Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text
Omotade Adegbindin
; University of Ibadan, Faculty of Arts, Sango-Ojoo Road, NG-OY–200284 Ibadan
Full text: croatian pdf 624 Kb
page 123-147
downloads: 912
cite
APA 6th Edition
Adegbindin, O. (2018). On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica, 33 (1), 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
MLA 8th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica, vol. 33, no. 1, 2018, pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Chicago 17th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica 33, no. 1 (2018): 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Harvard
Adegbindin, O. (2018). 'On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text', Synthesis philosophica, 33(1), pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Vancouver
Adegbindin O. On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2024 May 02];33(1):123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
IEEE
O. Adegbindin, "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text", Synthesis philosophica, vol.33, no. 1, pp. 123-147, 2018. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Full text: english pdf 624 Kb
page 123-147
downloads: 405
cite
APA 6th Edition
Adegbindin, O. (2018). On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica, 33 (1), 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
MLA 8th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica, vol. 33, no. 1, 2018, pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Chicago 17th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica 33, no. 1 (2018): 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Harvard
Adegbindin, O. (2018). 'On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text', Synthesis philosophica, 33(1), pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Vancouver
Adegbindin O. On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2024 May 02];33(1):123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
IEEE
O. Adegbindin, "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text", Synthesis philosophica, vol.33, no. 1, pp. 123-147, 2018. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Full text: german pdf 624 Kb
page 123-147
downloads: 282
cite
APA 6th Edition
Adegbindin, O. (2018). On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica, 33 (1), 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
MLA 8th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica, vol. 33, no. 1, 2018, pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Chicago 17th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica 33, no. 1 (2018): 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Harvard
Adegbindin, O. (2018). 'On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text', Synthesis philosophica, 33(1), pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Vancouver
Adegbindin O. On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2024 May 02];33(1):123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
IEEE
O. Adegbindin, "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text", Synthesis philosophica, vol.33, no. 1, pp. 123-147, 2018. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Full text: french pdf 624 Kb
page 123-147
downloads: 303
cite
APA 6th Edition
Adegbindin, O. (2018). On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica, 33 (1), 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
MLA 8th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica, vol. 33, no. 1, 2018, pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108. Accessed 2 May 2024.
Chicago 17th Edition
Adegbindin, Omotade. "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text." Synthesis philosophica 33, no. 1 (2018): 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Harvard
Adegbindin, O. (2018). 'On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text', Synthesis philosophica, 33(1), pp. 123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Vancouver
Adegbindin O. On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text. Synthesis philosophica [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2024 May 02];33(1):123-147. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
IEEE
O. Adegbindin, "On Indigenous African Epistemology: Mythographic Representations of the Witchcraft Phenomenon in the Ifá Text", Synthesis philosophica, vol.33, no. 1, pp. 123-147, 2018. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33108
Abstract
In the minds of those who strongly support the hegemony of science over practices in oral cultures, witchcraft belongs to the realm of macabre fantasies, in part because witchcraft practices fall within the domain of the occult and become extremely difficult to explain empirically. This positivistic attitude and Western condescension towards the phenomenon of witchcraft convey the impression that such practices as magic and witchcraft, ingrained in oral cultures, are theoretical presuppositions and irrational. Of interest to this paper, therefore, is Geoffrey Parrinder’s perceived misconception that Africans relied not on “written records” but only on mnemonic genius in terms of their history, their philosophy, their cosmology, and so on. With witchcraft at the back of his mind, Parrinder claims that there are no reliable records to back the existence of witches in Africa. By “reliable records”, it is clear that Parrinder valorizes writing at the expense of orality and is, therefore, oblivious of the fact that, for the Yorùbá, Ifá could produce scribal discourses in respect of their mythical/religious conceptions, worldviews and lived ritual practices. This paper shows, on the one hand, that our misuse of the term “writing” or “literacy” is mostly clustered with many ambiguities which often debar us from admitting, for example, the inscriptive nature of the Ifá system into our writing history. On the other hand, the paper presents Ifá as a corpus of reliable records and draws from the systematized graphic translations of two Ifá verses, namely Ìrosùn-Ọ̀sẹ́ and Ọ̀sá-Méjì, to answer salient questions bordering on the admission of the existence of witches, whether witchcraft and sorcery can be used interchangeably, the activities of witches towards kinsmen or members of their family and the position of witches in the hierarchy of beings, and so on.
Keywords
African epistemology; mythography; witchcraft; Ifá; Geoffrey Parrinder
Hrčak ID:
219845
URI
https://hrcak.srce.hr/219845
Publication date:
6.11.2018.
Article data in other languages:
croatian
german
french
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