«Descendants of Oduduwa». Yoruba Historical Tradition: Authenticity, Cultural Contact, and Political Discourse

The subject of the present article is the oral historical tradition on the origin of the Yoruba rulers and their power. This tradition was shaping in the context of the cultural contact with the European civilization (British), due to which fact it exists not only as a phenomenon per se but also within the modern political and historical discourse. The author focuses on the key characteristics of this discourse, as well as on the phenomenon of the Yoruba’s oral historical tradition itself. The paper examines three aspects of the existence of historical tradition: tradition per se, tradition as it exists in modern political discourse, and the problems of its authenticity. First of all, the tradition of the lineage of the ruler and the people was an instrument of political influence of the Yoruba rulers. It retained this role after the arrival of the British. The author shows how its application changed from the early years of the protectorate to the period of independence. During the internecine Yoruba wars, traditional urban centers lost their influence to new cities with a war economy. In the protectorate system, their rulers continued to occupy a leading position in the ruling councils of chiefs. Against this background unfolded the confrontation between the rulers of the old cities: Oyo, which founded the Yoruba empire in the 17th century, and Ile–Ife, the oldest Yoruba city. With the advent of independence, the myths about the creation of the Earth in Ile-Ife became the basis for pan-Yoruba agitation through the efforts of the famous politician Obafemi Awolowo, who in 1945 created the organization “Descendants of Oduduwa” in London, which included Yoruba leaders and intellectuals. Today, the traditional ruler of Ife, Ooni, still enjoys the authority of political parties, blessing their activities.