This is a multi-methodological project that will look at 150 years history of written culture and modern technologies in the context of the Yoruba people, and that of Nigeria. It will be the first major study that will show how the Yoruba print culture produced new art forms and genre, as well as influenced existing cultural forms. This culture produced aesthetics and ideas that helped to shape societies not just those who see themselves as Yoruba. This is where the idea of network in this project emanates from, because Yoruba print culture is a product of global interconnectedness, and it is rooted in this interconnectedness. Using mixed-method analyses that involve meta-data and network visualisation, textual analysis, as well as discourse and factual analyses, the result will pose new questions on how the print technology that originated from Europe allowed the Yoruba people to influence history and global contemporary trends. The project will produce evidence that will show that the Yoruba print culture is the starting point for comprehending contemporary Nigerian history; for articulating the nature of modernity in the African context; how literary and cultural networks outside of Europe developed; and the place of these networks in the global order.
The PI is currently working on the second chapter of the monograph. The first chapter focuses on Samuel Ajayi Crowther and the network of men he worked with from the early 19th century, to develop a writing culture in Roman alphabets for societies across West Africa.
My point of departure was the first Yoruba dictionary that Crowther published in 1843. I argue that Crowther’s Yoruba dictionary project is a way to analyse the emergence of Yoruba literary networks in the world’s republic of letters and the place of these networks in global cultural production from the nineteenth century to the present. That Crowther embodies the many interconnections symbolic of the literary networks that emerged in West Africa from the nineteenth century onward. These connections link the business of book publishing with financial dealings, colonialism, relationship building, and Christian evangelism.
In the second chapter, I am looking at the development of modern Yoruba literature and journalism from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. I am arguing that the writings in this period constitute statements and debates around the discourse of modernity, Africanness, and Europeanness. So the discourse of modernity in this period was filtered through ideas about race, politics, gender, and sexuality.
Doctoral Researcher: The PhD student working on the project Nureni Bakenne, has submitted four chapters. His focus is on Yoruba newspapers and journalism. He has co-written two articles with me based on the project, and he also has single-authored publications emanating from the project.
