Osogbo and the Art of Heritage: Monuments, Deities, and Money

Notes

NOTES Introduction 1. The official justification reads as follows: “A century ago there were many groves in Yorubaland: every town had one. Most of these groves have now been abandoned or have shrunk to quite small areas. Osun-Osogbo is the largest grove to have survived and one that is still revered. More than that, the restoration by Suzanne Wenger and her fellow artists has given the grove a new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol for identity for the wider Yoruba diaspora. The new art installed has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon” (World Heritage Center 2005: 35). 2. The argument is based upon the analyses of Habermas (1987), Terdiman (1993) and Huyssen (1995). 3. The themes which are discussed along these lines range from the reshaping of national memory-scapes (Arnoldi 2003; Fontein 2007; De Jong 2008) over problems of ownership and cultural property (Schmidt and Roderick 1996; Verdery and Humphrey 2004; Shyllon 2006) to questions of authenticity (Kasfir 1992; Steiner 1999), display (Nelson 2007) and recognition (Smith 2007). CHAPTER 1: Heritage as Source 1. Consisting of the two morphemes o and sun, òsun literally means “something or somebody that gushes or oozes out.” 2. Interview, Jimoh Buraimoh July 15, 2000. 3. Since these constructs vary culture to culture, the understanding of property ranges from the possessive individualism of Euro/American society, where it is conceived as a bounded unit, to the concept of property as a “bundle of relationships” shared not by individuals but by “dividuals,” i.e., subjects embedded in relations with other human and sometimes also nonhuman actors. Needless to say, these views are just “ideal types” in the sense sociologists use the term. Hence, one has to be careful not to essentialize them and indulge in a fictive dualism. In reality the two types are mixed and fused with others, reflecting the reality that we all live and act in multiple worlds. When and how we invoke and defend the values and ideas of each world depends on social context. 4. The diviner throws sixteen palm nuts from one hand to the other. He or she does this four times, each time recording the throw with a one or two 164 NOTES TO PAGES 16–26 dots on the divining tray. The resulting markings correspond with one of the 256 textual units that structure the information Ifa contains. The information is then read to the client, who is asked to interpret the meaning. As an orally transmitted body of knowledge, Ifa is not closed but open, therefore allowing for interpretation and amendments so that accounts about the present and past not only vary from place to place but from person to person. See Amherd (2005). 5. Depending on the circumstances, Osun is said to be either the wife of Obatala, Orunmila, Sango, and/or Ogun; the daughter of Yemoya; or the sister of Oya. 6. The job of molding the head is sometimes said to be the responsibility of Ajala. According to Osuntogun, the name Ajala is just a refraction of Obatala. 7. Interview with Baba Osuntogun, Osogbo, August 12, 2002. 8. The twelve-day-long annual Osun festival allocates a special day to the worship of the royal heads only, see chapter 5. 9. Translation by Sola Ajibade. 10. On the so-called “Oduduwa Heritage” see Adepegba (1986), Law (1973), and Lawuyi (1992). 11. The archival findings do not paint a clear picture. While, for example, the brochures published by the Osogbo Heritage Council today list the reign of Larooye as the founder of Osogbo from 1670 to 1760 (!), the king list submitted to the colonial authorities by Matanmi’s predecessor Adenle in the year of his installation, 1944, gives the dates from 1801 to 1825. See Osun division, annual report 1944, colonial archives, Ibadan. The list gives the following genealogy: 1. Laaro (1801–1825); 2. Beyiokun (1825–1832); 3. Mofala (1832–1840); 4. Lahanmi (1840–1854); 5. Ojo okege (1854–1864); 6. Matanmi (1864–1870); 7. Fabode (1870–1891); 8. Bainabola (1891–1893); 9. Oyetona (1893–1903); 10. Gbeja (1903–1918); 11. Latona I (1918–1920); 12. Lawole (1920–1933); 13. Latona II (1933– 1944); and 14. Adenle (1944–). 12. I could not verify Takena’s figures based on my review of the colonial archives in Ibadan. The earliest...