Ghanaian Spirituality

I am Kwasi Daniel Agyei, and I teach Mathematics at Kpohe D/A Basic School in Accra. Here are my reflections on Ghanaian Spirituality.

ANANSE AKURAA (The Spider’s Village)

In Ghana, Spirituality plays a role in daily life. As part of the WTIG program, we have had many sessions where we have discussed Spirituality, but during our visit to Ananse Akura (The Spider’s Village) I experienced and felt it deeply. Prof Pash Obeng and Prof Obiri-Addo, who efficiently filled in for Professor Asare Opoku the guru and creator of the beautiful forest preserve and place of healing called Ananse Kwae, guided us through meditation and questions to great understanding.

At Ananse Akuraa, my eyes were opened to a deeper form of spirituality. Each plant and tree has some meaning and purpose. Ghanaian Spirituality reminds us that everything was created in the image of Onyame or Nyame (God or the creator). Many people believe that only humans were created in the image of God, but on the trip to Ananse Akura, I realized that all of nature - the trees, the animals, the sky, mountains, the rivers are created in the image of God. Nature should be respected and honored in the same manner in which we honor humankind. This is an important belief of Ghanaian and most African Spiritual beliefs.

Everything seen around us is a representation of the supreme being. Time is calibrated by nature. Everything is connected. Death is connected to birth. According to a Ghanaian proverb, if there is no death, there is no birth. This is a lesson we were reminded of as we walked the sacred ground at Ananse Akuraa.

The development of spirituality requires some intentionality, practice or discipline in order to make ‘spiritual progress'. This involves contradictory statements like “the gateless gate” or coming home to oneself. Contemplative practices such as prayer and meditation are the common denominator of many religions and the foundation of spirituality. Without these, personal spiritual growth can be slower and elusive. At Ananse Akuraa, we were inspired to “live life like a prayer”.

The program began with a naming ceremony by a leader of the Gã people, the original inhibitors of Accra.

Spiritual development often involves our awareness of events around us- often spontaneous happenings that cannot be accounted for scientifically and that may be attributed to an external force, for example: grace, or angelic or divine interventions. Ananse Akuraa also teaches me that I am the architect of my own life. (a moment from present to death) and that every happening, event or lack of can be attributed to the workings and benevolence of Nyame, the supreme being.

TETTEH QUARSHIE

In a circle at Mampong Hospital which is near Ananse Akura, is a statue honoring Tetteh Quarshie. Tetteh Quarshie was a Ghanaian agriculturalist who was the first to expand the production of the crop in Ghana. He brought Cocoa to Ghana from Fernando Po (now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea) in 1879. It has been 140 years since he first brought Cocoa beans to Ghana. Some people are of the view that Tetteh Quarshie swallowed cocoa beans to smuggle them into the country. We now accept that he came back with six ripe cocoa pods hidden in his toolbox. As a blacksmith, he kept metals in a toolbox, and inside the toolbox he hid the pods. As a result of Tetteh Quarshie vision and actions, Ghana today is a leading producer of cocoa in the world, and sets the quality standard as a world premium.

Below are other places, during the Witness Tree Institute Program, where I found Spirituality…

DONKOR NSUO (The Slave River)

Donkor Nsuo is located at Assin Manso in the Central Region of Ghana where the slaves where being kept for a while before that are shipped from Cape Coast and Elmira. The captives were encamped for their last bath with African water, in a river known as “Donkor Nsuo”, Slave River.

AGYA KOO NIMO

Agya Koo Nimo (Kwabena Boa Amponsem), is a leading folk musician and regarded as one of the living legends as far as highlife music and palm wine music is concerned. Koo Nimo has performed for the Asante Royal Family in Kumasi. He is not only a musician but a teacher of art, proverbs, and wisdom. He strives to preserve Ghanaian culture through music and the telling of stories, and he is one of the few African musicians whose works are studied in the West African Examinations Council syllabus for music.

By actively sharing and reflecting with other educators from Ghana and the USA with honesty and courage, and by exploring important places like Ananse Akuraa and Donkor Nsuo, and experiencing the wisdom of Koo Nimo firsthand, the Witness Tree Institute has deepened my understanding of my identity, role as a teacher and Ghanaian Spirituality. I am grateful.

