Paper short abstract:

This paper approach personhood through the lens of Fuji music to show the nuances which reflects individual desires as well as shared social expectations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper revisits the debate on personhood as derived from earlier works on Yoruba's notion of being human - eniyan in the contemporary Yoruba society. This is approached through the lens of Fuji music, a contemporary popular music in southwestern Nigeria to show the nuances which reflects individual desires as well as shared social expectations. In this sense, Fuji music transcends the sphere of entertainment to become a tool of self-actualization experienced as part of everyday realities. This paper demonstrates how creative works could be read beyond their representational meanings to map complex connections especially the notion of self -projections and performance against the backdrop of socio dynamics of politics, economics, and religion. To this end, the paper draws on Delueze and Guattari's concept of rhizome explained as ceaseless establishment of "connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to arts, sciences and social struggle (1987:7). The paper draws on interviews and participants observations materials gathered from ongoing ethnographic research in the urban cities of southwest Nigeria.