Keeping the Goddess Alive (original) (raw)
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Defining the museum and commenting on the Visual Cultures of Shrines in Southern Nigeria
This paper aligns itself with the idea of making and giving significance to material cultures. Of interest too is the need to create the necessary awareness of an indigenous museum practice which display forms and objects in shrines constructed and utilised within the purview of deity and ancestral worship. By accessing these avenues of display and analysing the making processes, we hope to challenge the notion of the dynamism of avenues of displays, especially in the ongoing and ever polarised meaning of the constituents of a museum. In his seminal work, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin argues that, by close ups of the things around us, by focussing on the hidden details of familiar objects, by exploring common place milieu under the indigenous guidance of the camera, the film, on the one hand, extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives; on the other hand, it manages to assure us of an immense and unexpected field of action.
Ethnocide and Genocide of the Relics of Nigerian's Mother Culture: Community Museum as a way forward
The common origin of cultural or sculptural objects of Nigerian Nation-State, as she is getting democratized are becoming obsolete in the attitude of Nigerians. This in a way is changing the style of our collective memory into collected memory, by emphasizing cultural beliefs that are individualistic and troublesome. Day in day out, this emphasizes cultural suicide of our inherently nurturer, especially when so many other generations depend on her for essence. In order to resolve this problem, bring to limelight the Community Museum as a way forward in preserving and conserving the relics of our ontological digitalized representation information. In this period of unconsciousness of our shared past, which is an inspired creative process of beauty; product of the mind and hand of man. This cultural object is as a soul is to a man, so it is to the body. Thus, it is all that is made by man. Cultural beliefs can't cross boundary on their own but cultural objects do. Then, it makes expedient for cultural objects to be encouraged and communicated to the limelight in Nigerian history. On this pedestal stands what will be discussed in this thesis, if the cultural heritages will not be Ethnocide and Genocide; Cultural Suicide of our Mother Culture in Sculptural Arts which are the properties given to us by our Ancestors. Then, Cultural dimension and discuss to the Mother Culture must reflect the samples of the culture made by them in sculpture such as Nok, Ife, Benin, Igboukwu, Owo and Esie among others which are meant to be kept in the museum owned by the community in order for them to watch the authenticity of the cultural values as represented by the collective memory of the people.
Re-defining wall painting of the Yoruba of south-west Nigeria for cultural tourism
Sustainable Tourism V, 2012
The religion of the traditionalists in this area of the country gave birth to the art of shrine painting. They make use of concrete elements such as images, colours, patterns and symbols in the religious beautification of the shrines meant to house the spirits, deities and the ancestors. Custodians and knowledgeable people as well as the adherents of various traditional religions were interviewed to compare their submissions regarding paintings used to meet the feelings of confidence and assurance of the deities. The shrine paintings in Yoruba speaking areas conform to certain universal pattern elements in the act of honouring, soothing and cooling the gods and likewise influence their decisions to favour man in his incessant struggle on earth. It is worthy of note to add that both the painters and their clients (worshippers) have to spiritually contribute to the iconographic and aesthetic features of the painting. These eventually reflect in worship value, which draws the worshippers closer to their deities that are deemed to have their comfort in the decorated shrines. For this reason, there is an urgent need to document this aspect of Yoruba conceptual association with the universe. Lastly, the goal of this paper is to highlight and to bring to the fore the salient, cultural values embedded in Yoruba shrine painting. In a like vein, this paper intends to serve an aspect of the most radiant cultural atmosphere in human religious history, thereby proclaiming it as a veritable source for tourism in the study areas.
Library Trends, 2007
This paper, based on doctoral research carried out from January 2003 through July 2005, addresses the interpretation and representation of non-Western religious material culture in Western museums and offers a comprehensive view of the way traditional religious Yorùbá objects are displayed in contemporary museums in Britain. Museum exhibitions can be conceived as a visual narrative, which absorbs the religious essence of traditional religious non-Western objects into broad categories. At the same time, these categories are still strongly affected by Western aesthetic appreciation, understanding, and classificatory systems. In museum displays, traditional Yorùbá religious material culture loses its distinctiveness and is absorbed into global pan-African representations. Therefore, in order to be able to reach more informed or "authentic" interpretations, museums should include the memories and voices of the people who are "closer" to the original meanings of traditional religious objects.
Ụzọ mma: Pathway to Intangible Cultural Heritage in Otobo Ugwu Dunoka Lejja, South-eastern Nigeria
Heritage sites and their management remain an issue in Nigeria in general, and in South-eastern Nigeria in particular. These stem largely from the spate of wanton destruction of cultural heritage in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria by some Christian fundamentalists. Otobo Ugwu Dunoka Lejja, South-eastern Nigeria, is an open public square which serves as the traditional parliamentary, judicial and ritual square for the thirty-three villages in the Lejja community. It was also an iron smelting site and has the highest concentration of iron slag blocks in sub-Saharan Africa. Divided into four sections by rows of iron slag blocks, the square is full of monuments connected with iron smelting and community history. These monuments are linked to the rules and ethical values which form the intangible cultural heritage associated with iron smelting in the community. The approach in this study is multi-and interdisciplinary, as recourse is made to sociology, ethno-history, political economy, anthropology and the interface between these complementary disciplines. Based on extensive field work in the community, the researchers interrogate the meaning and essence of some of the values attached to the square and the monuments therein. These traditional values could help address the problems created by iconoclasts who pride themselves on destroying cultural heritage in Igboland, ostensibly in the name of Christianity.