Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society

The material contained on this website represents segments of three orisha festivals in Ayede-Ekiti in Ondo State, Nigeria, which I video recorded in 1990 and 1993. My intimacy with the priests and priestesses in Ayede developed over two years of fieldwork from 1983-85, when I conducted dissertation research and served my Yoruba apprenticeship. In the 1980’s I used a camera and tape recorder to collect data on ritual performances, and focused on the relation of the orisha cults to political cleavages and contests for power within Ayede and the surrounding kingdoms of Ishan and Itaji. When I returned in the 1990’s, I was a "son of the soil" (omo ilè), and given free rein with a video camera. The following video clips represent a level of access and trust that developed over a decade.