Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of

Note on Orthography

All African words, with the exceptions of proper nouns and certain quoted passages, are italicized in the ¤rst usage only. The orthography used for Yoruba words in this work is that of modern Yoruba. Tone marks are consistent in each usage, with the exception of some quoted passages. Proper Yoruba names and places are neither tonemarked nor italicized, with the exception of the Òrìsà. I extend great thanks to Oyin Ogunba and Adebayo Ogundijo for their generous assistance in helping me perfect the Yoruba orthography in this work. However, I take full responsibility for any and all errors in this text. N O T E O N O R T H O G R A P H Y Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts ...