Ethnic Style and Ethnic Boundaries: A Diachronic Case Study from West-Central Ghana

Abstract

This article calls into question the essentialist assumption that often underlies our use of contemporary ethnic labels in structuring discussions of the historical dimension in anthropology. Drawing on historical documentation and oral traditions, it explores variation in the content of ethnic style and the permeability of ethnic boundaries for an ethnolinguistically complex area of west-central Ghana. It concludes that meaningful discussion of the temporal dimension hinges on our ability to overcome uniformitarian assumptions linking ethnic labels and style and to recognize that the use of labels outside their specific temporal contexts may constrain rather than promote our understanding of the diachronic dimension. Anthropology has recently witnessed the readmission of history as an important element in the study of culture (Wolf 1982; Sahlins 1983, 1985; Roseberry 1989). Whereas earlier synchronic studies of African societies focused on boundedness and social stability, historically oriented analyses manifest new emphases on intergroup connections and the flexibility of social practice. As a result, cultural identity in Africa is increasingly viewed as mutable and as strategy, rather than as the product of primordial endowment (Royce 1982; O'Brien 1986: 898-99; Schultz 1984; Wright 1985; Kopytoff 1987; Lamphear 1988; Atkinson 1989). There is growing recognition that reification of cultural boundaries has masked the networks that connected groups (Howard and Skinner 1984; Sharpe 1986). Further, we recognize that the development of our focus on boundedness in anthropological inquiry is linked to a specific period in European history that stressed the importance of national identity (Trigger 1978: 75-95; Kuklick 1984; Kopytoff 1987: 4). Ethnohistory 38:3 (Summer 1991). Copyright ? by the American Society for Ethnohistory. ccc 0014-I80I/91/$I.50. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 06:56:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Ethnic Style and Ethnic Boundaries in West-Central Ghana 251 These diverse studies point to the need to place specific cultural units in both time and space; however, contextualization requires that we move beyond a simple projection of ethnic labels and boundaries back in time. It is increasingly clear that the content of ethnic identity, the symbols and values that are a focal point for group cohesiveness, may vary significantly through time (McCaskie 1983a, 1986). The challenge is to overcome the perhaps unintentional uniformitarian implications associated with using contemporary ethnic labels in historical reconstruction, and to move toward an exploration of variability in ethnic style in specific temporal contexts.1 This article presents an ethnohistorical perspective on the variability of ethnic content and boundaries in the linguistically diverse Banda Traditional Area of west-central Ghana. The analysis attempts to explore temporal change in ethnic style, locate this variability in historical context, and identify mechanisms that contributed to processes of assimilation and acculturation in this traditional nonurban setting.2 An introduction to the Banda area is followed by a discussion of contemporary ethnic styles. A brief overview of the historical dimension provides the background against which to consider variability in the ethnic style of one group, the Nafana.3 Subsequent sections explore the impact of hegemonic polities on ethnic style and the implications for ethnic boundaries through time. The Banda Traditional Area The Banda Traditional Area is nestled within a range of high hills that rise dramatically out of a low, rolling landscape directly south of the Black Volta River bend (Fig. I). Banda is a rural area under savanna woodland vegetation, located immediately north of the forest-savanna boundary. The proximity of Banda to the forest and to gold and other resources contributed to its strategic position in relation to ancient north-south trade routes. The former entrep6t of Bighu (Begho), just south of present-day Banda (Fig. z), represented the southern terminus of the caravan trade that linked the area to trans-Saharan exchange networks (Bravmann and Mathewson 1970; Posnansky 1973, 1979; Wilks 1982; Wilks et al. 1986). Susceptibility of pack animals to trypanosomiasis made the tsetse-infested forests south of Bighu impenetrable to caravans; Bighu, therefore, represented the point of articulation between human and animal portage. The strategic position of Banda relative to trade routes is reflected in the tumultuous history of the area and is undoubtedly linked to the considerable ethnic and linguistic diversity witnessed there today (Goody 1964: 193-94; I966: I8; Wilks 1961: 3). This diversity is subsumed within This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 06:56:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms