Abibisem: Journal of African Culture and Civilization
Abibisem: A Journal of African Culture and Civilization, is a multi-disciplinary, peer reviewed journal, committed to publishing well-researched general or technical articles in any of the fields pertaining to African history, African philosophy, African music, culture and civilization and Africa’s relationship with the wider world. Abibisem was launched in 2008, and is published by the Department of History, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. From 2019, Abibisem will be published twice a year, in June and December.
Department of History, University of Cape Coast, Ghana - West Africa
Freedom of speech and the discourse of flaming in Ghana: Evidence from radio panel discussions
Following the liberalisation of the airwaves in Ghana in the mid-1990s, the right to freedom of speech has been guaranteed although not without abuses. This freedom is evident in the activities of radio networks that urge listeners to participate in radio panel discussions (RPDs) through making interactive telephone calls or by posting text messages. In this paper, I explore the discourse of flaming on the panel discussions of Joy FM and Peace FM, two popular private radio stations. Grounded in Herring's (2004) computer-mediated discourse analysis, the Judy shows that listeners of RPDs use SMS to deprecate other selves. The study also reveals that flaming is precipitated by such technological affordances of mobile telephony as anonymity, pseudonymy and facelessness. The analysis further shows that social dissatisfactions were more frequent on RPDs than political complaints. Based on these findings, the study recommends that media houses educate the public on the face threatening potential of the SMS technology, given that derisive messages undermine the social, cultural and national cohesion.
Copyright (c) 2022 Abibisem: Journal of African Culture and Civilization
Pivotal catalyst: the seven years’ war and Anglo-French scramble for West Africa up to 1900
The Seven Years' War which was fought between Britain and France mainly as a result of struggle for territory in North America had immense impacts on West Africa. This article explores the place of West Africa in the Seven Years' War and the impact of the war on the sub-region from 1763 to the end ofthe nineteenth century. Although West Africa was not a major theater of conflict during the war, it, nevertheless, featured in the strategic calculations of Britain and France, partly because of its geographical location along the Atlantic coast and its importance as a gateway, in addition to the region's immense economic potentials. The defeat of France and loss of territory after the war made her tofocus more attention on West Africa. It is concluded that the Seven Years' War set the tone for the scramblefor Africa by European powers in the nineteenth century..
From the horse’s own mouth: Gender perception in some Akan and Ewe proverbs
Issues about women have engaged the attention of many scholars over the years, especially in recent times. These issues span much of marginalization of women in national affairs, male dominance over women, sexual harassment and recently in Ghana domestic violence against women and children among others. Most of these have been analysed from various dimensions. The sociologists, the psychologists and the humanists have all touched on an aspect nor other of womanhood however trite it may seem. This paper is a contribution to the discussion on women. It invites the reader to look at the issue of women in two ethnic communities in Ghana - Akan and Ewe from the literary point of view, specifically from the proverbs that these communities have themselves formulated and been using about women. One cannot deny the fact that creative writers, both males andfemales have portrayed women from a point of view that has close relations with societal determinants. The sexuality of the Ghanaian woman in general and those in the two communities studied has been expressed in their proverbs. The analysis of the proverbs has some relations with the findings of some researchers concerning the old perceptions about the woman as a weakling who depends on the male for sustenance and her total wellbeing.
The perception of students on abortion: A survey of senior high schools in the Sunyani Municipality of Ghana
This study sought to find out the perceptions of the students in Senior High schools in the Sunyani Municipality in Ghana on abortion. The study employed the descriptive survey research design. With the simple random sampling procedure, 364 students were selected from a total of 6,824 to participate in the study. The study found out that the students perceived abortion to be morally unacceptable. A significant majority of the students disagreed with arguments that are in favour of abortion. The majority of the students can be described as anti-abortionists. What influenced their perceptions and how they will react, when they find themselves in an unwanted pregnancy situation, are not known. The study also found out that there was no significant difference between the perceptions of male and female students on abortion. In relation to the findings, the study recommended that issues on abortion, and others related to human sexuality, should be taught in Senior High Schools. This will put the students in a better position to make right ethical decisions on abortion.
