Yorùbá - History, Identity and the In-Between

Zack Shittu
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Yorùbá — History, Identity & the In-Between is a narrative history podcast exploring the Yorùbá people of West Africa: their kingdoms, their wars, their philosophers, and the worlds they built before, during, and after colonialism. Hosted by Dr. Zack Shittu — technologist, photographer, and lifelong student of Yorùbá culture — each episode moves between the archive and the present day. From the rise and fall of the Oyo Empire to the invention of tradition under British rule, this podcast asks not just what happened, but what it means to know it now.

Episodes

  1. May 30

    Trade, Diplomacy, and Rivalry — How Competition Coexisted with Cooperation

    In 19th-century Yorubaland, rival kingdoms fought for sixteen years — and traded with each other the entire time. This is the story of how the Kiriji (Ekitiparapo) War reveals a system of rivalry that was brutal, sophisticated, and governed by rules we still haven't fully understood.Episode 5 of Yoruba History, Identity & the In-Between examines the most analytically demanding question of the season: how did a stateless network of competing Yoruba kingdoms manage sustained, high-stakes conflict without collapsing into total war — and what was actually lost when the British froze that system in place in 1893?We get into:— Why Ibadan and the Ekitiparapo coalition arranged trade routes specifically so they could keep fighting— How market women sustained commerce across active battle lines— The diplomatic machinery of envoys, oaths, neutral mediators, and proverbs-as-strategy— Why destroying a rival completely made no economic sense— How British intervention didn't end the rivalry — it froze itThis episode draws on Ajayi & Smith's Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century, Robert Smith's Kingdoms of the Yoruba and Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa, A.G. Hopkins' An Economic History of West Africa, and Samuel Johnson's The History of the Yorubas — among others. Full source list below.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 Trading While at War02:27 Structured Rivalry Explained02:43 Episode Setup and Thesis04:53 Post Oyo Power Struggle05:57 Resistance to Ibadan07:01 War With Limits08:41 Why Trade Never Stops10:17 Border Markets and Women Traders11:41 War Economy and Captives12:50 Diplomacy Rituals and Envoys14:11 Mediators and Saving Face15:17 Proverbs as Negotiation Tools16:44 When Diplomacy Fails18:48 War Camps as Mobile Cities20:54 Firearms and Coastal Leverage21:50 British Entry Changes the Game22:56 The Paradox of Rivalry25:23 Pacification Freezes Competition26:41 1893 Peace Imposed27:56 What Was Lost With Peace29:16 Next Episode and Farewell🔔 SUBSCRIBE for the full Season 1 arc — each episode builds on the last:https://www.youtube.com/@UCXzeoFtjJIzeRgGLlclby5w 🎧 LISTEN on your podcast app — search "Yoruba History, Identity & the In-Between"✊🏾 SUPPORT THE SERIES on Patreon — early access, extended notes, bonus episodes (Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Lugard's The Dual Mandate), and the research conversations behind each episode:https://patreon.com/ZackShittu📩 THE IN-BETWEEN newsletter — companion essays on the gaps between myth and record in Yoruba history:https://withzackshittu.com/newsletter🌐 More work: https://withzackshittu.com💬 Drop a comment: Did British intervention free the Yoruba system, or freeze it before it could finish? I want your read.📌 SOURCESAjayi, J.F.A. & Smith, R. (1964). Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press.Smith, R.S. (1988). Kingdoms of the Yoruba (3rd ed.). James Currey.Smith, R.S. (1989). Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa (2nd ed.). James Currey.Hopkins, A.G. (1973). An Economic History of West Africa. Longman.Law, R. (1977). The Oyo Empire c.1600–c.1836. Clarendon Press.Johnson, S. (1921). The History of the Yorubas. CMS Bookshops.Sudarkasa, N. (1973). Where Women Work. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.Delano, I.O. (1966). Owe L'esin Oro: Yoruba Proverbs. Oxford University Press.#YorubaHistory #AfricanHistory #KirijiWar #Ibadan #PrecolonialAfrica

    32 min

  2. Apr 30

    Yoruba - How a Name Became an Identity

    The word “Yoruba” is everywhere today — in language, diaspora culture, and political identity across three continents — yet in the early 19th century it barely existed as a shared label. Most people understood themselves through kingdom, lineage, or town, not as members of a single Yorùbá people. This episode asks the question at the heart of the entire series: how does a people become a people? It traces how “Yoruba” shifted from a Hausa external label into an identity consciously claimed, reshaped, and institutionalized by Lagos intellectuals, Christian missionaries, and political actors under the pressure of colonialism. We examine the foundational Ilé-Ifẹ̀ origin narrative, not to test its literal truth, but to understand the work it performs: how it weaves together scattered histories, legitimizes authority, and offers a common beginning for different communities. Using Hobsbawm and Ranger’s idea of “invented tradition” and Benedict Anderson’s concept of “imagined communities,” the episode shows that collective identity is always constructed through stories, institutions, and power. Far from making it fake, that constructed nature is precisely what makes Yorùbá identity powerful, adaptable, and real in the lives of millions who now claim it. Researched & Written by Zack Shittu | Produced by Femi ShittuFull list of sources → patreon.com/zackShittu

    30 min

  3. Apr 28

    The Fall of Oyo: How West Africa's Greatest Empire Collapsed

    Yorùbá — History, Identity & the In-BetweenEpisode 1Season 1The Fall of OyoThe Oyo Empire was one of West Africa’s most powerful political formations — a cavalry state that dominated the region for over a century, commanding trade routes, vassal kingdoms, and tribute networks stretching across the savanna. But by the early 19th century, it was hollowing from within. This episode traces the structural collapse of Oyo: the constitutional tensions between the Alaafin and the Oyo Mesi council, the unchecked rise of Afonja and the military faction, the Fulani jihad pressure from the north, and the slave trade’s corrosive effect on internal loyalty. This wasn’t a story of defeat by superior enemies. It was a story of a system that stopped maintaining itself — and the catastrophic displacement it unleashed across Yorubaland. The fall of Oyo is the engine that drives all of Season 1. Researched & Written by Zack Shittu  |  Produced by Femi Shittu Full list of sources → patreon.com/zackShittu

    22 min
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About

Yorùbá — History, Identity & the In-Between is a narrative history podcast exploring the Yorùbá people of West Africa: their kingdoms, their wars, their philosophers, and the worlds they built before, during, and after colonialism. Hosted by Dr. Zack Shittu — technologist, photographer, and lifelong student of Yorùbá culture — each episode moves between the archive and the present day. From the rise and fall of the Oyo Empire to the invention of tradition under British rule, this podcast asks not just what happened, but what it means to know it now.

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