Scholarly Works
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Item Perception of mental illness in ancient Greek and contemporary Yoruba religious beliefs(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, 2018-06) Adekannbi, G. O.; Adebowale, B. A.; Ademiluwa, A.Mental illness is one of the most dreaded illnesses in human societies. Recent studies have investigated the phenomenon as neurosis with psychotic manifestations in individuals across societies. However, there are diverse opinions on the cause(s) of mental illness. Therefore, interrogating the subject from the worldviews of two traditional societies— Ancient Greece and Yoruba - the study classifies the causes of mental illness into three: natural, physical and supernatural. It further investigates attitudinal correlation between societies in the classical era and modem times in the perception of mental disorders. The aims to determine if prejudices or biases are proximal or distal in both societies and to highlight the social implications for interpersonal relationships, especially as bases for the acceptance and social instability of those who experience mental illness. The study, which is basically descriptive, adopts philosophical and cultural analytical methods to foreground textual explication, using the works of Plato, Hippocrates. Oluwole and Jegede. The paper shows that both in Ancient Greece and Yoruba societies, mental illness is attributed to retribution from the gods and accounts for the preponderance of Greek mythologies and tragedies. contextualising madness as inflicted by wrathful or envious gods or goddesses. It concludes that the stigmatisation of affected persons often emasculates them as they are deprived of proper healthcare during the period of illness, and denied social protection and recognition if they are fortunate enough to receive treatment. Invariably, the society is impoverished through this latent brain drainItem Xenophobic sentiments: the meeting point of julio-claudian rome and ramaphosa’s South Africa(Xenophobic sentiments: the meeting point of julio-claudian rome and ramaphosa’s South Africa, 2020) Adekannbi, G. O.; Clinton, C.Migration of people to various places is a permanent feature of human history. For example, shifting from a nomadic economy to a system based on food production in the past allowed people to settle permanently in a place and hold claim to it. Such a situation is known to have induced creation of group identity and led to stereotype relationship between host communities and foreign migrants with far reaching effects. Xenophobia, an age old phenomenon, is one of the products of the stereotype. This paper goes back in time to review xenophobic sentiments in Rome during the reign of the Julio-Claudian emperors in which large numbers of foreign migrants were attracted to Rome due to the empire’s economic prosperity and opportunities for wealth creation. In doing this, the paper digs up the forms, causes, patterns, and consequences of xenophobic actions. Then, following an exploration of contemporary South-African xenophobic sentiments, which match closely with the Romans’, the work makes a comparative assessment to find sociological parallels between the ancient and modern states which share common hopes for the migrants. The paper particularly identifies xenophobia as a form of social depravity that requires all moral strength to root it out.Item Rethinking the option of violence in politics and the fate of tiberius gracchus(2019) Adekannbi, G. O.The killing of Tiberius Gracchus along with hundreds of his supporters in factional violence has left an imprint of moral controversy. When perpetuated by the aggrieved or oppressed masses, violence is seen as an act of aggression or rebellion. However, it tends to be termed political expediency when initiated by the ruling power or its agency. Using interpretive approach, this paper sets aside justifying the murdering of Tiberius as removal of a potential tyrant who was causing public disturbance. The research, after highlighting how violence became imminent when other legitimate efforts at resolving political conflicts failed, shifts to the moral question arising from resorting to violence as the ultimate tool for achieving a political goal. Corrupt members of the Roman Senate and their supporters would share the view: ‘so perish also all others who do such things’. However, the paper notes the benefits of Tiberius’ agrarian reforms to the poor citizens and the potential benefits of the changes to the state. The conclusion is: the champion of the people had acted well enough but inconclusively to reach his goals. It remained for him and his supporters to stand against being outmaneuvered by the corrupt politicians. If violence had been used by Tiberius and his followers against the senate to succeed, the common people would have declared this as both morally justifiable and politically expedient. Hence, it is theorised that, when moral questions are unanswered in politics, violence looms and no one may have the monopoly of itItem Art and pragmatism of prayers in homer: some reflections in Yoruba prayers(Department of Classics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2019) Adekannbi, G. O.The Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer continue to reveal much about the socio-religious life of the Greeks. An aspect of this is the use of prayer in meeting