A Study of the Yoruba Traditional Marriage as a Rite of Passage (Published)
This study observes marriage as a rite of passage and identifies the symbolic communicative elements deployed in the Yoruba traditional marriage processes to ease the transition of a bride from one status to another. It particularly examines the signification of its linguistic elements as transition vehicle that convey the bride through the pre liminal, liminal and post liminal stages of her rite of passage. The study adopts qualitative research technique to critically analyse and interpret the linguistic (lexical/verbal words, phrases, and sentences) and non-linguistics (non-verbal pictorials, facial expressions, emotions) elements in the music drama deployed as semiotics resources in this work from the social and cultural semiotics perspectives. The study concludes that the identified linguistic and non-linguistic elements of the drama music used as data in this work are the Yoruba semiotics resources, which their imports give physical and psychological strength to a bride, in the marriage’s rite of passage.
Citation: Memunat Olayemi Mahmud (2022) A Study of the Yoruba Traditional Marriage as a Rite of Passage, International Journal of African Society, Cultures and Traditions, Vol.10, No.1, pp.40-52
Keywords: Ritual, Semiotics, Transition, Yoruba traditional marriage, linguistic/non-linguistic, rite of passage, signification
Religious Responses to the 21 August 1986 Lake Nyos Gas Disaster, Cameroon (Published)
Religion sits alongside other factors to determine the capacity to understand, respond and recover from Disaster. Following the occurrence of the Lake Nyos disaster and as it became clear that the horrifying natural episode marked a turning point in the lives of the hardest-hit communities, religious leaders and their faithful brought a faith perspective to the explanation and response to the event. This article focuses on these religious reactions to the Nyos disaster, and draws on published research, oral sources and previously unexplored archival sources. After presenting the pre-disaster religious landscape of the area, it first investigates religious explanations to the origins and impact of the event. Second, it explores ritual practices that were observed in response to the disaster. Finally, it highlights how the disaster was used as a justification for Christian social action and proselytization among survivors. In the conclusion, I make the case that the religious faiths in the Lake Nyos disaster area explained and responded to the event in ways that were couched in religious terms.
Keywords: Christianity, Disaster, Indigenous Religion, Islam, Lake Nyos, Proselytisation., Religion., Ritual, Social action, Theodicy