Representing and Re-presenting Others in Yorùbá Performance

The Yorùbá performance culture has always been eclectic and modern in its engagement with other cultures and racial representation, in both social and religious contexts. Understandings of race are central to the performing arts, which have reflected on (re)presentations of the other at a community and cultural levels throughout Nigerian history, but especially during the colonial period, when the contacts between the Yorùbá people and the Europeans were most marked and disruptive. This chapter provides an introduction to how the Yorùbá represent these encounters in their indigenous performances, with specific attention for the Egungun masquerade festival, which is a unifying force in Imesi-Ile, a Yorùbá community in Nigeria. This chapter highlights the performative rituals of the festival, with specific focus on the biennial Ladunwo performance, discussing the masquerade origin, the importance of the audience-performer relationship that underpins traditional performances, and the impact of these features on representations of the other.