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The Educational Role of Performing and Visual Arts in Asante Traditional Politics

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The Educational Role of Performing and Visual Arts in Asante Traditional Politics ETA 11 (1) pp. 117–135 Intellect Limited 2015 International Journal of Education through Art Volume 11 Number 1 © 2015 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/eta.11.1.117_1 NaNa ama Pokuaa arthur, Eric aPPau asaNtE aNd NaNa afia oPoku-asarE Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana the educational role of performing and visual arts in asante traditional politics abstract kEywords Although various forms of art are prominent in the Asante culture, the performing and Asante visual arts make a particularly vibrant and far-reaching contribution. This study has culture used a qualitative research approach, relying mainly on observations and interviews, to performing arts focus on the role of the performing and visual arts in Asante traditional politics. The traditional politics results show that the arts offer more than just entertainment and communication – visual arts they also play a motivational and educational role that encourages the Asante culture to continue to evolve. It is important that traditional rulers in Asante should help preserve and promote their visual and performing art forms to ensure that the arts continue to play instrumental roles in their traditional leadership. iNtroductioN Performing art has been described as the various forms of art that are executed for entertainment, correction and for the pleasure of the onlooker (Arthur 2009). For the purposes of this study, performing art is defined as any activity that seeks to communicate ideas or intentions to an audience by sound or by gestures. The role such activities play in the Asante culture cannot be over-emphasized; they permeate Asante society at every level, from 117 ETA_11.1_Arthur_117-135.indd 117 1/23/15 12:20:28 PM Nana Ama Pokuaa Arthur | Eric Appau Asante ... ‘enstoolment’ through to the death of a king or a chief. Generally in African societies, as soon as a traditional chief or king is installed, he is confronted with the threefold responsibility of religious head, judicial head, and military or political head. When an Asante king ascends the throne he automatically becomes Chief Justice of the traditional court, head of the priesthood and commander-in-chief of the traditional army (Agordoh 1994). Dance is one form of performing art that plays a prominent role in the lives of the Asante kings and chiefs; Asante chiefs are educated on how to dance and communicate with their subjects before they are enthroned. This is referred to by both Osei (2004) and Odotei (2001), who have noted that an Asante King Elect is customarily confined for a period of 40 days, during which he is given tuition on Asante culture, governance, body movement and traditional dances. To the Asantes, as with any other African ethnic group, dance is a commu- nicative instrument that is integral to life itself. Opoku (1965) postulates that to the Africans, life with its rhythms and cycles is dance and that dance is life expressed in dramatic terms. Similarly, Hickens is quoted by Nketia (1974: 35) as saying ‘The African is born, named, initiated into manhood, warriored, armed, housed, betrothed, wedded and buried to music’. Nketia himself (1974) points out that music is believed to be necessary to the sustenance of a community’s life, and likens it to ‘the cry of a new born baby’, which gives solid proof that it is alive. To Nketia, music is even more than a phenomenon that pervades all the activities of African people – rather, music is synonymous with life. Drumming is perhaps the best known of the Asante musical performing arts. As Mbiti (1969) writes, ‘Royal drums are reported from all over Africa, and are regarded as sacred so that they are played only on certain occasions or to announce important messages, and are kept in houses’. This is echoed in Nketia’s (1963) discussion concerning the Nkrawiri and Mpebi drums that are played only on state occasions, when they are interpreted as signalling the approach or presence of a chief. Within the context of the article, visual arts refer to artworks that are predominantly visual in nature. These include all art forms that could be seen, handled and used. As Kuma (2009) indicates, when the body arts are removed from the human body and placed in an environment, within or outside a house, they are at that moment regarded as visual or environmental arts. Visual arts also play a very significant role in Asante Traditional Politics. Most of these art forms are the kings and chiefs of Asante’s regalia that serve as a storehouse of power, knowledge and a communicative instru- ment to the Asante kingdom. Opoku (1980), who affirms this statement, writes that some regalia found at the chief’s palace, such as the spokes- man’s staff and umbrella tops, embody the treasured knowledge, experi- ence and wisdom of the