8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture
| Dublin Core | PKP Metadata Items | Metadata for this Document | |
| 1. | Title | Title of document | 8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture - Body Talk and Cultural Identity in the African World |
| 2. | Creator | Author's name, affiliation, country | Abimbola Adelakun |
| 3. | Subject | Discipline(s) | communication studies; linguistics |
| 4. | Subject | Keyword(s) | gesture; non-verbal communication; body scarification; body paintings; mime; dance; kinesics |
| 5. | Subject | Subject classification | Communication studies; other linguistic communication |
| 6. | Description | Abstract | This paper examines the Yoruba cultural practice of body/facial marking, a culture that is believed to be dying out as a result of the influence of modernity. In the past, Yoruba people marked their bodies with culturally cognitive semiotics for dual purposes of collective identification and beauty; the former was an especially important protection against the abductions that occur during war and slave raiding. For a people who were under the constant threat of being kidnapped, the body became a site for mapping consanguinity and a strategy for ensuring survival and/or retrieval. The other purpose, beauty, is realized through the designs of the markings. With modernity, the culture of facial/body marking has greatly waned and even in certain places, an illegal practice. Yet Yorubas realize the dual purposes of collective identity and beauty that facial/body marking serves through the emergent culture of Aso-Ebi. The Aso-Ebi practice is a relatively modern practice one in which members of a family, along with their friends choose a particular material to wear during a ceremony. While on one hand, the Aso-Ebi is a modern evolution of facial/body marking; on the other hand, its practice is complicated by the fluidity of modernity. |
| 7. | Publisher | Organizing agency, location | Equinox Publishing Ltd |
| 8. | Contributor | Sponsor(s) | |
| 9. | Date | (YYYY-MM-DD) | 31-Dec-2015 |
| 10. | Type | Status & genre | Peer-reviewed Article |
| 11. | Type | Type | |
| 12. | Format | File format | |
| 13. | Identifier | Uniform Resource Identifier | https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/books/article/view/24096 |
| 14. | Identifier | Digital Object Identifier | 10.1558/equinox.24096 |
| 15. | Source | Journal/conference title; vol., no. (year) | Equinox eBooks Publishing; Body Talk and Cultural Identity in the African World |
| 16. | Language | English=en | en |
| 18. | Coverage | Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.) |
Africa; Africa diaspora; Nigeria; Yorubaland, contemporary |
| 19. | Rights | Copyright and permissions | Copyright 2014 Equinox Publishing Ltd |