RETHINKING YORUBA CULTURE IN THE LIGHT OF YORUBA ORIGINS

There are existing traditions which teach that the Yorubas and their culture originate independently or from Egypt or from Israel or from Mecca or even from Etruscan sources. Many scholars and contemporary Yorubas have accepted the Egyptian thesis for Yoruba origins as true because there are many aspects of the culture of the ancient Egyptians that are similar to Yoruba culture. The question arises: what are the cultural aspects that are similar or different between the Yorubas and the Egyptians, or the Israelites, or the Arabians, or the Etruscans? How can the study of these foreign cultures influence the study for the search for Yoruba origins? This research is a study of how certain foreign and ancient cultures are different or similar to Yoruba culture. The main purpose of this research is to explain how the search for the origins of Yoruba culture can contribute to challenging contemporary researchers to begin to look into West Africa and not Egypt or the ancient Near East in the search for Yoruba origin.