The cultural agency of elites: Awolowo and the re-making of the Yoruba

Abstract

The mystique of eliteness is a quality that is cultivated or constructed overtime. Here, I examine agency - a culturally-specific, consolidated stream of composite actions and interactions that are geared towards specific social endeavours, and structure -representing conventions and social parameters through which agency and social practices are performed and become performative, by tracing the historical-political context in which Chief Obáfé mi Awólówò, the acknowledged leader of the Yorùbá of Nigeria, rose to politico-cultural prominence and succeeded to the "throne" of the Yorùbá progenitor, Odùduwà. I argue that through this succession, Awólówò became the "modern Odùduwà" and the central signifier of Yorubaness in 20th Century Nigeria and beyond. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.