The following postings are a transcript of students' explainations of their Yoruba ring project. Students were required to use Yoruba color aesthetics to design a ring which would reflect their own personalities. Students were also asked to compare the results of this activity to those of their preferential shapes assignment. Student postings have not been edited in any way.

The assignment:

Message no. 134: posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Thu Aug 31, 2000 12:34 Subject Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

You have created a ring using Yoruba color chromatics to portray aspects of your personality. Write a brief paragraph explaining how you made use of the Yoruba system of color chromatics, making sure to use Yoruba terminology. Explain how these color schemes portray various aspects of your self, and then compare/contrast the results of this project with those of the preferential shapes assignment. Were the results similar? Did you get a different picture of yourself with the shapes assignment than with the Yoruba ring?

Student postings

Message no. 138: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 19 on Thu Aug 31, 2000 19:08 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

Dudu or pupa? Hmmm...I pondered this carefully before selecting the beads for my Youruba bead project. Staring at the list of personality traits on the board, I came to the conclusion that my temper didn't rear its ugly head too often, so for the most part I believe that the dudu colors represented my personality well. However, under certain conditions I am VERY passionate and my temper reigns, so the pupa colors were my second dominant. Fun-fun colors, although some of my favorites, due to their implications were chosen last. In my opinion, this Yoruba ring is a much more accurate self expression than my preferential shapes project because of the symbolism and meaning in the Yoruba beads and colors.

Message no. 142: [Branch from no. 138] posted by student 5 on Mon Sep 04, 2000 10:20 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

When we did the Yoruba ring self portrait, I had a chance to evaluate myself. I used a lot of pupa because that's my personality. When I believe in something or do something, I do it passionately. I am also a very hot-tempered person. My next choice that described myself was dudu. I consider myself as a down-to-earth person. I am very practical. In my opinion, I am not at all fun-fun. I am not cool or aloof and for this reason I used less fun-fun.

Message no. 172: [Branch from no. 142] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:30 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait Are you not even a little fun-fun on occassion? As we shall see with China,Taoists would say we always have both the yin and the yang in us at all times. How did your ring differ from the perception of self in the shapes project?

Message no. 149: [Branch from no. 138] posted by student 4 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 08:06 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

When making my Yoruba ring, i decided that i was more of a dudu personality. I feel that i am very laid back and down to earth, therefore the colors black, brown an dark green were the colors that were most abundant. When trying to decide if i was pupa or fun-fun next, i went with the latter because I am more aloof that passionate. I prefer to stay out of a lot of situations and not care about a lot of things. So, the next largest amount of colors were fun-dun which are blues and whites. Lastly would be pupa, or fiery colors such as yellow, red and orange, which i had only a few of. Relating this back to the shapes project, my first shape choice was a spiral, telling me that I want to be very flexible and I like variety. I would attribute this to a dudu personality becausse it would be nore likely for a down-to-earth person to be calm and ready for change more easily than a warm tempered, passionate pupa or a cold tempered, aloof fun-fun. i really enjoyed this workshop and i like how it gave me new insight into my personality

Message no. 173: [Branch from no. 149] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:31 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait Okay; very good. I liked how you tied these two workshops together.

Message no. 293: [Branch from no. 149] posted by student 29 on Thu Oct 12, 2000 18:21 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

To be honest I had fun with this assignment, even though my rather thick fingers prevented me from placing the beads on the string. :) I am more funfun than anything else, but dudu at the core; still quite rooted. Most of my beads where cool blues and Ivory whites in a swirling pattern. towards the center of the ring I had black and other dudu colors. lining the outer edges were the reds and oranges, the yellows of the pupa. The placement of the beads was the key to understanding what I was trying to say about myself, fun and passionate pupa exposed to the world, yet changing to the more reflective funfun, followed at the very center by the down to earth and easy going dudu.

Message no. 171: [Branch from no. 138] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:28 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

Exactly what was more accurate? How exactly did the shapes project produce a less accurate picture? The Yoruba ring was a conscious portrait; the shapes project was more of an unconscious portrait. What were the differences?

