A study of Igbo wisdom tradition. Notes, 146pp, UK. KARNAK HOUSE, 090701555X

1997 Paperback

See below for volume 2

A study of Igbo wisdom tradition. Notes, 268pp, UK. KARNAK HOUSE, 1872596096

1997 Paperback

See above for volume 1

Explores the roles of contemporary urban shrines and their visual traditions in Benin City. It focuses on the charismatic priests and priestesses who are possessed by a pantheon of deities, the communities of devotees, and the artists who make artefacts for their shrines. The visual arts are part of a wider configuration of practices that include song, dance, possession and healing. These practices provide the means for exploring the relationships of the visual to both the verbal and performance arts that feature at these shrines. The analysis in this book raises fundamental questions about how the art of Benin, and non-Western art histories more generally, are understood. Index, bib, b/w photos, gloss, notes, 248pp, UK. EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Splendid book that boldly and substantively includes the Yoruba diaspora in the Americas in its scope. Essential for anyone interested in Yoruba culture, cosmology, ritual, art, and not least, beadwork. Large format, many col ill, notes, refs, 288pp, USA. WASHINGTON U P, 0930741633

2002 Paperback

A study of Igbo kola nut invocation chants, comparing them with Egyptian religious traditions. Includes original texts and English translations. 149pp, UK. KARNAK HOUSE.

Examines the historic relationship between Islam and Christianity in Sokoto Province, initially cordial, but which has soured in recent decades. Index, apps, bib, 273pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Papers resulting from an international conference entitled 'The Shari'ah debate and the shaping of Muslim and Christian identities in Northern Nigeria'. The conference was convened by the University of Jos in northern Nigeria in the wake of the religious and civil strife in the area in 2001 and 2002. It brought together scholars from Nigeria and overseas to consider recent developments in law and religion, and shari'ah from local and global perspectives. This publica-tion is intended to serve as an example of constructive dialogue in an academic setting between Muslims, Christians and those of neither religion, and as a permanent contribution to the literature on law and religion in Nigeria. 444pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD.

A holistic account of Igbo Christianity looking at church history in an African context, and the coming of Christianity into various areas of Igboland and the different cultural forces that have shaped the religion. The author questions whether there can be an Igbo Christianity and explores the meaning of religion in a post civil war period, and the spiritual revival of the 1970s. Index, notes, maps, x, 348pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 159221116X

Study of Charismatic movements that emerged in Western Nigeria in the 1970s. Since the beginning of sustained missionary enterprises in Nigeria in the 1840s, no other development has had such an intense effect on the contextualisation of Christianity in Africa. New Charis-matic movements have attained a huge social prominence because of their adroit use of the media and large memberships. Index, bib, apps, 292pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

A member of the Chapel of the Resurrection in Nigeria, Adesogan was born into a non-Christian home, his parents worshipping the gods of ogun and osanyin. His grandmother was a priestess of the osanyin deity and his mother inherited her shrine. As a boy he was taken to an Ifa preist. From early in his youth and his time as a student at the University of Ibadan, he has been a committed Christian, and this is his account of the Christian story of his time as a student and member of faculty at the University. Index, 240pp, GHANA. SUB-SAHARAN PUBLISHERS.

Analyses the Christian spheres of tension between indigenization, ecumenism, inculturation and evangelization in Igboland … describes … the multifarious aspects of postcolonial Christian life and provides us with new extensive views on hope and vitality of contemporary Christian life in West Africa. Prof. Dr. theol. Reimund Haas. 640pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG, 3825849643

A collection of biblical essays assembled to highlight the moral degeneration of Nigeria. The author reflects upon Christian values and virtues which he understands to have of permanent significance. BNS, 159pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD, 978029306X

This extensive compendium of Ifa verses is presented in modern Yoruba; and all the verses are accompanied by an English translation. This important publication is a gesture to make the Ifa poem more widely accessible to Yoruba and non-Yoruba audiences; and is a valiant effort to protect the sacred Ifa poem from extinction. The author is a specialist in oral and written aspects of Yoruba, known particularly for his radical proverbs, and identification with Yoruba as a language of wisdom. 940pp, NIGERIA. SELF-PUBLISHED TITLES/NO IMPRINT.

2002 9783603566 Paperback

Contains The Odus of Obara and The Odus of Okonron. Index. 151pp. NIGERIA. ATHELIA HENRIETTA PRESS INC.

Contains The Odus of Irosun and The Odus of Owanrin. Index, 178pp. USA. ATHELIA HENRIETTA PRESS INC.

