History for Empathy

While the mythical origins of any people invariably affect how that people views the world, sometimes the myths that are central to a national, cultural, or ethnic identity and can be warped, distorted, or otherwise interpreted for explicit purpose of following a political agenda. In this iteration of the Mythical Origins series, as well as the next, we will examine examples of this phenomenon.

The Yoruba people are an ethnic group that originates from modern-day Nigeria, Togo, and Benin, which collectively comprise a cultural region known as Yorubaland. While modern day Yoruba often identify with their shared cultural label, there are a variety of sub-groups that the Yoruba people are made of. In fact, the name “Yoruba” was not used to describe the people collectively until the 19th century. So, like many myths that belong to a broader culture, the origin myth of Yoruba has variations within each of the group’s own subgroups that together create a generally unified narrative that can be told as one story.

The Yoruba kingdom is said to be founded in the city of Ile Ife (or simply, Ife). Some versions of the myth describe the first king, Oduduwa, as being born in the city of Ife itself, with all subsequent generations of humans spreading out into the world after. However, the more commonly accepted version has Oduduwa migrating from the city of Mecca, the holy city of Islam, into Ife, from which he started his empire. Regardless of which version of the myth is accepted, the myth centers around Oduduwa as the founder and first leader of the Yoruba people. Sometime after Oduduwa’s birth or arrival in Ife, he ruled the city as king. After his death, Oduduwa’s sons dispersed all throughout Yorubaland to found their own kingdoms. Using their lineage from Oduduwa as a justification of their rule, each of his sons are said to have founded his own dynasty.

While this origin of the Yoruba people may seem far more historically plausible than more supernatural myths, such as Japan’s, it’s validity has been just as difficult to prove, due to lack to historical evidence and consistency. The most immediate descendants of Oduduwa, alongside Oduduwa himself, were effectively worshipped as gods, so it is unclear whether or not they were real people who were divinized, or supernatural deities who were humanized in myth. As with every myth, historical validity seldom affects real-world impact; a claim to being a descendent of Oduduwa, however outlandish or even fabricated as it may be, was key to guaranteeing one’s right to rule in the eyes of the Yoruba people. As a result, Yoruba rulers have never hesitated to use a claimed relation to Oduduwa as a way to secure power, strengthen the identity of a Yoruba sub-kingdom, or otherwise ensure their social or political standing among other Yoruba.

One well-studied example of Yoruba mythology being used for political influence is found in the kingdom of Oyo, which despite its mysterious origins, became among the most powerful and respected Yoruba kingdoms of the 17th and 18th centuries. Most traditions assign Oranyan, founder of the Oyo Empire, to be the youngest of Oduduwa’s sons. This assignment may reflect a historically weaker standing of the Oyo Empire, as the descendants of the youngest son would naturally feel a sense of inferiority to those who descended from higher ranked branches of Oduduwa’s family tree. However, as the Oyo Empire gradually became more influential, alternative stories for Oranyan’s origin began to appear. Some alternative myths began to claim that Oranyan was actually Oduduwa’s most favored son, and bestowed upon him all of the lands of Yoruba, or even that Oranyan actually created Yorubaland itself. Indeed, these alternative myths were no accident; the Olofin, ruler of the Oyo, employed a group of historians in his own personal court, who were responsible for making these myths official and more widely accepted as truth in the eyes of the people. Gradually, this new mythical tradition became widely accepted, and it took deep, investigative work by modern historians to separate traditional Yoruba history from the one propagated by the groups in power.

From The heritage of Oduduwa: traditional history and political propaganda among the Yoruba, The Journal of African History, R.C.C. Law (1973):

This problem, that of reconciling the actual extent of Oyo power with the extent of the empire which the [Olafin] should have inherited from Oduduwa, seems to have generated a series of supplementary traditions, tracing the totally fictitious ‘decline’ of Oyo power from its alleged zenith under Oranyan.

As Africa began its dark era of European colonization, the importance of propaganda such those created by the Oyo kings faded from relevance as local monarchs were replaced by imperial governors. However, as the decolonization period began decades later, the use of propaganda, specifically those stemming from inflammatory (though perhaps entirely true) interpretations of history, began an effective tool in establishing nationalist identities in states once under European rule. These identities would eventually lead to conflicts such as the Rhodesian Bush War.

It is often said that history is written by the victors, and the success that the Oyo kings had in creating a more favorable version of history does little to disprove that claim. The alteration of Yoruba mythology demonstrates the importance of examining bias in historical documents, and the work historians do to use primary sources not as an objective account of events, but as a tool for finding the truth, whether or not the source directly supports that truth.