AN INDIGENOUS ANATOMY OF P O W E R AND ART: A NEW LOOK AT YORUBA WOMEN IN SOCIETY AND RELIGION

Mikelle S. Omari-Obayemi

Mikelle S. Omari-Obayemi is Professor of Art History and African Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

In the 1980 anthology, Power and Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, Michel Foucault pointed out the deceptively simplistic axiom that there is no one single and identical "formula" for a definition of power that can be applied either to all forms of society, or to all societies. This fact is especially pertinent when we consider the variable factors and structural components comprising an indigenous "anatomy of power" for Yoruba women.

It is widely known (but not systematically documented to date) that individuals and groups of women among the Yoruba-speaking peoples of Nigeria, historically maintained positions of great cultural power. They held these positions not only in the domestic arena, but in economics, trade, politics, religion and other social domains as well. As has been carefully documented by African feminists such as Filomina Chioma Steady, Ifi Amadiume, Nkiru Nzegwu and others, this historical tradition of feminine Yoruba power was gradually weakened by the encroachments of Islam, Christianity (especially the Pentecostal or "born-again" sects), colonialism, and modernism. The result was (and still remains) a generally unbalanced and distorted view of the constituent categories of power possessed by Yoruba women.

This unbalanced view is propounded to a certain extent in literature but is especially prevalent in the visual arts. Thus, the vast majority of Yoruba wooden carvings (created by male artists) dynamically encapsulate an ideology of asymmetrical power relations between men and women that does not in fact operate in everyday relations. Within this framework of art production, males are universally depicted aggressively standing, on horseback, or seated in the dominant hunter, warrior or ruler postures associated with power and idealized

Dialectical Anthropology 21: 89-98, 1996. �9 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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protector/provider roles. Females, in contrast, (with few exceptions) are depicted in kneeling positions, and are only rarely represented standing or sitting. Kneeling female carvings document women in their socially idealized biological roles as mothers (nursing, holding and/or surrounded by one or more children). Furthermore, the kneeling position codifies an ideal of submission, and by extension, tacitly communicates an erroneous and static view of Yoruba women as disempowered "reactresses."

At least two well known male Yoruba scholars have interpreted the kneeling posture of Yoruba women in wooden sculpture, as ikunle abiyamo (the kneeling down posture assumed by traditional women during labor when giving birth). Women I interviewed in the field, however, interpreted the kneeling position as a generic outward sign of respect and submission assumed by women when greeting their husbands, male or female elders, deities, or royal personages. Moreover, the women emphasized the practical need for the legs to be widely opened (not closed) if a baby's head were to be able to emerge during parturition. To further support the interpretation of the kneeling position as a generic indicator of respect, I have witnessed many occasions (especially in the ritual context) where middle-aged or elderly men kneel before a woman who is older than they, although I have yet to see a depiction of this behavior in traditional Yoruba visual imagery. As a sub-text, the kneeling posture nonverbally recognizes and honors the seniority as well as the social position of the one kneeled before.

These disparate artistic images of males and females in Yoruba sculpture therefore serve to perpetuate and reinforce the asymmetrical power positions that Yoruba men may ideally like their women to occupy. They neither address the actual symmetrical power positions held by women nor related artistic forms associated with these positions.

My analysis, therefore, has several objectives. First, I intend to examine alternative views of power and art for Yoruba women within the interdisciplinary, analytical frameworks of: (1) indigenous definitions of power; (2) visual analysis of artistic imagery, (3) selected excerpts of autobiographical life histories; (4) the role of women in traditional religion and society; and (5) finally, because the

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majority of publications available on the Yoruba overemphasize the Southwestern regions of Nigeria, I present data from Kogi State (formerly Kwara State) in the far northeastern region in order to achieve more balance. Key examples, their meanings, artistic symbols, and contexts are therefore drawn from Ile-Ife and Oyo (located in southwest Nigeria) as well as Alyetoro-Kirri and Akutupa-Kirri (in the northeast). The last considers categories of power conveyed by Yoruba women and discusses, where possible, artistic symbols of power. My central analysis hinges on indigenous definitions of power by Yoruba females as well as males. For the sake of clarity, however, a consideration of both Western and African explanations of power are useful in understanding the differences in the meaning of power in the Yoruba and English languages.