Christian missions and socio-cultural change: Baptists and the polygamy question among the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria, 1850-2001
The traditional Yoruba society in the south-western part of Nigeria is essentially polygamous. Even though oral traditions of the people indicate that in the earliest times, the Yoruba cherished monogamy, by the time of the advent of the Christian Missions in general, and Baptist Mission in particular, the social custom of polygamy had been well- rooted in the people's cultural life. The impression is often carried that the Baptist denomination in Nigeria is less strict on certain Christian religious observances such as the prohibition of polygamy when compared with some of its counterpart Protestant Churches. The evidence at our disposal reveals that this is an erroneous impression. Even though polygamists do attend Baptist Churches, as is the case in many other Christian churches, the Baptists did try to insist on monogamy, yet polygamy remained a very hard nut to crack. At any rate, the insistence of the Mission on maintaining its stand on monogamy was to effect a chink in the armour of Baptist expansion and growth in the Yoruba country.
Islam, Politics and Development: Negotiating the Future of Dagbon in Ghana
Dagbon is the territory that is inhabited by the Dagombapeople. The Dagomba are part of the Mole-Dagbani speaking people, having descended from a common ancestor with the Mossi, Mamprusis andNanumba. Dagbon is in the Northern Region of Ghana, lying between latitudes nine and ten and has an area of 9,611 square miles. Dagbon is the largest of the ethnic kingdoms in Northern Ghana. Communal violence erupted in the capital of the Dagomba people on March 25, 2002. This continued for three days, resulting in the death of their king, Ya Na Yakubu Andani on March 27, 2002. The remote cause of this three-day war was a long-standing dispute, relating to the succession to the Dagbon skin. The Dagbon crisis has become a complex web of power play among family members, political manipulation or interference and the politics of justice. But these did not begin in 2002. They have their historical antecedents. Since 1953, nearly all governments have intervened in this dispute in one way or another. But this political involvement has only deepened the rift and accentuated the disagreements. This paper posits that, there can be no political solution to the Dagbon crisis. Since the Dagomba people are predominantly Muslims -and have a huge developmental deficit, this paper advocates a combination of Islamic, traditional and development-based solutions.
Traditional medicine in Nigeria: The appraisal of an African cultural heritage
frica is a culturally heterogeneous continent. It has witnessed changes in virtually all facets of life. Nevertheless, certain traits of African cultures have subsisted despite social and cultural changes. One of such is traditional medicine, which was the earliest means of healthcare delivery in the continent that is still widely practiced today. Its Africanness consists in its uniqueness to Africa, which is inherent in its age-long practice among the peoples and societies of Africa. This paper therefore, examines the nature and common characteristics of traditional medicine in Africa, south of the Sahara using Nigeria as a reference point. It posits that because of its antiquity, traditional medicine is not just a means of solving health problems but also an important, African cultural heritage. Review shows that, traditional medicine is an organized system of healthcare delivery, which cuts across different societies and cultures of Africa. It is recommended that governments of African countries should educate or enlighten their peoples on the need to see traditional medicine not only as a means of healing but also as an important African heritage, which should be appreciated and preserved.
Colonial boundaries and the challenges of transition to multi party democracy in sub-Saharan Africa
At independence, African countries south of the Sahara were confronted with the problem of national integration. This problem was borne out of the partition of the continent in a manner that brought different ethnic groups together to form artificially created states. This paper argues that the difficulties most African countries faced during the wholesale transition to multi-party rule in the 1990s were traceable to the ethnic diversities of the states. A sense of shared nationality, a pre-requisite for national integration and unity, was weak or was yet to be forged in most countries. This weakness had negative implications for multi-party democracy in Africa, for political pluralism stirred up ethnic conflicts/upheavals which tore countries apart. Pro-democracy movements during the transitional period emboldened the zeal of component ethnic groups to assert their identities on the political scene.
