Ayodeji Ogunnaike
Assistant Professor of African Religions.
B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Harvard)
African indigenous/traditional religions, Islam in Africa, Christianity in Africa, Afro-diasporic religions, African mythology, comparative religion, history of religion.
Professor Ogunnaike teaches interdisciplinary courses on Africa and the African Diaspora that center around the important role religion plays in these communities. His research focusses mostly on Yoruba oriṣa worship in Nigeria, but also addresses Islam in Africa, Christianity in Africa, and diaspora religions—Brazilian Candomblé in particular.
Having studied Ifa divination with a high priest and diviner in Nigeria, he has a keen interest in indigenous African intellectual traditions and mythology. His current book project, How Worship Becomes Religion (forthcoming with Duke university Press), analyzes how the worship of traditional Yoruba deities originally differed greatly from Western notions of “religion” but eventually became the most widespread and celebrated indigenous African religion through contact with modernity and mission Christianity. He is also currently working the first major anthology of Yoruba mythology with his brother, Professor Oludamini Ogunnaike and has been developing and curating an online library of Ifa orature.
- “Ifa and Traditional Yoruba Interpretations of Christianity” in Topographies of African Spirituality: Essays in Honour of Professor Jacob Olupona (Routledge, 2024).
- "The Transcontinental Genealogy of the Afro-Brazilian Mosque" Essay, MAVCOR Journal 6, no. 2 (2022): 1-52.
- “Why Are Indigenous African and Afro-Diasporic Religions Relevant to You?” in Indigenous Religious Traditions in 5 Minutes eds. Molly Bassett and Natalie Avalos (Sheffield, UK: Equinnox, 2022).
- “What’s Really Behind the Mask?: A re-examination of Syncretism in Brazilian Candomblé” Journal of Africana Religions (2020): 146-171.
- Oyinbo Ọmọ Aṣogun Dere: An analysis of racial injustice, gun violence, and sexual assault, in America through a traditional Yoruba perspective.” Journal of Interreligious Studies (2018): 103-26.
- “Mamalawo?: The Controversy over Women Practicing Ifa Divination” Journal of the African Association for the Study of Religion (2018): 15-34.