Ivan Karp and W. Arens, editors of the seminal 1989 publication, Creativity of Power: Cosmology and Action in African Societies, evoke Max Weber's assertion that power in the West focuses on individual rather than collective goals. Consequently, power must be seen as a rational calculation arising from relationships between social actors in a mutually acknowledged competitive or cooperative context. I quote: "Power" ['macht' from the German verb, to do] is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance and regardless of the basis on which this probability exists." In Weber's framework, power is exercised through the dialectical mechanisms of domination and submission. In sum, for Weber, power is a national calculation and submission to authority is behavioral acquiescence to power without reflection. Arens and Karp convincingly demonstrate that this Weberian view of power dominates pre-1989 Euro-American, scholarly analyses of both Western and non-Western societies. In the application of this model to the study of African, and more specifically Yoruba societies, the scholarly tendency in the past has been to research how male -oriented politico-religious systems and actions operated in institutional roles or settings, especially in kingship or other elite contexts. These analyses of power adhering to the Weberian paradigm were methodologically restricted to questions or issues of influence and controls of individuals over others' behavior.

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In contrast, indigenous African concepts of power (as noted by Arens and Karp) emphasize their grounding in cultural resources and the use of power by agents to produce specific desired actions. My 1990-91 field research confirmed Karp's and Arens' findings. The only difference in my data was that power was seen not only as cultural energy for the Yoruba men and women I interviewed but as natural and spiritual energy and action as well. Such a conception of power is dynamic and holistic. It thus encompasses all conceivable qualities of persons, objects or words, and a combination of spiritual and non- spiritual circumstances. (In many instances, I received offers from people to give me power. From what I am able to understand, this process involves the use of selected tangible, symbolic items believed to possess their own inherent power. These are subsequently combined with intangible yet powerful incartations or other verbal displays designed to empower these natural objects.) The critical arenas in which Yoruba women operate and the nature of their activities when they excercise power are grounded in indigenous definitions and understanding of power (also noted by Arens and Karp). My interviews revealed four indigenous Yoruba definitions of power: ida, okun, agbara and ase. My collaborators mostly discussed the last two categories.

Ida was def'med as strength or violence, while okun was defined as force or ability to keep on with difficult work (in the sense of the African-American vernacular "Keep on pushin."Agbara was defined as power, ability, force, strength, authority with generic meanings that were more closely associated with the temporal socio-political world. I quote "A king sitting on the throne (or one who is a symbol of authority for a whole city or the whole world) possesses such power,especially when he judges disputes or other cases. A landlord or compound head ruling over his own house possesses agbara, powers that no one dares step over. The man or woman who has medicines that can be used to save or to kill people, also possesses agbara. Someone who is very rich and uses that money to help others or to help soften poverty, also possesses agbara. Finally, someone who can perform a deed that not many people can do, whether in medicine, work, business or rituals, has this power. Those are various examples of power: certain things a person can do that not many can

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do in exactly the same manner, that can be transmitted to others--what we call a power. Finally, Ase was variously defmed as creative energy, the ability to bring things into existence or to make something happen. The term ase was most often used in shrine contexts, thereby suggesting that a- involved spiritual activation or spiritual manipulation. Ase was considered to be present in every natural or manmade person or thing, whether animate or inanimate. Many objects possess more ase than others. Some of these include sacrificial blood, certain leaves, specific foods, rivers and other topographical phenomena. Certain deities and spirits such as the Orisa, Imole, and Ebora (and the symbols and emblems associated with these entities ) possess great ase. Chants, incantations, songs, prayers, curses and other verbal utterances also possess ase.

The women I interviewed stressed many kinds of feminine power with the four most frequent being: (1) the knowledge and ability to manipulate natural and spiritual energy; (2) status and influence gained through their social roles as wives; (3) the capacity to help their husbands succeed in life; and (4) decision-making in the home and the community. In my opinion, all of these indigenous definitions of power underscore an understanding of power as energy to be used for the benefit of others or for collective ends. Power, for the Yoruba, is not the assertion of the will of one or more individuals in contexts of domination and submission, as discussed in the Western Weberian sense.

I will now discuss selected examples of the power of Yoruba females according to the categories defined by Yoruba women.The first category is manipulation of spiritual and natural energy. I will first discuss two women who are important because they practice Ifa divination, a powerful epistemological system that until now has been portrayed in the literature as the sole province of males. Next, I will discuss a female herbalist. (I wish to use each speaker's original words as closely as possible in order to convey the flavor of the ideas.)

Iyanifa Mopelola Fawenda Amoke (of Oyo) views her power as connected with the practice of Ifa divination and her ability to help others (whether men or women). In fact, she asserts that more men come to her for help than do women. (During the period of my first

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unannounced interview with her one Sunday, she performed Ifa divinations for three male clients.)

