University of Chicago Press Oduduwa′s Chain – Locations of Culture in the Yoruba–Atlantic

Product Description Yoruba culture has been a part of the Americas for centuries, brought over by the first slaves and maintained in various forms ever since. In Oduduwa's Chain, Andrew Apter locates that culture, both spatially and analytically, and offers a Yoruba-focused perspective on rethinking African heritage in Black Atlantic Studies. Focusing on Yoruba history and culture in Nigeria, Apter applies a generative model of cultural revision that allows him to identify formative Yoruba influences without resorting to the idea that culture and tradition are fixed. Apter shows how the association of African gods with Catholic saints can be seen as strategy of empowerment, explores historical locations of Yoruba gender ideologies and their manifestation and change in the Atlantic world, and more. He concludes with a rousing call for a return to Africa in studies of the Black Atlantic, resurrecting a critical notion of culture that allows us to go beyond the mirror of Africa that the West invented. Review " Oduduwa's Chain demonstrates how field research done properly and perceptively can contribute meaningfully to the epistemology of a culture as complex and sophisticated as that of the Yoruba. Even more importantly, it argues for a fresh perspective for advancing the discussion of the Yoruba-Atlantic."-- "Rowland Abiodun, Amherst College" "This excellent book occupies a commendable place in the vibrant and energetic debates on Africans and the making of the Afro-Atlantic world, using the Yoruba to supply cogent ideas on the agency of culture and ethnogenesis within the paradigm of Afrocentric knowledge. Apter successfully connects a wide range of data with a diverse corpus of knowledge to question many assumptions about Africa and the Atlantic world, making it impossible to ignore this erudite work."-- "Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin" About the Author Andrew Apter is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.