UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Book outlines Yoruba proverb use
Walking across the sun-soaked UCLA campus in 1964, Oyekan Owomoyela longed for his homeland of Nigeria.
A member of the Yoruba people - a culture of more than 25 million living in the southwest corner of the west-African nation - Owomoyela came to the United States to study acting. And, while distance separated him from homeland, Owomoyela's culture-rich upbringing shaped his career.
"When I first came to UCLA I started collecting the proverbs," said Owomoyela, a professor of English at UNL.
"At first, it was a modest collection. But I was feeling nostalgic and it became a way for me to stay in touch with my home."
Collaborating with a colleague at UCLA in 1973, Owomoyela published a book of about 150 of the metaphors on Yoruba life.