INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE
The learning activities in this module align most directly with California state standards in visual arts and English language arts, grades 6-12. There may be other standards that align, as well. These activities are intended to be used as a standalone interdisciplinary unit, or they can be modified as needed and integrated into existing units. While most of the activities have historical significance, the current California learning standards in History-Social Studies are insufficient to make appropriate alignments. More information on California state learning standards is available below.
Iya Nedra T. Williams
(Ohen Imene Nosokpikan)
Iya Nedra. Ohen Imene. Iya means ‘mother’ and ‘priestess’ in the Yoruba language, and Ohen means ‘priestess’ in the Edo language. Radiant and regal. Fiercely and explicitly feminine. Educator and elder. Enthralled by her stories and unyielding grace, speaking with Iya Nedra feels like savoring a homemade syrup of lemon and honey, with just a touch of added ginger, for warmth.
Iya Nedra (left) and Dr. Kahdeidra Monet Martin (right)
photo credit: ShakaJamal Redmond
A lifelong Oakland resident who was born in Berkeley, for more than 70 years, Iya Nedra has vibrated with the pulse of her community—wiping its beaded brows and tear-streaked cheeks, dancing and singing to its drums and sorrow songs, assembling its life snapshots into multimedia collages and paintings that adorn galleries and homes worldwide, and, of course, the walls of her temple.
In her life history interview, Iya Nedra describes her upbringing in Oakland, attending Fisk University and Boston College to study philosophy, initiating into the Cuban Lucumi tradition and then meeting her spiritual father in the Edo tradition of Nigeria to become a priestess of the òrìá¹£à named Olokun. We also hear about her influences and motivations as a visual artist and how she integrates sacred drawings of African deities, “goddess geometry,” and the òrìá¹£à named Èá¹£ù into her work. You can watch or listen to the interview below.
In our follow-up artistic expression interview, Iya Nedra gave me a tour of Ihen N’Uri temple in Oakland. We strolled from upstairs to downstairs in her beautiful home gallery, examining the art and connecting themes among them: divine feminine, the black and white series, her multiple self-portaits over time. She showed me the ancestral and orisha shrines in her backyard garden. She taught me about the uses of different herbs and trees. Her spiritual godson, Mr. ShakaJamal Redmond, filmed the encounter, and you can view a short YouTube clip of our discussing a piece entitled “Black Sound.”
Black Education in Oakland
Keywords: Social Studies, U.S. History, African American Studies, Black Education, Fugitive Pedagogy
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Audience: Middle School, High School, College
The daughter of educators, in the following clip, Iya Nedra shares how her mother shaped her education as a Black child in Oakland public schools, ensuring that she received Black studies at home before there was an official Black History Month.
Reflection Questions
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1. Iya Nedra describes how her mother ensured that she attended a second school after she came home. Do you have a similar experience of your parents teaching you about your culture after school or on weekends? Or, did you attend a cultural, religious, or language school in addition to your regular school day? What effect did this experience have on you? What connections can you make with Iya Nedra’s experience?
2. ​Dr. Jarvis Givens, Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, researches what he calls ‘fugitive pedagogy,’ the covert education of Black children for the purpose of liberation, starting from the times of slavery when it was illegal to educate enslaved Africans in the United States. Read more about Dr. Givens and his theory of fugitive pedagogy in this 2022 article in Harvard Magazine. Are the lessons that Iya Nedra describes with her mother a kind of fugitive pedagogy? Explain.
Discussing "Black Sound"
Keywords: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual Art, U.S. History, African American Studies, Linguistics, Ebonics, African American Language
Audience: Middle School, High School, College
In this clip of a longer interview, Iya Nedra and I discuss her mixed media collage entitled “Black Sound.”
Reflection Questions
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1. Iya Nedra states that the baobab tree is sacred in her tradition, which is the traditional religion of the Yoruba and Edo people of Nigeria, known as Iá¹£eá¹£e. What do you know about the baobab tree?
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a. Is the baobab tree sacred to you or people in your culture? In what ways? Is there another tree in your cultural or spiritual tradition that is honored, either for its physical or symbolic attributes?
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b. Have you ever used parts of the baobab tree for medicine or food? Explain.
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c. Learn more about secular, or non-religious, uses of the baobab tree from Wikipedia.
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d. Watch this video about the baobab tree on YouTube.
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2. Known as ‘African American Language,’ ‘African American Vernacular English,’ ‘Ebonics,’ and more, the African-derived language spoken by many Black Americans as their home language is widely prevalent in U.S. culture. Review The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online, and learn more about the history and linguistic features of African American English.