“The plague of pebbles/stones’: river goddess, black stool and re-writing Adawso-Akuapem history”
In this context, events in Adawso gave credibility to the assertion that in ancient Africa, matriarchy had preceded patriarchal kinship and inheritance system in Africa; and that it was colonialism that distorted and supplanted indigenous African kinship system. Was matriarchy fundamental to the ideals of kinship system in ancient and traditional Africa? Ifi Amadiume has strongly advocated for a re-interpretation of African history whereby the historical place of womanhood is restored to its rightful place. In doing this she rejects any attempt at “imitating” Eurocentric feminism to “construct” new structures arguing that, “we already have a history and legacy of a woman’s culture” and that there is therefore the need to highlight it in a social enquiry.
Federalism, intergovernmental relations and the headmaster complex in Nigerian federalism 1999-2007
Between 1960 and 1999, the Nigerian ‘federal ’ state had had twenty eight years of military leadership. Thus rather than being ruled as a federal state, the military ruled it as a unitary state with total disregardfor the fine tenets of federalism. However, the post 1999 military period provided a conducive climate for robust debates and discourses in the political and legal climes on issues of allocation of tax powers and expenditure responsibilities and the custody of the federation’s funds. Here the state governments contested the overbearing influence and jurisdictional competence of the centre in matters of the “commonwealth”. These contests have had serious implications for intergovernmental relations in contemporary Nigeria. Using the longitudinal approach, the paper examines the various contours of intergovernmental relations in Nigeria between 1999 and 2007.The study relied essentially on primary sources from the national archives for the reconstruction of the historical background of this piece. The paper also analyses the post 1999 contestation between the centre and federating units on revenue sharing. Secondly it evaluates the role of the Judiciary in adjudicating between the centre and component units particularly on the issues of apportionment of oil revenue in the fourth republic. The central problem of this paper is that why has the contest over revenue allocation been so intense? Much more importantly, why did the central leadership in that dispensation (personified by the President) have so much challenges with intergovernmental relations? Also why did the regime engage in acts which undermined the ethos of federalism and reinforce the unitary traditions of the preceding military regime? This article contends that given long years of military rule, the administrators and politicians in Nigeria have not internalized the sacred ethos offederalism and the federation has to all intents and purposes remained a unitary state in the garb of a federal state. The paper affirms that the challenge is first andforemost a constitutional problem. It suggests ways by which the dominance of the centre can be diluted towards a coordinated relationship fostered between the centre and the federating units.
Islam and traditions in Africa: friends or foes?
This paper examines the interplay of Islam and traditional African ideas, institutions and cultural practices. It reviews some cultural aspects of Islam and African traditions aiming to find-out how African cultural, i.e. religious, political, social and even linguistic values have either been accommodated by or have accommodated Islam. The framework involves the theories of inculturation, acculturation and enculturation. The method used was a critical analysis of some values of Africans and Muslims. Islam has accommodated and has been accommodated by some African traditions. Although, the two traditions have had some frictions such as the Muslim jihad which took away political power from some of the indigenous people, yet, they have generally coexisted peacefully as some African chiefs either became Muslims or African Muslims have become chiefs and sometimes even made Islam a state religion. The paper, therefore, concludes that Islam and African traditions have been friends and not foes.
Strangers and authorities in the gold coast: Immigration control in colonial Ghana, 1900—1957
Until the imposition of colonial rule on Africa, movements of people from one place to another were not restricted by national or regional borders, visa systems, or national security fears. The modern idea of immigration is related to the development of nation-states and nationality laws, which often distinguish between citizens and immigrants. Citizenship of a nation-stale confers on nationals an inalienable right of residence, employment and free movement in that state, but the residence, employment and movement of immigrants are subject to conditions set by immigration regulations. Since it was the colonial authorities that introduced immigration regulations into Ghana, any attempt to gain a good understanding of the history of immigration control in the country must start from the colonial times. Therefore, using both primary and secondary documents, this study examines the measures which the colonial authorities devised to control the entry of immigrants into Ghana as well as their stay in and exit from the country, and assesses the relative effectiveness of their implementation. It argues that the colonial authorities had been generally liberal towards immigrants in Ghana. The study concludes that the manner in which immigration control had been handled in the colonial era was partly accountable for the frequent influx of many 'illegal' migrants into Ghana after independence.
Incarceration of chiefs: A colonial and post-colonial tool for the destruction of the sanctity of the chieftaincy institution in Ghana?
