The 1977 Festival of African Culture and Ifa Representation

Record summary

FESTAC ’77 in Lagos brought together African and diasporic artists, intellectuals, ritual specialists, and cultural delegations. Yoruba religious heritage, including forms of Ifa-related knowledge and performance, appeared within the festival’s broader presentation of African culture, though the event was not an occult investigation. It matters for comparison because state-sponsored cultural display can transform esoteric practice into heritage, spectacle, or diplomacy. Researchers should establish which Ifa performances, exhibits, or delegations were actually documented rather than assuming every Yoruba religious reference at FESTAC represented initiated ritual.