Jacob K. Olupona

Women's Rituals, Kingship and Power Among the Ondo-Yoruba of Nigeria

CHOLARS I N YORUBA STUDIES agree that women have played a significant role in the culture and society of the Yoruba S people in the past and in contemporary period; and the literature on the imagery and role of women is growing. While anthropologists, sociologists, and historians have recognized the creativity and the enormous power women wield in Yoruba society, students of religion have identified the preponderance of female goddesses who act as culture-heroines in several Yoruba city states. indeed the speculation that Oduduwa, the primogenitor of the Yoruba people, was a female has raised new questions regarding the gender-nature of Yoruba religious tradition. Unfortunately, the lack of solid historical and comparative works have left us with no solution to the problem. Also, studies in gender and religious phenomena often make generalized assumptions which do not take into consideration data from African societies. To take as an example, Caroline Walker Bynum remarked that: “Recent feminist critiques of both western and non-western religious traditions have agreed that men gain authority from the fact that the source of ultimate value is often described in anthropomorphic images as father or ‘king”’ (Bynum 1986: 1). The situation among the Ondo-Yoruba people of Nigeria seems to run contrary to this assumption. Not only do the Ondo themselves insist that the “source of ultimate value” is portrayed as female or a woman-king, political authority and power wielded by a male king is not absolute and is not

Report of the Conference “Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity,” March 28-31, 1996, University of California, Davis

A three-day international conference, “Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity” jointly hosted by the African-American and African Studies Program, the Religious Studies Program and the Davis Humanities Institute, was held at the University of California, Davis, March 28-31, 1996. The conference attracted large audiences of faculty, students and interested public from all over the USA. Forty distinguished scholars from fourteen countries in Asia, Europe, the USA, Latin America and Africa explored a number of issues. Foremost among the concerns were the relationship between indigenous religious traditions and modernity and the status of indigenous religions in the academic study of religions. The foundation of the international conference dates back to 1992 when the American Academy of Religion (AAR) approved the creation of a consultation on indigenous religious traditions. The consultation, now accorded group status in the AAR, has sponsored ongoing analyses of the neglect of indigenous religions in the Academy. Hidden away in the simple phrase “indigenous religious traditions” is a broad spectrum of cultures. These include Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Hawaiians, Tribal peoples in India, and Africans spread across the globe. Every continent is covered by this term. Yet, these massive populations and distinctive histories find little place in the Academy. The first overarching goal of the Davis conference was to further the discussion begun in 1992 by extending discussion to all areas where indigenous religions form a strong presence. The second goal was to enhance the understanding of indigenous traditions around the world and to make a compelling case for the integration of indigenous religions, their concerns and perspectives into teaching