The city of Ibadan is at once Nigeria’s traditional Yoruba center and home to the country’s first skyscraper, first sports stadium, first television station and first university.
It was also home to lecturer Moses Adegbola, who teaches elementary Yoruba this quarter. Adegbola attended and taught at the university before coming to the United States.
Yoruba is a tonal language, in which the meaning depends on the pitch of the syllables. It is spoken in countries in West Africa including Nigeria, Republic of Benin and parts of Togo, as well as Brazil and Cuba, where Yoruba people were once sold as slaves.
In the U.S., there are Yoruba communities in Ohio, Atlanta, Georgia and South Carolina. These communities live in the Yoruba tradition and practice the Yoruba religion of Ifa.
Before immigrating to the U.S., Adegbola taught sociology concerning population issues at the University of Ibadan.
Adegbola said he did not plan on teaching Yoruba at UCLA.
“That’s one of the incredible things about the United States: the openness,” Adegbola said.
As a new immigrant to the U.S., Adegbola sought to get back into the academic world and found it challenging. Eventually, he saw an advertisement through an employment agency for the position at UCLA.
“So I applied, and I was interviewed by Dr. Katrina Thompson, and I was offered the position. That’s how I found myself teaching Yoruba,” he said.
Adegbola grew up speaking both English and Yoruba. His parents knew the value of the indigenous language and used it at home. Yoruba was also one of the subjects taught at school.
Fortunately, Adegbola also had an uncle who took the time to teach him Yoruba more extensively.
“My uncle … taught me the “˜abd,’ taught me how to read Yoruba, and I was only 7 years old then,” Adegbola said. “And since then, I’ve had an interest in the Yoruba.”