An ethnography of the Oyotunji, a Yoruba revivalist community founded in 1970 in South Carolina, USA. The author describes how Yoruba religious practices are reworked as expressions of transnational racial politics, highlighting the connections between contemporary Yoruba transatlantic religious networks and the post 1970s institutionalisation of roots heritage in American social life. Index, bib, gloss, notes, xxxiv, 345pp, USA. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0822333422

Explores Nigerian Muslim values, identities, and practices before expanding on the challenges of democratic federalism in a state defined by its multi-religious and devout populace. A tenuous relationship between federal officials and local leaders currently shapes the landscape of Nigeria’s efforts to build a stable democracy. Internationally, the viability of this type of govern-ance is of significant import, particularly in the war against terror. As the seventh-largest oil producer in the world, and with considerable military capabilities, Nigeria is a linchpin of future global stability. Index, notes, apps, 303pp, USA. BROOKINGS.

A complete presentation of Ifa, the traditional religion of the Yoruba. The author looks at the language and philosophical ideas in Ifa and recounts some of the most important songs, rituals and festivals associated with the religion. Illustrated with b/w photographs. Bib, 680pp, NIGERIA. WEST AFRICA PUBLISHING.

First published in 1986. A systematic analysis of the Ofo symbol and its functions across the different sub-cultural zones of Igbo land. BNS, 212pp, NIGERIA. FOURTH DIMENSION PUBLISHING CO.LTD, 9781562684

The seventeen contributors delineate the special dimensions of Osun religion as it appears through multiple disciplines in many cultural contexts. Osun traditions continue to grow and change as they flow and return from their sources in Africa and the Americas. B/w photos, 3 maps, bib, index, 273pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0253214599

Focuses on indigenous painting traditions found on ancestral shrines of Yoruba divinities collectively known as orisa in south-western Nigeria. Using the sacred iconography of the orisa as the basis of its critical vocabulary, it examines sixteen shrine paintings found in rural and urban centres, including paintings created by women in silence, those created in group accompanied by music and dance, those created in public by a restricted group of female painters and those created in isolation by male artists. Index, bib, gloss, b/w illus, 222pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Now available in paperback. When contact was made between the missionaries and Yoruba during the nineteenth century took place, the Yoruba were already negotiating a complex of Christian, Islamic, and traditional religious practices and politics that defined what they called an `age of confusion'. By paying particular attention to the lived experience of ordinary Yoruba, Peel shows how the process of Christian conversion began to transform Christianity into something more deeply Yoruba. An interesting volume for scholars of the Yoruba and the globalisation of Christianity. Index, refs, notes, b/w illus, 420pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Examines print and audio-visual media in the African Church, especially in the Nigerian Situation. Of interest is the examination of the Laity's involvement in the process of evangelisation. Maps, figs, notes, app, bib, ix, 327pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG, 3825853675

Explores the connection between the socio-economic interests of the West Indians and their construction and representation of race in the Niger Mission. By refusing to make Africa their home, for example, they were rejecting the popular notion that race-belonging was a precondition for the socio-political and cultural transformation of Africa - an idea popular among those who believed in the essentialist notion of race. Index, bib, apps, 261pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

New edition of this study of gender, and the politics of metaphor in the Oyo Yoruba religion. In-dex, notes, photos, bib, appendices, 295pp, USA. BERGHAHN BOOKS. 1571813071

Sixteen Cowries is a form of divination practiced by the Yoruba and their descendants in the New World. In this landmark study, the author has collected the entire corpus of divination verse known to a single practitioner. The text is in English and transliterated Yoruba. Illustrated with b/w illustrations. Refs, notes, 790pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0253208475

Now in paperback: a study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, its causes and consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. Elaborates on major cases in the 80s and 90s, identifies zones of tensions and the main actors in the conflicts. Maps, apps, notes, bib, index, 407pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS.

Study of a water Goddess cult among the Igbo of Lake Oguta in southeastern Nigeria, which explores the rituals, beliefs and social organization bound up with enactments of women's power. Ogbuide holds sway in an environment where water determines commerce, artistic output, gender relations and communal life. Index, bib, gloss, b/w photos, 433pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

First published in 1991. Describes how social ills, misfortunes and natural disasters are laid at the door of animate and inanimate spiritual forces and witches in particular. 146pp, NIGERIA. FOURTH DIMENSION PUBLISHING CO.LTD, 9781560347

2001 Paperback

Drawing on a wide range of oral and written sources, the author shows how women occupy a central place in the Yoruba world view and in the religious sphere exploring how gender issues play out in indigenous and Christian religious practices. Index, refs, notes, xii, 172pp, USA. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 0791458865