Abstract
There is no life without death; there is no death without life. This is the dance that I believe humans have engaged in since the beginning of time. My fascination with the Yoruba approaches to embracing life and death stems from this belief—particularly the idea that the dead are not truly dead. They can be conjured, imagined, dreamt of, and are very much alive across all realms, including the here and now. These ideas align with what C. Wright Mills defined as the sociological imagination: “the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society” (The Sociological Imagination, 1959). The Yoruba traditions of Egungun, Gelede, and other masquerades embody this connection, linking the dead with the living through socially constructed images and personifications. These practices are deeply rooted not just in individual belief, but in collective cultural consciousness shared by Yoruba communities worldwide. The Yoruba believe that the world was created at Ile-Ife—a sacred origin that further grounds their worldview in a spiritual and communal relationship between life, death, and the cosmos. Egungun, for example, is a masquerade that honors the ancestral spirits and reinforces social and moral values. Through elaborate costumes and ritual performances, the ancestors are called upon to participate in the affairs of the living, offering wisdom, judgment, and protection. Similarly, the Gelede festival celebrates female power, fertility, and spiritual harmony, blending the realms of the visible and invisible in communal celebration.
Presenters
Dolapo Adeniji-NeillProfessor, College of Education and Health Sciences (CEHS), Adelphi University, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Ordinary Practice and Collective Behaviors
KEYWORDS
Yoruba Cosmology, Life and death, Sociological Imagination, Ritual Performance
