Fall 2023 GPOD Recipient
Olanrewaju Lasisi (Architectural History)
Oludamini Ogunnaike (Religious Studies)
Robin Garcia (Global Studies)
Ayodeji Ogunnaike (African American and African Studies)
The project "Performing the Past: An Exploration of Yoruba Agemo Rituals as Multimodal Historical Documents" presents an interdisciplinary approach to digitizing, documenting, and preserving the Agemo rituals of the Yoruba people. Led by a team of experts in fields including global studies, religious studies, African American and African studies, and architectural history, the research focuses on the Agemo ritual rite. The methodology encompasses ethnographic studies, digital archiving, and archaeological excavations across 15 towns. The goal is to set the pace for the creation of a comprehensive digital archive that serves as a repository and dataset for future research, preserving the cultural and historical heritage of the Ijebu-Yoruba people. Through seeing the Agemo ritual and ritual movements as methods of doing and knowing, this project is set to establish a model for similar interdisciplinary cultural studies.