Women in Yoruba Religions

by Oyèrónké Oládém?

Overview

Uncovers the influence of Yoruba culture on women’s religious lives and leadership in religions practiced by Yoruba people

Women in Yoruba Religions examines the profound influence of Yoruba culture in Yoruba religion, Christianity, Islam, and Afro-Diasporic religions such as Santeria and Candomblé, placing gender relations in historical and social contexts. While the coming of Christianity and Islam to Yorubaland has posed significant challenges to Yoruba gender relations by propagating patriarchal gender roles, the resources within Yoruba culture have enabled women to contest the full acceptance of those new norms.

Oyeronke Olademo asserts that Yoruba women attain and wield agency in family and society through their economic and religious roles, and Yoruba operate within a system of gender balance, so that neither of the sexes can be subsumed in the other. Olademo utilizes historical and phenomenological methods, incorporating impressive data from interviews and participant-observation, showing how religion is at the core of Yoruba lived experiences and is intricately bound up in all sectors of daily life in Yorubaland and abroad in the diaspora.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479814015
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Series:	Women in Religions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	196
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Oyèrónké Oládémọ is Professor of Comparative Religious Studies, Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. She is the author of Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere.

Table of Contents

Note on the Spelling of Yoruba Words vii

Introduction: Why Study Women in Yoruba Religions? 1

1 Women's Family, Economic, Social, and Political Roles in Yorùbáland 13

2 Women's Leadership in Rituals of the Yoruba Religion 42

3 Yoruba Women in Christianity 65

4 Yoruba Women in Islam 89

5 Women and the Yoruba Religions in the Diaspora 103

6 Women in the Yoruba Religion and Globalization 127

Conclusion 137

Acknowledgments 143

Questions for Discussion 145

For Further Reading 149

Notes 151

Bibliography 163

Index 179

About the Author 187

Editorial Reviews

"Featuring impressive ethnographic material, Women in Yoruba Religions illustrates how Yoruba women brought their active agency into Christianity, Islam, and contemporary forms of traditional religion."

Mei Mei Sanford

"A major introductory text to anybody interested in Yoruba women and their role in the people’s religious belief systems. The scholarship of the book is of top quality, providing a comprehensive, holistic sense of the role of women in the Yoruba religious sphere."

Akintunde Akinyemi

"Oládémo notes the tremendous agency of women in Yoruba religion, and she shows the considerable impact they have—impact, she argues, tied to such variables as the economy. The author also examines the forces that shaped women's various roles—colonialism, capitalism, and globalization—highlighting major historical phases."

CHOICE - T. O. Falola

"Professor Oyeronke Olademo has indeed brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to bear in writing this book…[T]his book will be of great value to students and scholars of Comparative religious studies, lovers of comparative religion and anyone interested in the role of women in the development of religion and in this regard. I recommend the book to all and sundry."

Nigerian Tribune - Babatunji Abayomi Omotara

"Women in Yorùbá Religions provides a clear foundation for discussing issues of gender, religion, and power relationships outside of the usual cases addressed in introductory-level undergraduate classes."

Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Beautifully illustrates how women have—and have always had—a significant role in Yoruba culture and religion, both in its continental and diasporic manifestations."

Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies

"Significantly captures the relevance of Yoruba women involved in not only the religious activities but also the political and socio-economic dynamics of their communities. Without any doubts whatsoever, this book will greatly contribute to its primary field of religion and associated fields of history, African studies, sociology, and anthropology."

Ibigbolade Aderibigbe

"Oyèrónké Olademo’s Women in Yoruba Religions is a welcome and needed addition to the field of Yoruba religious studies, and African religious studies more broadly, as it takes seriously women’s roles and representations within Yoruba religious communities."

Reading Religion

"The book... concludes that Yoruba women have always made a way for themselves in spite of challenges of male domination in the religious space, and in spite of globalization and modernity, women have continued to evolve and play even increasing roles as Yoruba religion is being practiced abroad and also foreign religions are been practiced in Yorubaland."

Indigenous Religious Traditions