Message no. 139: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 13 on Thu Aug 31, 2000 20:50 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

Today in class, we made rings using Yoruba beads. Although it was fairly east, I don't know if I could cover a whole chair or purse with beads like the Yorubans. I also wouldn't think of beads as having functions (to conceal/reveal), just colorful objects on a string. Although I chose mostly "fun fun" colors for my ring, I think I have lots of "pupa" in me. I chose "fun fun" because it is cool colors and means being aloof. I am a fairly private person. I like doing things by myself, so "fun fun" fit me well. "Pupa" would also have represented me. My favorite color is red. I get angry easily and I am very passionate about certain things. "Du du" might have described me too, though not as much. I am a down-to-earth person and even earthy. I like being outside. I think my Yoruba experience reflected my shape choices. My number one shape was the triangle which stands for goals and visions. When I have a goal, I intend on reaching it- by myself. I don't really want any outside help or opinions.

Message no. 174: [Branch from no. 139] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:32 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait I really enjoy reading these self-revelations. Thanks for a great description.

Message no. 159: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 28 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 12:41 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

The Yoruba assignment was just a confirmation of myself. I am from Europe, and I have southern European blood floating in my veins. I am predominantly a Pupa person. I am passionate, fiery, and emotional. I do have a cool and fun-fun aspect of my personality though, since i grew up in Sweden. People there have mostly fun-fun and dudu personality traits. Since i was raised there, those have certain impacts on my personality too. It was interesting to make this journey with the color personality traits. It was nice to get the "aha" feeling and understanding about this. Very fun indeed.

Message no. 175: [Branch from no. 159] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:34 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

Interesting description, and I am glad you liked the assignment. What I also wanted to see was some analysis of how the preferential shapes assignment and the Yoruba ring portrait complimented one another.

Message no. 164: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 3 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 23:56 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait

The Yoruba color bead project confirmed parts of my "psychological" makeup that I knew existed. I find myself torn between practicality (dudu) and calmness (funfun). My beads primarily consisted of blue, brown, green, and white. Oddly enough, earth tones and blues make up a majority of my wardrobe. I have felt for some time that these colors express who I am, and now makes more sense. This project closely mirrored the previous shapes profile for me: squares and circles.

Message no. 177: [Branch from no. 164] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:36 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait Good. Was there no fun-fun at all in your personal makeup?

Message no. 165: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 34 on Wed Sep 06, 2000 10:22 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait I had trouble deciding what trait best suited me. I like to consider myself a Fun-Fun type of guy but that isn't always the case. Sometimes (on those bad days) I'm more of a pupa person,My temper does get very firery. Then again I can have a very passive and practical attitude twards life. So I decided to make fun-fun my primary Yorupa pattern but also included Pupa and Du-Du in it as best I could. Over all I think my ring potraid my image very well.

Message no. 178: [Branch from no. 165] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 19:37 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait good, but I also wanted to see how this project differed in its portrait of you from the preferential shapes project.

Message no. 367: [Branch from no. 134] posted by student 32 on Sun Dec 03, 2000 16:50 Subject re: Assignment: Yoruba ring self portrait I have trace of all the yoruba color chromatics in my personilty. I used the "fun fun" colors because it represents my cool temper and by ability to get along with almost anybody. "pupa " would represent the passion I have for any type of sport and my competitive nature towards it. " du du" describes my down to eart level headed approach to most things it also my love for the outdoors.This project was vinformative and help in disecting my personality abling me to understand my self better.

Message no. 135: posted by student 18 on Thu Aug 31, 2000 13:04 Subject Yoruba bead project

When I did the project I put the " whitaftere" and "blue" beads in the middle to symbolize how I think my personality is. I believe that the fun fun beads best reflect how I believe my personality is. I think that I am cold-tempered and that I am cool about things. On each side of the big beads i put the pupu and dudu beads to suggest that my warmness and my sense of being down to earth are about the same. I also found that that when I did the prefential shape test that it also correctly reflected my way of thinking. I did not read the packet before I did the project, so I picked the shapes in the order of which ones I use the most and after I read the packet the interpretations seemed to be right.

