation in studying certain writings in Yoruba Studies, writings  which I understand as absolutely invaluable to grasping the finest achievements of that field, particularly in Yoruba philosophy, in the broadest  understanding of ''emi arojinle'', in Yoruba, ''spirit of profound thinking'', as defined by Moses Mákindé, in "Asuwada Principle: An Analysis of Akìwọwọ's Contributions to the Sociology of Knowledge"( 1988, 62).  

 

 

What moves me at the present moment to write this is the sheer luminosity,  the analytical power and expressive clarity of Makinde's analysis in that article, leading me to appreciating it as a masterpiece in Yoruba Studies and African philosophy, which any student in Yoruba Studies needs to read. 

 

Yet, that article by Makinde and the very rich article by Akiwowo to which it responds, "A Contribution to the Sociology of Knowledge from an African Oral Poetry", among other articles by Akiwowo Makinde also addresses, are published in journals such as International Sociology to which I have access only because of my privileges as an alumnus of British universities, so that, even outside a university context, I can access those articles anywhere I am.

 

I was led to rereading Makinde on encountering Babatunde Lawal's praise of that work in The Gelede Spectacle ( 1996, 289, Note 5, an example of  Lawal's mastership at constructing great footnotes).

I went online and downloaded the Makinde text and called up from my computer archives the response to Makinde and Akiwowo by Olufemi Taiwo and O.B Lawuyi which Lawal also praises, Lawal's quotation from Akiwowo's paper in The Gelede Spectacle being what led me to Akiwowo and his interlocutors within and outside Nigeria when I first came across those references some years ago.

 

Along with exploring Makinde's development of the Yoruba philosophical concept ''Ifogbontaayese'' a derivation of Akiwowo's development of the ''Asuwada Principle'' from the study of a poem from the Yoruba origin Ifa corpus, these links are helping me map  the persons, institutional enablements and achievements of what I am describing as the Ife School of Yoruba Studies, scholars associated with Ife and its university,  who have greatly configured Yoruba Studies, often through explorations of the philosophical significance of Yoruba oral literature.

 

Makinde's paper references and confirms Rowland Abiodun's description of the Alada Study Circle at the then University of Ife, founded by Akiwowo, with himself and Makinde  among the founding members, an example of interdisciplinary networks developed at that university which decisively shaped Yoruba Studies with powerful effects in African Studies.

 

Yet, almost every paper and book I am drawing on, leading me to develop these insights, was published in the West and access to them gained by me at great cost, either the millions of naira spent in attending UK universities whose resources enabled access to the wealth of articles in Yoruba and African Studies and other disciplines in Western held journal archives  or the thousands of pounds spent acquiring such books as The Gelede Spectacle, Drewal et al's Yoruba Nine : Centuries of African Art and Thought, Abiodun et al's The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts and more.

 

 Yoruba : Nine Centuries is simply foundational for Yoruba Studies, whether you are simply an enthusiast or a scholar. Going deeper, one needs The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts.

I am not able to understand how  one may proceed adequately in such studies without such books.

What would my income have needed to be for me to be able to afford such books as an academic in Nigeria, which I was before I left the country for further studies or as an Independent Scholar in Nigeria, which I am now?

The question almost makes me shiver.

How many people have access to the kind of funding I have had, funding generously provided from Nigeria that enabled me to do whatever I liked in the search for knowledge?

It is impossible to gain significant grounding in Yoruba Studies and African Studies without books by Western publishers, often books published by academic publishers that often serve university academics and are expensive even in the West.

Aribidesi Usman and the polymathic Toyin Falola have just published a book on the Yoruba with Cambridge University Press. Cambridge UP books are often the creme de la creme of the field, the result of years of dedicated work and are often not cheap, and yet, if you want to be adequately grounded in the field in question, you need to read them. 

I was able to acquire Rowland Abiodun's Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art because Abiodun asked Cambridge UP to send me a copy for review, a review I published on Amazon, discussing the book in the context of Abiodun's scholarly career. 

Akinwunmi Ogundiran has just brought out with Indiana UP, one of the most important publishers in African Studies, The Yoruba: A New History, a book of years along exploration, described thus by Henry Drewal, himself author of indispensable works on Yoruba civilization and Olutayo Adesina, another scholar in the field-

"Yoruba say of their culture that it is "like a river that never rests." The author has explored the depths of that cultural river, revealing in lucid analysis and perceptive interpretations certain foundational principles and generative ideas that have animated this dynamic culture, its philosophy of being and world-making, from 300 BCE to 1840 CE. His analysis is an exquisitely detailed and evocative portrait of the Yoruba "community of practice" that will change the ways we think about Yoruba history and culture and become a seminal source for present and future scholars."

~Henry John Drewal, Evjue-Bascom Professor Emeritus of African and African Diaspora Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison  

His style resonates with high scholarship that makes the complex and fascinating history of the Yoruba more accessible and profound. He has provided both the thematic and chronological approaches that has allowed for the recreation of the deep past in the existence of the Yoruba. With this significant addition to the literature on the Yoruba, he is now one of the most respected voices in Yoruba history and culture. This book will command the attention and respect of scholars, students, researchers, and the general reader in the fields of history, archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and culture for a long time. It is an excellent addition to the literature and reference works on African Studies."

~Olutayo C. Adesina, University of Ibadan, Nigeria  

Something must be done to make these books and articles readily available to those people about whom they are being written as well as to others in the same country and continent.

People in these places should be able to readily afford these texts, either through university library access or individual purchase.

It should be possible to reach arrangements with the publishers to enable cheap editions of such books and of collections of such articles to be published in Africa.

State University of New York  Press, for example, allows its books on India to be published at cheaper prices in India, with the Indian publishers able to export those books to other parts of the world within a market in which buyers have a choice to buy the SUNY originals or the Indian lower quality productions containing the same text.

Oxford India Paperbarks has done or might still be doing something similar for books on India.

The presence of such a powerful concentration of Africanist scholars, many of them Africans, in Western institutions, and the perhaps still extraverted publishing  of much scholarship by Africans in Africa leading to publication with  Western publishers, means ways must be found to make these productions  readily available to Africans.

Publishers could lead the way. Africanists could do their best to make their articles, and if possible, books, freely accessible, as some scholars like Alexis Sanderson on Hinduism has done with his article  on academia.edu and his website and Eliot Wolfson on Jewish mysticism has also done with his articles on his website and academia.edu and as is being done with books by the publishers Open Editions.

I also urge readers to materially support the work of yours truly, evident at the Cognitive Platforms link of my central website, Compcros: Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems-even though the site needs updating- dedicated to bringing the finest scholarship in various disciplines to readers  everywhere at no cost to the reader.

Guidelines to donation are at this link.

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