Oguega Poems as Repository of Esan (Edo) Indigenous Knowledge in Nigeria
Oguega Poems as Repository of Esan (Edo) Indigenous Knowledge in Nigeria

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores how Oguega poems serve not only as spiritual tools for divination but also as oral archives preserving the community’s cosmology, moral philosophies, ecological wisdom, and social values. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Esan (Edo) community, and textual analysis, the paper sightsees the thematic structures, symbolic language, and ritual contexts of Oguega performances. It unveils that, Oguega poetic expressions encode complex systems of knowledge relating to health, governance, conflict resolution, environmental stewardship, and other sociopolitical wisdom passed down from across generations. The paper posits that Oguega poems constitute an enduring medium through which the Esan (Edo) people negotiate identity, transmit ancestral wisdom, and adapt to socio-cultural change.

• Details
• Contents