human needs or desires. Parallels of pragmatic use of prayer are found in the Yoruba traditional religion which has some common approaches to worship with that of ancient Greek. This paper therefore engages in an extensive interpretive analysis of the phrasing of words in Homeric prayers in order to serve as a contrastive template for examining the Yoruba belief system. Three parts of the Homeric prayers: invocatio, hypomnesis and precatio are highlighted. The concept of reciprocity, as expressed by the formulaic expressions da qaiadedisti, da quiadedi and da at recipias are interrogated to underscore how humans make requests, seek aids and get emotional anchorage from the gods. The paper indicates that, while the use of prayer to cater for diverse human purposes is commonplace, the use of prayers in seeking vengeance, or personal glory/honour tends to be more prominent. Although it is noted that skilful ordering of phrases is not the sole determinant of whether a prayer will be answered or not, the paper highlights its key place in the two belief systems. More research can be done to determine the place of a mortal’s piety or impiety in guaranteeing favourable responses in both religions.Item Perception of mental illness in ancient Greek and contemporary(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2018-06) Adekannbi, G. O.; Adebowale, B. A.; Ademiluwa, A.Mental illness is one of the most dreaded illnesses in human societies. Recent studies have investigated the phenomenon as neurosis with psychotic manifestations in individuals across societies. However, there are diverse opinions on the cause(s) of mental illness. Therefore, interrogating the subject from the worldviews of two traditional societies— Ancient Greece and Yoruba - the study classifies the causes of mental illness into three: natural, physical and supernatural. It further investigates attitudinal correlation between societies in the classical era and modern times in the perception of mental disorders. The aims to detarmine if prejudices or biases are proximal or distal in both societies and to highlight the social implications for interpersonal relationships, especially as bases for the acceptance and social instability of those who experience mental illness. The study, which is basically descriptive, adopts philosophical and cultural analytical methods to foreground textual explication, using the works of Plato, Hippocrates, Oluwole and Jegede. The paper shows that both in Ancient Greece and Yoruba societies, mental illness is attributed to retribution from the gods and accounts for the preponderance of Greek mythologies and tragedies, contextualising madness as inflicted by wrathful or envious gods or goddesses. It concludes that the stigmatisation of affected persons often emasculates them as they are deprived of proper healthcare during the period of illness, and denied social protection and recognition if they are fortunate enough to receive treatment. Invariably, the society is impoverished through this latent brain drain.Item Revisiting the leading role of the Roman upper classes in slavery or slavery conditions(Department of European Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2018) Adekannbi, G. O.The ancient Roman society was not duplicitous about its socioeconomic dependence upon slaves. This paper, while presenting the developments that brought about slavery or slave conditions during the late Republic and at the beginning of the Roman Empire, dwells on the role of the Roman upper classes in making slaves constant features of Roman agriculture, industry, domestic life, entertainment and virtually all other facets of Roman life. The paper illustrates the upper classes' taste for slavery and their principal part as the promoters of the institution with Plutarch's reference to the Roman statesman, Cato, in Plutarch's Parallel Lives. With the active and preponderant role of the wealthy and influential Romans' use of slaves to function and maintain their political, social, and economic life at this time, the paper notes that Rome's historical pre-eminence would be non- existent without slaves. Therefore, it is concluded that the record of the Roman upper classes in creating slavery conditions and in entrenching slavery suggests that a successful fight against slavery in any form could only mean a deliberate fight against the rich and the powerful or breaking free from the yoke of the oppressors whose desire for slaves is unending. A study on Roman stories of manumission would be a good follow up to this work.Item Contextualising the impact of ancient Greek and Roman superstition on public life(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2018-06) Adekannbi, G. O.Consensus on the meaning of superstition remains elusive. Even when dangers allegedly exist, the controversy over the subject has engendered caution against sounding polemical or judgemental by labelling any belief as superstitious. This paper considers undue restraints as insidious and identifies when superstition is inimical to the society. The study indicates various degrees of damage caused by seemingly innocuous traditional/religious beliefs in ancient Greek and Roman climes. Max Weber's social action theory has been adopted as theoretical framework to do a library study of works of Theophrastus, Plutarch, Livy and Petronius. These ancient sources offer the platform for examining