Owó Ẹyọ
Cowrie as Information
01 / INHERITANCE
Begin with the context.
Cowries have operated across exchange, ornament and divination.
Place & variation
Yorùbá-speaking communities; language, performance and interpretation depend on local context.
02 / SYSTEM — EDITORIAL ANALYSIS
Communication & memory.
One material participates in several systems of value.
This is the archive’s reading of a structure or relationship, not a claim that the tradition was designed as a modern technology.
03 / FUTURE — INHERITED FUTURES SPECULATION
Could a single object move between exchange, memory and interpretation?
One medium carrying economic, symbolic and computational value.
An artistic proposition to explore. Historical documentation does not establish the technological analogy.
FOLLOW THE RESEARCH
Sources & context.
The linked sources distinguish collection evidence, research and contextual reading. They support the inheritance layer; the system and future layers are editorial interpretations.
- 01The Met — Shrine: House of the Head (Ile-Ori) ↗Museum collection / material evidence · Opens source
- 02The Bright Continent — Art and Divination ↗Academic teaching / context · Opens source
Research edition 01 · September 2026. A desk-research synthesis; not a practitioner-certified account. Some linked books and articles require library access. Read the evidence guide ↗
Follow another thread.
Editorial links connect shared themes, objects and practices. They do not make the records interchangeable.