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In the eye of the storm: Conflict Impact on Art Tradition in Pre- and Postcolonial Ibadan

Adérónké Adésolá Adésànyà, PhD, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
ronnxie@yahoo.com

Conflict and attendant migration engendered shifts in identities, power, and art and craft traditions in southwestern Nigeria particularly during the imperial campaigns of Ibadan. We examine pre and post conflict transformations in Ibadan with a view to determining among other things, how woodcarving which hitherto was not a flourishing art in Ibadan (Nigeria) especially during the restive and formative period of the city became a significant art tradition in Ibadan. Although the idea that Ibadan had nurtured a woodcarving tradition has been suggested by a number of scholars who took interest in her history, this view has not been established. We are encouraged to advance an outside origin for woodcarvings in Ibadan for a number of reasons: Ibadan in her early beginnings was predominantly peopled by warriors and less craftsmen. Besides, woodcarving is an occupation of a peaceful, enduring, patient, restful and creative mind. This cannot be said of the average Ibadan warrior who is highly restive. Thus, if the art is not original to the city, how, when and from where did the art originate? How did it become established in Ibadan?
Using historical documents including war history and artistic evidence on Ibadan and places where Ibadan had established contact in time and space, this study identifies the factors, which engendered the introduction of woodcarving to pre and postcolonial Ibadan, locates those factors that are helping it to flourish and illuminates what is left of the future of the tradition. It argues that woodcarving tradition is a metaphor of Ibadan imperialism and concludes that what is found in the city is essentially a melange of woodcarvings from other parts of Yorubaland. It also notes how voluntary migrants helped by western influence are responsible for the carry-over of the tradition into the contemporary era in Ibadan.