Benchmark cultural work on Ifa wins 2001 Noma Award
Odun Ifa / Ifa Festival by Abosede Emanuel is the 2001 Noma
Award Winner. The book was published in 2000 by West African Book Publishers
Ltd in Lagos.
The jury praised the work as
an outstanding and significant
cultural document, and an important part of the movement of cultural
reclamation from within Africa. It assumes direct intellectual responsibility
by the Yoruba for their collective history and culture; and extends
the scope of Ifa studies in a new and original way. It is uniquely subtle,
the coverage is extensive and well informed, and the author displays
deep familiarity with indigenous sources, living practitioners and scholarly
literature. The book, the product of thirty years' work, will stand
as a benchmark for years to come.
Ifa is a system of divination and one of the oracles
comprising the traditional religion of the Yoruba. Odun Ifa is the annual
Ifa festival, during which specific rites and ceremonies are performed.
In addition to history, rites and rituals, the book provides an extensive
sample of Ifa verses - in Yoruba and English translation - relating
to the sixteen principal paired Odu of Ifa. The jury further commended
the book as 'providing a holistic view of Ifa, reflecting the power
of its historical myth, morality and place in the Yoruba worldview'.
The �10,000 22nd award will be presented at a
special ceremony to be held at the Nigerian International Book fair
in Abuja on Saturday, 18 May 2002.
The jury singled out two further books for special
commendation: From Cane Fields to Freedom. A Chronicle of Indian South
African Life by Uma Dhupelia Mesthrie (Roggebaai, SA: Kwela Books, 2000)
and Richtersveld. The Enchanted Wilderness by Graham Willamson (Gauteng,
SA: Umdaus Press Pty Ltd 2000).
From Cane Fields to Freedom is a pictorial account
of the social history and political experiences of the South African
Indian community. 'The photographs in the book are described as visually
stunning and beautifully reproduced; and the introductory account and
photograph captions are remarkably comprehensive, surefooted and scholarly.
The author succeeds in illuminating the way Indians in South Africa
have created a specifically Indian, yet genuinely South African Indian
identity. She has a fine sense of the richness of the history and conveys
it with flair and subtlety.'
Richtersveld is commended as 'a superb description
of one of Africa's last truly untamed wildernesses. It covers the ecology
of the Richtersveld, an arid area on the border of Namibia and South
Africa. In an accessible style, the reader is led through the evolution
of the wilderness over its whole geological and biological contribution
to African natural history, It is a stunningly beautiful book, a work
of scholarship, a valuable contribution to African natural history and
a work of love and passion. The scholarship is impeccable and impassioned;
the text is comprehensive in scope. The illustrations, layout and reproduction
are excellent.'
The novel for young people about an African rite-of-passage
story, Because Pula Means Rain by Jenny Robson (Cape Town; Tafelberg
Publishers, 2000) also received an honourable mention from the jury.
Robson explores the depths of the isolation, suffering and search for
self-acceptance by an adolescent boy with albinism.
Eighty-five titles from 56 African publishers
in 19 countries and in nine languages were submitted for the 2001 competition.
The Noma Award was established in 1979 as annual
prize for an outstanding book from Africa. It is open to any author
who is indigenous to Africa, and the work must be published by an indigenous
African publisher. The jury is chaired by Walter Bgoya from Tanzania,
one of Africa's most distinguished and respected publishers, with wide
knowledge of African and international publishing. The other members
of the jury in 2001 were: Luli Callinicos, South African scholar and
historian, currently writing the biography of Oliver Tambo; Dr Ato Quayson,
Director of the African Studies Centre and Fellow of Pembroke College,
University of Cambridge; and Mary Jay, Secretary to the Managing Committee
(the jury). The Award is sponsored by Kodansha Ltd. Japan.
Entry conditions are available on request from
the Secretary, The Noma Award, PO Box 128, Witney, Oxon OX8 5XU, UK.
Tel: +44-(0) 1993-775235; Fax: +44-(0) 1993-709265; email: maryljay@aol.com
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