Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Cultural landscapes are historical documents in the natural and built environment. They are memorable spaces imbued with the “spirit of place” despite the negative effects of modernization on them. The cultural landscapes of the Yoruba occupying the South-Western Nigeria can be perceived to be no less significant in this regard. In a time-series and at varying spatial scales, they represent the civilization periods of the Yoruba nation as a continuum. The study aims to understand and analyze the significance of these cultural landscapes as solidified time in space. Analysis of qualitative data reveals a time–space significance of the landscapes. The study concludes with recommendations on the strict enforcement of traditional conservation strategies like mythological approaches and legal frameworks that have been effectively used in the past toward the sustainability of the landscapes.

Keywords

cultural landscapes heritage space taboo time tourism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adedeji

J. A.

Amole

S. A.

(2010). Book review: Amos Rapoport, 1969. House Form and Culture (Foundations of Cultural Geography Series), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 150 pp. In Space and Culture: The International Journal of Social Spaces. Retrieved from http://www.spaceandculture.org/2010/07/15/book-review-house-form-and-culture/

Adedeji

J. A.

Fadamiro

J. A.

(2011). Perceptions on cultural significance and heritage conservation: A case study of Sussan Wenger’s building, Osogbo, Nigeria. African Journal of History and Culture, 3(5), 73-88. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1381858260_Adeniran%20and%20Akinlabi.pdf

Aderemi

S. A.

(2009). Yoruba nationalism: Culture, politics and violence in South-western Nigeria (1900-2009) (Working Papers No. 107; Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien/Department of Anthropology and African Studies). Retrieved from http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/Dateien/AP107.pdf

Adetoro

A. O.

Opebiyi

E. O.

Oyeleye

D. O.

(2012). Wildlife conservation education and awareness among senior secondary school students in Old Oyo National Park. Advances in Educational Research, 1(1), 001-008.

Akinjogbin

I. A.

Ayandele

E. A.

(2000). Yorubaland up to 1800. In Ikime

(Ed.), Groundwork of Nigerian history (pp. 121-143). Ibadan: Historical Society of Nigeria.

Alderman

D. H.

(2008). Place, naming, and the interpretation of cultural landscapes. In Graham

Howard

(Eds.), The Ashgate research companion to heritage and identity (pp. 195-213). Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Allen

T. F. H.

Hoekstra

T. W.

(1992). Toward a unified ecology. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (4th ed.). (2009). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Anderson

(2006). Yoruba: History and culture. Retrieved from hurri.kean.edu/~anderson/ppt/worldgeo/Yoruba.ppt

10.

Atanda

J. A.

(2007). A comprehensive history of the Yoruba people up to 1800 ( Oguntomisin

G. O.

, Ed.). Ibadan, Nigeria: John Archers.

11.

Awolalu

J. O.

Dopamu

P. A.

(1979). West African traditional religion. Ibadan, Nigeria: Onibonoje.

12.

Barrett

T. L.

Farina

Barrett

G. W.

(2009). Aethetic landscapes: An emergent component in sustaining societies. Landscape Ecology, 24, 1029-1035.

13.

Bascom

(1955). Urbanization among the Yoruba. In Hauser

P. M.

(Ed.), World urbanism. The American Journal of Sociology, 60, 446-454.

14.

Bascom

(1962). Some aspects of Yoruba urbanism. American Anthropologist, 64, 699-709.

15.

Bascom

(1969). The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

16.

Basso

K. H.

(1996). Wisdom sits in places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

17.

Biobaku

(1955). Origins of the Yoruba. Lagos, Nigeria: Federal Information Service.

18.

Bird

(2002). It makes sense to us: Cultural identity in local legends of place. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 31, 519-547.

19.

Cresswell

(2004). Place: A short introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

20.

Davidson

(1965). The growth of African civilisation, a history of West Africa 1000-1800. London, England: Longman.

21.

Duncan

(1988). Recreating the Landscape. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 6, 117-126.

