Diachronic Study of Yoruba Hairstyles

Abstract

To recapitulate, the method that I have adopted to analyze what I have been calling trivial data, in the visual perception of a person with either dreadlocks or cornrow, has been to make associations by aligning events and pointing to commonality in the narratives. This procedure defines the cultural in a way analogous to Latour’s conceptualization of the social, and it exemplifies it by taking a presumed assemblage within the Yoruba nation with equally assembled worldview to explore collective action. This approach suggests that an assembled mental program underlies the interpretation of physical appearance, which then ignites a studied response. My proposition is that the appearance of dreadlocks or cornrows excites an internalized and hidden perennial fear that, despite the façade of modernity, remains active. The goal is to show the collective mind-set that is at work by uncovering the traces it leaves, and by tying these traces to their root cause. Thus, this work is an assemblage of the cultural, indeed of the social, because it collects and connects commonalities to affirm a society of practice. Basically, what is being shown in this book is the performance of a people’s way of seeing the world, a way of rationalizing causality, and of making sense of events. It traces the various societal outputs from seemingly trivial, mundane, yet persistent, occurrences. Consequently, the sociocultural approach of this discourse is not a mere collection of factual, historical data, but an interpretation of data that allows statements about a people and their way of life. For the scholarly community, this implicates the process of the generation of knowledge with respect to that which we deem significant and meaningful. Going beyond offering statements on the core belief system of people, the discussion digs deeper to uncover why the people react in the way they do when they come in contact with a “deviant” hairstyle.