Negotiating gender, power, and spaces in masquerade performances in Nigeria

Abstract

Egungun is a Yoruba ancestral masquerade ritual that has been practiced for centuries. Shifting coalitions of individuals and factions have vied for social and political influence through this practice. In the nineteenth century, when western missionaries, explorers, and colonial officials first documented this phenomenon, any individual who could sponsor an Egungun performance was a force to be reckoned with in Yoruba society. To this day, Egungun masquerades are understood as vehicles through which individuals and groups can assert influence in their communities. Western scholars have portrayed Egungun as a hegemonic masculine performance space through which men assert their dominance over women. In privileging the writings of English missionaries, explorers, and colonial officials, we have tended to neglect the oral traditions and histories of specific Egungun masquerades in which women feature prominently. I argue that scholars have oversimplified and misrepresented the complex ways in which these performances are gendered as well as the ways in which they offer women opportunities to shape the identities of the places they inhabit.

Negociando el género, el poder y los espacios en las actuaciones de las mascaradas en Nigeria

Egúngún es un ritual de mascaradas ancestral yoruba que se ha practicado por siglos. Las cambiantes coaliciones de individuos y bandos han rivalizado por la influencia social y política a través de esta práctica. En el siglo diecinueve, cuando los misioneros occidentales, exploradores y funcionarios coloniales documentaron por primera vez este fenómeno, cualquier individuo que podía patrocinar una actuación de Egúngún era una fuerza para ser tenida en cuenta en la sociedad yoruba. Hasta hoy, las mascaradas de Egúngún son entendidas como vehículos a través de los cuales los individuos y grupos pueden ejercer influencia en sus comunidades. Los estudiosos occidentales han descripto al Egúngún como un espacio de actuación hegemónico masculino a través del cual los hombres afirman su dominio sobre las mujeres. Al privilegiar los escritos de misioneros, exploradores y funcionarios coloniales ingleses, hemos tendido a desatender las tradiciones e historias orales de mascaradas Egúngún específicas en las cuales las mujeres ocupaban un lugar destacado. Sostengo que los académicos han sobresimplificado y malrepresentado las complejas formas en las que estas actuaciones están generizadas y los modos en los que ofrecen oportunidades a las mujeres para delinear las identidades de los lugares que habitan.

奈及利亚化装舞会表演中的性别、权力与空间协商

埃冈冈是约鲁巴历时数百年的传统化装舞会仪式。转变中的个人与派系联盟，皆透过埃冈冈来争夺社会与政治影响力。当十九世纪来自西方的传教士、探险家与殖民地官员首次纪录此一现象时，任何可以发起埃冈冈表演的人，都被视为在约鲁巴社会中需要对付的势力。至今，埃冈冈化装舞会被视为个人及群体对整个社群展现影响力的工具，西方学者则将埃冈冈视为男性对女性进行宰制的男性霸权展演空间。在偏好英国传教士、探险家与殖民地政府书写的同时，我们却倾向忽略特定的埃冈冈化装舞会的口述传统与历史中，女性所扮演的显著角色。我主张，这些学者们过于简化并错误地再现了这些表演中复杂的性别化过程，以及它们如何提供女性形塑其身处之处地方认同的机会。

Keywords::

• masquerades
• Egungun
• gender in Africa
• Yoruba
• Otta
• women in Africa

Palabras claves::

• mascaradas
• Egúngún
• género en África
• Yoruba
• Otta
• mujeres en África

关键词::

• 化装舞会、
• 埃冈冈、
• 性别在非洲、
• 约鲁巴、
• 奥塔、
• 女性在非洲

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Fulbright-Hays, the Laney Graduate School at Emory University, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia, and the Visualities Initiative and the Associate Dean at Carleton College for funding the research for this article. The fieldwork would not have been possible without the assistance of Gbamidele Ajayi, Wole Adeleke, and Taiwo and Olawumi Animashawun as well as the patience and support of the residents of Otta. I also thank Marlon Bailey, Rashad Shabazz, Zenzele Isoke, Kristin Bloomer, Carrie Crompton, and the anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

^1. Yoruba speakers typically identify Egungun as ‘ara-orun’ or heavenly beings who temporarily depart from the abode of the spirits and through the medium of the mask are made visible to interact with human beings.