Iyanifa 'Fawenda learned Ifa from the age of eight, upon the insistence of her father and aganst her own will. She studied not only with her own father, a well-known Babalawo (Yoruba for priest of Ifa divination) but with other learned diviners at 0wa-Ekiti, Ilesha, Oshogbo, and Ile-Ife. She was still learning Ifa when she had her first baby ( a daughter) who is her only surviving child today. Because 'Fawenda was still learning lfa, she left her child for her mother to raise until she was grown up. At that time, her husband asked her to collect the daughter from her mother.

Even though Iyanifa 'Fawenda began learning Ifa at the age of eight, it was only after more than forty years of study, that she started practicing on her own. She abandoned Ira only briefly, when she was seeking a child because of her fears of being labelled a charm maker or a witch by her community. After she conceived and bore her daughter, she returned to the study of Ifa divination. 'Fawenda's husband (a hunter) aided her in worshipping Ifa by sacrificing animals and affording her time to practice. Iyanifa 'Fawenda was active in the regular meetings of lfa priests until she reached extreme old age, when she abandoned it. During the time she was active, she encountered opposition from male Ifa priests, who viewed her as a "sex object." She stuck to lfa because she was the only child of her Babalawo father and he wanted to hand over the power to his offspring.

The insignia of 'Fawenda's office is the opele, the divining chain also ubiquitously used by Babalawo (male Ifa diviners). Composed of eight palm nut halves, beads, and metal attachments, the opele thus transcends gender as it simultaneously expands the distinction, often made in the West, between African art and artifact.

The second Iyanifa, 'Famodupe of Ile-Ife, also considers her power to be basically spiritual. Her greatest power also derives from her practice of Ifa, into which she was born, since her father was an Ifa priest. Her primary full time occupation currently is Ifa divination, with which she solves various problems such as barrenness, illness, disease or unemployment for men and women.

Other powers that she inherited from her father include: egbe, the ritual paraphernalia for four deities (0ya, Osun, Yemoja, Obatala);

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egbe olowoeyo (divination with 4 or 16 cowries); elefon (glass or water divination); and opele (Ira divination). Iyanifa Modupe asserts that she uses all of these effectively. (Even though she owns ikln, the sixteen sacred palm nuts, I could not persuade her to use them to divine for me.) 'Famodupe was born into Ira and had her first contact with Ifa divination when she was eight days old. Then, her father stood her on her legs on an/ fa (a divination tray) and performed a ritual, after which she was named Ifamodupe.

Before Iyanifa Modupe was born, her mother did battle with barrenness (as had also been the case with her grandmother). She was nursed and brought up by her grandmother, from whom she learned cloth weaving, soap making, and petty trading. But she was having problems in all these vocations. Divination revealed to her that the only solutions to her problems would be the vocation of Ifa: and she has practiced since then.

According to Iyanifa 'Famodupe, both genders have power. The difference is in the way individuals use their power. There are different classes of power, expressed by the colors red, black and white, and there are very different ways by which a woman acquires them for good or evil. For her own, she acquired power solely for her work to help her in Ira divination.

The third respondent in the spiritual and natural power category is Chief Iyalaje of Ile-Ife. Her power resides with the practice of traditional medicine, the knowledge of which she inherited from her father, an herbalist. Her father showed her how to prepare soap, how to recognize and pick leaves for specific uses and how to grind and prepare them. After Iyalaje married, she supplemented her herbal practice with trading in beads from Cotonou, (Republic of Benin) hot drinks and cigarettes of various kinds. She now also helps clients with their problems by using sixteen cowrie divination linked with her worship of the goddess Osun. Because of her great powers, Iyalaje's head must never be left uncovered in the presence of another person, Including even her husband. Iyalaje is a title that was bestowed on her by the association of traditional herbalists. The usual sign of her rank is the peke, a triangular beaded pendant suspended from a beaded necklace. The peke is used by both male and female chiefs in Ile-Ife as a mark of rank and, thus, transcends gender. Iyalaje is married to a

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younger man, but he gives her a chance to do her work well, and is not afraid of her but, rather, very supportive.

The Iyanifas 'Fawerida and 'Famodupe and chief Iyalaje derive their powers from spiritual sources and use these to help others.

The second-most important category of power delineated by women is that of status and influence gained through their unique roles as the bearers of children, critical roles in the child-oriented Yoruba society.

