Exu's silence in black(s) diasporic(s) culture(s): a story of resistance of its language

Abstract

The present study is based on the epistemologies of the crossroads, domain of Exu [Eshu or Èṣù], lord of languages, cosmological principle and communication principle according to Yoruba traditions both in Africa and in its diaspora. Its central objective is to reflect on Exu’s silence as a language of resistance and as a means of its multiplication in black diasporic cultures. It is from such epistemologies that Exu is conceived as a cosmological principle and animator of the existence of beings and the cosmos. Yoruba traditions are constituted by such epistemologies. It was the Yoruba who brought them to these other shores of the South Atlantic, where Exu multiplied, constituting other modes and meanings. This is the reason why there was an interest in reflecting on the dispersion of this deity in the lands located on the other shores of the South Atlantic. In synthesis, this is a decolonial study that seeks to listen to the silence imposed on people subjugated by European colonialism.