Message no. 162: [Branch from no. 135] posted by student 25 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 21:56 Subject re: Yoruba bead project

I was unable to attend class on Thursday, but from reading the information from the online text, i conclude that i more than likely would have choosen the du du colors. Mainly because i like dark colors, especially black. Looking at the psychological types for these colors, I believethat down to earth, practical, and earthy describe me well. Well, much better than pupa and fun fun. If I had been in class, i'm sure i would have enjoyed the workshop. I hope my car is finally fixed now so I can make it into Milledgeville everyday for the rest of the semester. Dawn S

Message no. 430: [Branch from no. 135] posted by student 29 on Sat Dec 16, 2000 22:20 Subject re: Yoruba bead project

I had a time with my beads I must admit. In the end I focused mainly on my grounded nature, with darker earthy dudu colors. I surounded this with the bright colors of funfun, and the cool colors of pupa, this reflects how I see myself in that I am quite grounded yet contain a very fun and light side.

Message no. 136: posted by student 9 on Thu Aug 31, 2000 14:58 Subject Paige Segars Today as I was making my Yoruba ring

I had to think hard about my personality traits. I decided that I am more of a dudu person. I am very practical and I always weigh the outcomes of every decision I make before actually making a decision. Secondly, I consider myself to also have fun-fun qualities. I am not easy to anger and I would much rather just sit back and observe rather than being the one in the center of attention. I decided to make a color scheme on my ring that reflected all areas of my life. I started with pupa because I felt like that although I do posses some pupa characteristics it is my least noticable quality. I then went on to use fun-fun colors such as blue and white. I ended with dudu colors, such as black and brown, which represent the biggest part of my personality. I found that the Yoruba assignment can be both similar and different to the shapes assignment. My number one choice in shapes was the triangle. The triangle represents stability, goals, and dreams. I think that no matter what Yoruba trait best described you, it is possible that dudu, pupa, and fun-fun can be associated with any shape. It's all personal perferences. (I hope I am making some sense!!) Lastly, I thought both projects were very interesting and it took alot of analysis on everyones part! Have a great day!

Message no. 195: [Branch from no. 136] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:52 Subject re:

Yes, I do think dudu can relate to stability, and even to goals; when one is down to earth, often one is very practical about pursuing practical goals. i am curious, though, why you placed dudu last when you say it is the real you. Do you often try to bury the real you? Or put it behind others? Good job.

Message no. 137: posted by student 14 on Thu Aug 31, 2000 17:38 Subject Yoruba ring self portrait

First of all, I would like you to know that I have thoroughly enjoyed these two projects. I have really learned a lot about the meaning of different shapes and colors. After hearing and reading about the psychological and emotional relationship between the colors, I have determined that I am definitely one to be placed in the "pupa" category. I would describe myself as caring and passionate. I am also one to fall in love quite easily, and I care about many things, including my performance at work and at school, animals, the environment, and my loved ones. It was kind of neat to find that pupa colors are the fiery ones such as red since red happens to be my favorite color. "Fun fun" is the next most desciptive category for my personality because at times I can be rather cold towards certain people in particular situations. "Du du" is the category that I see in my the least. In general, I am not a very down-to-earth of earthy kind of person. These are the reasons why my ring consists mostly of "pupa" colors, including my main bead, with "fun fun" and then "du du" following. "Du du" are the colors which I placed on the bottom of my ring. I found that both of these exercises did an excellent job describing who I am. The shapes project told me that I am one who values the quality of relationships and likes specific meeting times, which are both true about me. This relates well to the Yoruba project because with the "pupa" category containing my favorite colors and describing me the best both projects basically said that I value relationship and am a caring person.

Message no. 196: [Branch from no. 137] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:54 Subject re: Yoruba ring self portrait

This is an excellent posting, and I think you have really tried to synthesize the portraits created in these two assignments. What shapes were the number 1 and 3 for you? Curious. (was 3 the equidistant cross?) Oh, and by the way, RED is MY favorite color too.

Message no. 140: posted by student 2 on Fri Sep 01, 2000 11:12 Subject

I enjoyed this activity very much. The dominant colors in my self-portrait ring were dudu because I am very down to earth. My second choice was pupa because at times my temper can get the best of me and I am very passionate about things that I love. The fun-fun colors were not me at all. If there is one thing that I am not, it is stand-offish. I did not find the preferential shape test to be completely accurate. I am getting married in June so I was shocked to find the cross at the bottom of the list. The triangle was number one, which is for the most part accurate considering I am at this school to strive toward and accomplish my goals.

Message no. 197: [Branch from no. 140] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:56 Subject re:

I think dudu and the traingle can go together. Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage; I wish you well. I'll bet the equidistant cross will become more important to you as you near that date and for many years thereafter.

