The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful: Discourse about Values in Yoruba Culture

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL DISCOURSE ABOUT VALUES IN YORUBA CULTURE BARRY HALLEN INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington and Indianapolis Publication of this book is made possible in part with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that supports research, education , and public programming in the humanities. This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu 䉷 2000 by Barry Hallen All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hallen, Barry The good, the bad, and the beautiful : discourse about values in Yoruba culture / Barry Hallen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-33806-9 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-253-21416-5 (pa : alk. paper) 1. Yoruba (African people)—Intellectual life. 2. Philosophy, Yoruba. 3. Yoruba (African people)—Social life and customs. 4. Social values—Nigeria. 5. Yoruba language. I. Title. DT515.45.Y67 H36 2000 305.896⬘333—dc21 00-039644 1 2 3 4 5 05 04 03 02 01 00 FOR CARLA ...