Akan Of Ghana Research Articles

Intergenerational Cultural Transmission Among the Akan of Ghana

ABSTRACT Sociocultural transmission is a necessary ingredient in societal stability, cohesion, and continuity everywhere. For the Akan of central and southern Ghana, an important aspect of societal cohesion occurred through intergenerational solidarity which existed principally in the extended family, with the elders acting as the primary instruments in cultural transmission. The extended family, especially as represented in the Akan traditional household, was regarded as one family. Elders were viewed as the embodiment of the past as well as members with the largest store of memories from the past. Reminiscences, remembrances, and oral narratives were passed down to children in whose lives these elders were intimately involved, and stories always contained some moral values that children were expected to learn from and apply. What appears to be occurring in contemporary Ghana are processes of change and persistence, and the task of this study is to assess changes in the Akan family, particularly the extended family, and their impact on the transmission of cultural values across generations.

“FAITH, HEALING AND MISSION”: REFLECTIONS ON A CONSULTATIVE PROCESS

Participants at this consultation have come across as people who take their faith seriously; they entered the current process with genuine desire to contribute and also to learn from what I feel inclined to label a consultative process on faith, healing and The first indication of this was the palpable sincerity and keen sense of interest with which we prayed and participated in the Bible studies. I did not get any impression that these were seen as mere appendices or aberrations to the enterprise. The consultation has itself been process in mission because of the constant reference to the activity of the Holy Spirit in mission. Indeed, John V. Taylor opens his award-winning The Go-Between God: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Mission with the profound observation that: The chief actor in the historic mission of the Christian church is the Holy Spirit. He is the director of the whole enterprise. The mission consists of the things that he is doing in the world. In special way it consists of the light that he is focussing upon Jesus Christ. (1) Part of the uniqueness of our meeting has lain in the fact that it was never lost on this group that God was doing something in the world, and that his Holy Spirit was the chief agent in the enterprise. For the rest of the consultative process, we have to keep on discussing the nature of what God has been about and how to get ourselves and those we represent co-opted into the enterprise. Discussions of faith, health and mission have been approached from various faith perspectives without any undermining of the need for critical reflection. This is something I believe has contributed to the uniqueness of the present process. The net result of reflecting from experience is that the issues get disseminated, and this may help bring the otherwise remote World Council of Churches (WCC) few more steps closer to the ordinary members of the churches they serve. Restoration to normalcy The logical question that arises out of Taylor's description of Christian mission is, What is God doing in the world? God is healing people. In fact, he is healing the nations by restoring broken persons to health and wholeness. From the stories that we have heard from various contexts, God is everywhere restoring people to health so that, as one participant put it, those so restored can lead lives. Again, what life does one describe as being normal? Our response to this question has been very empathetic. There was unanimous realization that many who seek God's intervention in illness remain uncured, even after prayer. It takes faith to realize that people can still have normal lives, that is, they can be healed, even though they may still be living with disabilities after God's intervention. We have heard stories about blind healers in Africa, and barren African prophetesses through whose ministry many continue to receive fruits of the womb. In such situations, the Akan of Ghana would say, Aboa onni dua, Onyame na opra no ha (It is God who drives the flies off the body of the tail-less animal). The Akans also say Onyame na owow basin fufu ma no (It is God who pounds fufu for the person who has lost the use of his or her arms). The principle underlying these two proverbs are the same: people may continue to live with disabilities, whatever they may be, but God has his own way of helping such people to have holistic lifestyles. I understand us to be saying that to have the grace to cope with disabilities itself constitutes miracle that generates belief in the God of mission. God is so powerful that he restores some to complete health, and helps others to do what only those who have the full complement of their human faculties can do. Not only that, God's intervention in lives has been perceived as multidimensional. The laying on of hands and anointing with oil works but these must not be absolutized and divorced from other therapeutic methods, including those that use medicine and psychotherapy. …

Ntam ‘reminiscential oath’ taboo in Akan

Ntam ‘reminiscential oath’ among the Akan of Ghana is a commissive form that has statutory force. In it, the oath-taker evokes the memory of historical events that are dangerous and unpleasant to mention. The statutory force of the oath is accomplished by the evocation of these memories in the community which shares them. This article reviews the types of ntam oaths, the contexts for their use, and their structure.

