Diaries as Cultural and Intellectual Histories

‘You May Bind Me, You May Beat Me, You May Even Kill Me’: Bridewealth, Consent and Conversion in Nineteenth-Century Abẹ́òkúta (in Present-day Southwest Nigeria)

“…The fact that journals are uncritical of the author's activities also poses a problem. 21 Despite these limitations, evangelical records remain crucial to social enquiry. Indeed, some missionary remarks were surprisingly insightful and accurate because their motive to convert the people demanded that they invest some time and effort in learning Yorùbá cultures, institutions, and languages.…”

Alaroye: political contestation, genres, innovations and audience in a Yoruba-language newspaper

“…7 A few attributes defined these earlier newspapers, and some of them appear to have influenced Alao Adedayo and had a lasting effect on his journalism. While the Saros and Agudas (Sierra Leonean and Cuban/Brazilian repatriates) dominated the professions (medicine, law, engineering, architecture and surveying) (Adeboye 2006), there was a new pool of lower-level white-collar workers, including clerks, bookkeepers and printing assistants, who were drawn into the expanding civil service and public works from among the burgeoning population of school leavers. It would seem that the majority of Yoruba newspaper owners were drawn from among this class of workers.…”