Jacob K. Olupona
Encyclopedia
Jacob K. Olupona is Professor of African Religious Traditions and Chair of the Committee on African studies at the Harvard Divinity School
with a joint appointment as Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University
.
.
He is working on a study of the religious practices of the estimated one million Africans who have emigrated to the United States
over the last 40 years, examining in particular several populations that remain relatively invisible in the American religious landscape: "reverse missionaries" who have come to the U.S. to establish churches, African Pentecostals in American congregations, American branches of independent African churches, and indigenous African religious communities in the U.S. His earlier research includes African spirituality
and ritual practices, spirit possession, Pentecostalism
, Yoruba festivals, animal symbolism, icons, phenomenology, and religious pluralism
in Africa
and the Americas
.
In his forthcoming book Ile-Ife: The City of 201 Gods, he examines the modern urban mixing of ritual, royalty
, gender
, class, and power, and how the structure, content, and meaning of religious beliefs and practices permeate daily life.
He has authored or edited seven other books, including Kingship, Religion and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals, which has beern used for ethnographic research among Yoruba-speaking communities.
Olupona has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation
, the American Philosophical Society
, the Ford Foundation
, the Davis Humanities Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation
, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Getty Foundation
. He has served on the editorial boards of three journals and as president of the African Association for the Study of Religion. In 2000, Olupona received an honorary doctorate in divinity from the University of Edinburgh
in Scotland
.
Jacob K. Olupona received his BA from the University of Nigeria
and his MA and PhD from Boston University
.
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
with a joint appointment as Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Biography
Jacob K. Olupona is a scholar of indigenous African religions who came to Harvard after serving as a professor at the University of California, DavisUniversity of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
.
He is working on a study of the religious practices of the estimated one million Africans who have emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
over the last 40 years, examining in particular several populations that remain relatively invisible in the American religious landscape: "reverse missionaries" who have come to the U.S. to establish churches, African Pentecostals in American congregations, American branches of independent African churches, and indigenous African religious communities in the U.S. His earlier research includes African spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
and ritual practices, spirit possession, Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
, Yoruba festivals, animal symbolism, icons, phenomenology, and religious pluralism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...
in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
In his forthcoming book Ile-Ife: The City of 201 Gods, he examines the modern urban mixing of ritual, royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
, gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, class, and power, and how the structure, content, and meaning of religious beliefs and practices permeate daily life.
He has authored or edited seven other books, including Kingship, Religion and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals, which has beern used for ethnographic research among Yoruba-speaking communities.
Olupona has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
, the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, the Davis Humanities Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Getty Foundation
Getty Foundation
The Getty Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, at the Getty Center, awards grants for "the understanding and preservation of the visual arts". In the past, it funded the Getty Leadership Institute for "current and future museum leaders", which is now at Claremont Graduate University. Its...
. He has served on the editorial boards of three journals and as president of the African Association for the Study of Religion. In 2000, Olupona received an honorary doctorate in divinity from the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Jacob K. Olupona received his BA from the University of Nigeria
University of Nigeria
The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Founded in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has four campuses – Nsukka, Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla – located in Enugu State and one in Aba, Abia...
and his MA and PhD from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
.
Works
- African Immigrant Religions in America (New York University 2007)
- Orisa Devotion as World Religion: The Globalization of Yoruba Religious Culture (University of Wisconsin PressUniversity of Wisconsin PressThe University of Wisconsin Press is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It primarily publishes work by scholars from the global academic community but also serves the citizens of Wisconsin by publishing important books about Wisconsin, the Upper Midwest, and...
2007) - Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity (Routledge, 2004)
- Experiences of Place (Religions of the World) (Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions 2003)
- African Spirituality: Forms, Meanings and Expressions (Herder & Herder, 2001)
- Religious Plurality in Africa: Essays in Honour of John S. Mbiti (Mouton de Gruyter, 1993)
- Religion and Peace in Multi-faith Nigeria (African Books Collective Ltd, 1992)
- Kingship, Religion and Rituals in a Nigerian Community (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1991)
- African Traditional Religions in Contemporary Society (Paragon House, 1991)
Articles by Jacob K. Olupona
- “Osun across the Waters: A Yoruba goddess in Africa and the Americas.” African Affairs 104.416 (2005): 548-550.
- Foreword to Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere. Ed. Oyeronke Olajubu. State University of New York Press, 2003.
- Review of “Odun Ifa: Ifa Festival” and “Insight and Artistry in African Divination.” Research in African Literatures 34.2 (2003): 225-229.
- “Review of ‘Religious Encounter and the Making of Yoruba.’” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 36.1 (2003): 182-186.
- “Women’s Rituals, Kingship and Power among the Ondo-Yoruba of Nigeria.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 810 (1997): 315-336.
- “Report of the Conference ‘Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity.’” Numen 44.3 (1997): 323-345.
- “The Study of Yoruba Religious Tradition in Historical Perspective.” Numen 40.3 (1993): 240-273.