{_ fc) Institute of African Studies Research Review GENDER: CULTURE, POWER AND RESOURCES New Series Vol. 19 No. 2 2003 UNIVERSITY OF GHANA LEGON The Research Review of the Institute of African Studies is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal appearing twice a year. The Editorial Committee welcomes submissions of papers for publication. These should be academic and scholarly articles that set forth the findings of new research in any branch of African Studies, or discuss and re-evaluate earlier research by the author and authors, or combine these approaches. Articles submitted should not have been previously published. 1 he Editorial Committee also welcomes short reports on research in progress and brief research notes. 1 hey should be accompanied by a brief biographical note giving the author's name in the form it should appear in print, current academic or professional position, field of research interest, and titles of one or two previous publications. Please see the inside back cover of this issue for detailed instructions. I he Editorial Committee also welcomes books from authors and publishers for review in the Research Review. Submissions and books for review should be sent to: The General Editor, Research Review. Institute of African Studies, P.O.Box 73, Legon, Ghana The current subscription price for the Research Review is US$35.00 (surface postage included). Cheques should be made out to the Institute of African Studies. Enquiries about subscriptions and purchase of back issues, and also of other Institute publications, should be addressed to: The Publications Officer, Institute of African Studies, P.O. Box 73. Legon, Ghana. iaspubsffiug.edu.oh ISSN 0855-4412 Published and printed by the Institute of African Studies, Legon. © Institute of African Studies, Legon, 2002 INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES RESEARCH REVIEW New Series Vol. 19 No. 2 2003 Editorial Committee Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh (Director, Hon. Chair) Prof. M.E. Kropp Dakubu (General Editor) Prof. Christine Oppong (Issue Editor) Mrs. Delali Badasu Dr. Akosua Adomako Ampofo Dr. Osman Al-Hassan Prof. Albert K. Awedoba Mr. Edward Nanbigne Advisory Editors Nana Prof. Abayie Boaten Prof. R. Addo-Fening Prof J.R. Anquandah Prof. Kofi Anyidoho Dr. S.A. Asiama Prof. Max Assimeng Mr. Kofi Drab Prof G.P. Hagan Prof John Nabila The Research Review is a journal of current research in African Studies published by the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon. Authors are solely responsible for opinions expressed in their articles. Published and printed at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box 73, Logon, Ghana. © institute of African Studies, 2003 ISSN 085-4412 ii [ able of Contents Editorial Note iv Notes on Contributors v Asante Queenmothers: Precolonial Authority in a Posted ■ nia 1 Society Beverly J. Stoeltje 1 DCTAW 20 Poetry and Gender: the Changing Status of Dagaare Women Edward Nanbigne 21 Looking up to the Victims: Land Scarcity and Women’s Role in Food Provisioning in the Ghana-'Logo Border Area Ben K. Fred-Mensah 35 Gender Ideology and Manoeuvring Space for Female Fisheries Entrepreneurs Ragnhild Overd 49 Women’s Household Environmental Caring Roles in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area: a Qualitative Appraisal Jacob Songsore and Gordon McGranahan 67 AJO L 84 Social Dynamics and Infant Feeding Practices in Northern Ghana Mariama A wumbila 85 Editorial Note With this issue we inaugurate a new feature ol the Research Review, Horn now on all articles will be prefaced by Abstracts in both English anti french. We are grateful to the Embassy of France in Ghana for making this possible, and for supporting the publication of this issue. IV Notes on Contributors Manama Awumbila is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana. Ben K. Fred-Mensah is Assistant Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, DC, USA. Beverly J. Stoeltje is a Professor in the Anthropology Department of Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA. Gordon McGranahan is a Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London and until recently headed the Urban Environment Programme at the Stockholm Environment Institute Edward Nanbigne is a Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Ragnhild Overa is a Research Fellow at the Christian Michelson Institute, Bergen, Norway. Professor Jacob Songsore is Professor of Geography, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, and former Head of the Department of Geography and Resource Development, at the University of Ghana. v Research Review NS 19.2 (2003) 1 19 ASANTE QUEEN MOTHERS: PRECOLONIAL AUTHORITY IN A POSTCOLONIAL SOCIETY B everly./. Stoeltje Abstract While the Asantehene and the Asantehemmaa are well known figures in Ghana, less familiar are the many queen mothers who function in parallel roles to chiefs in every Asante town and paramountcy. Ignored by the British