Amuye Faforiji, located at 7 18 N, 4 42 E, is one of the notable communities in Ijeshaland, presently in Atakunmosa East Central Development Area of Osun State, Nigeria which was founded in 1905 by Adesanmi Adesoro Faforiji, a ‘direct’ descendant of Owa Aponlese, the 28th Owa Obokun of Ijesheland.
I am currently working on the history of Amuye Faforiji. Just like many villages in the southwestern part of Nigeria, Amuye Faforiji, also known as Faforiji, has no writing culture.
The main part of their history has been preserved arguably with the use of oral traditions which are passed from mouth to mouth, from one generation to another up to the 1940s when there began some kind of paltry writing as found in letters, court cases, ceremonies’ records and others.
Using available facts, I, Tadese Faforiji, am currently working on the history of Amuye Faforiji, to bring its experience, stories, legends and myths to critical evaluation and facts deduced from them.
As a subtopic in the project, my mentor and I presented a paper titled “Reflections on Ìjálá and Oríkì as Sources of Historical Reconstruction: Amuye Faforiji in Perspective, 1905 – 1950s” at the Tennessee State University Annual Africa Conference on April 7, 2023, on the theme, “Popular Culture in Africa and the African Diaspora”. (Read the story here: Tadese Obaloluwa Faforiji and Dr. Sunday Abraham Ogunode: “Reflections on Ìjálá and Oríkì as Sources of Historical Reconstruction: Amuye Faforiji in Perspective, 1905 – 1950s”)
I am consulting elites and non-elite peopling of Amuye Faforiji to tell their history and, in some cases, their experiences. My area of research will cover geography, origin and migration, socio-cultural institutions, political and economic development and modernity.
This works also covers inter-community relations with neighbours like Igangan-Ijesha (as shown in the Ijala and Oriki’s paper), Araromi Otokobo, Agbon Jegede, Ayinrin Alamuye, Ayinrin Adedeji, Bisi Ogbara, Okeigbo, Ifetedo and Garage Olode-Ife among others
More on Faforiji
Read More about: Tadese Faforiji
Visit Amuye Faforiji’s official website: Faforiji.com.ng
