Cynthia Adjovi Mawuli Transmission and Embodiment of Heritage: An Analysis of Adinkra Symbology on Traditional Clothing in Ghana MA Thesis in Cultural Heritage Studies; Academic Research, Policy, Management Central European University CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2019 Transmission and Embodiment of Heritage: An Analysis of Adinkra Symbology on Traditional Clothing in Ghana by Cynthia Adjovi Mawuli (Ghana) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2019 Transmission and Embodiment of Heritage: An Analysis of Adinkra Symbology on Traditional Clothing in Ghana by Cynthia Adjovi Mawuli (Ghana) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection Budapest Month YYYY Transmission and Embodiment of Heritage: An Analysis of Adinkra Symbology on Traditional Clothing in Ghana by Cynthia Adjovi Mawuli (Ghana) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2019 I, the undersigned, Cynthia Adjovi Mawuli, candidate for the MA degree in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 26 May 2019 __________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract Adinkra are symbols that convey philosophies of the Akan people of Ghana through stylized pictures/symbols. A group of symbols, or a symbol one wore on a local/indigenously knit material was used to reflect a person’s mood, ethnic group, status and even political affiliation and influence in Akan society in the past. Adinkra legitimizes itself by means of external communication, an aspect which traces how people think about the world they live in. Therefore, a shift in the paradigmatic use of the symbols over the years serves as a case study to understand the evolution of symbols and the context in which these tangible and intangible heritage relevant symbols can be collected for analysis. Hence the research, through qualitative methods of fieldwork and comparative analysis, focuses on the use of Adinkra within contemporary Ghana (specifically within Ntonso- Kumasi and its environs) and how their “detachment” from their traditional social and cultural contexts affect philosophical knowledge production/reproduction and transmission. CEU eTD Collection 1 Acknowledgements First and foremost, praises to the almighty God for his favor throughout my research work to complete the research successfully. This work will have not been possible without the financial support of the cultural heritage program. I am especially indebted to Professor József Laszlovszky, Dora Merai, Zsuzsanna Szalka and Zsuzsanna Reed who have been supportive of my career goals and who worked actively to provide me with the protected academic time to pursue those goals. I would like to express my sincere and profound gratitude to my research supervisor Professor Gerhard Jaritz for giving me the opportunity to do the research and providing valuable guidance throughout this research. His motivation, vision and dynamism have inspired me. It was a great honor to work under his guidance. I am grateful to all those with whom I had the pleasure to work with during this and other related projects. My dissertation committee has provided me an extensive personal guidance and I would especially like to thank my Associate Professor Alice Mathea Choyke for the constant time she has offered me. Nobody has been more important to me in pursuit of education for the future than members of my family. I have been lucky to have had Reverend Professor Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor and Professor Daniel Mato as external supervisors who made time to read my work and offered helpful insights into making the work better. I would like to thank my parents Mr. Paul Mawuli and Emelia Yaa Djissenu whose love, CEU eTD Collection prayers, sacrifices and preparedness for the future has brought me this far. I am very grateful to my loving husband and mentor Mr. Eric Baffour Awuah for his love, understanding, advice, prayers and providing an unending inspiration to complete this research work. Also, I express my thanks to my brother Mr. Michael Kofi Mawuli for his support and valuable prayers. I 2 acknowledge the spiritual support I received from Mr. and Mrs. Cudjoe, Mr. Senyo Okyere, my mother-in-law Ernestina Ayim Kankam and Twumasi- Ntiamoah for their keen interest and prayers for completing this research. My special thanks to the curator of the museum of Archeology, University of Ghana Mr. Ajare, curator of the bronze exhibition of the institute of African studies, University of Ghana Mr. Philip Owusu, my primary research consultant Mr. Paul Boakye and all artists at the Ntonso- cultural community center who contributed to my research for their selflessness. Lastly, my profound gratitude goes to my uncle Mr. John Djissenu for his words of encouragement which have been of great significance in my life. CEU eTD Collection 3 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. APPROACHING A CULTURE ................................................................................................ 10 1.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY............................................................................................................... 15 1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................................................. 17 1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND AIM OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 21 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................ 22 1.6 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................................... 23 1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH AREA ................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER 2. ADINKRA WITHIN IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION............................................................. 29 2.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 29 2.2 IN THE FIELD; THE ROLE OF ADINKRA SYMBOLS IN NTONSO-KUMASI ................................................... 32 2.3 AT THE FUNERAL .................................................................................................................................... 33 2.4 THE ADINKRA CENTER OF THE NTONSO COMMUNITY ............................................................................ 33 2.5 IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION THROUGH ADINKRA SYMBOLS ...................................................................... 37 2.6 NEGOTIATING “POWER RELATIONS” THROUGH ADINKRA SYMBOLS ...................................................... 41 2.7 “CURATING” IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF ADINKRA AS TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE “MUSEUMS” .............. 45 2.8 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER 3. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ................................................................................... 51 3.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 51 3.2 MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE APPROACH OF SEMIOTICS TO ADINKRA SYMBOLOGY ................................... 55 3.3 SEMIOTIC AND SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF ADINKRA SYMBOLS ................................................................. 58 CEU eTD Collection 3.4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER 4. ISSUES OF HERITAGE PRESERVATION: ADINKRA SYMBOLS IN PERSPECTIVE 64 4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................