The River That Crosses an Ocean: Ifa/Orisha in the Global Spiritual Marketplace

Alexander Chirila

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.10.4.06

Authors

Alexander Chirila Webster University, Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.10.4.06

Keywords:

Ifa, Orisha, Yoruba, Ogun, Osun, Nigeria, African Religion and Spirituality

Abstract

Ifa/Orisha, the traditional spiritual practice of the Yoruba nation, has entered the global spiritual marketplace. With thousands of worshipers on both sides of the Atlantic, practitioners and participants are engaging new arenas of discourse. In southwest Nigeria, storytellers are expressing the living religion through narratives that are relevant, adaptable, and meaningful in a plurality of contexts. From the often antagonistic relationship between Ifa/Orisha and the Abrahamic faiths, to the challenges posed by modernity and globalization, practitioners are renegotiating the identity of their religion in social and philosophical ways. Interpreting data gathered from interviews conducted in Nigeria and the United States, I present a qualitative analysis of how practitioners, participants, and non-practitioners interact with the fundamental premises underlying the matrix of symbols, rites, and narratives that represent traditional Yoruba religion.

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Author Biography

Alexander Chirila, Webster University, Thailand

Alexander Chirila is currently an Assistant Professor at Webster University, Thailand. Dr. Chirila received his B.A. from New York University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the State University at Albany. In 2011, he accepted an academic posting in Nigeria, where he conducted research into the rites and beliefs of Ifa/Orisha practitioners and worshipers.

His research interests include comparative symbolism, religion and mysticism, and sacred literature. He is working towards a comprehensive analysis of modern spiritual practices, ranging from spiritual tourism and shamanism, to mysticism and syncretism. Blending analytical psychology, qualitative research, and philosophy, he hopes to map patterns in the subcultural practice of spirituality. He is the author of two books: the first a Post-Jungian analysis entitled Manifest Individuation: Comparative Symbolism and Archetypal Progressions in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, and the second a novel entitled True Immortality.

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