Bruce Grindal as Ijapa, the Yoruba Secular Trickster

Bibliographic Data

ID2262014
AuthorsF A Salamone (0000-0003-2826-2224, Iona College, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume40
Issue2
Pages182-190
Publication date2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology & Humanism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1548-1409 • E-ISSN: 1559-9167
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/anhu.12088
OpenAlexW2275446476
LanguageEN
References cited11

TheYoruba have two keyTrickster figures. One is sacred the other secular. Each represent aspects ofYoruba life. The sacredTrickster isEshu, a defender of proper behavior and values, whileIjapa, the tortoise, is an innovator. He is a kind ofLord ofMisrule. Eshu tales are told in formal settings. However,Ijapa tales are generally told around a camp fire or within the home. The storyteller may be a family member or a friend of the family, and the settings are informal. Often the lessons challenge the accepted norms and value wit and improvisation. A repeated theme is that nothing is as it seems to be and that everything at all times is changing. In numerous ways the lessons and the behavior ofIjaba parallel the beliefs and behavior ofBruceGrindal. Bruce consistently taught that everything must be challenged. He believed that rules were artificial and hindered creativity. He played pranks in public, upsetting the status quo, in order to get people thinking. Working withBruce was sometimes a trial but was always fruitful. Bruce was a firm believer in the power of the oppressed and of finding ways and means to empower the oppressed. In this work I look into some of the truths thatBruce shares with theTricksterIjapa. WithBruce I also explore the ways in which the weak can teach the powerful about the meaning of life and the value of questioning rules

Aesthetics · Appropriation · Creativity · Epistemology · Faith · Meaning (existential · Nothing · Power (physics · Sociology · Theme (computing · Theology · Value (mathematics · Yoruba · Media, Communication, and Education · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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