Rowland Abiọdun
Biographic Data
| ID | 176533 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rowland Abiọdun |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rowland |
| FAMILY NAME | Abiọdun |
| SIGNATURE | ABIỌDUN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Amherst College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Doran—The Elephant-in-Chief
How can I forget that Akan proverb, When the elephant steps on a trap, it does not spring shut (Fig. 1), which I picked up from Doran's 1982 article “The Verbal Art of Akan Linguist Staffs” in African Arts. I wanted to know this guy who shared my interest in African proverbs, especially as they infuse some humor into African art studies. The articleis still my favorite of all his works and has become a staple in my “African Arts and Orature” cour…
On the Imperative of Language for Understanding African Art
I was deeply touched and honored by the roundtable organized at the 2016 African Studies Association Conference to focus on my book, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art (2014). I want to thank Professor Funṣọ Afọlayan for contacting and bringing together a formidable group of scholars of Yorùbá art and culture to that end. I was gratified that, by and large, all the panelists endorsed my premise on the fundamental importan…
Oríkì and the making of an African sociologist: Akìwọwọ (Ifá priest who recites Ifá divination texts profusely by rote like pouring rain)
Chief J.A. Ayọrinde explains that ‘all chiefs and prominent personalities have oríkì describing their character and achievements, which serve, as it were, as their “signature tunes” to announce their approach or presence’, and indeed that ‘no child is given a name without being given an oríkì, which is an important adjunct to any name ... ’ The fact that Western academic traditions have not recognised the place of oríkì in the retrieval of the hi…
Oriki for Robert Farris Thompson
When Drewal was invited to write a praise piece for Robert Farris Thompson for this issue celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of African Arts, he soon realized it was beyond his body-mind-heart, because Bob himself is larger than life, a person who has touched and inspired so many folks in so many walks of life and thought. So Drewal contacted his dear friend and colleague C. Daniel Dawson, who may know Bob better than anyone, as well as Bob's i…
Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art
The Yoruba was one of the most important civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. While the high quality and range of its artistic and material production have long been recognized, the art of the Yoruba has been judged primarily according to the standards and principles of Western aesthetics. In this book, which merges the methods of art history, archaeology, and anthropology, Rowland Abiodun offers new insights into Yoruba art and material culture …
The Elephant Lies Down Like a Hill: Tribute to Ulli Beier, 1922–2011
December 01 2011 The Elephant Lies Down Like a Hill: Tribute to Ulli Beier, 1922–2011 Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun is John C. Newton Professor of Art History and Black Studies, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun is John C. Newton Professor of Art History and Black Studies, …
The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful
The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
Understanding Yoruba Art and Aesthetics: The Concept of Ase
On ne peut comprendre l'esthetique, l'art verbal, et l'art visuel des Yoruba sans s'arreter sur la notion de « ase » (energie, force vitale) dont les yeux, la tete sont le centre. Tout art est efficace s'il sait repondre (« je », ou « dahun »). L'« ase » restructure l'existence, transforme et controle le monde physique
Ase: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power through Art
An important aspect of verbal and visual arts in ritual contexts in Africa is the way they affect their audience, initiate and noninitiate alike. Often achieved through a careful choice and arrangement of a range of sculptures, objects, colors, sounds, phrases, and incantations, these artistic devices, whether they exist as assemblages or simply by themselves in sacred settings, confront the researcher in the field with an enormously complex reli…
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
Woman in Yoruba religious images
(1989). Woman in Yoruba religious images. African Languages and Cultures: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-18
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
The fifteen million Yoruba in Nigeria and the People's Republic of Benin are heirs to one of the oldest and richest artistic traditions in Africa. The ambitious new exhibition “Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought,” which opened September 20 at the Center for African Art in New York City, traces the history of Yoruba art and examines its underlying cultural concepts. Organized by the Center and curated by Henry John Drewal and John P…
A reconsideration of the function of Àkó, Second Burial Effigy in Owo
Opening ParagraphSo far only two scholars have done significant work on the institution of àkó, a burial ceremony in Owo. Àkó, particularly the effigy used in it, is of unquestionable importance in the stylistic interpretation of some bron2e and terracotta sculptures from Ile-Ifẹ. In fact, it is essentially for this reason that Justine Cordwell and Frank Willett have studied the àkó ceremony and effigy in Owo
Understanding Yoruba Art and Aesthetics: The Concept of Ase
On ne peut comprendre l'esthetique, l'art verbal, et l'art visuel des Yoruba sans s'arreter sur la notion de « ase » (energie, force vitale) dont les yeux, la tete sont le centre. Tout art est efficace s'il sait repondre (« je », ou « dahun »). L'« ase » restructure l'existence, transforme et controle le monde physique
A reconsideration of the function of Àkó, Second Burial Effigy in Owo
Opening ParagraphSo far only two scholars have done significant work on the institution of àkó, a burial ceremony in Owo. Àkó, particularly the effigy used in it, is of unquestionable importance in the stylistic interpretation of some bron2e and terracotta sculptures from Ile-Ifẹ. In fact, it is essentially for this reason that Justine Cordwell and Frank Willett have studied the àkó ceremony and effigy in Owo
Ase: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power through Art
An important aspect of verbal and visual arts in ritual contexts in Africa is the way they affect their audience, initiate and noninitiate alike. Often achieved through a careful choice and arrangement of a range of sculptures, objects, colors, sounds, phrases, and incantations, these artistic devices, whether they exist as assemblages or simply by themselves in sacred settings, confront the researcher in the field with an enormously complex reli…