By Kwasi Daniel Agyei

Mathematics Teacher at Kpohe D/A Basic School in Accra.

The Healing Power of Ghana

My aunt Patti, with whom I was close, passed away the first day I was in Ghana. I had almost canceled my trip because we all knew she wasn’t doing well, and I couldn’t imagine not being at her funeral to support my family. My family insisted that she would have wanted me to continue with my plan to travel, and I do think they were right. I did get a chance to say goodbye to her on the phone the day I left for Ghana, but the experience has left me raw and a bit scattered emotionally and mentally. I am so grateful now that I went forward with the trip. It has been a refuge for me, and an extremely positive experience to be here in this particular place with these incredible people. I’ve tried to stay present and mindful, but there is a lot to speak about.

As I am writing this entry, I am overwhelmed with thoughts about our travels, our experiences, and the people we’ve met. I think about the reflective discussions we have had as a group and the warm, thoughtful responses shared by all. I think about how remarkable it is that I didn’t even know this group two weeks ago, and now, we’ve shared one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I think of the scholars and artists who have shared their precious time with us. I think about how fantastic every single day here has been.

I have so many thoughts and ideas associated with being here that I really was in a quandary about choosing one specific subject. Do I write about the striking billboards adorning the streets, complete with large portraits and funeral information for a deceased loved one? These are public and unapologetic tributes reminding me how important family connections are among Ghanaians. Do I write about the kindness, generosity, warmth, and humor of the many Ghanaians we have met? Do I write about the laughter and good-natured teasing among the group while we all tried (my attempt being sadly pitiful) to learn Ghanaian dances and songs? Should I attempt to do justice to our stay at Hans Cottage Botel where we actually tried to coax crocodiles out of the water to pet them? Do I write about the three fantastic nights during which our group ate delicious foods, danced, sang, and laughed while looking out over the ocean at Aunty Mercy’s Shebeen? I loved our time at Aunty’s!

I must mention the sacred ceremony at the Assin Manso Ancestral Slave River Park (which we should be calling Assin Manso Ancestral Donkor Nsuo River Park). This is a place where people walked bare-foot, bound in chains, sometimes hundreds of miles, to be bathed and shaved with broken glass in preparation for the auction block. Many also died there after being forced to make such a cruel and agonizing journey. Now, this is a place where ancestors of the people who were enslaved can come and pay respect and connect with the past. This is a ceremony that my intuition or some other energy made clear to me that I should not be participating. I should only be a witness to this rite for the others. As a European American, I knew this ceremony was not for me, and I wanted to respect the ritual and its intentions. Watching from atop the hill was a beautiful and affirming experience, and I will always remember it.

I definitely need to speak about the experience that most greatly affected me, which is our visit to the European castles on the coast where most of the enslaved persons in Africa were kept until they were taken away from the continent. In preparing for my trip to Ghana, I had bought a play to read. In “The Dilemma of a Ghost” by the Ghanaian playwright and novelist Ama Ata Aidoo, the protagonist, Ato, has a dream about a young boy and girl who are singing a song about a ghost and its dilemma. The ghost asks,

​Shall I go

​To Cape Coast

Or to Elmina

I don’t know,

I can’t tell.

This ghost’s dilemma is metaphorical in the play, but the two choices are both abysmal. Both Elmina and Cape Coast castles have unfathomably brutal histories where millions of African people who were captured or sold into slavery waited (and often died) under hellish conditions to be transferred to ships that would take them away from their homeland. Both are places where African people were tortured and dehumanized. In both of these places, ghosts of the past reside. A holy man sitting vigil at the Cape Coast Castle told our group that he sometimes sees ghosts crying. With the level of brutality committed there and the intense misery experienced there, it must be a very haunted place. I know that it is definitely a haunting place.

