Views from the shoreline:: Community, trade, and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta

Insa Nolte; Olukoya Ogen

Views from the shoreline: Community, trade, and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta

Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review

Abstract

This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue entitled, ‘Views from the Shoreline: Community, trade and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta’. Introducing the 19 articles in this Special Issue, which cover the coastal stretch from Ikorodu (near Lagos) to Ore-Isi (Urhoboland) and Benin, the article maps out how the coast’s lack of centralization, its complex settlement histories, and its underrepresentation in government and mainstream mission archives may be addressed by using multi-methods approaches and in-depth fieldwork. It emphasizes both the high mobility and heterogeneity of coastal
communities and illustrates the diverse ways in which local leaders have mobilized a range of resources – including Islam, traditional practice, and especially Christianity – to ensure individual wellbeing and to affirm or re-shape local boundaries and hierarchies. This article argues that the study of the coast, like that of other borderlands, affirms that both mixing and the assertion of difference are constitutive of the political economy of the area.

Original language	English
Article number	1-20
Pages (from-to)	1-16
Number of pages	16
Journal	Yoruba Studies Review
Volume	2
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - Jun 2017

Bibliographical note

Views from the Shoreline transcends dominant historical and anthropological approaches that center on the Nigerian hinterland’s capital cities and highlight the differences between ethnic and religious groups. Focusing on the high mobility and heterogeneity of communities on the Nigerian coastal stretch from the Yoruba town of Ikorodu (now a part of greater Lagos) along the Lagos lagoon and Ilaje coast up to Urhoboland and Benin, the Special Issue explores the coast as a borderland that has linked and provided refuge for different Nigerian groups as well as non-Nigerian settlers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Views from the Shoreline address the methodological difficulties produced by the coast’s lack of centralization, its complex settlement histories, and its underrepresentation in government and mainstream mission archives through multi-methods approaches and in-depth fieldwork. Examining how local groups and leaders have mobilized Islam, traditional practice, and Christianity to assert both communal difference and coexistence, Views from the Shoreline illuminates that along the shoreline, ethnic and religious belonging is both mutually implicated and continually re-cast.

FP7 ERC - Knowing Each Other
Nolte, I.
European Commission
1/02/12 → 31/07/17
Project: EU

Cite this

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title = "Views from the shoreline:: Community, trade, and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta",

abstract = "This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue entitled, {\textquoteleft}Views from the Shoreline: Community, trade and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta{\textquoteright}. Introducing the 19 articles in this Special Issue, which cover the coastal stretch from Ikorodu (near Lagos) to Ore-Isi (Urhoboland) and Benin, the article maps out how the coast{\textquoteright}s lack of centralization, its complex settlement histories, and its underrepresentation in government and mainstream mission archives may be addressed by using multi-methods approaches and in-depth fieldwork. It emphasizes both the high mobility and heterogeneity of coastalcommunities and illustrates the diverse ways in which local leaders have mobilized a range of resources – including Islam, traditional practice, and especially Christianity – to ensure individual wellbeing and to affirm or re-shape local boundaries and hierarchies. This article argues that the study of the coast, like that of other borderlands, affirms that both mixing and the assertion of difference are constitutive of the political economy of the area. ",

author = "Insa Nolte and Olukoya Ogen",

note = "Views from the Shoreline transcends dominant historical and anthropological approaches that center on the Nigerian hinterland{\textquoteright}s capital cities and highlight the differences between ethnic and religious groups. Focusing on the high mobility and heterogeneity of communities on the Nigerian coastal stretch from the Yoruba town of Ikorodu (now a part of greater Lagos) along the Lagos lagoon and Ilaje coast up to Urhoboland and Benin, the Special Issue explores the coast as a borderland that has linked and provided refuge for different Nigerian groups as well as non-Nigerian settlers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Views from the Shoreline address the methodological difficulties produced by the coast{\textquoteright}s lack of centralization, its complex settlement histories, and its underrepresentation in government and mainstream mission archives through multi-methods approaches and in-depth fieldwork. Examining how local groups and leaders have mobilized Islam, traditional practice, and Christianity to assert both communal difference and coexistence, Views from the Shoreline illuminates that along the shoreline, ethnic and religious belonging is both mutually implicated and continually re-cast.",

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AB - This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue entitled, ‘Views from the Shoreline: Community, trade and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta’. Introducing the 19 articles in this Special Issue, which cover the coastal stretch from Ikorodu (near Lagos) to Ore-Isi (Urhoboland) and Benin, the article maps out how the coast’s lack of centralization, its complex settlement histories, and its underrepresentation in government and mainstream mission archives may be addressed by using multi-methods approaches and in-depth fieldwork. It emphasizes both the high mobility and heterogeneity of coastalcommunities and illustrates the diverse ways in which local leaders have mobilized a range of resources – including Islam, traditional practice, and especially Christianity – to ensure individual wellbeing and to affirm or re-shape local boundaries and hierarchies. This article argues that the study of the coast, like that of other borderlands, affirms that both mixing and the assertion of difference are constitutive of the political economy of the area.

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Views from the shoreline: Community, trade, and religion in coastal Yorubaland and the Western Niger Delta

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Projects

FP7 ERC - Knowing Each Other

Cite this