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
The fifteen million Yoruba in Nigeria and the People's Republic of Benin are heirs to one of the oldest and richest artistic traditions in Africa. The ambitious new exhibition “Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought,” which opened September 20 at the Center for African Art in New York City, traces the history of Yoruba art and examines its underlying cultural concepts. Organized by the Center and curated by Henry John Drewal and John P…
Oríkì and the making of an African sociologist: Akìwọwọ (Ifá priest who recites Ifá divination texts profusely by rote like pouring rain)
Chief J.A. Ayọrinde explains that ‘all chiefs and prominent personalities have oríkì describing their character and achievements, which serve, as it were, as their “signature tunes” to announce their approach or presence’, and indeed that ‘no child is given a name without being given an oríkì, which is an important adjunct to any name ... ’ The fact that Western academic traditions have not recognised the place of oríkì in the retrieval of the hi…
The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
A reconsideration of the function of Àkó, Second Burial Effigy in Owo
Opening ParagraphSo far only two scholars have done significant work on the institution of àkó, a burial ceremony in Owo. Àkó, particularly the effigy used in it, is of unquestionable importance in the stylistic interpretation of some bron2e and terracotta sculptures from Ile-Ifẹ. In fact, it is essentially for this reason that Justine Cordwell and Frank Willett have studied the àkó ceremony and effigy in Owo
Woman in Yoruba religious images
(1989). Woman in Yoruba religious images. African Languages and Cultures: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-18
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
The fifteen million Yoruba in Nigeria and the People's Republic of Benin are heirs to one of the oldest and richest artistic traditions in Africa. The ambitious new exhibition “Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought,” which opened September 20 at the Center for African Art in New York City, traces the history of Yoruba art and examines its underlying cultural concepts. Organized by the Center and curated by Henry John Drewal and John P…
African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
Understanding Yoruba Art and Aesthetics: The Concept of Ase
On ne peut comprendre l'esthetique, l'art verbal, et l'art visuel des Yoruba sans s'arreter sur la notion de « ase » (energie, force vitale) dont les yeux, la tete sont le centre. Tout art est efficace s'il sait repondre (« je », ou « dahun »). L'« ase » restructure l'existence, transforme et controle le monde physique
Ase: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power through Art
An important aspect of verbal and visual arts in ritual contexts in Africa is the way they affect their audience, initiate and noninitiate alike. Often achieved through a careful choice and arrangement of a range of sculptures, objects, colors, sounds, phrases, and incantations, these artistic devices, whether they exist as assemblages or simply by themselves in sacred settings, confront the researcher in the field with an enormously complex reli…
The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful
The Elephant Lies Down Like a Hill: Tribute to Ulli Beier, 1922–2011
December 01 2011 The Elephant Lies Down Like a Hill: Tribute to Ulli Beier, 1922–2011 Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun is John C. Newton Professor of Art History and Black Studies, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Rowland Abiodun Rowland Abiodun is John C. Newton Professor of Art History and Black Studies, …
Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art
The Yoruba was one of the most important civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. While the high quality and range of its artistic and material production have long been recognized, the art of the Yoruba has been judged primarily according to the standards and principles of Western aesthetics. In this book, which merges the methods of art history, archaeology, and anthropology, Rowland Abiodun offers new insights into Yoruba art and material culture …
Oriki for Robert Farris Thompson
When Drewal was invited to write a praise piece for Robert Farris Thompson for this issue celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of African Arts, he soon realized it was beyond his body-mind-heart, because Bob himself is larger than life, a person who has touched and inspired so many folks in so many walks of life and thought. So Drewal contacted his dear friend and colleague C. Daniel Dawson, who may know Bob better than anyone, as well as Bob's i…
On the Imperative of Language for Understanding African Art
I was deeply touched and honored by the roundtable organized at the 2016 African Studies Association Conference to focus on my book, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art (2014). I want to thank Professor Funṣọ Afọlayan for contacting and bringing together a formidable group of scholars of Yorùbá art and culture to that end. I was gratified that, by and large, all the panelists endorsed my premise on the fundamental importan…
Oríkì and the making of an African sociologist: Akìwọwọ (Ifá priest who recites Ifá divination texts profusely by rote like pouring rain)
Chief J.A. Ayọrinde explains that ‘all chiefs and prominent personalities have oríkì describing their character and achievements, which serve, as it were, as their “signature tunes” to announce their approach or presence’, and indeed that ‘no child is given a name without being given an oríkì, which is an important adjunct to any name ... ’ The fact that Western academic traditions have not recognised the place of oríkì in the retrieval of the hi…
Doran—The Elephant-in-Chief
How can I forget that Akan proverb, When the elephant steps on a trap, it does not spring shut (Fig. 1), which I picked up from Doran's 1982 article “The Verbal Art of Akan Linguist Staffs” in African Arts. I wanted to know this guy who shared my interest in African proverbs, especially as they infuse some humor into African art studies. The articleis still my favorite of all his works and has become a staple in my “African Arts and Orature” cour…
Art (13 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · History (11 works) · Yoruba (10 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Visual arts (9 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · The arts (6 works)