Using predominantly primary historical documents, supplemented by the appropriate secondary historical records, this paper examines political detention or the incarceration of chiefs as a measure or a tool employed by both colonial and post-colonial authorities to weaken and to eventually destroy the chieftaincy institution in Ghana. The paper evaluates the circumstances leading to the arrest and detention of the chiefs who suffered such fate. It analyses the socio-cultural impact of such detentions on the paramountcies affected and on the institution of chieftaincy in Ghana as a whole. Based on the findings of the study, the paper concludes that under both colonial and the immediate post-colonial eras, a big blow was dealt to the institution of chieftaincy in Ghana which helped shrink the power and status of the institution in the country.
Photography: A tool for historical records in Nigeria
History' is either oral or written. Whichever of these forms it assumes, one thing is clear; it brings to memory records of past or present events, places or situations. The question of two or more people experiencing the same or somewhat similar graphic imagery of oral or written history' becomes pertinent. This situation is improbable. However, with the aid ofphotographs, the graphic representation of an event is frozen in time and space, thereby making it possible for a number of people to view the record of a past event that they may not have witnessed. With video, we can even hear voices and experience life in such events. Using pictures from old newspapers, published books and from private collections, this essay attempts a pictorial social, cultural and political history of the country. It also appraised the development of photography in Nigeria. This essay avers that photography is a veritable tool for documenting historical records for posterity and an endeavour that should be encouraged and communalised.
Indigenous African ethics: A reflection on Akan and Ewe ethical values
There are no unethical people on earth, and indigenous Africans are no exception. Ethics is a people 's way of life whether good or bad. In this paper, a reflection is done on the indigenous African ethical values with the Akan and Ewe as reference points. The paper then goes on to discuss the foundation for the two societies ’ ethical behaviours. The paper discusses the principles behind their ethical making process, the ethical making process itself and their ethical values. The paper concludes that the two societies, Akan and Ewe, have developed an ethical system that has helped to sustain their societies.
Autochthonous, conquest and overlordship rights in land: Constructing allodial rights in the Kpandai area in Northern Ghana in the pre-colonial times
In 1991-92, a conflict over the allodial title to lands in the Kpandai area broke out between the Nawuri and the Gonja, prompting the necessity to interrogate the concept of allodial rights. In Northern Ghana in general, allodial rights in land are ethnicized - the right of absolute ownership of land resided in an ethnic group. Nonetheless, the modes of acquisition of allodial rights in land differ from place to place, though generally they are embedded in the historical traditions of societies. By and large, the modes of acquisition of allodial rights in land by an ethnic group are determined by variables such as autochthonous and conquest rights, lease and gift. This study interrogates the ownership of Kpandai in the pre-colonial period, using, as determinants, tools such as autochthony, conquest, and I overlordship. It argues that allodial rights in lands in the Kpandai in the pre-colonial period resided in the Nawuri by virtue of rights of autochthony and autonomy.
Europe’s Representation of Africa and Africans, African- Americans and Asians in Its Imperialistic Explorations and Colonization as It Appears in Literary Texts
In order to justify their annexation and subsequent subjugation and colonisation of Africa, the America and Asia, European imperalist nations had to depict Africa in a way that supported their missions. First, Africa had to be portaryed as a savage continent that needed the benevolence of the white man in order to attain civilisation. Second, Africa and the Americas had to be depicted as virgin lands that could provide all the raw materials that modern Europe needed for its indsutrial take-off. Third, one of the characteristics that was used in that project was that of the African man in genral and the "black" man in particular as a dangerous beast that is always in hot pursuit of the white woman's virginity. As a consequnence, the black man in Africa and in America had to be kept under constant check. This paper examines the problem whihc is represented by the fallacies put forth by Europe or the gap between the apologia and the reality in modern Europe's subjugation of the territories that it needed to posses for its own survival. The paper castigates the injustice and cruelty behind European colonisation and it also stresses the negative impact of such representations on today's post colonial citizens. Library research is the main approach. The main literary materials used are the racist and anti-racist texts and movies on Africa. Emphasis is laid on ideology and characterisation. Post colonial and Marxist Literary and Cultural theory and disaporan theory inform the research.
