Salute to Orunmila as Sophie Oluwole hosts Dutch film-maker

Professor of Philosophy, Sophie Oluwole, speaks on her efforts to get a canonical book on Orunmila, Veteran, philosopher, Prof. Sophie Oluwole, appears to know how to practise what she preaches. She believes so much in Africanism that most of her academic and ideological pursuits are rooted in it. Her perception of communalism in Africa, for instance, played out last Sunday, when she hosted a Dutch film scholar, Juul Ver Der Laan, in her Ibafo, Ogun State residence.

At what was meant to be a briefing with our correspondent, especially for Juul to highlight the reason for her visit to Oluwole, the philosopher ensured that she did not host the meeting alone. She invited some of her co-landlords, who, although are generally younger than her and lower than her in status, were allowed to adequately take part in the discussion that soon assumed the status of a debate on the relationship between western culture and the African worldview.

“This is how we conduct ourselves here,” Oluwole said, noting that she regularly met with the landlords. “In Africa, you share what you have. Our sense of hospitality is communal. It will be improper for me to have such an important visitor without letting her also have a sense of the environment.”

This also largely fits her philosophical belief that nothing exists alone or in isolation. According to her, nothing can be up without another thing being down, just as something can be near only in comparison with the one that is far. She puts this in perspective in her book, Socrates and Orunmila: The Two Patrons of Classical Philosophy, published earlier this year. The idea is captured in what she calls ‘binary complementarity’.

Juul’s mission to Oluwole is an offshoot of their recent encounter in the Netherlands, when a team of scholars hosted her (Oluwole) on the strength of the book. She had espoused much about Ifa, as she regards Orunmila as an unfathomable ocean of wisdom and knowledge from the Yoruba, nay African, perspective. Indeed, beyond the general scope of philosophy, Oluwole can be regarded as an Ifa scholar. Juul later got inspired to produce a film on Ifa, and she felt that Oluwole could help her in her research.

“I am particularly interested in what made her compare Orunmila with Socrates in her book,” Juul said. “I want first-hand information on Orunmila and Ifa.”

Apart from a series of discussion that Oluwole had with Juul – the lady was her guest for about a week – she also took her to several Ifa priests and scholars in various towns, including Abeokuta and Ile-Ife. She noted that her mission was to school Juul on how encompassing the life, concept and adventures of Orunmila were.

Oluwole is worried that Orunmila/Ifa has not been captured in any definitive book in its entirety. She acknowledged efforts of the likes of Prof. Wande Abimbola and other practitioners, disciples and scholars who have variously published works on the Orunmila phenomenon. But her argument is that the critical symbol of African essence is endangered as it principally long as it remains an oral legacy.

“Look at Christianity and Islam. They have the Bible and the Koran. The books have ensured the continuity and spread of the religions – but, perhaps more important, the culture and tradition of the nations where the faiths originated from. Now, where is our own book on Orunmila? It is a question that should worry all rational Yoruba and African people, indeed.”

As a result, Oluwole’s dream now is to get such a book out – even at 81. She believes that it is a task beyond an individual or institution. She is trying to gather like-minds and people in positions of authority. She told our correspondent that she had been trying to get governors in Yoruba states to power the project and see it as a noble challenge.

source: Punch