Satires of power in Yoruba visual culture /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Ola, Yomi.
Imprint:Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, c2013.
Description:xxii, 249 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 23 cm.
Language:English
Series:African world series
Carolina Academic Press African world series.
Subject:Art, Yoruba.
Satire in art.
Political satire, Nigerian.
Power (Social sciences) in art.
Art.
Art, Yoruba.
Political satire, Nigerian (English)
Power (Social sciences) in art.
Satire in art.
History.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/9136156
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9781611630374 (alk. paper)
1611630371 (alk. paper)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-241) and index.
Review by Choice Review

Ola (Spelman College) here examines the interrelationship of the precolonial and the postcolonial. He describes and analyzes how, in both periods of history, the visual and the verbal/textual intertwine in Yoruba visual culture to produce meaning, humor, and political and social criticism. Following an introduction that includes a discussion of how Satires of Power contributes new scholarship to Yoruba studies, the first chapter considers the depiction of parodies of political power in masquerades and in sculptures. The following three chapters address the Yoruba people's adoption of editorial newspaper cartoons in the 1940s as tools of social and political commentary. While outlining the careers of specific artists that belong to three generations of cartoonists, Ola analyzes images that satirize colonialism, military dictatorship, and political corruption. In the final chapter, he explores parody in the postmodern photographs and installations of two contemporary London-based artists of Yoruba descent, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Yinka Shonibare. In original, compelling arguments, Ola considers both direct and oblique influences that the Yoruba trickster deity Esu has had on specific works by each artist. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. J. M. Youmans independent scholar

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review