22.

Fadamiro

J. A.

Adedeji

J. A.

(2012). Cultural morphology of cityscapes: A semiotic analysis of Osogbo, Nigeria. Saarbrücken, Germany: LAMBERT Academic.

23.

Fadamiro

J. A.

Adedeji

J. A.

(2014). Place and memory: An evaluation of tourism potentials of selected cultural landscapes in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. American Journal of Tourism Management, 3(1A), 20-32. doi:10.5923/s.tourism.201401.04

24.

Fadamiro

J. A.

Adedeji

J. A.

Ibrahim

R. A.

(2013). Indigenous urban open spaces as public infrastructures: Focus on Ilawe-Ekiti, Nigeria. Journal of Biourbanism, 2, 51-60.

25.

Fadipe

N. A.

(1970). The sociology of the Yoruba (2nd ed.) Ibadan, Nigeria: Ibadan University Press.

26.

Fagg

Pemberton

(1982). Yoruba: Sculpture of West Africa. London, England: Collins.

27.

Falade

S. A.

(2000). The comprehensive history of Osogbo. Ibadan, Nigeria: Tunji Owolabi.

28.

Federal Office of Statistics. (2009). Official bulletin on Nigerian population growth. Abuja, Nigeria: Author.

29.

Gadgil

Vartak

V. D.

(1974). Sacred groves of India: A plea for continued conservation. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 73, 623-647.

30.

Gillon

(1988). A short history of African art. London, England: Viking Penguin.

31.

Goddard

(1971). Ago that became Oyo: An essay in Yoruba historical geography. Geographical Journal, 137, 207-211.

32.

Head

(2000). Cultural landscapes and environmental change. London, England: Arnold.

33.

Hoelscher

Alderman

D. H.

(2004). Memory and place: Geographies of a critical relationship. Social & Cultural Geography, 5, 347-355.

34.

Idowu

E. B.

(1978). African traditional religion: A definition. London, England: SCM Press.

35.

Isichei

(1999). History of West Africa since 1800. London, England: Macmillan.

36.

Jahoda

(2002). The shifting sands “culture.”; In Boski

Van De Vijver

Chodyncka

(Eds.), New directions in cross-cultural psychology: Selected papers from the 15th International Congress of IACCP, 2000, Pultusk, Poland.

37.

Jeffrey

M. D.

(1958). When was Ile-Ife Founded? Nigerian Field, 23(1), 21-23.

38.

Johnson

(1969). The history of the Yorubas. Lagos, Nigeria: CSS.

39.

Johnson

(2001). The history of the Yorubas. Lagos, Nigeria: CSS.

40.

Johnson

(2010). The history of the Yorubas: From the earliest times to the beginning of the British protectorate. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

41.

Jordan

J. A.

(2006). Structures of memory: Understanding urban change in Berlin and beyond. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

42.

Lin

(1991). Karsten Harries’ natural symbols and Frank Lloyd Wright’s natural houses. Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology Newsletter, 2(3), 13-15.

43.

McClanahan

T. R.

Glaesel

Rubens

Kiambo

(1997). The effects of traditional fisheries management on fisheries yields and the coral-reef ecosystems of southern Kenya. Environmental Conservation, 24, 105-120.

44.

Mitchell

Rössler

Tricaud

(Eds.). (2009). World heritage cultural landscapes: A handbook for conservation and management. Paris, France: World Heritage Centre UNESCO. Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/documents/publi_wh_papers_26_en.pdf

45.

Mumford

(1961). The city in history. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.

46.

National Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM). Decree No. 77, 1979.

47.

National Population Commission. (2006). Nigerian provisional census figures, 2006. Abuja, Nigeria: Author.

48.

Naveh

(2011). Landscape ecology for sustainable environment and culture. In Jones

(Eds.), Landscape ecology for sustainable environment and culture. Proceedings of the 8th World Congress of the International Association for Landscape Ecology. Beijing, China: IALE.