At one of our workshops, we were told that the Ghanaians have a dance where they lean to the right (listening to that person) and then lean to the left (listening to that person) and then go forward (looking to the future). Ghana seems to have embraced that concept in combatting the effects of a very difficult past. In counteracting, to whatever degree possible, the horrors experienced by its people, Ghana has taken many steps to welcome back the African diaspora in an effort for unity. The ceremony at the Assin Manso Ancestral Donkor Nsuo River Park reflects this, as does the “DOOR OF RETURN” sign exhibited now on the other side of the original “DOOR OF NO RETURN” at the Cape Coast Castle. This sign is a tangible symbol of reclamation by the people, creating the literal place for “the return.” Another healing event in Ghana is the PANAFEST festival, started in the 1980s to celebrate the resiliency and strength of African people. This is an international, arts event designed to directly confront the effects of slavery and that may have been stifled or suppressed. These are just a few of Ghana’s efforts to create unity. Ghana’s efforts at creating vehicles of healing and cohesion among its people and the diaspora clearly show that it is looking to the past, looking to the present and then dancing forward, looking to the future.

I hope to return many times to this beautiful country in the future, and I am eternally grateful for this opportunity with The Witness Tree Institute.

Diana Degnan-LaFon

English Teacher at Notre Dame Preparatory School

Towson, Maryland

storytelling, tradItIon, and respect: InformaL & Formal Education in Ghana

We’ve had a variety of workshops and wonderful experiences thus far, from a traditional Ga naming ceremony, to formal and informal education, to dance, to an examination of textiles, to walking a wobbly rope bridge through the canopy of the rainforest, and visiting two castles that were instrumental in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Throughout every experience were a variety of themes - story-telling, tradition, and respect for elders. Everything, from movements, to patterns, to colors, to song, to rhythms all tell a story, a history, and is meant to impart a message to those who are attentive enough to truly observe.

The workshop on formal and informal education with Dr. Sylvanus K. Kuwor happened to be our second activity in our thoughtfully created itinerary. He spoke about the different cultures within Ghana, the various languages, some key facts, and then began to describe the informal/indigenous education system that originally existed in Ghana. Education began with parents and was a communal process. Professional skills were learned in the home - cooking, washing, fishing, farming, basket-weaving - whatever the ancestors had passed down from generation to generation. Through this process, interpersonal, cognitive, and psychomotor skills were developed. Dr. Kuwor warned that those on the outside might view this as child labor, which does exist in Ghana, but it is distinct from informal/indigenous education. Through this informal/indigenous education process, the history of a people, wisdom, morals, perseverance, respect and many more lessons/ideals were passed on through daily tasks, story-telling, and existing within the community

Dr. Kuwor described the following aesthetic values as tools for informal/indigenous education:

• Music - sound, rhythm, vibration, and text

• Dance - movement of the body, gestures, and games

• Story-telling - fables, proverbs, riddles, myths, and dramatic enactment

• Visual forms - patterns, shapes, designs, colors, and symbols.

Each of these elements were essential in informal/indigenous education, and included multi-sensory modalities, including balance, internal feelings and touched on spirituality as well.

Formal education didn’t start until missionaries and colonizers arrived, with some systems only beginning for the purpose of educating the children that resulted from the sexual violence imposed on African women by white men in power.

Above is a photo of the doors where the children birthed by African women were taught school lessons at Cape Coast Castle. In addition, church services were also delivered in the same space. To the left of the doorway you can see wooden planks surrounded by a short wall. Through this hole, one could view the dungeon where enslaved men were kept, sometimes for months, before being placed on a ship for the Americas. In addition to whatever formal instructional lessons/sermons were taught, can’t even imagine the unspoken messages that were being reinforced day after day as children and men walked past dungeons of enslaved men. I wonder which unspoken lessons transformed into cultural beliefs. I wonder which of these beliefs were passed down generationally and linger in our current society.

Dr. Kuwor is one of the African scholars who have developed a new curriculum for the formal school system in Ghana. There is emphasis placed on the learner, inclusion, and cultural diversity. Education is based on Ghanaian cultures and cultural forms, including music, dance, and their respective languages. There is emphasis placed on the aesthetic values and use them as vehicles for the transmission of knowledge.

The Kente Cloth above is a symbol of unity for Ghana’s many cultures.

