This chapter beams the light on the artistry achievements of Africans and signifies their “flourishing culture.” The major aspect of artistry being celebrated is sculptures. From this chapter, one is able to deduce that the carvings are such that “Yoruba history and culture can be perceived, interpreted and understood” through them. They manifest in many forms (materially), such as bronze, clay, stone, and wood, all of whom were discussed to fully understand and appreciate the creativity inherent in the African culture before and after colonialism. With several references to specific sculptural works and pictorial evidence, mostly from his personal collection, the author describes how Yoruba sculptors (Gbenagbena or Gbegilere) translate and manipulate natural elements and past-but-relevant happenings into artistic objects. Also discussed is the measure of a sculptor’s worth, which cannot be defined by Western currency but by the level of creativity and beauty apparent in his artwork, some of which depict African cultural ideas, principles, and attributes, such as Omoluabi, Iwapele, Didan, and Idogba. The chapter extensively discusses the importance sculptors place on the head, and also defends African sculptures against Western criticism.

This is an exploration to understand and appreciate another aspect of Yoruba art – the textile – through an interrogation of textiles “as an intelligence” with corroborative references to other scholars. Given that Yoruba textiles are adorned till date, most importantly in their rich varieties, the chapter is filled with enough material evidence to sustain a debate aimed at establishing the beauty and creativity inherent in African culture through the textiles. In this chapter, the “readability” and “intelligibility” of Yoruba textiles is established, with its peculiarity seen as an ambassador of the Yoruba culture. In addition, the importance of textile as a craft, which, by virtue of the peculiarity of its making, portrays the Yoruba art and provides a history of textiles in Africa, is drawn on. Historically too, the chapter shows that Yoruba textiles also contribute to premises that counter the Western assumption that Africa is backward.

Key Learning Points

1. 1. Precise estimates of post-operative mortality and morbidity are difficult to obtain and both are recognised to vary greatly, depending on a patient’s pre-operative functional status, the type and urgency of surgery and whether or not post-operative complications occur.

2. 2. Risk scores apply a weighting to each factor, usually representing a component value for the score, with the resultant score corresponding with predicted risk.

3. 3. Prognostic indicators may include population-based risk scores, individualised risk prediction models, objective functional capacity assessment and biomarkers.

4. 4. Model discrimination describes how well a model discriminates between high- and low-risk patients, and is measured using a receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) to calculate the area under the curve (AUC).

5. 5. Technically, risk assessment tools are only valid for the specific patient population for whom the tool has been developed and on whom it has been tested.

King Asa in 2 Chr 16 suffers from a foot ailment, which is framed by the specific trait of self-reliance and his disrespect for prophets and the people. The Chronicler uses the king’s foot disease to underscore Asa’s character flaw of self-reliance. Even when his illness is severe, Asa does not turn to Yahweh, but relies on the physicians (2 Chr 16:12b). This interpretation of Asa’s illness is not only integrated into the overall trajectory of Asa’s reign as envisioned by the Chronicler, but also introduces a hitherto unmentioned group of health care professional, namely the physicians (רופאים). This chapter will first give an overview of Asa’s reign both in Kings and Chronicles. Then, I will analyze the role of the physicians. It is shown that Asa’s mistake, according to the Chronicler, consists of turning to physicians alone when he should also have consulted with priests and prophets.