Encyclopedia of the Dead: Transgenerational Memories and Cultural Transmission among the Akan of Ghana

Encyclopedia of the Dead: Transgenerational Memories and Cultural Transmission among the Akan of Ghana

Menstruation as a Verbal Taboo among the Akan of Ghana

This article discusses menstruation as a verbal taboo among the Akan-speakers of Ghana and considers the theory behind this phenomenon. The use of euphemisms is the most popular verbal Taboo Avoidance Technique (TAT) among the Akan, and the euphemisms used for menstruation are outlined. The article then examines the semantic and metaphorical relations between the euphemisms and what they denote. Among the Akan, euphemisms for menstruation follow two basic models: (1) negative (indisposition and seclusion of the woman) and (2) positive (transition and fertility and the arrival of a protective visitor). With urbanization, modernization, and the adoption of Western religions, some of the Akan euphemisms for menstruation have become fossilized, and others no longer have referential reality. I argue that changing patterns in the use of the euphemisms and drastic changes in the current generation's knowledge of them reveal much about societal changes in the Akan speech community.

Misplaced Souls: Reflections on Gold, Chiefs, Slaves, and Death among the Akan of Ghana

Misplaced Souls: Reflections on Gold, Chiefs, Slaves, and Death among the Akan of Ghana

The Performativity of Akan Libations

> Articulated words are impregnated with assumed and unarticulated qualities … a poetic work is a powerful condenser of unarticulated social evaluations—each word is saturated with them. ([Voloshinov 1987][1]) Among the Akan of Ghana, no form of specialized prayers is considered more sacred

Book Review: Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction among the Akan of Ghana (Studies of Religion in Africa, 15)

Book Review: Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction among the Akan of Ghana (Studies of Religion in Africa, 15)

˝In future if l buy a dog, l'll call it ´Okyeman-is-ungrateful´.˝ Indirect response to potentially difficult communicative situations: the case of Akan dog names

The Akan of Ghana, like other African peoples, sometimes dislike direct verbal confrontation in view of the dangers such confrontations pose to the face ofinteractants as well as to socialharmony. Due to the capacity ofthe spoken word to making or breaking an individual on the spur ofthe moment, discourse participants take protection under afacade of verbal indirectness. Hence in addressing a face-threatening act, the Akan prefer to do so indirectly. The face-threatening act (FTA) may be addressed to a pseudoepicenter, usually a dog, a cat, or any pet, rather than to the real addressee. The real addressee or society at large is then left to react. Since the actual addressee is an animal, the real addressee will, under normal circumstances, not responddirectly. This communicative strategy isgovernedby the nature of the relationship between the interactants as well as by their statuses and act s as a social control measure, helping to prevent social disorder. Given the important wie of indirectness in a society such as that of the Akan, an appropriate theory of communication shouldinclude it as an essentialfeature

African Culture and the Quest for Truth

Aristotle begins his Metaphysics with classical statement, all men by nature desire to know. The quest to know is quest for truth. The African as well desires to know and he persistently searches for truth. He analyses reality as it presents itself before him. However, basic question is: what is peculiar about African quest for truth? Any objective answer to this question must take cognizance of fact that Africa is not a homogeneous entity. There are at least fifty-five countries in Africa.1 The countries are made up of about one thousand ethnic groups each with its own specific culture.2 Hence in as much as there can be similarities between one African culture and another, there can also be differences. This is precisely what professor B. Okolo calls problematic in African philosophy. It is known fact that Africans are diverse peoples with different cultures. However, diversity of peoples and difference of cultures does not mean that philosophical activity is not possible among African people.3 Indeed philosophical activity takes place in Africa. There is no generalization of truth and truth is not relative to each tribe. On contrary, diversity of cultures and consequently languages enriches philosophical activity in Africa. Let us begin by examining word truth in some African languages. In Igbo, it is eziokwu. Ezi-Okwu is a combination of two words: ezi meaning, correct, right or good; and okwu meaning word or speech. Literally, eziokwu means right word, correct sentence, appropriate statement. In other words it is correct response to a question, appropriate intervention in an argument. In Igbo culture, when one wants interlocutor to say truth, he demands of him, kwue ezi okwu. This means that interlocutor should say truth as he knows it or heard it or saw it. In this context, truth is correspondence between a statement or a fact or a concrete thing. Also among Igbo, truth could be obtained by analyzing what a person says. If analysis reveals that statement coheres with a set of accepted facts or beliefs then it is true; otherwise it is false. Among Akans of Ghana, truth is rendered as nokwara or nea ete saa. Nokwara like eziokwu is a combination of two words: ano which means mouth and koro meaning Careful analyses of two words would reveal that truth for Akans denotes singularity or oneness. It is that which admits of no alteration. A group of people could be asked to give their opinion about a particular thing or situation. What they say is true and, therefore, acceptable if they say same thing. If an individual person is asked to do same thing, what he says is true if his statements are consistent. One judges whether statements are consistent through a critical analysis. Wiredu further points out that best word for truth is nea ete saa meaning a proposition, which is so. This is similar to Aristotle's assertion that to say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, or of what is not that it is not, is true. Truth in this sense is that which is necessarily so. The implication is that for Akans truth is a statement that must correspond with thing or situation being discussed or described. Any deviation from describing it as it is takes it away from being so or saa. So, it is clear that in Akan culture, there is a clear distinction between truth and falsehood. When one deviates from paradigm in Akan theory of truth, he crosses from saa (so) to nkontompo meaning falsehood. Also, among Efiks of southern Nigeria, truth is called akpaniko. Again, it is coined from two words: akpa meaning first thing that comes out of a person's mouth; and iko-words. In a literal sense, akpaniko means the first word. In this context, criteria for determining whether statement is true or false can be either correspondence or consistency. …

