Creativity, Distortion versus Authenticity: Contemporary Ifá Creation on Social Media, a Case Study of Odù Ogbè Ganu

Abstract

Ifá is regarded in Yorùbá thought as the sacred word of Olódùmarè (the Supreme Being), transmitted through the divinatory wisdom of Òrúnmìlà (a divinity) to guide human destiny and cosmology. Ifá is preserved through oral transmission by initiated priests known as Babaláwo. It is a system built upon corpus of 256 Odù (chapters) with each containing ẹsẹ (verses) that encode spiritual, philosophical, and moral guidance. However, in the digital era, the migration of Ifá practices to social media has given rise to new expressions, some authentic, others distorted or satirical. This paper examines one such example: the viral emergence of “Ogbè Ganu,” a fabricated Odù invented in response to a speech by a Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde during his mother’s funeral, where he used the expression “ganu sí” (to attend and eat at a gathering uninvited). This moment triggered a wave of satirical Ifá-like verses across TikTok and Facebook, produced by content creators to mock Islamic clerics. Using a hybrid methodology of combining netnography and ethnographic interviews, twenty initiated Babaláwo were interviewed to investigate the blurred boundaries among satire, innovation, misrepresentation and authenticity in digital spaces. It highlights how fabricated verses can gain traction as spiritual truth and potentially mislead people with little or no knowledge audiences, particularly younger adherents. The study established how social media can accelerate the reinterpretation of sacred texts, sometimes undermining their epistemological integrity. This calls for critical engagement with online Ifá content creators and proposes scholarly and cultural strategies to safeguard Yorùbá Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

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