When I travel, I can’t help but hold the culture and essence of the United States up for comparison. The United States is a nation comprised of the descendants of indigenous peoples, enslaved people, colonizers, and immigrants. What would the aesthetic values be in our country? Would we even be able to agree on what they should be? Would they be rooted in our constitution, which talks about individual liberties and rights, or could they take on a more communal value and focus on the phrase that’s on the back of much of our currency? “E pluribus unum” (Out of many, one). Is it symbolic of our times that many in the US don’t even carry cash and coin anymore? Would we even value the same things that were traditional valued at the start of our nation? With majority of the Americans in power being descendants of colonizers, which traditions, values, and beliefs rooted in slavery continue in our present day society?

The Adinkra symbol, Sankofa, meaning “look to the past to learn”

This entire experience reminds me of the importance of asking questions, scrutinizing traditions/beliefs, and being able to defend those that persist to anyone involved, and to all who might observe them. Why must we celebrate certain holidays? Where does some belief come from? How might our traditions be interpreted by others? Should we care? The answer to this last one almost always should be “yes.” Only those traditions, beliefs, and morals that can withstand the intense scrutiny of critical questions should be passed down. I can only hope that we’ve learned this process, ask the right questions, and scrutinize our ethics to ensure that barbaric systems such as the enslavement of humans never happen again.

By Jennifer Youk See

Math Teacher, Beaver Country Day School, Chestnut Hill MA

My Return Home Through The Door of no Return

I decided to call my experience to Ghana “My Return Home through the Door of No Return” because it embodies how I have felt since arriving to Ghana. An audacious sign that was displayed over a doorway to dispel the hopes, dreams and memories of a group of people rich with tradition and culture has been figuratively destroyed by the descendants of the very same group of people. In life, you have experiences which can change you in a way you could never have imagined. Well I must say, this absolutely is mine.

From the first moment the plane landed, a smile has been engraved on my face. Not knowing why, I chose from that moment to not try to understand the feeling behind the smile, but to live in it! Greeted with a smile and a sign, my new family member met me at the airport. I say this very important detail because my philosophy has always been to greet people in a warm way because you never know what they are carrying. Approximately 400 to 500 years ago, my new family member could have been the person behind my pain and anguish on this very land, but yet he is the one who is welcoming me back home. Isn’t GOD amazing! But I soon came to realize that this friendly greeting is not foreign here, but in fact is a common practice exercised by all who inhabit and visit. For some reason, the spirit of Africa infuses within you as soon as you touch soil. And from that moment I knew that I had come home.

An Informal but Formal Welcome

The melodic tones of the words spoken to you by Ghanaian people and all African people are so soothing. I can listen to it all day. It reminds me of my Liberian father as he sung to his young daughter to sleep with the same melodic sound of words surrounded by the drumming of his heartbeat. In fact, everything reminds me of my childhood here. The music, the laughter of people sitting around talking, the dance and the food …oh yes the food!! African food is so good. When the spicy Palavar Sauce and rice (Casava and rice we Liberians would say) sat down before me , let me just tell you it was all over! I totally forgot people were around me. My tastebuds were awakened with so many memories. My bowl was cleaned while others were still half full!! But the funny thing is I didn’t care. For the first time in my adult life, I was living in the present for me and enjoying every minute of it!

After listening to a presentation by Dr. Obeng, probably one of the most humble men I have ever met, receiving a blessing from a chief, walking through an informal/formal education lecture by Dr. Kuwor and dancing with Kofi and my new rainbow family, I understood the why behind the smile. You see Africa is not just a continent with many countries. She is a spirit which flows like the wind through her people and makes you feel beautiful, royal, joyful and powerful. I must learn how to bottle this up and take it back with me to the states!!

Cape Coast

Overwhelming does not even begin to explain the feeling that came over me as I walked through the dungeons. While staring over the same wall that my ancestors once looked over as they were taken to a distance land, I felt as if an elephant was standing on my chest. A very personal experience which I will keep to myself. However, I will share that what you read in books or see in museums does not even come close to the feeling you will experience as you stand in the same spaces once occupied by your terrified ancestors.

It will change you!

