A Reconceptualization of Yoruba African Culture in the Age of Globalization and COVID-19
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Date
2023
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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change
Abstract
Abstract
The paper interrogates the culture of the indigenous people of the Southwest
Nigeria, the Yoruba people, in the face of the global pandemic, the Coronavirus.
It is a study which has been motivated by the fact that the Yoruba culture which
prides itself as the best and superior culture in the local parlance has been
compelled to adjust to an unforeseen circumstance from a clime offshore. The
Yoruba social philosophy and cultural orientations constitute part of and symbolize
a form of African culture which has been seen by Africans as a closed culture. It is,
therefore, of a critical note that Yoruba culture is no longer as it used to be in the
pre-COVID-19 era. For example, the people have realized that the Yoruba alterna
tive medicine may not be as potent and this is contrary to practitioners’ claims.
Also, the Yoruba masses tend to desist from idolizing the political elite as before
when the political office holders were seen as indomitable and super humans. In
addition, the cultural orientation that the congregation is less important than the
clergy has changed or is changing after all, and the sub-culture of the immoral
category of the society, the tuale sub-culture, is being standardized. This is contrary
to the closed stance that the Yoruba culture custodians maintain on this culture as an
African culture. This signifies that the Yoruba culture is not insulated from dyna
mism that characterizes a culture, and that the culture is no superior as claimed.
Keywords
Yoruba culture · Southwest Nigeria · COVID-19 · African culture · Tuale
sub-culture · Global pandemic