Asante Catholicism. Religious and Cultural Reproduction among the Akan of Ghana

Asante Catholicism. Religious and Cultural Reproduction among the Akan of Ghana

Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction amongst the Akan of Ghana

Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction amongst the Akan of Ghana

Art, Music and Religious Experience in Libation Pouring of Akan Religion

The Akans of Ghana are traditionally accustomed to celebrating different rituals which are enshrined in their cultural life. Libation pouring, which accompanies the celebration of great rituals, amidst the subsidence of the sound of music and dance, can display a special art in religion. The primary objective of this paper is to examine libation as a ritual experience, and in so doing to draw attention to its art forms and relevance as regards the psychological significance for the Akan society which practises it. What beliefs connect the pouring of libation in Akan society? What are the occasions for practising this ritual? Are there some distinctions in the artistic prayer of libation? These questions lead directly to the proposition which states that libation is able to generate some forms of religious experience. It is then argued that libation ritual has psychological consequences beneficial to the group and the individual who privately engages in it.

Oratory in Akan Society

The paper takes a close look at the sociocultural significance of oratory and formal speaking among the Akan of Ghana, and discusses the various stylistic and rhetorical strategies adopted to mitigate face threat in formal interaction. The Akan style of formal speech is replete with honorifics, proverbs, metaphor and ornate expression, and is contrived to control the power of the spoken word as well as reinforce the existing social and political order.

Did the Akan resort to abortion in pre-colonial Ghana? Some Conjectures

Opening ParagraphIn his survey of abortion in 400 pre-industrial societies, Devereux (1955: 161) concludes:…there is every indication that abortion is an absolutely universal phenomenon, and that it is impossible even to construct an imaginary social system in which no woman would ever feel at least impelled to abort.Where the universality of abortion is equated with the urge to abort, one can hardly disagree with such a statement. The question, however, of whether or not abortion ever actually occurred—or still occurs—ubiquitously and to a demographically significant extent is difficult to answer. Among the Akan in Ghana, where I did anthropological fieldwork intermittently between 1969 and 1973, abortion was widespread, a practice which seemed to have roots in precolonial traditions. People referred to abortion as sɛe adeɛ (‘spoiling the thing’).

The Presence of Islam Among the Akan of Ghana: A Bibliographic Essay

The primary geographical focus for the historical study of Islam in west Africa, until recently, was the western and central Sudan. As the often-cited J. S. Trimingham wrote (1962:7) “The Guinea States in the south lie outside our sphere since they were not in contact with the Sudan states and were uninfluenced by Islam.” Trimingham's conclusion paralleled those of early twentieth-century French and English scholars who dealt with the issue of Islam in west Africa. Paul Marty's voluminous studies, dating from the second decade of this century, dealt with the Islamic and Muslim-influenced traditions of the various peoples of Francophone west Africa. H. R. Palmer, one of the early British writers of this century, concentrated on the northern territories of Nigeria, where Islam has enjoyed a long history.Two factors explain the focus of these scholars on the western and central Sudan. First, the better known Islamic-influenced kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu were all located in this region. Second, the Islamic states of the western and central Sudan, in particular, presented the greatest problem to both the French and the British during the early periods of the colonial era. Therefore, the focus on this area may have been motivated by the desire of these writers to understand the Islamic factor. Whatever the motivation of writers like Marty, Palmer, and their associates, Trimingham was wrong to conclude that the “the Guinea States” (i.e., the peoples living in the coastal forest belt) were “uninfluenced by Islam.”

Proverb Rhetoric and African Judicial Processes: The Untold Story

The power of the proverb in African judicial processes has been exaggerated by past scholars. Proverb rhetoric is effective when it is matched by a comparable control offacts, evidence, as well as compliance with customary law. A proverb's rhetorical force use can hardly be separated from the efficacy of the argument it embellishes; the two go hand in hand. The article is based on fieldwork among the Akan of Ghana.

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana.

Cocoa and Kinship in Ghana: The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana.