John Peel, who has died aged 73, was a leading figure in the British study of Africa whose particular area of expertise was the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria. He pioneered the understanding that African societies and cultures were richly complex entities that might stand comparison with any others around the globe; his work helped to emancipate Africans from scholarly neglect, and the dismissive attitudes born of the slave trade, colonialism and racism.
His work on the Yoruba portrayed a culture of immense sophistication in its beliefs, values, perceptions and organisation. John’s primary interest was in belief (he was himself a practising Anglican), and he demonstrated the ways in which Yoruba people adopted mission Christianity and then transformed it into something that addressed their own needs and aspirations. In so doing he showed an acute awareness of the continuities between the Yoruba past, present and possible future.
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