Elmina Castle

Here is where I truly experienced something different. I channeled Yaa Asantewaa’s spirit. She was an “African warrior “ who led a rebellion and was placed in a cell within the walls of the Elmina Castle before being sent away forever. Although she never was able to return back to the life she once knew in her homeland, she was able to leave behind her spirit of fight and inner strength which is interwoven within the essence of the people. That spirit may not be displayed in such a rebellious manner; however, it can be seen in the will of the people, the scholarship obtained through academics, the songs sung, the movements made illustrating the vibrations felt or the stories passed down through storytellers. Those walls may have encased her physical being, but they didn’t kill her spirit. She now has become a part of me.

Donkor Nsuo in Assin Manso

Although this location is often referred to as Slave River, I shall not reduce it to such a label. As shared by our group leader, we are not descendants of slaves, we are but descendants of an Enslaved people.

There is a difference.

This was a spiritual awakening for me. As I walked the path towards the river and felt the soil slip in between my toes, it ironically stripped away the effects of my past trials. I use the word ironically because it did the opposite for my ancestors. This was the location where they were bathed before being sold. But it felt as if they were present along the path while we were walking towards the river. I was imagining them standing along the sides watching us parade down to the river, smiling upon us, as if saying “through our sacrifices, you have returned home. Now honor those sacrifices with your lives.”

As I cleansed my hands of the fears, the hurts, the sadness, the failures and the negative thoughts about myself with the water that held the sacrificial tears of my ancestors, I felt renewed. I shamed the perpetrators of my ancestors’ pain and emerged from the waters with the spirit of joy and limitless possibilities.

It truly was an awakening.

The Meaning is in the Mystery

As stated before, Africa is not just a continent made up of many countries. She is a spirit consisting of culture, traditions and proverbial undertones. Often we look at resources which come from Africa such as music, dance, jewelry, clothing and stories as forms of entertainment or mere items which adorn our outer appearance. However, I’ve learned that everything from the songs, movements, stories, patterns of clothing, symbols and traditions were developed to teach her people the wisdom needed to live out a meaningful life.

We, as African Americans, may sometimes suffer from being a tree with shallow roots. Although we are taught about our American history, we seldom learn about the richness of our African heritage. This leads to a tall tree with beautiful leaves, but one which can easily sway with the wind because of its shallow roots. I hope all African Americans will get an opportunity to experience Africa’s mysterious spirit. Not only was she able to teach me more about myself, she was able to enlarge my territory with additional friends and family members of all shades.

How awesome is that?!!!

I would like to thank Tete, Liz and the Witness Tree Institute for helping me find my way back home!

By Fametta Jackson

Baltimore MD

A sense of ghana: Tastes, touches, sights, sounds, and smells

A goal of our time in Ghana is to experience the country through senses. Come along with me to explore this multi-sensory experience!

TASTE: …. Fried plantains for the first time… The refreshing orange Fanta, perfect for cooling off… Chicken, LOTS of chicken… The best avocado I’ve ever had… Fresh white pineapple… Grilled Street corn…. Coffee with evaporated milk and two sugar cubes… Daily toast and eggs…. Sips of palm wine, rice, even Pringles…. Other snacks we brought to remind us of home.

I TOUCH…. The cool water of Donkor Nsuo (Slave River). I cup it in my hands and splash it on my arms, washing away imperfections…. Feeling calmed by the flow of the water…. Connecting with my ancestors with feet firmly planted in the dirt and earth as I reflect and imagine a journey that led to so many unpleasant futures and endings. The spiritual connection to that land touches me deeply.

I SEE…. Pure joy in so many forms. Ghanaian children waving at our bus. Ofuriwa’s beautiful and infectious smile… Teachers dancing like no one is watching, even though at home if it would wind up on Tik Tok…. The bright colors and patterns that Cidi and Kwesi wear…. The fabrics we’re all so excited to take home with us…. The friendly faces of all Ghanaians…. The Sankofa symbol that has so much personal meaning to me…. Goats on top of moving vans and roaming chickens everywhere… Rubber treees…Proud citizens…. References to the American leaders I teach about, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X, Barack Obama…. Tete so excited to share his home and experience so many different things. The vibrant color of fresh mango.