^2. This agency continues to resonate at Otta today, albeit in structural terms; women from select families possessing an Egungun mask comprise the Iya Agba Oje or ‘elderly mothers’ of the Egungun society through which they co-govern, demand tribute, and regulate performances.

^3. Insa Nolte's discussion of the kingship in history of Remo towns has influenced my own thinking about Yoruba kingship more broadly, see Nolte (2010, 33–36).

^4. The Yoruba oral traditions include historical narratives, poems, and songs that have long served as indigenous historical records and are recognized as such by scholars, see Awe (1974, 1975) and Barber (1991).

^5. A number of scholars discuss the spiritual powers associated with Egungun and their use in warfare. See Babayemi (1980b, 43), Adefila and Opeola (1998, 220–225), and Olutoye and Olapade (1998, 208–213). Missionaries tended to focus on the involvement of Egungun in violence. David Hinderer, October 1, from Journal Ending September 25, 1851, ca 2/049/104.

^6. Barber notes the acquisition of an Egungun headpiece through war. See Babayemi (1980b, 204), Uzoigwe (2001, 148), and Oguntade (2006).

^7. I collected several versions of praise songs associated with the Oya masquerade belonging to the Arogunmola family. These songs are so extensive that inclusion here would introduce a whole range of questions that ultimately would distract from argument advanced in this article. In the masquerade's praise songs, the warrior and his two wives are collectively regarded as ‘owners of the big cloth,’ a reference to the agbada. Oshungbayi's praise songs remember her as ‘the one who ties her wrapper’ (a skirt-like cloth worn by women) so well that she takes ‘the crown of the lazy.’ The crown is usually a reference to the title of Iyalode, which Yoruba speakers often translate as the ‘Female King,’ the ‘mother of the town,’ or ‘Queen of women’ – a reflection of her wealth and boldness in leadership. A woman who made exemplary contributions to the health and vitality of their community could earn the title of Iyalode. She served on the king's council as one of his advisers, and helped decide matters of war and trade. An Iyalode often supplied food, guns, and munitions and heard cases involving merchants, the majority of which were women in local markets. Denzer (1994, 12–14). Oshungbayi became the first Iyalode at Otta. R.A. Salako mentions in brief the history of the office of the Iyalode at Otta. I believe that the title was borrowed from Abeokuta, which claimed authority over Otta following the war of 1842 and where Madame Tinubu (referenced below) became the first woman to hold such an office in that town, see Salako (2000, 114).

The proverbial qualities of Yoruba discourse suggest that seizing the ‘crown of the lazy’ may also be a reference to taking the glory of those who undeservedly receive it. During moments of tension between husbands and wives, the latter might articulate such a statement to critique their husbands for seeking public praise for the fruits of women's labor. Olayinka Dada, a native of Otta and a speaker of the Awori dialect spoken in this town, translated these songs.

^8. Barber discusses how the identities of devotees and the spirits or objects of their devotion coalesce, see Karin Barber (1981, 724–726).

^9. The careers of women who acquired the title of Iyalode (in Abeokuta, Ibadan, and Ijaye) best illustrate this process, see Awe (1977), Denzer (1994, 9–13) and Ísòolá (1998).

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John Thabiti Willis

John Thabiti Willis is an Assistant Professor of African history at Carleton College. He holds a PhD in African History from Emory University. He spent 2 years conducting research among the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria, 1 year of which he was a Fulbright-Hays fellow. Although he is broadly interested in the intersection of expressive culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, and age, his research seeks to historicize changes in African ritual traditions, Yoruba masquerade performance in particular, and how they have shaped and been shaped by both specific historical actors and major political, economic, and social movements. He has also served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University Virginia's Carter G. Woodson Institution for African-American and Africa Studies. His research has expanded to include the African Diaspora in the Middle East. He is currently exploring the geographies of gender, ethnicity, and race in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.