Abstract
In her book, Women in Yoruba Religions, Oyeronke Olademo elucidates the status and role of Yoruba women in the religions they practice in and outside Yorubaland (Southwestern Nigeria). By placing women at the center of her study, Olademo brings to the forefront an often neglected or overlooked topic. Even though women in Yoruba and Yoruba-derived religions had remained of great importance for most scholars in the fields of religious studies and the social sciences, it had yet to be fully developed. Particularly insightful for all future scholarship relating to Yoruba religions and Yoruba-derived diaspora religions is the author’s discussion of Yoruba gender relations and its influence on women’s role and place among these religious traditions. Olademo builds on the work of many scholars from various traditions, reflecting her erudite and well-balanced approach. For example, Olademo cites the work of religious studies scholars, social scientists, and historians. Also, beyond the work of these renowned scholars, Olademo uses phenomenological and historiographic methods as well.
The book is structured around six main chapters. Chapter 1 is dedicated to Yoruba women’s roles, while chapter 2 to the leadership roles of Yoruba women in indigenous religions. Chapter 3 is in turn dedicated to Yoruba women’s position and role in Christianity, which is followed by chapter 4 that is concerned with their roles and positions in Islam. Chapter 5 focuses on Yoruba women’s roles and positions in the Diaspora, and chapter 6 on the roles they play in these religions’ expansion along globalization. These main chapters are supplemented with some additional sections that are used to introduce, build, or expand on some of the themes and ideas provided inside the main chapters.
The first of these sections is very helpful as it notes the diacritics, alphabet, and some phonetical considerations of the Yoruba language. Although there is nothing exceptional about this section, it does help the non-Yoruba speaking reader situate themselves in some of the words and phrases Olademo uses later in the book. The Introduction helps structure and set up the main themes and goals of the book, which as the author states, is to discuss “the roles and status of women in Yoruba religions, placing gender relations in historical and social context and showing how they influence women’s place in the religious traditions practiced by the Yoruba” (p. 12). Building from this explanation of Yoruba women’s role in Yoruba culture in and outside Yorubaland, Olademo presents us with various examples of women who embody these values and fluid roles across the different Yoruba religions.
In chapter 1, Olademo presents the uniqueness of Yoruba’s fluid construction of context-bound gender roles, which is based on complementarity and interdependency. I believe that this explanation is key for understanding all subsequent developments and transformations in and outside Yorubaland. For example, the observed differences in the role of women encountered both in the Abrahamic religions and diasporic variants practiced by the Yoruba, and their creole descendants in both Yorubaland and the Diaspora can be explained through this Yoruba cultural context-bound gender construction. Noteworthy of this Yoruba cultural context is Yoruba women’s agency and entrepreneurial dominance. This is exemplified in the 2020 list of richest women in Nigeria, which is comprised by Yoruba women at the number 1, 2, and 6 spots.
In chapter 2, Olademo moves beyond the entrepreneurial sphere to discuss Yoruba women’s leadership positions in indigenous religions and cults. This is something which had not been properly discussed or paid attention to before; at least to the extent presented here. Of particular note are the sections on Ìyá Mi and the plethora of Orisha priestesses and Ìyánífá (priestesses of Ifá), who have helped preserve and continue the memory and culture of the Yoruba. Chapter 3 is dedicated to exemplary Christian women who embody essential roles in various Christian denominations. Through these examples, Olademo demonstrates Yoruba women’s ability to overcome the patriarchal hierarchy of the Christian church and to clearly define their role and impact in the community and the religion, as leaders, church founders, and prophetesses endowed with spiritual gifts. In chapter 4, Olademo challenges, once more, the conception of gender and gender roles in Yoruba culture and religions, but this time through an examination of key Yoruba Muslim women. The author notes that, even in traditional Abrahamic patriarchal institutions, Yoruba women are able to “exercise agency and leadership in the practice of Islam and in their daily lives” (p. 89), as mothers, Amirah (women mosque leader) and university researchers and academics.
Chapter 5 considers the role and impact of Yoruba women in the Diaspora, illustrating that Yoruba women play prominent roles in the Diaspora. From their prominent roles as transnational agents of Yoruba indigenous religions and their close involvement with Santeria, Ifá, Candomblé, their prevalence as key players in these spiritual and religious spheres is undeniable. These Yoruba women include Harvard graduates, Orisha devotees, and Ìyánífás who constantly transverses the transnational spiritual and material boundaries of Yorubaland and the Diaspora. Similarly, chapter 6 is equally important as it traces more recent developments in the field of religion and the social sciences due to the entanglements, both intended and unintended, of religion and globalization, and gender and globalization. This chapter is fundamental for all future discussion on Yoruba religions and gender roles in Yorubaland, the Diaspora as well as on the effects of globalization on African and indigenous cultures. Exemplary among them are the Orisha priestesses who have contributed extensively to the globalization of Orisha worship and have created a transnational network of Orisha devotees.
Although the book’s theme is timely and highly anticipated, there are a few issues that should be addressed. First, there is the editorial decision to use the diacritics of the Yoruba alphabet only when introducing Yoruba words for the first time, which are then replaced with the Anglophone version for the remainder of the text. This can confuse the reader. Second is the investigation of Yoruba women’s roles and their influence in Islam and the Diaspora’s creole religions, mentioned in chapters 4 and 5, respectively. While Olademo does note the most important themes and particularities of Yoruba women’s impact on Abrahamic religions, there is less information, than in other chapters, and the information that is provided is less developed, and backed up with less ethnographic field work.
Perhaps an explanation for this is her proximity to Yoruba indigenous religions and Christianity, and her role as a renowned and internationally recognized Yoruba scholar and author. Yet, this could have been purposely compensated for by conducting more fieldwork and by greater involvement with these religious groups. Besides these issues, the section on questions for discussion also communicate that while Olademo is fully engaged with this meritorious and often overlooked topic, her final product failed to achieve its potential as an authoritative, and much needed, text on the roles of women in Yoruba religions. I believe that instead of adding this section, these questions should have been incorporated into her fieldwork and article.
In addition, although she conducts field interviews, there are no interview excerpts taken directly from her own fieldwork. This is a relevant issue to her topic, because it is important for researchers to provide the space for participants’ voices to be shared and heard. Finally, the book’s straddle between religious studies and social science, at times makes it richer in its analysis, but at others leads it to fall short of the depth required in the analysis of certain dimensions of this topic. This is most evident when discussing religious rituals and gender roles. Religious rituals are not ethnographically explored or recorded in depth, nor are women roles as priestesses. And neither is the influence of gender roles, in all its experiential and complex ramifications, traced in Yoruba culture and religion, besides a few case studies (sometimes historical or often not ethnographically supported by Olademo) of each religion investigated.
Notwithstanding, Women in Yoruba Religions, deserves serious consideration as a key text in both religious studies and the social sciences. There are not many articles that have placed Yoruba women at the center of their study, and even less that have done so from a pluralist lens. This is why it should be considered as a required text for any scholar interested in Yoruba indigenous religions, Christianity, Islam and/or Yoruba gender roles, and globalization. In particular, I believe this book could be an excellent introductory text for both undergraduate and graduate courses on African and African Diaspora studies and/or Religious Studies.