Message no. 143: posted by student 20 on Mon Sep 04, 2000 20:16 Subject

I was looking at the board deciding what category of Yoruba colors my personality would go under and I realized that with my personality traits, pupa definitely fit me! I am a very hot-tempered person. Sometimes I just hold it in and ignore my flaring feelings, but a lot of times I just say what I feel. I figure there is really no harm in saying what you want to say. Also, I am a passionate person when it comes to many aspects of my life. My second choice as a Yoruba chromatic was dudu. I am usually pretty practical and a mostly down-to-earth person. My third choice was fun-fun. Although the colors that fit under that category were my favorite, my personality definitley did not fit into this category. I mean, I am a pretty cool person, but I am not aloof at all and my temper is definitely not very mild. Comparing this to the preferential shapes assignment, they definitely reflect each other. I chose the triangle as my first choice, which shows that I THINK that I am a stable person... just as I chose the dudu as my second choice of colors. The dudu colors reflect the stability and practicalness of my life that I wish I had more of! Looking at these two assignments and comparing them really helps me to see more about my personality.

Message no. 194: [Branch from no. 143] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:50 Subject re:

You have really gone pretty deeply into some aspects of yourself here; I enjoyed reading it. About the triangle, if in position 1, it reflects where you think you are (as you say); whereas, here dudu is in position two. Also, what do you make of the fact that fun-fun are your favorite colors but do not reflect your persona? just curious. on another note, sometimes it can hurt to just say what you feel. One can get onesself and others in trouble that way. I, too, have always valued honesty and direct communication, but others....do not always like brutal honesty!

Message no. 144: posted by student 31 on Mon Sep 04, 2000 20:25 Subject

I believe the ring I created is an accurate portrayal of me. Pupa was placed on the under side of my ring, dudu was on the sides and the top and large bead were fun-fun. Fun-fun was not on top because I feel it is my most predominant self, but because it's the side of myself that I most want people to see. While I am cold-tempered I only act aloof and as if I don't care. My tendancy to be calm and patient makes me more fun-fun than pupa. More than anything else I would say dudu represents me best. I am the most practical and down to earth of all my friends. Dudu was placed on the sides because I believe it is who I truley am but not always how I present myself as being. Pupa was placed on the bottom because I am not hot-tempered and I frequently find myself trying to hide the pupa aspects of my personality.

Message no. 193: [Branch from no. 144] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:45 Subject re:

This is in many ways a very perceptive analysis of yourself. I really like your awareness of faces you manifest to others as opposed to what you feel you really are! I wonder, though, how this portrait of yourself compares to the one produced by the preferential shapes project?

Message no. 145: posted by student 30 on Mon Sep 04, 2000 20:51 Subject Yoruba Bead Ring

Hi there. My ring included all of the Yoruba colors. It included mostly dudu because I think I am a more practical person overall. However I also included more funfun on my ring because my personality includes both dudu and funfun equally. I thought the project was very helpful in understanding the Yoruba culture. The project also was a fun addition to the class. MAking the ring out of beads was a first experience for me and I thought it was wonderfull.

Message no. 192: [Branch from no. 145] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:43 Subject re: Yoruba Bead Ring Glad you liked it! I wonder, though, how this assignment compares to the results you got in the preferential shapes assignment. Did you get a similar picture of yourself or a different one?

Message no. 146: posted by student 10 on Mon Sep 04, 2000 22:03 Subject Yoruba Bead Making

I really enjoyed Dr. Farrar's lecture on Yoruba bead making. My ring was dominantly pupa colors with a little fun-fun on the sides and dudu on the bottom. I think of myself as passionate, but sometimes I can easily become hot-tempered. Pupa definitely describes my personality. The ring and beads are circular which symbolizes the Yoruba culture as being complete and united. Constructing my Yoruba psychological "self portrait" ring was fun and interesting. Jennifer Wright

Message no. 191: [Branch from no. 146] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:42 Subject re: Yoruba Bead Making Very nice reflection on the Yoruba colors and the shape of the ring. I wonder, though, how this assignment compares to the results of your preferential shapes assignment? Did you get similar results or a different picture of your self?

