Revisiting the Yoruba ethnogenesis: a religiocultural hermeneutics of ancient Egyptian texts

Abstract

The ethnogenesis of the Yoruba has been a subject of various historical critical arguments in recent scholarship. Local historians and their foreign counterpart have explored different scholarly models to ascertain the origin of the Yoruba race. A sizeable number of these accounts usually explore the historical evidence from ancient Egypt. Although, such historical traditions differ from one school of thought to another, some modern historians of Yoruba descent insist that the Yoruba originated from Egypt. In recent times this development has generated debates; though, some schools of thought have argued that there are indices of religio-cultural affinity between the Yoruba and the ancient Egyptians, yet others maintain that the presence of white skinned Egyptians and the Arabs, do not seem to confirm that the Yoruba originated from Egypt. This paper seeks to explore the possibilities of an Egypto-Yoruba ethnogenesis by examining the religio-cultural elements in ancient Egyptian texts.