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“Èsù Láàlú Ọmọkùnrin Òde”: The Being in/between Aesthetic-Ethical Entanglements

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Decolonial Aesthetics II

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the being of Èsù in/between the undercurrents of aesthetic-ethical entanglements in the contemporary artworld. It draws its critical tools from Ọ̀rúnmìlà/Yorùbá oral philosophy and explores various manifestations of Èsù in Yorùbá/African literatures, and non/African cinema. Using examples from Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, Femi Lasode’s (1997) film Sango: The Legendary African King, and Edward Zwick’s (2006) film Blood Diamond, the paper clarifies the importance of the metaphor of Èsù to the mode of relating to aesthetic-ethical entanglements in the Yorùbá and non-Yorùbá artworld. It shows how contemporary narrative arts transform and push Èsù into different contexts and media of storytelling.

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Correspondence to Saheed Adesumbo Bello .

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Bello, S.A. (2023). “Èsù Láàlú Ọmọkùnrin Òde”: The Being in/between Aesthetic-Ethical Entanglements. In: Oloko, P., Ott, M., Simatei, P., Vierke, C. (eds) Decolonial Aesthetics II. Ästhetiken X.0 – Zeitgenössische Konturen ästhetischen Denkens. J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66222-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66222-9_14

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-66221-2

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