The origin of legal regulation of chieftaincy disputes in Yorubaland, 1930 —1945
Chieftaincy dispute was one of the major challenges faced by the Colonial administration in Nigeria. This subject has attracted much attention from scholars, but the aspect of legal regulation of chieftaincy matters and disputes have been neglected. This study, therefore, examines the reasons and the context within which it became necessary to promulgate laws and ordinances that were used to regulate chieftaincy appointment, selection, deposition and resolution of disputes. It further examines the causes of persistent chieftaincy disputes, assesses the extent to which the various ordinances, laws and the courts were able to resolve the problem of contestations with a view to determining it achievement. The study has established that law is a veritable instrument of administration, in both colonial and post colonial period. Colonial law, to a great extent, provided the desired social order that the colonial administration required for the exploitation of the economy.
Prospective history teachers ’ perceptions of the history syllabus of senior high schools in Ghana
Syllabus development and implementation have pre-occupied the minds of educationists since the global evolution of modern educational systems because it provides the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of behavioural outcomes students are supposed to exhibit at the end of a particular course. The search for a defined perception of teachers in the successful implementation of history syllabus has been a central theme of research effort over the past several decades. This study, employing a phenomenological research strategy, is aimed at evaluating the perception of prospective history teachers of the History Syllabus in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The prospective history teacher population was made up of final year students from the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region and the study made use of the total number of that particular year group. The participants were engaged in focus group discussions. During the deliberations, the researcher took notes, and tape recorded the information which was later transcribed for discussion. From the findings, it is fair to say that the syllabus is a “balanced and progressive document” which allows students to develop equally both their expressive and receptive capabilities. The research also revealed that in the construction and reconstruction of a future history syllabus, the time available for the execution of the topics must be considered. This will ensure that teachers would be able to use the appropriate and recommended methods of teaching the subject because participants recognised that most history teachers do not use the right methods in teaching as a result of their attempt to finish topics in the syllabus.
Facilitating colonial exploitation of resources of the Gold Coast: The role of the Police force, 1894-1914
Euro-African interactions between the 15th and 20th centuries were mainly motivated by the desire to exploit the economic resources of Africa. To ensure a peaceful exploitation of resources in the Gold Coast, the British policed their forts and castles for the peaceful conduct of trade. Even though policing in the Gold Coast was not a structured institution before its official establishment in 1894 by the British, it was an important institution in the administration of the colony. After the enactment of the 1894 ordinance, the Gold Coast Constabulary was renamed the Gold Coast Police Force. The police institution from this period operated under a standardized structure in the British-controlled areas of the Gold Coast. Using information from archival and secondary sources, this paper explores within a historical context, the extent to which the colonial Police Force facilitated the exploitation of the resources of the Gold Coast between 1894 and 1914. To achieve this, the study looks at the changing structure andfunctions of the Gold Coast Police Force from 1894 to 1914. One key argument of this paper is that to ensure a peaceful exploitation of colonial resources, the colonial government upon investing heavily in infrastructure (roads, railways, and communication), set up the Police Force to protect these investments. Moreover, the British economic interest and policy outcomes (acquisition of resources of the Gold Coast) between 1894 and 1914 dictated the structure and functions of the Police Force for the peaceful conduct of trade. The paper finally demonstrates that through the performance of the Gold Coast Police Force, the British by the end of 1914 had vastly exploited the resources of the Gold Coast to their advantage.
The contribution of Muslim Women’s Associations to the development of Kumasi, 1970-2019
This paper investigates the contribution of Muslim Womens Associations towards the development of Kumasi. It argues that the urbanization of the Kumasi increased the number of women in Kumasi as in other cities and, eventually, resulted in the emergence of Women’s Organizations that, from the mid twentieth century, became advocates for women and women’ issues and rights. In the process, they negotiated a space for selfexpression as Muslim women. In this case, the Muslim Women s groups advocated for Muslim Women and played important roles in the development of Kumasi. They empowered women, offered seminars and skills-training programmes and provided opportunities for personal growth, religious and self-identity and self fulfillment through a deeper stiidy of the Qur ’an. They assisted with education for the young and sponsored people to study locally and in Saudi Arabia. The paper groups the,women’s association into five and highlights their contribution to the development of Kumasi.
