Abiodun, Rowland. Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107239074.
This source was found using JSTOR, a database of digital articles, books, and primary sources centered around academia. The key words “Yoruba” and “art” were used to distinguish the source among others on the database. A specific chapter of the book titled “Ase” was targeted because objects in Yoruba art culture are accepted to be synthesizing the concept of Ase. An excerpt from the chapter details a staff that is strikingly similar to the Opa Osun; the Opa Orere. The staff is a tool of an Ifa priest, held in the right hand vertically and used during professional gatherings to establish Ase in the context of a ceremony. The staff is also noted to have the ability to solve one’s problems by literally and metaphorically implementing Ifa’s orders. It is also mentioned that Ase is transferable to successive staffs that mark the start of a new reign. Upon reading this article, it is learned that staffs in Yoruba culture are potent with Ase.
Professor Abiodun was born in a Nigerian region known as Yorubaland, so Yoruba culture is very personal by his account. A well-studied art historian, his goals in the work are to educate readers on the significance of various sacred objects sourced from Yoruba civilization. His careful consideration of all viewpoints and traditions allows for an accurate description of evidence for information provided in his book. In turn, the source can be regarded as highly relevant.
Drewal, Margaret Thompson, and Henry John Drewal. “An Ifa Diviner’s Shrine in Ijebuland.” African Arts 16, no. 2 (1983): 61-100. doi:10.2307/3335852.
This source was found using CAT Quest, a database containing a collection of UVM library content as well as digital articles and other peer-reviewed resources. For this source, the name of the object itself was used as a search tool. In this journal article, an alternative use of the Opa Osun staff is presented. It is stated that a tale involving Orunmila and the sacrifice of a cock is a centerpiece of the staff’s function. During a particular formal ceremony known as the Itefa ceremony, the babalawo will face osun by sacrificing a cock and placing the individual parts of it on the Osun staff. By mounting parts of the cock on the staff, death is “satisfied” and osun benefits from the nourishment of the cock’s blood. This use of the Opa Osun staff is astonishing because the staff is likened to a weapon of a babalawo to conquer death.
Professor Drewal is well accustomed to West African art, as he apprenticed a sculptor in Nigeria during his time spent there. With an interdisciplinary specialization in African art history, Drewal’s perspective can be seen as accurate due to the fact that he has primary exposure to the topics he discusses, not just a view from afar. Professor Thompson, a ritual performance ethnographer, has also studied ritual performances of West Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Both professors seem to write with the goal of informing those who are foreign to specific objects and symbols found in an Ifa Diviner’s shrine. The objects found in the shrine are representative of universal concepts in Yoruba art.
Okediji, Moyo. “Art of the Yoruba.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 23, no. 2 (1997): 165-98. doi:10.2307/4104382.
The source was found using JSTOR, a database of digital articles, books, and primary sources. The key words “art” and “Yoruba” were used to pinpoint the source. In this article, the historical context of art in Yorubaland is explained using a time scale that starts with Kingdom flourishment in Western Africa. The abstract and realist characteristics of Yoruba art are explicitly outlined in the article, and the writing style caters to individuals who are unfamiliar with orisha tradition. This source acts as a term bank for research, as many of the concepts explored in the work such as the bird motif are relevant to the Opa Osun.
Professor Okediji studied fine arts of the University of Ife, as well as the University of Benin. He has shadowed several African artists working in the creation of sacred Yoruba sculpture and design. These accolades partnered with his teaching experience in Nigeria make his work appropriate to apply to research findings. He acknowledges that the audience he is writing to is relatively new to the concept of Yoruba art, so he is careful with his use of terminology without proper explanation. Direct contact with the content he describes creates an insightful article for readers to learn about the complexity of West African art.
Jamie Bottino