49.

Obateru

O. I.

(2006). The Yoruba city in history: 11th century to the present. Ibadan, Nigeria: Penthouse.

50.

Official Site of the Alaafin of Ọyọ. (n.d.). Ọba Lamidi Ọlayiwọla Atanda Adeyẹmi 111, The Alaafin of Ọyọ. Retrieved from http://yorupedia.com/subjects/yoruba-from-19th-to-date/progenie-of-oduduwa/

51.

Ogundiran

(2003). Chronology, material culture, and pathways to the cultural history of Yoruba-Edo region, Nigeria, 500 B.C.-A.D. 180. In Falola

Jennings

(Eds.), Sources and methods in African history: Spoken, written, unearthed (pp. 33-79). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

52.

Olumo Rock. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015 from http://isokanfpb.blogspot.com/2011/03/olumo-rock.html

53.

Osasona

C. O.

Hyland

A. D. C.

(2006). Colonial architecture in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Ibadan, Nigeria: Bookbuilders Editions Africa.

54.

Osasona

C. O.

Ogunshakin

L. O.

Jiboye

D. A.

(2013). Ile-Ife: A cultural phenomenon in the throes of transformation. Retrieved from ifeooye.blogspot.com/2013/04/ile-ife-cultural-phenomenon-in-throes.html?m=1

55.

Osuagwu

V. C.

(2009). Implementation and enforcement of the immovable cultural heritage legislation in Nigeria. In Ndoro

Pwiti

(Eds.), Legal frameworks for the protection of immovable cultural heritage in Africa (ICCROM Conservation Studies 5). Retrieved from http://www.iccrom.org/ifrcdn/pdf/ICCROM_ICS05_LegalFrameworkAfrica_en.pdf

56.

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118

57.

Oyo Empire. (2015). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437048/Oyo-empire

58.

Rapoport

(1992). On cultural landscapes. Traditional Dwellings and Settlement Review, 3(2), 33-47.

59.

Sauer

(1929). The morphology of landscape University of California. Publications in Geography, 2(2), 19-53.

60.

Shimrah

Bharali

Rao

K. S.

Saxena

K. G.

(2012). Cultural landscapes: The basis for linking biodiversity conservation with the sustainable development in west Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh. In Ramakrishnan

P. S.

Saxena

K. G.

Rao

K. S.

Sharma

(Eds.), Cultural landscapes: The basis for linking biodiversity conservation with the sustainable development (pp. 105-148). New Delhi: UNESCO.

61.

Song

St. Clair

R. N.

Wang

(2008). Modernization and the sedimentation of cultural space of Harbin: The stratification of material culture. Intercultural Communication Studies, XVII(1), 22-37.

62.

St. Clair

R. N.

(2007). CÍRCULO de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación (clac), 31, 52-90. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Retrieved from http://www.ucm.es/info/circulo/

63.

The Old Oyo National Park. (2013). Retrieved from http://nigeriantourismdestinations.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-oyo-national-park.html

64.

Till

K. E.

(2005). The new Berlin: Memory, politics, place. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

65.

Tilley

(1994). A phenomenology of landscape: Places, paths and monuments. Oxford, England: Berg.

66.

Tilley

(2006). Introduction. Identity, place, landscape and heritage. Journal of Material Culture, 11(1&2), 7-32.

67.

Vink

A. P. A.

(1983). Landscape ecology and land use. London, England: Longman.

68.

Vogeler

(2010). Critical cultural landscapes of North America. Retrieved from http://people.uwec.edu/ivogeler/CCL-bookchapters-pdf/index.htm

69.

Willett

(1971). African art: An introduction. London, England: Thames & Hudson.

70.

Yoruba Creation Myth and Belief, Olorun or Olodumare. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.realalternativesite.com/yoruba-creatior-myth-belief-olorum-olodumare-a-1328.html

Cultural Landscapes of the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria Demystified as Solidified Time in Space

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References