Message no. 148: posted by student 21 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 00:13 Subject Responce to Yoruba ring

According to the Yoruba ring, I am best represented by dudu, which is used with the color black, meaning down to earth and practical. I chose this one because I am not really cold or hot-tempered. In the shapes project, I represented myself by using the circle, which means wholeness and being self-sufficient. The Yoruba ring and the preferential shapes are similiar to me because I can rely on myself and I do not need attention or help from others to accomplish goals.

Message no. 190: [Branch from no. 148] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:41 Subject re: Responce to Yoruba ring

I really like the way you tried to synthesize these two assignments. I think there are definitely some similarities in the outcome in your case. Nice posting.

Message no. 151: posted by student 22 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 08:35 Subject

The interactive course on Yoruba culture made me look at colors and symbolism in a new manner. Ever since I was young I have organized crayons according to the rainbow. While studying the Yoruba culture and religion I came to appreciate their beliefs in the three categories of color. My personality is usually very strong willed and I am almost always passionate with everything I do. From this observation I assumed that I fell into the Pupa category. When I returned to my dorm room I looked around to see if the colors that I thouhg tmatched were in my every day life. Sure enough, I looked around and saw lots of red and yallow. Every wall in my room back home is yellow and my bed is red. Pupa is definitely my dominant trait. Now I look at colors in a totally new way. The color chromatics of the Yoruba culture is applicable in my life. Also in our class in our study of lines, shapes, and color I seen my personality develop, or at least I understand more. When doing my mobile I did not look ahead to the packet and I looked through art work I had already done to rank my shapes. After completing the assignment my room mate and I found it so interesting to see how well the descriptions fit into myt life. I have enjoyed seeing my personaltiy critiqed in many ways. Through these units I believe that I eill be able to look at my gifts and my weaknesses and then be able to grow. Knowing your weakness makes you more capable of dealing with it.

Message no. 189: [Branch from no. 151] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:40 Subject re:

I am so glad you are finding this material intersting. I love your last remark. Yes, only by knowing ourselves can we truly grow. I hope this course helps you to achieve some growth in self-knowledge, and I look forward to reading about that. I wonder how your shapes matched the colors -- specifically? Was the spiral your favorite shape? or the triangle? Just guessing.

Message no. 152: posted by student 12 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 09:10 Subject Yoruba art I would like to thank Dr. Farr for comming to our class and teaching us about the Yoruba tribe. It was nice to learn about such an interesting culture. The bead project we did was fun as well as informative. Trying to define my personality as "fun-fun, pupu, or dudu" was interesting. In the end I determined I was mainly dudu with lots of pupa and a little fun-fun mixed in.

Message no. 153: posted by student 24 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 09:21 Subject Yoruba color chromatics

the main bead is my ring was pupa. i choose this because i thought that being both hot-tempered and passionate this color described me best. i also used both fun-fun and dudu in my ring. my main shape was the spiral which means that i am focusing on growth and change right now. i definatly believe that to be true. i think that there is definatly a relationship between the color in my ring and the shape that i choose. i'm very passionate about things and growing is definatly one of the things that i'm passionate about.

Message no. 188: [Branch from no. 153] posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sun Sep 10, 2000 21:37 Subject re: Yoruba color chromatics

Good! I really like how you tried to compare/contrast the two portraits of yourself in these two assignments. It is interesting, isn't it, that they match up? I wonder how your view of yourself will change throughout the semester, and will sure look forward to reading about that.

Message no. 154: posted by student 23 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 09:36 Subject Yoruba Universe

I thought the lecture and project on Bead,Body, and light in the Yoruba universe was great. My self-portrait ring told that my personalitiy was that of dudu.I'm dudu because I am very laidback and a down to earth kind of guy.My secondary colorwas fun-fun because sometimes i feel I portay that coor in my personalitiy. Pupa was the color was least like me. Although I am passionate about something. I also enjoyed our project on preferential shapes and color. The preferential shapes that i chose did not comply with the test.

Message no. 155: posted by student 6 on Tue Sep 05, 2000 10:01 Subject My Yoruba bead

According to the Yoruba, the bead that best represents me is the dudu bead. Its colors are black, brown, and dark green, that describes a personality that is down to earth and practical. I see myself as a very rational person who tends to analize every situation before making decisions. And I tend to put stabilty (the square) before growth and change (the spiral) and my goals and dreams (the triangle). I find I need a sense of wholeness (the circle) and stability in my life and I find myself strongly rooted t

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