The problem of gerontocracy in Africa: The Yorùbá perspective as illustrated in the Ifá corpus

• Authors: Omotade Adegbindin
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In the field of African philosophy, there exists the belief among the modernists or professional philosophers that gerontocracy is coterminous with authoritarian traditions in traditional Africa which, supposedly, are responsible for the lack of sustained curiosity to look at issues from different perspectives. Drawing from the Ifá literary corpus as a store-house for Yorùbá philosophy, I argue in this paper that gerontocracy in Africa does not construe the idea that the elderly in Africa are rigid in thoughts or have immutable authority which discourages independence of thought. I conclude that the position of the modernists on the supposed manifestation of authoritarianism in Africa derives its continuing force from a conception of philosophy which gives special overtones to the ideas of individuals as opposed to a collectivistic system of thought and the assumption that the multitude cannot produce philosophy.

Keywords

EN

gerontocracy; authoritarianism; individualism; African philosophy; Ifá

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 454-469

Dates

published

2011-12-01

online

2011-12-25

Contributors

author

Omotade Adegbindin

• University of Ibadan

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s13374-011-0043-3