AN INTEGRATIVE NOTION OF PUNISHMENT IN TRADITIONAL YORUBA CULTURE

ABSTRACT

 

A challenge confronting the study of punishment in contemporary society is the  justification of the institution concerned with the deliberate infliction of suffering on an offender.   Most of these justifications have been anchored on either of two competing theories, namely the  utilitarian and retributivist theories of punishment to the neglect of integrative notion of  punishment found among the Yoruba. However, these theories fail to account for some elements  necessary for an adequate conception of punishment such as proportional gravitation of  punishment and the aversion to punishing the innocent. This study, therefore, examined the  notion of punishment within the Yoruba culture, which reconciles the physical and non-physical  aspects of human existence, in order to arrive at an integrative notion of punishment.

The study adopted the hermeneutic theories of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jurgen  Habermas. Gadamer evolves an interpretive understanding based on the role of tradition and  language, while Habermas’ notion of praxis and constitutive interests provides the basis for  understanding the constitutive interests and social class structure which determines who  exercises what responsibilities in any society. These views thus provide the basis for  understanding the dimensions of punishment in Yoruba culture. It also employed the conceptual,  critical and constructive methods of philosophy. Data were collected from archival and library  materials and subjected to content analysis.

The integrative notion of punishment in Yoruba culture goes beyond the discussion of the  idea of punishment in western penology within the framework of the utilitarian-retributive  debate. It provides for a coherent interconnection among social structure, law and belief system  towards the certitude and trust making for harmonious human well- being. Nevertheless, the  offender is restitutively reconciled to himself, the victim and the community at large. This  underscores the saying that ìka tí ó se ni oba ń gé  (It is the finger which offends that the king  cuts) to buttress the judicious imposition of punishment on the offender as a means of  establishing responsibility for human actions rather than disproportional gravitation of  punishment which may degenerate into further antagonism and animosity. Besides, the notion  constructively addresses the dispensing of justice in the quickest manner possible against the  formal and cold procedural nature of justice.  Also, the Yoruba saying bi a ba fi owo òtún na  omo eni, a fi t’òsì  fà à móra (when a man beats his child with his right hand, he should draw him  to himself with his left) advances a creative and flexible human activity, whereby human beings  are amenable to change and deserve integration into the community, though the social relations  might have been breached because the crime still remains in people’s memories.

The achievement of social order is enhanced by the integrative notion of punishment in  Yoruba culture. Therefore, it is recommended that this approach should be incorporated into the  adjudicatory system in contemporary penal practice.

AN INTEGRATIVE NOTION OF PUNISHMENT IN TRADITIONAL YORUBA CULTURE

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