Who is an Akan? - The Akan Subgroups

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Parent Category: Our Country

Category: Culture & Tourism

Created on Tuesday, 25 February 2014 00:00

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The Akan Subgroups

Having set out under the subheading- “The People of Ghana”; who the Akans are, the author is tempted, but for academic interest, to state that the history, traditions and cultures of the Akan, like most other ethnic groups in our republic, are well-established to be redrafted or revised in this 21st Century. In Ghana and some parts in the Ivory Coast [La Cote D’Ivoire], the Akans are known for their shared chieftaincy tradition and matrilineal inheritance where for example, unlike the Dagbani, the Ewe, the Ga or the Mamprusi Woman, the Okanibaa [The Akan Woman] and her direct offspring, are the focus. Google Books paint the Akan culture as the most dominant and apparent in present-day Ghana and some of their most important mythological stories being Anansesem which literally means 'the spider story', but can in a figurative sense also mean "traveler's tales also referred to as nyankomsem; 'words of a sky god'. “The stories generally, but not always, revolve around Kwaku Ananse, a trickster spirit, often depicted as a spider, human, or a combination thereof. Elements of Akan Culture also include but are not limited to: Kente, Adinkra, Sankofa, Akan goldweights, Akan names, Calendar and Chieftaincy.” [8]

Besides these cultural holdings is the political institution carved around the eight Akan Abusua- Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko or sometimes more than these, which per Google Books, are similar to clans in other societies. “The members of each Abusua were united by their belief that they were all descended from the same ancient ancestress, so marriage between members of the same Abusua was forbidden. One inherited or was a lifelong member of the Akan people lineage, the political unit and the Abusua of one's mother, regardless of one's gender and/or marriage.” [8] In the words of Baafuor Ossei-Akoto, the various Akan families are the root of all Akans. “On migration the people were living together as one Abusua or family. According to oral tradition it is believed that the families Asona, Ekuona and Aduana are the oldest among the eight Akan families.”[9] Scholars such as Eva Meyerowitz and Dr. J.B. Dankwa claim that Akans trekked to Gold Coast from the ancient Gana Empire. But I share the belief that Akans are just an extension of the Northern Territories.

In 1978 the Akan Orthography Committee (AOC) established a common orthography for all of Akan, which is used as the medium of instruction in primary school by speakers of several other Akan languages such as Anyi, Sefwi, Ahanta as well as the Guan languages, Brono but not Gonja. So it cannot be true when Boateng-Gyan, the nephew of J.H. Mensah and ‘a son’ of Mrs Theresah Kufuor- the wife of Ex-President J.A. Kufuor, summarily reduced the Akan to just the Asantes and the Akyems, all in a bid to describe the main Opposition Party- NNPP, as an Akan political group- bend on welding off its presidential leadership only to the crown prince of Asante or Akyem. [10] There had been all-forms of tribalism: religious, professional and ethnic. So we condemn not tribalism for the sake of it because even Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed practised it [in the selection of their inner-circles] so as to achieve the religious good for humanity. It must however, be scorned and challenged, where it is perpetuated to dominate, exploit, deny or stifle others the very good for which tribal or ethnic politics is pursued.

Yet as a devout Black Catholic who subscribes to a well-deserved Catholic schools, hospitals or medical centres, does it worth it, investigating, whether: “There Had Ever Been a Black Pope”? For those ethnic majorities and/or the minorities who seek political recognition or power in an ethnically diverse environment, Gramsci’s Prison’s Note on Hegemony and Relations Forces, might be a recommend read. But history has it that the attempt by the Nazi to build a consecrations based on hair-colour, a pointed nose, blue eye-colour and a sheer hatred for the economic versatilities of others, especially the minority Jews, and the many who came to recognise the pains of their ideologies and opposed them in all-force, erupted the European cultural clash and the untold scourge of war: anguish, mysteries and tears of blood.

Asante Fordjour authored this article.

JusticeGhana

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References

[1] Adu Boahen (1975)

[2] Eifert, B., Miguel E.; and Posner D.N., “Political Competition and Ethnic Identification in Africa”, American Journal of Science, Vol. 54, No.2, April 2010, Pp. 494-510

[3] “Northerners are tired of playing second fiddle to the presidency – Mahama”, RadioXYZonline.com, 11 November 2012

[4] BY: Affail Monny, “All Die Be Die”, http://www.gbcghana.com/1.293227 [5] Eifert, B., Miguel E.; and Posner D.N (cited at 2)

[6] The Treaty of Versailles, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm

[7] EEC Treaty, http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_eec_en.htm

[8] the Akan Orthography Committee, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zUHzglM3p7AC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Akan+Orthography+Committee&source=bl&ots=WJcsCBXnfl&sig=MJI7ACf9HMe6NABqfnqjNiWsc6I&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Akan%20Orthography%20Committee&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zUHzglM3p7AC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Akan+Orthography+Committee&source=bl&ots=WJcsCBXnfl&sig=MJI7ACf9HMe6NABqfnqjNiWsc6I&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Akan%20Orthography%20Committee&f=false

[9] Akan Abusua, http://asanteman.freeservers.com/custom.html

[10] “Only the Asantes and Akyems are Akans”, OKAY FM Morning Show Discussion, hosted by Kwame Nkrumah Tik3sie, 20 February 2014

[11] Letters from Prison, Lynne Lawner, London, Jonathan Cape, 1975, cited in Simon, Roger (1982)