By Toyin Falola
I am happy to deliver the lecture to inaugurate the Alaafin Institute of Yoruba Studies at Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. I had previously commended the University for this initiative:
https://toyinfalolanetwork.org/new-ideas-from-emmanuel-alayande-university-of-education/
I will be speaking on mythologies, to take an aspect from their larger theme of “Preserving the Past, Educating the Future: The Renaissance of Yoruba Intellectualism.”
To those who have been following my career, my research and publications in the last decade have revolved around decolonization, indigenous epistemologies, African knowledge systems, metaphysics, and cosmologies. I have explained the motivation in “Why I Write On Decolonization” [https://toyinfalolanetwork.org/why-i-write-on-decolonization/]. I went further to explain my interest in metaphysics in https://toyinfalolanetwork.org/why-i-write-on-metaphysics/. My most recent book is on Araba Elebuibon: https://www.newtimes.com.ng/falola-releases-new-book-ifa-priestcraft-ifayemi-elebuibon-and-yoruba-ancestral-knowledge-systems/. I have just completed yet another book on “Metaphysics and Yoruba Creativity.”
No other word has been so misunderstood in the modern day as myth. Whenever we mention a certain situation as mythology, it means the situation is unreal and not true at all. Indeed, those who follow the Abrahamic religions, they use faith instead of myth, elevating similar stories to higher categories of spiritual belief.
Such use of the term has caused immense harm to one of the oldest and most profound traditions of human intellect. Mythology is not the antithesis of truth but one of the early languages through which humankind tried to understand what truth was all about. All societies have mythologies; there is Zeus and Athena in Ancient Greece, Osiris and Isis in Egypt, Mahabharata and Ramayana in India, and Odin and Thor in the early days of Norse society long before they became characters in popular culture. African society also has an immense array of mythologies, such as the cosmologies of the Yoruba and Akan, the sacred mythology of the Dogon and Maasai, among others.
What makes it unfortunate is not the existence of the mythologies but the way the modern-day education system teaches us about them. Greek mythology becomes the literature, while Roman mythology is viewed as tradition. But at the same time, African mythologies become superstition and folklore. These differences show us more about the way information has been arranged in an unequal way rather than about the differences between the mythologies themselves. The colonial educational system played a significant role in creating this inequality. Knowledge was divided into indigenous and scholarly ones. While written sources were taken as a standard, oral traditions could not meet them. And because of that, many Africans learned that it was necessary to know Homer but not Odù Ifá, that they should know Olympus rather than Ilé-Ifẹ̀. Feminists do not see Yemoja as the creator of the discipline, and they cite modern scholars instead of Oya and Osun. Historians trained in the Western sense talk about Herodotus instead of Orunmila. I was taken aback by a recent critique of my book on metaphysics by a philosopher who read the Western-derived opening and closing chapters while ignoring the substance of the book. “The knowledge of the alakowe,” so says my people, “is located in the wrist and not in the brain.” The “knowledge of the wrist” damages what we stand for as a people. In its eagerness to promote universalism, it fertilizes the organic with dangerous chemicals.
It is worth re-examining this point about misreading and mislabelling. Mythology does not only consist of stories from times past. It is a complex database of thoughts on creation, ethics, justice, leadership, suffering, community, and humanity. Prior to the advent of modern institutions of higher education, mythology was used as the classroom. Prior to constitutions, mythology was the contemplation of power and responsibility. Prior to psychology being developed as an academic discipline, mythology examined the intricacies of character, desire, conflict, and resolution. There is nothing better to show this than the intellectual tradition of the Yoruba people. The myths told about the Òrìṣà do not just represent simple myths that were meant to entertain. These myths are philosophical dialogues presented symbolically. The teachings of Èṣù are that reality is not always easy to fit into categories of right or wrong. There are consequences to making choices, but one never has absolute certainty. The lessons of Ṣàngó are that power attracts admiration and requires control.
The power of these narratives comes from the fact that they deal with concerns that still puzzle us today. Every generation deals with issues like injustice, aspiration, deception, sympathy, and optimism. Mythology does not make such issues disappear. Rather, myth provides symbolic means of coping with them. It is no surprise then that historians pay more and more attention to mythology as a valuable source of history. This does not mean that one should give up on a critical approach to the material. Myths do not provide information about dates and chronologies.
In fact, there is no society that is lacking in myths that define its identity. Nations honor their founders and movements create heroes. Companies develop myths of innovation and transformation. Even the age of technology has produced myths about the nature of artificial intelligence, technological breakthroughs, and disruption of economies. Mythology did not end with the emergence of the modern world. On the contrary, it has only created its own myths under the pretext of having overcome the old ones. This understanding should foster modesty. Scientific knowledge and mythological knowledge differ in what they seek to understand. Science seeks an understanding of how the universe functions. Mythology seeks an understanding of the meaning of human existence within it. Technology allows us to do more things. Mythology ponders how these things should be done.
The renewed attention paid to African indigenous knowledge systems is also related to this growing understanding. Scholars in universities, museums, and other cultural institutions recognize more often now that oral tradition contains rich philosophical ideas which require close analysis. This is not just an attempt to turn back to the past. On the contrary, it is a way to rediscover intellectual traditions which were neglected by colonialism but could never be wiped out. There is no better proof of the resilience of mythology than the case of the African diaspora. Despite slavery, exodus, and the process of cultural destruction, Yoruba religions have survived in Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, Haiti, and North America.
In present times, these traditions retain their importance outside of religion. They are part of literature, theatre, music, visual arts, politics, environmental philosophy, and philosophy. Modern African authors constantly reinterpret mythological characters in fiction and poems. Movie directors use indigenous cosmology to project possible future worlds. Artists reinterpret sacred symbols in contemporary visual language. Far from dying out, mythology keeps developing along with society.
However, there is yet another reason why mythology is important in our modern world. Our times are characterized by the abundance of information and lack of wisdom. Information is produced much more quickly than it is understood. Algorithms sort our attention but not always reflection. Under such conditions, societies need stories that remind us we are not only consumers, voters, or technological users, but storytellers looking for meanings.
Myths survive because they maintain those quests. They remind us that all civilizations have struggled with issues of death, justice, valour, accountability, and transcendence. They inspire us to study history not as a collection of dead traditions but as a repository of eternal inquiries. That may be the most important lesson offered by myths. They have never had the function of merely explaining the origins of the world. The real reason for their existence has been the ability to help each succeeding generation figure out how to live in the world it inherits. Civilizations not only build roads, systems, and economies; they sustain myths which define their identity and responsibilities. It is not a matter of mere romantic attachment to culture to reclaim African mythologies. It is an intellectual requirement. It is the acknowledgment that the future of African studies rests not only upon technological advances and economic growth but upon the reestablishment of trust in their own tradition of knowledge as well. Mythologies are important because they hold onto the imagination of a people, and without an imagination, any civilization cannot last very long.
I congratulate the University for this initiative. I have offered them a roadmap in the field of African Ancestral Studies that I have created, and hopefully, they will centralize this as their principal orientation. https://toyinfalolanetwork.org/what-is-african-ancestral-studies/
