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Paper short abstract:

The dividuation theory pivoted on prevailing Western experiences of the bio(techno)logical and socio(techno)logical elements as determinants of the ‘dividual’, is applied to Isale-Oyo, an indigenous African community. Results show that the elements of dividuation at Isale-Oyo, tangle the visible, invisible, and spiritual.

Paper long abstract:

Dividuation theorizes that the determinants of the self in our ‘becoming world’ are manifests of the bio(techno)logical and socio(techno)logical elements within our world. Such elements include the visible and the invisible and the several advertent and inadvertent biological non-human others that we co-exist with. In its conception, the theory considers that the billions of microorganisms and socio(tehno)logical elements in our world, shape (dividuate) us, rather than, as we imagined, that we shape ourselves. The dividuation theory, in its conception, was although, based on the cultures and prevailing experiences of the West, the present endeavor employs the ethnographic research method in applying the theory to Isale-Oyo, an indigenous African community in South Western Nigeria. The paper gathers the Isale-Oyo people’s perception of the cosmos and identifies the elements of dividuation within their cosmos. In its findings, the paper identifies unique elements of dividuation outside the initial conception of the theory. The peculiarities of Isale-Oyo, as an indigenous Yoruba community to which the theory is applied, led to the revelation of unique elements of dividuation. The observed elements tangle the visible, invisible, and by extension, with the spiritual. The paper also identifies, various art forms found within Isale-Oyo as material evidence corroborating the physical and spiritual conceptual elements of dividuation as conceived by the Isale-Oyo people.