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Exploring the Potential of Praise Poems for Historical Reconstruction among the Idepe-Ikale in Southeastern Yorubaland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Olukoya Ogen
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Abstract:

The existing body of literature on the origin of the Idepe-Ikale suggests a Benin provenance and an ethno-cultural identity for the generality of the Idepe-Ikale. This paper argues that this claim has largely been sustained by the excessive reliance on archival sources for the reconstruction Ikale pre-colonial history. It, therefore, draws primarily on evidence from praise poems and partly from historical linguistics and ethnography in its examination of the ethnic identity of the Idepe-Ikale, a major Ikale sub-group in southeastern Yorubaland. With this methodological shift, the paper establishes the fact that culturally and linguistically, the Idepe-Ikale are of the Yoruba ethnic stock rather than of Benin extraction. Thus, the paper casts doubts on the prevailing consensus on Idepe's Benin origin and identity and concludes that palace promoted and colonial-backed constructions of ethnic identities should be thoroughly scrutinised to correct mistaken notions about identity formation.

Type
Critical Source Analysis
Information
History in Africa , Volume 39 , 2012 , pp. 77 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2012

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