A Retrospective of Yoruba Indigenous Games and Plays (PDF)

Document from the year 2019 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, , course: Cultural Hisory, language: English, abstract: The debate on games and plays as universal phenomena is now irrelevant. Every climes of the world is known with its specifics. Yorubaland is no exception to this. The Yoruba engages in i`ja`kadi`, ayo` o¿l¿¿p¿¿n, o`ki`ti` ti¿ta , bu¿u¿ru¿, boju¿-boju¿, bo¿¿o¿¿ko¿-bo¿¿o`¿ko¿, pärä-oni¿de`mode`, sansalu`bo¿¿, gbädi`i¿-gbädi`i¿, t¿`¿`t¿¿ and others. It is however regrettable that the Yoruba Indigenous Games and Plays (IGPs) has given way to the foreign ones - notably, Western model as badminton, athletics, chess, football, basketball, hockey, volleyball, table tennis and others - which continues to addict them. This has been blamed on global exchange of culture for which the Yoruba had been at the receiving side. Using the descriptive and analytical modes of historical interpretation, the findings of this study validated that the Yoruba have distinctive games and plays which firmly connects with their cultural needs and environmental circumstances. The paper concludes that Yoruba IGPs should not be relegated especially with the current economic recession; it could be another source of income generation to the nation. Moreover, it can serve as a veritable unidentified weapon for combating crime. Therefore, it should be revisited and reviewed to world standard.