So a post-graduate student of University of Ibadan, a clearly cerebral Yoruba lady, is exploring the history and linguistics of the riverain Kakanda people for her dissertation, and now on her way to the villages on the banks of River Niger, our habitats, for field studies... Isnt this interesting? Hers will be the first serious academic interrogations and investigations of these people whose ways and exoticisms were captured in the narratives of European explorers like William Balfour Baikie and even our own Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, colonial and missionary spies, some of whom also categorised Kakanda as a dialect of Yoruba. This, Im yet to understand. As I spoke to the lady today, I was somewhat jealous that she has set out to do what I had aspired to pioneer: documenting aspects of the history or culture of the Kakanda people. But shes afraid of water, she admitted when I reminded her of the hassles ahead, that it must include shuttling on canoes across the Niger in pursuing her relevant interests. Well, I also used to believe the tale that people of Kakanda descent are naturally familiar with water until the day a shallow pool almost transported me to my ancestors rest-house. (~_~)
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 21:41:45 +0000
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