Arugba: superwoman, power and agency

Abstract

Based on field studies conducted during two attendances at the Osun Osogbo festival, on 24 August 2012 and 21 August 2015, and a close reading of Arugba (2008), a Yorùbá video-film celebrating Osun and her votive supplicant Arugba, I demonstrate how Nigerian filmmaker Tunde Kelani represents Arugba as a direct medium of the spirits, communicant of the spiritual world and, therefore, possessor of Osun’s magical powers. Arugba, in this video-film, is not only conceived as a warrior-defender of the weak and vulnerable, an accomplished artist, a passionate and faithful lover, but she also represents a vision of a Nigeria, even Africa, in transition from a corrupt, male-dominated past to futures of transparency in public and private endeavours. She is thus a weaponized symbol of female power, independence and leadership in a society in dire need of physical and spiritual revival, cleansing and renewal.

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