acase@tulane.edu

The study explored the cultural dynamics of construction of sexual intercourse within gender constructions of masculinity and femininity among the Yoruba people of South western Nigeria. The Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC/ETIC) framework, a cultural explanatory social analytic framework with guides to looking at the insiders' perspectives, was used as the theoretical base to the study. The study was conducted to broaden understanding of sexual relationships in order to generate culturally relevant programmes that can promote sexual health, control sexual coercion, sexual violence and reduce the transmission and spread of HIV. It explored information about the conceptions of sexual relationships, social dynamics of sexual negotiations in marital and non-marital relationships, the expressions and process of knowledge acquisition as such translates to sexual behaviour by men and women. The prevalence of consensus, coercive and forced sexual intercourse and sexual morbidity were determined. Perceived link of sexual coercion and sexual violence to HIV transmission was also explored. Traditional practices, including regulatory mechanisms for the control of sexual behaviour of men and women in the culture were also explored. Equally focused in the study were differences in the conceptions of sexual relationships among the study population as moderated by sex, age, educational background and marital status, along with experiences of sexual coercion, forced sex, and sexual intercourse related morbidity. Adopting the ethnographic method, qualitative data from historical review of existing information about the Yoruba people, focus group discussions, in-depth individual interviews and observations were complemented by quantitative data generated through a survey in a sample Yoruba community of lIe-Ife. Findings showed the conception of sexual relationships and sexual intercourse built around the conception and social constructions of active masculinity and passive femininity. Conceptions of sexual relationship evolved as a transitional phenomenon that individuals were expected to learn informally instinctually and as they attain sexual biological maturity through language use and observations of practices among older people. Two typologies of masculinity and femininity were discernible in the study population that also give specifications to social and sexual behaviour of men and women. There appeared a changing conception of femininity especially among young people below 30 years, which is also informing sexual behaviour of young women. Relationships were moderated by age, economic status and marriage, which invariably put women in subordinate position to men either in social or sexual relationships. Behaviour of men and women were dictated by social role assignment of leadership through economic provisions for family and control of sexual act by the man. This was within a contractual relationship of older men with younger women with the primary motive of procreation in traditional orientation. Sexual intercourse was seen as a compulsory act for both men and women especially as it results to procreation though the initiation and control were part of the social responsibility of the man. It was socially approved within marriage but pre-marital and extra marital relationships were tolerated more for men. The act was also used "as a prove of self", for economic gains, to demonstrate love, for enjoyment and as a tool of punishment of women by some men. Knowledge acquisition about sexual relationships and sexual intercourse tended to be inadequate throughout the life span. There was never a time when individuals, even after marriage, have access to correct information about sexual intercourse. There was gross assumption of what sexual partners know about sexual intercourse in the population. Within the context of 13 identifiable topical knowledge areas desirable for sexual health, more than 50% of males and females expressed lack of knowledge. There were significant differences in expressed knowledge by male and female respondents of what sexual intercourse is and the motives of sexual intercourse / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

This study describes the grammar of the Idaacha dialect of Yoruba in the areas ofphonology and morphophonemics within the framework of generative phonology and the autosegmental approach. In particular, it builds upon Kouyomou's (1986) major work, Phonologie de la langue Idaasha, and argues that the language has eighteen consonants, /b/,/m/, /f/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /n/, /1/, /r/, /c/, /j/, /j/, /k/, /g/, /kp/, /gb/, /w/, /h/, and twelve vowels, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /c/, /o/, /a/, r/, /u/, /E /, /o/, /a/.Particular attention is paid to vowel harmony (VH) and tones. It is argued that the high vowels, /i/, r/, /u/, and /u/ do not participate in this process. As one would expect, VH rules do not apply across word boundaries; they apply before processes such as contraction, abbreviation, and compounding. In regard to tones, it is pointed out that a three-way tonal system is a major characteristic of the language. However, a phenomenon of M/L neutralization is underlined in a specific environment: a final low tone in a verb followed by a direct object noun. In this environment, a low (L) tone changes to mid (M), but the M/L alternation is optional before an initial low-toned noun.In addition to describing these phonological processes, this work examines the morphophonemics of the language. It argues that, like Standard Yoruba (SY), Idaacha hasopen syllables: V and CV. Therefore, words are shaped as VCV, CVCV, VCVCV, and longer lexical items build upon these basic sequences. Morphemes are described with special reference to derivational processes. The issue of prefixation is discussed, and it is claimed that, besides the existing nominalizing prefixes, one cannot prove convincingly, on the basis of synchronic analysis, that the initial vowel in every VCV noun is a prefix. The morphophonemics of nominals is described with regard to associative constructions, noun compounding, verb-noun contraction, and deverbal nouns. / Department of English

Tese de doutorado--Etnologia--Paris, 1972--Sorbonne. / Contient des textes rituels Yorùbá, suivis de leur trad. en portugais. Bibliogr. p. 236-240.

Thesis (Ph. D)--UCLA, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-282).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, 2003. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 64-04, Section: A, page: 1302. Adviser: James Newton Poling.

Texte remanié de: Th. Ph. D.--University of Chicago, 1991. / Bibliogr. p. 273-284. Index.

This thesis proposes the samba enredo, a complex narrative composed by Rio de Janeiro samba schools for the annual Carnaval parade, as a vital primary source for understanding the construction of Afro-Brazilian identity in contemporary Brazilian society. Next, I provide an analysis of one specific samba enredo presented by the samba school Unidos da Vila Isabel in the 2012 Rio Carnaval, which portrays the cultural link between Angola and Brazil. I argue that the narrative Vila Isabel constructs is a thoughtful, albeit incomplete, alternative to the more common link drawn between Yoruba culture and Afro-Brazil. Furthermore, I ascertain that this samba enredo, and the academic sources used to compose it, lack a clear definition of the religious dimension of Angolan heritage in Afro-Brazilian culture because they place Central African conversions to Catholicism in the context of slavery and do not cite the impact that Catholicism makes in Angola before the context of slavery and the Diaspora encounter in colonial Brazil.

This thesis compares the role of the hybridized religious traditions Candomblé and Santería in the construction of identity for people of color in Brazil and Cuba in the 19th century. In particular, it focuses on the development of these traditions within Catholic confraternities and contrasts the use of ethnic and religious categories within them to define “African-ness” and “blackness” as Brazil and Cuba transitioned from slaveholding colonies to pos t-abolition nationstates. This comparison is illustrated through the examination of each colony’s slave trade and the nature of slavery as it was practiced within them; the analysis of the structure of IberoAmerican Catholic practice and the diverse forms of religious expression which resulted from its interaction with Yorùbá òrìsà worship; comparing each colony’s independence and abolition movements and the racial tensions which followed; and contrasting the Brazilian and Cuban hierarchies of color, including the variety of mechanisms that both the enslaved and free people of color employed to navigate the multi-racial societies in which they lived.

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