Suicide in Yoruba culture

Resumo

The main focus of this paper is the various connotations of suicide among the Yoruba in the pre-colonial era. In this exercise, my working hypothesis is Farberow's definition of the word suicide as 'self-initiated and self-inflicted murder'. My interest in the subject emanates from my study (for doctoral dissertation) of the culture history of the Yoruba in pre-colonial times undertaken between 1974 and 1977. Thus, as a historian, my main concern in this paper is not the scientific or philosophical, clinical or psychological aspects of suicide but the conventional attitudes of the Yoruba to the subject.