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African History and the Thingly Past: A Yoruba Example

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2025

Shina Alimi Open the ORCID record for Shina Alimi [Opens in a new window]
Shina Alimi*
Affiliation:
Department of History, https://ror.org/04snhqa82 Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria
*
Email: shinaalimi@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study examines the significance of nonhuman actors in writing African history. It asks why things and animals are at the margin of African history. It probes how the intersection of presence and absence manifests in things, and how this can aid historians’ imagination of the past. Finally, it seeks to know how the recognition and integration of things in the historical narrative can help understand the unaccounted past. The article draws from the Yoruba visual and verbal arts, particularly the oriki and Ifa corpus to argue that “things” are important historical sources that are methodologically useful and theoretically relevant.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article examine l’importance des acteurs non humains dans l’écriture de l’histoire africaine. Il demande pourquoi les choses et les animaux sont restés en marge de l’histoire africaine. Il étudie comment l’intersection de leur présence et de leur absence se manifeste dans les choses, et comment cela peut aider l’imagination du passé par les historiens. Enfin, cet article cherche à savoir comment la reconnaissance et l’intégration des choses dans le récit historique peuvent aider à comprendre le passé longtemps ignoré. L’article s’appuie sur les arts visuels et verbaux yoruba, en particulier les corpus oriki et ifa, pour soutenir que les « choses » sont des sources historiques importantes, utiles sur le plan méthodologique et pertinentes sur le plan théorique.

Keywords

thingsmaterial turnthingly pastarchiveartifacts

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , First View , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of African Studies Association

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