Health care and population growth in Ghana: A catalyst for development in New Dwaben
Health care is one of the important elements in the development of every nation. In view of that eveiy government makes it a priority to provide efficient health care to its people through the establishment of facilities, providing medication and also training health workers. The construction of modern health care facilities by the colonial government in New Dwaben, Koforidua, in 1926, represents a serious attempt to provide for the health needs of the people of the Gold Coast. The advent of the hospital helped to improve the health of the people of the community and, to a large extent, contributed to the development of social and economic activities in New Dwaben. This article examines the factors that led to the establishment of the hospital and how it contributed to growth of social and economic activities in New Dwaben, Koforidua. There was growth in social and economic activities including employment, agriculture, transportation, population, entertainment, trade, sanitation, jobs partly due to the advent of the Koforidua Government Hospital in New Dwaben.
Origin, migration and settlement history of the Konkomba of Northern Ghana, ca. 1400-1800
This article contributes to the depth of our historical knowledge about the origins and migrations of the Konkomba. Using Konkomba oral traditions collected by the author between 2009 and 2014, and supplemented with a range ofother written sources, the article presents a detailed account of Konkomba origins and migration. It traces Konkomba origins to areas outside the boundaries of modern Ghana and examines clan settlement histories to throw light on how the Oti valley was populated by the Konkomba in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In doing so, the article interrogates the prevailing view that the Konkoma have no history beyond their encounter with the Dagomba in the Yendi area. At a general level, this article makes the case that it will be extremely beneficial for historians to revisit the oral traditions of hitherto neglected groups in Africa for the reconstruction of their histories.
The Ghana Commercial Bank and Agriculture financing in Ghana, 1960s — 1980s
The British Bank of West Africa (BBWA) now renamed Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Barclays Bank Ghana Limited were the two prominent foreign Commercial Banks first established in the Gold Coast in 1897 and 1917 respectively. In the colonial era, these British banks only dealt with large businesses and did not extend credit to individual Gold Coast farmers because they were tagged as not credit-worthy or could not arrange suitable collateral for loans. Essentially, lack of access to credit continues to be a key factor contributing to the poor performance of the agriculture sector in general.1 In 1953, the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) was established as the first indigenous commercial bank to serve the people of the nation.1 Since 1953, the Ghana Commercial Bank has made agriculture financing its priority and has extended loans to its agricultural customers. This paper, which is multi-sourced, uses archival documents, Government Records, Annual Reports and scholarly secondary works, to examine the approaches and strategies used by GCB to support agriculture in Ghana from the late 1960s to 1980s. The paper specifically sheds light on the measures adopted by the bank to transform agriculture in the country.
Before Allah created human beings, there was a marijuana tree”: marijuana myths and culture in the “Ghettoes” of Maamobi Zongo community, Accra
The objective of my paper is to deploy marijuana etiological myths in the “ghettoes” of Maamobi, Accra, to explain the persistence of the marijuana culture in Ghana. The fact that marijuana is a criminalized herb and yet remains a widely consumed herb by some of the youth leads to what I refer to as the ‘marijuana paradox ’. Consequently, rather than constructing myths as irrational, self-indulgent and relics of a pre-scientific past or antiquated, concocted fairytales, 1 use marijuana myths to explain how it informs the marijuana culture in Maamobi and also betrays the construction of the marijuana culture as a fad and a craze that could be controlled with laws. Using ethnographic research techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, informal conversation, and participant observation, I argue that the over-reliance on external reasons, without digging into how marijuana myths inform the cultogenic and sociogenic of marijuana culture in the “ghettoes” of Maamobi, will continue to frustrate the efforts of stakeholders to stem the t ide against the consumption of the herb in Ghana.
Question Design and the Rules of Questioning in UK Prime Ministers Questions and Ghanaian Ministers Questions
This paper examines how parliamentarians design their questions and flout parliamentary rules of questioning, leading to confrontations between parliamentarians (MPs) and (Prime) Ministers. A comparative corpus-assisted discourse analysis of UK Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) and Ghanaian Minister’s Questions (GMQs) indicates that GMQs are less confrontational than PMQs since Ghanaian Parliamentary Speakers prevent MPs from asking, for example, questions of opinion and argumentation, which contain strong emotions, generate attacks, accusations and counter-accusations. The paper argues that the confrontations and (counter-)attacks result from the way MPs design their questions. The paper suggests that “yobbery and public school twittishness” in PMQs could be curtailed if the Speaker would disallow questions that flout parliamentary rules of questioning as it is done in GMQs. The paper has implications for parliamentary interactions generally.
