ABSTRACT
Metaphysical space is the highest analytical level in the sense of being the most comprehensive and abstract, both prescribing the ordering of social and physical space and legitimating it. The Yoruba case shows a particularly clear example of structural homologies between levels: its cosmology or religious world view, its social relations, its layouts of cities and family compounds. At each level, the pattern is repeated with the place of highest authority and importance at the centre. In relation to women’s menstruation, a male informant said, ‘The monthly period can spoil good medicine. No strong warrior would ever spend the whole night until daybreak with a woman. Women are anti-strength.’ It is often said in Yorubaland that a man’s wealth is measured by the number of his children. It allows them strategies not only to improve their economic activities but to select a man for marriage and to divorce freely if difficulties come and alternatives arise.