superstition as clinging to certain behavioural patterns even when no relationship exists between causes and effects. Attention is paid to how superstition surreptitiously becomes hostile to private and community interests. The paper argues that superstition emerges when customs, routines or habits that lack empirical basis take on harmful legislative powers on people and diminish the quality of their lives. The submission is that admission of past and present errors in perception of esoteric experiences should be unambiguous if the grip of superstition would be eliminated. Viewed as a clog in the wheel of meaningful social development, superstition should be stripped of its overbearing garb of subjective thinking that riddles life with morbid fear and places unfair burden of guilt on the human society.Item Revisiting the leading role of the Roman upper classes in slavery or slavery conditions(Department of European Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2018) Adekannbi, G. O.The ancient Roman society was not duplicitous about its socioeconomic dependence upon slaves. This paper, while presenting the developments that brought about slavery or slave conditions during the late Republic and at the beginning of the Roman Empire, dwells on the role of the Roman upper classes in making slaves constant features of Roman agriculture, industry, domestic life, entertainment and virtually all other facets of Roman life. The paper illustrates the upper classes' taste for slavery and their principal part as the promoters of the institution with Plutarch's reference to the Roman statesman, Cato, in Plutarch's Parallel Lives. With the active and preponderant role of the wealthy and influential Romans' use of slaves to function and maintain their political, social, and economic life at this time, the paper notes that Rome's historical pre-eminence would be non- existent without slaves. Therefore, it is concluded that the record of the Roman upper classes in creating slavery conditions and in entrenching slavery suggests that a successful fight against slavery in any form could only mean a deliberate fight against the rich and the powerful or breaking free from the yoke of the oppressors whose desire for slaves is unending. A study on Roman stories of manumission would be a good follow up to this work.Item An examination of the integral nature of slavery in classical Greek states(The Nigerian Association for Biblical Studies, 2017) Adekannbi, G. O.; Akinboye, O. A.This paper examines why slavery, despite what is now legally known to be its obnoxious status, was not only fundamental to the Classical Greek society but was also endorsed by its intellectual community that was renowned for advocating individual freedom and justice. By discussing the place of slaves among the Greeks, the paper posits that the people saw slavery as crucial to realising socio-economic as well as political goals. Hence, the Greeks came to terms with chattel slavery as one of the realities of human existence. While enslaving others could be an expression of a superior might, the paper reasons that the utilitarian motivations for it in the Classical period are obvious. Therefore, individuals, both rich and poor, saw slaves as part of household features, indispensable to meeting socio-economic needs or sensual gratification. The functional use of slaves also extended to the state, hence, Sparta and Athens got all the leisure needed for political and military activities from slaves being always at their service. The paper concludes with brief allusion to the Biblical Onesimus to describe the reality of slavery as integral part of the social order of the ancient society. In view of the modern situations of labour and sexual exploitation at the international level, it is added that, whether with legislation against slavery or what is sometimes insincerity in fighting it, slavery/slavery condition might remain a modern institution; patronised by both private and public figures as long as human values remain similar to the Greeks‘.Item Politics and morality through the lens of sallust’s bellum catilinae(2017-12) Adekannbi, G. O.Sallust, with apparent sense of moral obligation wrote Bellum Catalinae (Catiline War) as it were, to relieve his experience of corruption and bribery in politics during the Roman Republic. Interpretably, the work has another thrust: the place of morality in politics. This article features how, particularly through characterization of Catiline, a politician's desire for supremacy is presented as borne out of his innate self-serving disposition and hardly any incline of morality, love of country or self-sacrifice. By profiling some of the associates of Catiline in his conspiracy, the paper also indicates how moral decay made ambition to excel for personal advancement supersede genuine interest in the good of the commonwealth. Attention is further drawn to how loyalty, duty discipline was eroded with the lure of luxury, women wine. The paper notes that the debauched Sallust's Catiline got recruits for his revolt, not only from among the embittered disadvantaged lowly citizens, but also from models of moral scourge which beset his society among the nobility. This paper concludes that Sallust, through Bellum Catalinae, depicts how a state can become endangered by politicians who are morally debased
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