Some Observations on Religious Cults in Ashanti

Africa ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Demand For Education ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphRecent happenings in the Gold Coast, and particularly in Ashanti, have tended to focus interest upon the structure of the constitution and the struggle for political power. Ten years ago two other movements were attracting at least as much attention. In a preliminary report on the work of the Ashanti Social Survey, published in 1948, Fortes described these as first, an apparently insatiable demand for schools, and, second, an almost equally if not more powerful development of what he called ‘new witch-finding cults’. That the demand for education of all kinds continues and is gradually being met is well known; it would be interesting, and perhaps, in the light of occurrences in other parts of Africa, significant to learn what has happened to the new cults.

The Sefwi Wiawso Riot of 1935: the deposition of an Omanhene in the Gold Coast

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
State Council ◽  
Western Province ◽  
Gun Shot ◽  
Cash Economy ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Shot Wounds

Opening ParagraphOn 15 November 193 5 a riot took place in Wiawso, the capital town of Sefwi Wiawso district in the then Western Province of the Gold Coast. It followed weeks of struggle to bring destoolment charges against the omanhene, Nana Kwame Tano II. Four people died of gun-shot wounds, forty were injured and the omanhene was assaulted. On 2 December the State Council completed its hearing of fifteen charges against the omanhene and brought in a majority verdict in favour of destoolment, which in due course was confirmed by the Governor.Studies of the deposition of chiefs in the Gold Coast have tended to focus on the changing reasons for and, particularly, the increased frequency of destoolment (Busia 1968: passim; Owusu 1970: 63ff.). Arhin especially has looked at the effect of the cash economy upon the relationships between chiefs and their subjects (Arhin 1976). Others have described the increasing complexity of the politico-jural structures surrounding the office and functions of chieftaincy as revealed in destoolment cases (Dunn and Robertson, 1973; Robertson 1976).

Religion and Authority in a Korekore Community

Africa ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. C. Bourdillon
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Traditional Authority ◽  
Initiation Rites ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Relationship

Opening ParagraphIn her lucid and persuasive Henry Myers Lecture on ‘The power of rights’ (Man, 1977), Professor La Fontaine argues that since the Gisu themselves cite transition from one status to another as the purpose of their initiation rites, this transformation cannot logically explain them. Taking up Maurice Bloch's idea that religion is concerned with inequality and hierarchy (1974; 1977), La Fontaine argues convincingly that the explanation of Gisu initiation rites lies in their functions of validating traditional knowledge and of maintaining traditional authority. The relationship between religion and political power had been noticed before but it had not previously been applied to the field of rites of passage nor had the mechanism of the supportive role of traditional knowledge been so clearly analysed.

Colonial Bargaining as Tactics: The Ghana Experience, 1954–1957

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-234
Author(s):  
Donald Rothchild
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
The Future ◽  
Commitment Problem ◽  
Lost Opportunity

AbstractIn the pre-independence conflict between the Nkrumah regime and the Ashanti-led opposition in the Gold Coast, the departing colonial power found itself caught up in an internal confrontation. The NLM and its allies, fearing the shadow of the future, sought to establish credible guarantees against majoritarian rule after independence. The Nkrumah government insisted upon the centralization of political power and majoritarian principles. The effect was to increase minority insecurity and raise inter-group suspicions and tensions. In this situation, the colonial mediator, determined to advance the negotiation process, secured concessions from the Nkrumah regime on the devolution of limited functions and powers to the sub-regions. However, the preconditions for successful official mediation were not present. The CPP offered concessions that disappeared with the advent of independence, and the opposition refused to participate in an implementation process that appeared to offer them uncertain guarantees. Colonial bargaining therefore represented a lost opportunity, one that failed to resolve the commitment problem.

The Financing of the Ashanti Expansion (1700–1820)

Africa ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwame Arhin
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
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Opening ParagraphThe arrival of Europeans, and the introduction of guns, first in the coastal areas JL and then into the interior of West Africa, altered the nature of warfare. Already in the seventeenth century, the Akan-Fanti, Akim, Akwamu, and other peoples on the Gold Coast no longer relied entirely on bows and arrows, spears, and javelins which were the traditional weapons but used guns and even a few cannon. Besides the change in weapons, wars were undertaken on a larger scale than ever before—a situation which was aggravated by participation in the slave trade. Among the peoples of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, none excelled the Ashanti in either the scale or intensity of their fighting. From the turn of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, they fought major wars of conquest and minor ones of consolidation throughout the area of present-day Ghana, and after 1820 they were involved in four major clashes with the British until the latter dissolved their kingdom in 1900.

The Final Obsequies of the Late Nana Sir Ofori Atta, K.B.E. Abuakwahene

Africa ◽  
1945 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Kwame Frimpong
Keyword(s):  
Gold Coast ◽  
The Government ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphNana Sir Ofori Atta, K.B.E., died on 23 August 1943 after occupying the Paramount Stool of the tribe of Akim Abuakwa since 1912. He was a striking personality and without doubt the outstanding African of his generation in the Gold Coast. His statesmanship both in his tribal affairs and in the general politics of the Colony was exceptional. He was at once the chief of his own people, the acknowledged leader of his brother chiefs in the Colony, and the valued and trusted adviser of the Government.

From warrior to migrants: critical perspectives on early migrations among the Zarma of Niger

Africa ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Painter
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Technical Cooperation ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Critical Perspectives

Opening ParagraphIn 1956 the Journal de la Société des Africanistes published a monograph-length paper by Jean Rouch entitled ‘Migrations au Ghana (Gold Coast: enquête 1953–1955)’ (Rouch, 1956). The paper was one of several publications during the 1950s and 1960s based on studies by Rouch and other researchers who participated in what was probably the largest study ever of West African migrations, financed by the Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa South of the Sahara and the Scientific Council for Africa South of the Sahara (CCTA/CSA).

Some New Shrines of the Gold Coast and their Significance

Africa ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Field
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Simple Type ◽  
Coastal Plains ◽  
The North ◽  
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Opening ParagraphThere is reason to believe that at one time the greater part of the Gold Coast had one simple type of social organization. Where destruction of this took place the disturbing influences spread from the North southwards. On the coastal plains are some areas which, for various reasons, were barely touched. In these areas the aboriginal type of social organization is preserved, more or less intact, to-day.

Concepts of the Soul among the Akan of the Gold Coast

Africa ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva L. R. Meyerowitz
Keyword(s):  
Gold Coast ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphWhen the bi-sexual deity of the cosmos Nyame Amowia, visible as the moon, gave birth to the Sun god, she gave him her kra, her eternal soul or life-giving power; hence his name, the Only Great Nyame (Nyame; ko- only; pɔn- great) generally drawn together as Nyankopɔn. The kra is also envisaged as bi-sexual; its female aspect is believed to be the substance or body of the moon and sun, i.e. fire, while its male aspect is the spirit, the essence, the spiritual, or that which is truly divine.

Rain-Shrines of the Plateau Tonga of Northern Rhodesia

Africa ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Colson
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
General Community

Opening ParagraphThis is a preliminary report on the social and political significance of the rainshrines as an integrating force in Tonga society. In a sense it is a misnomer to refer to them as rain-shrines, for they are also appealed to on any occasion of general community disaster, such as epidemics or cattle plagues, but to the Tonga themselves the dominant aspect of the shrines is their efficacy in ensuring the proper rainfall.

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