land. Indeed each of the regalia has its own history, functions and significance that collectively aggrandize and validate the chief’s position of leadership. Traditionally, regalia belong to the whole state and that the chief is only a trustee and custodian of stool property, not its owner, and a good chief is expected to add to this legacy of visual artefacts (Osei-Agyemang n.d.). Visual art forms like drums, stools, spokesman’s staff, umbrella, shields, horns, swords, muskets and war dresses are special art forms made by special artisans of the various palaces within the Asante Traditional Area. These arti- sans do not receive formal training to make these unique craft. The knowledge 118 ETA_11.1_Arthur_117-135.indd 118 1/23/15 12:20:28 PM The educational role of performing and visual arts ... and skills they exhibit are transmitted from generation to generation and are handed down over the centuries and every member of a household (that has been chosen to make these art forms for the palaces) has some knowledge into the intricacies of design patterns for these arts (Arthur 2009). Ethnographic account Asante is the largest of the Akan ethnic groups in Ghana. The people are scattered along the southern forest areas of Ghana, about 180 miles from the coast. They are noted for the wealth they derive from the mineral and vegeta- ble products that abound in the vast territory they occupy, and are one of the most powerful ethnic groups in the West African sub-region (Osei 2004). The Asante kingdom was founded in the seventeenth century by unit- ing a number of separate independent states, who shared the same cultural identity and ethnic origin, under the leadership of King Osei Tutu I and his friend Okomfo Anokye (a traditional priest). Before the union, the states were under the lordship of the wealthy and powerful Denkyira state. The para- mount chief of Denkyira was a dictator who denied the Asante people access to European traders on the Guinea Coast, and this eventually motivated the various Asante states to band together and rid themselves of Denkyira’s rule (Adu-Boahen 1967). During the unification ceremony, Okomfo Anokye was said to have conjured a Golden Stool from the sky, and because it settled on the lap of Osei-Tutu, he was crowned the first king of Asante. Oral history attests to the fact that the new kingdom soon became so powerful that it was forced to constantly wage war against its neighbours in both the north and south to safeguard its commercial and economic interests. Several measures were put in place to strengthen the union, giving rise to an enduring political structure comprising the Adonten (vanguard), the Nifa (right) wing, Benkum (left) wing, the Kyidom (rearguard), Manwere (guard) and Ankobea (guard), as well as ceremonies such as Odwira (purification) and Adae (resting place), which all the chiefs assemble at Kumasi (the capital city of Ashanti Region) to affirm their allegiance to the Golden Stool. Busia (1954) reports that a durbar held in 1935 was meant to restore the union of independ- ent states under the Asante confederacy, and comments that the sentiments of loyalty and solidarity were kept alive by periodic ritual Odwira ceremonies that were held in Kumasi. The durbar held in 1935 at the restoration of the union under the name of the Asante confederacy demonstrated how effective these ceremonies must have been in rousing the sentiment of solidarity and patriotism of Ashanti. The ceremonies were marked by deep feelings of exalta- tion and expressions of loyalty to the Golden Stool. Brewu (2009) asserts that the Asante political organization hinges on kinship. Each lineage is a political unit, which has its own headmen who represent the lineage in a political body. He went on to say that the whole area of Asanteland is divided into states which are called ‘Oman’, compris- ing all towns and villages under a central political organization, with an Omanhene as head. He added that the political unit of administration of an Asante state is based on the matrilineage with ‘Abusuapanin’ (lineage head), ‘Odikro’ (village headman), ‘Ohene’ (sub-chief) and ‘Omanhene’ (territorial chief). The Omanhene (territorial chief) is the focal point in relation between the separate lineages, the villages and the sub-divisions, and holds them together. The Asante political organization in a hierarchical order appears as shown in Figure 1. 119 ETA_11.1_Arthur_117-135.indd 119 1/23/15 12:20:28 PM Nana Ama Pokuaa Arthur | Eric Appau Asante ... Figure 1: Asante traditional political organization. In modern times Asante remains one of the largest African communities that maintains its links with traditional cultural heritage. Methodology This study has principally focused on the role of the performing and visual arts in Asante traditional politics, using a qualitative research approach. Qualitative research, according to Leedy and Ormrod (2005), is a systematic process of describing, analysing and interpreting insights discovered in every- day life.
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