and generally bypassed by modern Ghanaian leaders, queen mothers have nevertheless continued to serve their constituencies faithfully. More recently, however, globalization has discovered them, and external sources are beginning to seek them oul for local projects. Yet, queen mothers continue to face serious obstacles as a precolonial female authority in a postcolonial society. Resume Bien que le Roi e( la Reine des Asante soient tres connus au Ghana, la plupart des Reines- meres qui jouent parallelement les roles de chefs dans tons les milieux. Asante sont moins reconnues. En depit du fait qu’elles sont ignorees par les Britaniques et non reconnucs en general par les leaders ghaneens actuels, les Reines-meres continuent de servir loyalement leurs chefferies. Cependant, le concept de la mondialisation a tres recemmenl permis de les redecouvrir. C’est ainsi que des organisations etrangeres commencent a lesreperer pour des projets locaux. Apres tout, les Reines-meres font toujours face a de serieux problemes par le fait qu’elles constituent un pouvoir feminin precolonial dans line socic .e postcoloniale. Introd notion No longer absent from representations of the Asante people, queen mothers are being discovered by the global media as well as scholars. Of particular interest is an August 2000 article in GEO magazine of Germany. GEO sent journalist Carmen Butta and photographer Sibylle Bergemann to Ghana for the express purpose of documenting Asante Queen Mothers, and their extensive article in a special issue devoted to the subject of women and men, old myths and new roles, claims a significant space for queen mothers on the contemporary global stage. This article will consider the Queen Mother’s role and responsibilities in the political system of the Asante as it is articulated by individuals who hold these positions, recognizing that they fulfill very specific functions while at the same time they bring to life images that express key concepts in the culture.1 The term ohemmaa (sing., ahemmaa pi.) in Twi refers to the female leaders who parallel the male chiefs {phene sing., ahene pi.), in the indigenous political system known as chieftaincy. The term for chief or queen mother combines with the name of a specific location (or “stool” as it is known) to create the full title. The king of the Asante is then the Asantehene, and the queen mother of the Asante is the Asantehemmaa. The same linguistic rule applies throughout the Akan cultures, so the queen mother of the paramountcy and the town of Offinso is the Dfensohemmaa, and the chief of Offinso is the Dfensohene. Although colonial forces aggressively ignored queen mothers and other female leaders in Africa, and the forces ot modernization generally have tailed to acknowledge them, queen mothers are certainly conscious of their own significance as female leaders ' The GEO article features the Queen Mother of 1 lus woik dei ives horn the author s ethnographic res. art.s on Asante Queen Mothers carried out in the Ashanti region in 1989-90 on a Fulbright Research Fellowship ami if quently. R.S. Rattray, anthropologist and British colonial uimiT : for the Ashanti, wrote in 1923, all of the Asartle, the Asantehemmaa, and the paramount queen mother of Offinso, the Djensohenmiau, an educated woman who was an elementary school teacher before she became queen mother. The Asantehemmaa, Afua Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, who has been on the stool since 1977, has many accomplishments to her credit, but perhaps she might consider her most impressive one to be her son. the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. When the king’s stool became vacant in 1999 because “a great tree had fallen,”3 the Asantehemmaa nominated her son, the youngest of her five children, to be placed on the stool. Being the son of the Asante Queen Mother defined him as an ideal candidate according to his lineage, but in addition he possessed qualifications that ranked him high by the standards of the modern world. A resident of London as well as Kurnasi at the time of his nomination, he is well educated and has achieved success in the business world. After lengthy discussions by the council, kingmakers, the royal family, government officials, and indeed a large portion of the Ghanaian population, he was selected from several qualified candidates to become the new king. Subsequently, elaborate enstoolment ceremonies, attended by thousands of the Asante people in the Kumasi stadium, confirmed the new Asantehene as Osei Tutu II. Immediately he established himself as an effective king with a vision and the ability to implement it. Among his most notable achievements, 1 aunched s oon a fter h is cnstoolment, t he A sante I7, ducational F und s ceks t o improve education in the Ashanti region generally and to aid students in their efforts to advance their education. The Offtnsohemmaa, Ama Serwah Nyarko, the queen mother of the paramountcy of Offinso, came on the stool in 1987.