by Emidio Gune
Introduction
Reflecting on her experience in Yorubaland, Oyěwùmí (1998) makes the case that “Yorubas don’t do gender.” According to Oyěwùmí, seniority is the organising principle and category that Yorubas privilege in their everydayness, not gender. Bakare raises two problems regarding Oyěwùmí’s claim: the first is “the problem of essentialism and authenticism,” and the second, the need to “address African local knowledge in the plural” (Bakare-Yussuf 2004, 66 and 75). Essentialism and authenticism fail to understand social organisation as a nuanced construction that can arise from traits of distinct walks of life and cultures. Therefore, it seems necessary to avoid oversimplification while addressing local knowledge in plural. One way to pursue this is by examining what occurred when seniority, as a privileged category, was approached by gender as a discourse, projected through discursive practices that emerged under the wave of colonialism. Notwithstanding Bakare's critiques of seniority, it emerges as a productive concept to the extent that even gender might be theorised under seniority. Based on this understanding, gender can be addressed as belonging to contexts where seniority is accorded through sex and granted to males. Therefore, this is where it might be adopted in a meaningful manner while leaving room for other organising principles and categories. In the remaining sections of this piece, I resort to ethnographic and historical accounts to make the case for seniority through mastered experience as a social organising principle.
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06_FA2025_Vol6.2-TGD_Standpoint_SUNU