Hi everyone, it’s been about two weeks since I arrived in
Nigeria, but it feels like a lot longer because so much has happened already. I’m
not sure how much I would have said about what exactly I’m doing in Nigeria,
but I’m here doing research for my dissertation in a relatively small town
called Ede in Osun State, which is right in the middle of Yorubaland in
southwestern Nigeria. I picked Ede in part because not too much has been
written about it yet, but despite being a predominantly Muslim town, it has a
fairly long history of Christianity, and a very vibrant traditional religion
and culture. Perhaps the biggest reason is because all of the different
religious groups tend to get along remarkably well (which is no longer the case
everywhere in Yorubaland and/or Nigeria), and the traditional king in Ede
(called the Timi) plays a huge role in ensuring that this was the case in the
past, and the current Timi by all accounts is doing a great job of ensuring
that it stays that way now and in the future. I’ll mostly be attending and
observing the major festivals in Ede to see how these rituals and the Timi’s
role in them demonstrate and reinforce this culture of religious pluralism and
maybe suggest an indigenous perspective on what the nature of religion is that
is slightly different from what most people would have in mind.
I landed in Lagos two Sundays ago, and our good friend Nneka
from Harvard picked me up from the airport. I was surprised when she told me
beforehand that we should just take an Uber from the airport, because Uber
wasn’t around last time I came, and I never would have thought to check! Nneka
was nice enough to let me stay with her for 2 nights before I left for Ede, and
it was pretty wild staying with her on Lagos Island because it is far less
crowded and easier to get around than Ikeja where I’ve spent most of my time in
the past. The other thing that surprised me was that the exchange rate on the
parallel market has gone through the roof lately. I had followed the official
rate online (which was up to about 250 Naira to 1 Dollar from what had
traditionally been about 150 for the longest time), but the rate you get from
one of these money-traders from the North is now just under 350, which means my
dollars get converted to more than twice as much as I’m used to… While this
will make my life a bit easier, the sad part is it means everything is getting
more expensive for Nigerians, and I’ve already noticed that people (especially
in places like Ede and Modakeke, where I was the last time I came to Nigeria
for a year) are struggling even more than before. I really hope things will
change soon because I’m sure it can’t continue in this direction for too long.
Before going to Ede I met up with someone who happened to
see the blog I made last time when I was studying Ifa with the Araba (if you’d
like to see some of the wild things that happened during that time and learn
about what Ifa and the Araba are you see all of that on my previous blog here)
and the Ifa library we made on Prof. Mugane’s ASK-DL website at Harvard, and
even went to meet him in Modakeke afterward! It was really great to meet
someone else who recognizes how great the Araba is, appreciates all of the work
he does, and even helps him out from time to time. While I was on the road to
Ede, I stopped by Ode-Omu (the Araba’s hometown) to give him some stuff I had
brought him from the US, Senegal, and Brazil. He wanted to meet me there
partially because it was on the road, but mostly because he didn’t want
everyone to know I am around, or that I had given him things because then they
would go asking him for some of it, and try to track me down too!
I visited Ede in 2014 to see if it
would be a good site for research, and I was lucky enough to meet the Timi (his
name is Munirudeen Adesola Lawal, the first king from the Laminisa royal
family), and he was incredibly gracious and said he’d love for me to come do my
research here. He asked me to stop by the palace again when I came back, so
that was one of the first things I did. Unfortunately he was on his way back
from a trip to the US then, so I was told to come back later. The other person
I had met in 2014 was the Akoda (the 2nd most senior Ifa priest or
diviner/priest of the deity of wisdom and divination), and I still remembered
the way to his house, so I bought him a big bottle of schnapps (the use it to
pray to Ifa) and went to let him know that I’m back. The Akoda was very happy
to see me and promised to take me to see some of the most important orisa
priests and priestesses (orisa is the Yoruba word for traditional divinities).
Since I arrived in Ede right at the
very end of June, my next order of business was to try to meet some of the
senior Muslim clerics since I wouldn’t be able to do that through the Timi, and
the end of Ramadan was in just a few days. I visited the central mosque twice
to introduce myself to the Chief Imam and the chairman of the Ede Muslim
Council, a really nice man affectionately called Baba Elesin. They were both
surprised that I was a Christian but spoke some Arabic, have read the Qur’an,
and what really made them laugh was that I had been to Kaolack in Senegal where
the Tijaniyyah tariqah, the most popular branch of Sufism (the esoteric branch
of Islam) in Ede, is centered. They kindly invited me to come observe their
programs for Laylat ul-Qadr (a night towards the end of Ramadan when the
Prophet Muhammad first began to receive the revelation of the Qur’an) and ‘Eid
al-Fitr (the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.
