City of 201 Gods Il&233-If&232 in Time, Space, and the Imagination [Hardcover]

In a study that challenges familiar Western modes of thought, Jacob K. Olupona focuses on one of the most important religious centers in Africa and in the world: the Yor?b? city of Il?-If? in southwest Nigeria. The spread of Yor?b? traditions in the African diaspora has come to define the cultural identity of millions of black and white people in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and the United States. Seen through the eyes of a native, this first comprehensive study of the spiritual and cultural center of the Yor?b? religion tells how the city went from great prominence to near obliteration and then rose again as a contemporary city of gods. Throughout, Olupona corroborates the indispensable linkages between religion, cosmology, migration, and kinship as espoused in the power of royal lineages, hegemonic state structure, gender, and the Yor?b? sense of place, offering the fullest portrait to date of this sacred African city.

Jacob K. Oluponais Professor of African Religious Traditions, African, and African American Studies at Harvard University. He is the author ofKingship, Religion, and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivalsand has edited several books, includingBeyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity.

Olupona does a masterful job of interweaving historical detail, personal interviews and observations. Here, myth becomes lived reality, and one is forced to take pause and ask what and where indeed are the true powers that enable humans to inhabit the modern city. Charles H. Long, author ofSignifications: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion

This book is destined to be the authoritative source on one of the most important religious centers and one of the most fascinating ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a remarkable and engaging piece of research by a first-class scholar who knows his discipllƒ+