Ẹgbẹ́ Àtẹ́lẹwọ́: A Yorùbá Book Club and Its Decolonial Project

Abstract

This article provides a cultural history of book clubs in Nigeria and situates this reading tradition within the context of Anglophone colonial legacies and contemporary Yorùbá language politics. The case study is the Ẹgbẹ́ Àtẹ́lẹwọ́ group, a Yorùbá book club, and their associational life, which began on the Zoom platform in 2020 and later migrated to Twitter in 2021. The argument draws inspiration from the work of Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́, who conceptualises epistemic decolonisation of language as foundational to all decolonial practices. The digital reading practices of Àtẹ́lẹwọ́ book club enable a necessary disruption to literary experience in Nigeria, which is still largely dominated by Anglophone literary legacies. This book club develops a model for readers to participate in decolonial processes, and opens a path for social and cultural development in Nigeria.