For a full description of both of
them, you’ll have to read my dissertation or the book that will come out of it
(inshAllah/God willing), but what really struck me was first and foremost how
orderly ‘Eid al-Fitr was. Ede is probably about 80-85% Muslim, and the main
‘Eid celebration was in the field of a grammar school that must hold up to
10,000 people. The place was about as packed as it could be, and when the Chief
Imam began the prayers, I couldn’t help but think that the only thing that
could get 10,000 Nigerians to fall silent and form neat, orderly rows and move
in unison of their own free will must be God. If you’ve spent any time in
Nigeria, you know how rowdy and noisy it is, and this struck me as a bit of a
miracle (Even if it only lasted a few minutes).
A few days ago I finally got to see
the Timi (it was tough because he was busy with all of the Ramadan festivities
himself, and I couldn’t see him while that was going on), and he was incredibly
gracious this time as well. He asked me about my long-terms plans in Ede, and
introduced me to his younger brother who he said could be my link to everyone
and anything I might need to see in Ede. Fortunately the Akoda had already
introduced me to some of the other important people, but I will be getting back
in touch with the Baba Kekere (little father or the Timi’s brother) in the next
few days to learn more about the dynamics of the royal lineages, praise names
of past kings and the town of Ede itself and royal history.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet with
the Chief priests of Ogun (the deity of iron and war), Obatala (the ancient and
wise deity of creation), a very knowledgeable priest of Sango (the royal deity
of thunder and lightning), and the chief priestess of Osun (the deity of love
and fertility) who is a really lovely woman. I’ll try to conduct a more formal
interview with the chief priest of Ogun again in the next few days because his
festival is coming up on Sunday the 17th which is also the new
yam/harvest festival that marks the beginning of the new year.
On a more personal note, I’ve been
staying on the campus of the newly-built (and partially still under
construction) Redeemer’s University, and I was put in touch with Dr. Fyanka, a
lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies who has been
kind enough to help me get an affiliation with his department and
accommodations on campus. Last week I helped them with the Toyin Falola
conference since it was being held on campus, and the highlight of that for me
was running into our uncle (and famous Nigerian author if I can brag about him)
Femi Osofisan! I hadn’t seen him in over 20 years, and since this is the first
time I’ve ever used a smartphone in Nigeria (those of you who know me know how
much I resist technology), even I have to admit that it was nice to be able to take
a picture with him and send it back to my family right away.
Also, our good friend Wale has been
helping me move around Ede and conduct some interviews because he actually
spent the first part of his life here, he has a car, and Obafemi Awolowo University
(where he teaches in dramatic arts) is not in session, and they don’t know when
they’ll be starting up again. It’s been great hanging out with him again, and
he was even able to show me where the First Baptist Church is located, and I’m
going to go there week after next because it was the first church built in Ede
and that Baptist mission played a huge part in the history of Christianity in
the town.
I had a rare day when I didn’t have
much to do, so I went back to Modakeke to see the Araba, and it was really
strange to see how some things have changed (he’s getting a bit older, his
house is almost fully completed, some parts of the town are more run-down than
before), but also a lot of them are exactly the same (I took the same little
bus that I used to ride everyday to go to his old house, passed by the same
buildings, and saw some of the same people I knew from before). One good change
is that my friend Oloye (which is just a nickname that means “chief”) has
gotten more serious about working with the Araba and is done riding his okada
around and chasing women!
I really enjoyed seeing them again,
going over some of the Ifa verses the Araba had taught me, and I even learned
some new things about the Araba in the process. The most interesting fact came
out when I reminded him about the medicine he made for a guy once that is
supposed to make a person impervious to bullets (I think it’s someone in the
other blog). The Araba didn’t remember us doing that, but he did say that it
works really well, and told me that was how he escaped from the Ife-Modakeke
war in about 1997 with only the welt in the middle of his forehead. I had
always wondered how he got that, and he said it was because somebody had shot
him right there with a gun, but because bullets can’t break through his skin,
it just knocked him out and left a huge mark/amount of scar tissue! To give you
an idea of how serious this war was (and the Araba’s part in it in particular)
he also took on a whole tank and survived! He’s a really incredible man, and I
think before I have to leave again, I’ll ask him if he’d mind me writing a book
mostly about him but also our strange and unlikely friendship. The most recent
chapter of that saga may just have been opened by somebody else seeing the
Araba in one of our videos online and asking him to do some work to solve a
problem, but that one may have to wait for another time…
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