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a. Can you match the linguistic descriptions of African American English presented here with the ones that Iya Nedra and Manbo Kahdeidra identify in “Black Sound”?
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b. (For African American English Speakers) Which of these features do you use? Which ones are used in your community? Create a chart or other visual inventory of common African American English features used in your home and community.
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3. In “Black Sound,” Iya Nedra explores the resilience of Black Americans and their language through historical violence in the United States. There are many examples of Black language used as resistance and activism–in music, literature, social media, politics, and everywhere. What are some of YOUR favorite examples of Black language used for social and political resistance? Record your responses on this Padlet, and join in the discussion. Padlet accepts a variety of responses, including text, links, images, video, and more.
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4. (For college students and adults) Iya Nedra references the “That's A Negative” sketch from "A Black Lady Sketch Show." Watch the full sketch on YouTube, and answer the following questions:
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a. Besides the double negative, what other features of African American Language do you notice characters use in the sketch? Refer to The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online or other peer-reviewed resources on African American Language to help you.
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b. How does the storyline subvert or uphold negative perceptions of African American Language and culture? Use evidence from the dialogue, characterizations, and visual imagery to support your claim.
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c. Did you laugh at all while viewing the sketch? You can be honest. Whether you found it funny or not, research shows that the writers were relying on specific strategies to elicit humor. Read this article by Tibi Puiu (2023) on what makes things funny, published in ZME Science magazine. What kinds of strategies discussed in the article did the writers use to elicit laughter? In your opinion, to what extent were they effective?
Discussing “Irosun Meji”
Keywords: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual Art, African Traditional Religion, African American Studies, Ifa
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Audience: Middle School, High School, College
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In this clip, Iya Nedra explains the symbolism in her collage entitled “Irosun Meji,” which is also the name of an odu, a sacred text in the Ifa divination system.
Reflection Questions
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1. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In 2005, UNESCO declared the Ifa divination system to be an “intangible cultural heritage” of humanity. Learn more about the system here. What factors threatened knowledge of Ifa divination in the past, and what factors continue in the present? What social and political factors helped it to spread across the world? What evidence do you see of its growth and preservation?
a. Read this article from June 2023 about US $973,000 granted to nine countries from UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. Which countries were granted aid? Describe three out of the nine preservation projects that are the most interesting to you.
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2. Iya Nedra states that the odu Irosun Meji is associated with the proverb, “No one knows the secrets at the bottom of the ocean.” This proverb, in turn, refers to the deep seas, which is the domain of Olokun. You can see a still image snapshot of “Irosun Meji” here at “The Black Woman is God” project website.
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a. What do you think this proverb means? Does it remind you of any other proverbs that you know? How might you apply it to situations in your own life?
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b. What do you notice in the collage? Does anything stand out to you? Are you surprised by anything that you see or that Iya Nedra says in explaining the collage? If you could, what questions would you ask her about it?
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3. Learn more about the òrìá¹£à Olokun on Wikipedia. Did you learn anything new about this òrìá¹£à? Can you make any connections to other deities or spirits of the ocean that you may have learned about? What are the differences and similarities between them?
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4. What does Iya Nedra say about the representation of women and femininity in her collage? What roles do they play in the bottom of the sea? What are they carrying, and what do these things symbolize? What theme, or message, about gender and spirituality is Iya Nedra expressing in her work?
CA STATE LEARNING STANDARDS
all icons are details from Iya Nedra's "IROSUN MEJI"
Visual Arts.
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6. VA: Cn11
Analyze how art reflects changing times, traditions, resources, and cultural uses.
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Prof. VA: Cn11
Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art.
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7. VA: Cn11
Analyze how response to art is influenced by understanding the time and place in which it was created, the available resources, and cultural uses.
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Acc. VA: Cn11
Compare uses of art in a variety of societal, cultural, and historical contexts and make connections to uses of art in contemporary, local, and global contexts.
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8. VA: Cn11
Distinguish different ways art is used to represent, establish, reinforce, and reflect group identity.
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Adv. VA: Cn11
Assess the impact of an artist or a group of artists on the beliefs, values, and behaviors of a society.
English Language Arts.
L.6.3 (grade 6)
English Language Arts (6–12)
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style. Maintain consistency in style and tone.
WHST.6-8.4 (grades 6-8)
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects (6–12)
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
L.11-12.3 (grades 11-12)
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. a. Vary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte’s Artful Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts when reading.
RI.11-12.6 (grades 11-12)
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
L.9-10.3 (grades 9-10)
English Language Arts (6–12)
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. a. Write and edit work so that it conforms to the guidelines in a style manual (e.g., MLA Handbook, Turabian’s Manual for Writers) appropriate for the discipline and writing type.