Copyright (c) 2019 Abibisem: Journal of African Culture and Civilization
Change and Continuity in Konkomba Medical Culture: A Historical Perspective of an Indigenous People in Northern Ghana
Medicine (n-nyork) has been one of meaning laden words faced by scholars. This subject has attracted much attention from scholars, but the social aspect of health tied to people’s medical culture has been neglected. The paper examines the reasons and the context within which the medical culture of the Konkomba ensured social equilibrium and well-being. It further examines key medicines and healers that constituted the corpus of the Konkomba health system. Information was sourced from oral interviews, archival and secondary sources. The work focuses on the historiography of indigenous medicine in Ghana, in particular, and Africa in general. In conclusion, it analyses the impact of the Western understanding of medicine indicating that n-nyork (medicine) and ngbanpuan (health) were more holistic within the Konkomba conceptualisation. In that sense, the adoption and non-adaptation of the western view of health has led to more undesirable health situation in the twentieth century. That notwithstanding, the medical culture of the Konkomba still constitute an integral aspect of their medication.
What Color is Black: Epistemic Disobedience in Jean Genet’s The Blacks
Jean Genet’s writing has generated controversies over the years, particularly his advocacy for demoting whiteness and its means of domination. He is primarily regarded as an angry homosexual white French male who portrays grotesque shadows of humanity in his work. In his 1959 Play The Blacks, Genet describes the way Blacks are categorized in France through the mediation of abjecting politics of disgust, which cast black bodies as repulsive and outside the pole. At the same time, The Blacks considers the strategies of resistance and critique that are available to these bodies and those working alongside with them. Characters in The Blacks conform to the roles that they are given, therefore creating a visual mask over their identity. For Genet acting becomes a (positively) perverse and subversive mean for gaining power over oppression by taking an art from something that is traditionally based in strict role playing and turning it into a form of individual and collective expression necessary to “negatively” creating what can then be conceived as an assertively “positive” socio-political identity.
Denkyemmireku: A Usable Past for A New African State
In Ghana – The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (1971), Nkrumah recounts the deliberations within the United Gold Coast Convention on J. B. Danquah’s proposal for adopting the Akan art motif Funtummireku Denkyemmireku (Denkyemmireku, for short), the proverbial two-headed crocodile, as emblem for the emerging nation of Ghana. Dismissing it as a “hideous monstrosity” that symbolizes selfishness, it was never adopted. Yet, the art motif, a kind of jeremiad that says pity that poor crocodile, whose two heads cannot stop fighting over food, even though they share one stomach, is a recognition of the dialectic of nature as one of unity in diversity, the very essence of the hallowed African monistic thesis of matter. This paper posits that Denkyemmireku embodies a potent philosophical and ideological symbol capable of serving as a usable past for a much-needed reconstruction of a more legitimate African state. ______________________________ 1 Some aspects of this article have been previously published in the Journal of Black Studies by the author. See, Kwasi Boadi, “The Ontology of Kwame Nkrumah’s Consciencism and the Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa – A Diopian Perspective.” Journal of Black Studies, Volume 30, Number 4 / March 2000, 475–501.
Stripping the Soul of Asante Naked: A History of Opanin Saniagya in Asante Chronicle
The paper examines a critical theme in Asante History at a crucial time of the life of the once powerful nation. It discusses the origins and significance of the Golden Stool (Sika dwa Kofi) to the existence and survival of the Asante nation. The paper further shows instances in Asante history where the Asante nation went to war rather than allow anyone to capture or defile the sacred Golden Stool. The piece then provides detailed information on how the venerated Sika dwa Kofi was defiled by one Saniagya, and also gives an account of Asanteman´s response to what could, arguably, pass for the highest act of sacrilege in Asante history yet.