Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies

Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies

Vol. 12, Issue No. 2, December 2023

Discipline: Multidisciplinary Studies

Publisher: Misamis University

ISSN 2350-7020 (Print)
ISSN 2362-9436 (Online)

ABSTRACT

https://doi.org/10.62249/jmds.2013.2438

Gravitational Force in the Context of African Indigenous Knowledge: Metaphor of Ifá Epistle and Lifecycle Theory

Oluwole Tewogboye Okewande

Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ìl?rin, Ìl?rin. Nigeria
Email address: okewandeo.t@unilorin.edu.ng

Ifa can be regarded as a compendium of Yoruba culture wherein the entire system of living is encapsulated. One of the major scopes of Ifa is science. And to the Westerners, Africans are devoid of scientific knowledge. Therefore, this study aims to examine Isaac Newton's law of gravitational force, which states that there is a natural force that pushes down whatever is above the surface to the ground around Indigenous Yoruba belief. It is established in Yoruba that: laala to roke, ilelo m bo. . That is, anything that goes up must come down to the ground. This is navigated along Ifa EjiOgbe corpus: Gbogbo wa lagba o kan- Ageing shall tell on all of us, performed by an Ifá priest and scholar, Yemi Elebuubon. Ecological-evolutionary theory, basically on the relation of society to their environment and parts of the society with one another, is adopted. Relevant Ifa corpus, Yoruba sayings, and aphorisms are sources of data. Some elements of the concept of gravitational force are compared around the indigenous Yoruba concept of gravitational force in relation to lifecycle. It is found that there is a relationship between the notion of gravitational force around the cycle. Lifecycle is the process of stages of life for an organism, which usually begins with birth and ends in death. It was found that there is an equivalence of indigenous scientific knowledge and gravitational force in relation to the human lifecycle. The study concludes that indigenous Yoruba science of gravitational force is related to the human lifecycle in their system of living long before the advent of modern science.

Keywords :   ecology, Ifá, indigenous knowledge, philosophy, science

Literatures Cited :   Click here
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