In this episode, I reflect on my recent trip to Lagos and my visit to the John Randle Yoruba Museum, a space dedicated to Yoruba history and heritage, yet one that left me with a pressing linguistic question:
Where is the Yoruba language?
As a Lawyer who loves African languages , I went in expecting to see Yoruba not only represented culturally and spiritually, but also recognised as a living, complex linguistic system, one that carries history, identity, memory, and its global influence, including its role in shaping Afro-Creole languages across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Instead, I was struck by what felt like a quiet absence.
From the tonal richness of Yoruba, to its deep connection with musical speech and the Dùndún (talking drum) where language is encoded into sound and rhythm and the linguistic dimension of Yoruba felt under-centred in the storytelling of the museum.
I also reflect on another moment that stayed with me: the framing of Nigerian Pidgin as “broken English.” For many speakers and linguists, this raises deeper questions about how language is classified, valued, and represented in institutional spaces.
This episode is not just about critique but it’s also about asking broader questions:
How do we curate African heritage without excluding African languages?
And what gets lost when language is treated as secondary to culture?
Join me as I unpack language, representation, and what I noticed in Lagos.