For women of Kogi State, this socio-biological power is very closely linked to the social power afforded by formal traditional marriage. For these women, the title of Iyawo (wife) confers a sense of power third in degree to the titles of Oluide and Ejigi just discussed. The central visual symbol of the traditional marriage is not a ring, as is common among Westernized Nigerians but, rather, a red, white and black cloth, woven by a woman and symbolizing the three categories of spiritual powers. The elaborate, seven-day wedding ceremony involves a great deal of expenses that are difficult to meet in this agricultural community. But so important are the title Iyawo, and the wedding ceremony, that whenever the couple can afford it, even after many years of living together, it is done. One such ceremony I documented was between a compatible couple whose eldest child was twenty and whose youngest child was seven. To further emphasize the importance of the wedding ceremony, I quote, "A woman who never did Iyawo can become a subject of ridicule in her matrimonial home [and in the community]. This factor can be used against a woman. For instance, two women A and B may be engaged in a feud. Let us assume that woman A is gaining the upper hand in their battle of words, but she is an un-wedded wife. Woman B, who is already wedded and who has done her own Iyawo, can use this factor as her triumph card over woman A." In this regard, woman A can lay down on the ground two threads of white and black, for her red, black, and white marriage cloth, and dare woman A to cross over. Woman A must not cross over if she has not carried out her own wedding ceremony, but if she does, she will have a case to answer with the assembly of chiefs in the village. In order to appease the land on which the two threads for the marriage cloth were laid and over which woman A crosses (assuming she did), A would be required to provide certain items as fines (igba).

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The third category of power according to my respondents, was their capacity to help their husbands succeed in life. This is exemplified In numerous odu ifa (divination verses) and also illustrated by festivals dedicated to women. A prime example is that of the annual seven-day Ajon festival celebrated in Akutupa-Kirri and Aiyetoro-Kirri, two O- Kun Yoruba towns in Kogi State. The key celebrant is the Olukirri (the paramount ruler of the 13 Kirri towns) and during this festival he honors Ajon (the childless wife of the first Olukirri). All Kirri women are symbolically honored by this festival, which is also a New Year celebration associated with the New Moon. Divinations to obtain Ajon's blessings, advice, and prophecies for the New Year are prominent features of the festival. Although the majority of Kirri residents are Christians, they feel compelled to celebrate this festival in order to ensure a peaceful, prosperous New Year. (The Obaero of Kabba attended this year because of a promise and because his grand- mother was born in Kirri.)

The last category of feminine power distinguished by women I interviewed is decision-making in the home and community. In numerous interviews with rural and urban women (both Western- educated and not) women emphasized their roles as advisors to their husbands in the home. These roles, although not widely acknowledged (publicly or privately) by their husbands, nevertheless afforded the women some sense of their own power. I have recently collected a number of examples of women decision-makers in the community, including a female Regent in Igbale-Ekiti, but for now, I will limit my discussion to two posts of female power in AiyetoroKirri: those of the Ejigi and the Oluide.

Although the Ejigi is the higher title and is the female complement of the male power of the Olukirri, by Kirri tradition, it is only after a woman has taken the title of Oluide that the Olukirri can call such a person to take up the Ejigi title.

It is only from among the married women that the Oluide can be selected. The name Olu-ide itself means the Olu or king of brass. The occasion of this title-taking was a public one requiring great celebrations throughoout Kirri-land. The Oluide wears lde (brass) on her ankles and brass adangbara on her arms, as symbols of her rank. Because of the weight of these brass objects, the Oluide finds it

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difficult to move without assistance and, thus, requires retainers. The Oluide represents spiritual power and community decision-making of Ofosi and Imole in Kirri.

The Ejigi is the leader of all women in Kirri-land and has power complementary to that of the Olu-Kirri. Together, they form a male- female unit of power. The insignia of the status of the Ejigi includes masculine clothing such as an Agbada and cap, usually borrowed from the Olu-Kirri for public festivals. The Ejlgi is responsible for dancing around the funeral cloths for males and females after they have been brought down from the roof tops.

In conclusion, the prevailing imagery of the Yoruba woman created by male producers visually supports an assymetrical ideology of male/female power relations, but this in fact obfuscates and contradicts what in reality, is a more symmetrical and complementary balance of power between Yoruba men and women.

While not denying their socio-biological roles and power, the case- studies of the women I have just discussed, suggest additional types of power available to women, that transcend gender in practice, as for example, in the areas of Ifa divination, herbal or native medicine, and community decision-making. The icons associated with these female power arenas also transcend gender, as in the case of the Ejigi. Yet, all of these examples challenge the established view of Yoruba women as reactresses, a view codified in the kneeling position prevalent in sculpture. What is needed for a clearer understanding of the indigenous anatomy of power and its expression in art, is more research in the field by women. Such an approach will more effectively unveil the ideas and voices of women and help to reveal them as dynamic actresses, despite resistance on the ideological level, in diverse local domains of power.