I HEAR…. Honking horns in travel patterns I will never understand. Music coming from the back of the bus - a flute and drum playing off the cusp. “Ghana Nyigba” a song we are practicing to perform. The beautiful palm wine music and guitar playing of Agya Koo Nimo, reminding me of my late grandfather’s guitar. Pounding tropical bursts of heavy rain - it is the Wet Season after all. Joyous sounds of school children on a class outing, Bus conversations sharing our favorite books. Life lessons through proverbs and storytelling.

I SMELL…. The ocean breeze at Cape Coast Castle and Elmina’s St Georges Castle. Burning - trash and other disposable goods. The fresh rain on the vegetation in the rain forest as we wait for our turn to extend our comfort zone on The Canopy Walk. The fumes as we travel between cities. The vanilla in the ice cream and the lemon in the cake from Aunt Mercy’s Shebeen, sweet treats we’ve missed. Imagining the odors from packed slave dungeons and cells, all in a place as one alive prisoner awaits their fate. Food cooking in the villages we pass by. Mosquito repellent.

Do you feel like you’re in Ghana yet?

By Ariana Sanders

Social Studies Teacher

Wyoming High School, Cincinnati OH

Flash cards: Music, dance, anguish, & hope

Flashcard 1: The cry of a baby is the first rhythmic sound of life, and the cry is accompanied by movement and the sound of the child’s parents welcome into this world. At the same time, this child’s cry can acknowledge the agony for our ancestors. It can also be a cry of protest towards uncertainty..perhaps the cruelty of the world. Music and Dance are connected to the cultural identity of the African. However, it has been partially tainted by the slave trade of the past.

Flashcard 2: The Cape Coast and Elmina slave fortresses and dungeons say and tell it all. It is a history never to be forgotten - the experience of what our ancestors went through in the hands of the slave traders and fellow Africans …. the inhumane treatment became daily routines for profit. It is a very sad period of our history. The question is how did all this came about? Hmmmmmmm.......

Flashcard 3: The sense of being together with the Witness Tree Institute brings out of me encouraging words and unity, as we push and trade ideas together. The warm feelings for one another lifted my spirits, and helped connect me again with my past. This will never be forgotten - That feeling of unity with my strangers through ancestors

Flashcard 4: Donkor Nsuo is also known as Slave River. It is the sight where captured Africans were given the last bath on the continent before being stolen to the new world. The place says it all, and one cannot hold back his feelings.

Flashcard 5: The legend Agya Koo Nimo offers wisdom in his musical treats; it is essential to connect to our roots. The sound of the African drums is a major part of our culture, and that sound is expressed in diverse ways. Such expressions have given a vivid answer to the questions of the past. Never and never again.

By Cidi-Ocloo Gershon

Professor of Music at Accra College of Education

Impressions of Ghana: From Music & Dance to Slave Fortresses

We are now a few days in on our 14-day trip, and it is hard to describe the effect that the Ghanaian, and even broader African, culture is having on me. I would like to share some reflections on our journey so far…

 Music and Dance

Ms. Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame’s story about how hard work and bravery helped her to persevere as a young child with a disability into adulthood, was so inspiring to me. Oforiwa, who has been a teacher, an advocate, and also a volunteer at the United Nations, sang a song that took me back to my childhood, when I was 9 years old in an African dance group. This group was directed by Diama Battle from The Art of Black Dance and Music, in Boston, MA. Our group met a couple of times a week, and we practiced for what was soon to be a Kwanzaa celebration which included an abundant feast along with our dance performances. One of the few songs we learned, to accompany an African dance routine, was the song, “Che Che Koolay” that Oforiwa sang during our workshop! I immediately connected with her, and reconnected to my childhood days of dancing to these words. This brought back so many memories. Back then, I didn’t appreciate how Diama’s lessons about the connections between African dance and music were very similar to the ideas that we have been learning about at WTIG this week from Dr. Kwashie Kuwor and Dr. Kofi Antonio (that Krista explained in an earlier blog). Having this taught to me as an adult, and even getting the chance to perform an African dance decades later, brings to me a whole new appreciation for music and dance from the different countries of west Africa. 

 Cape Coast Castle

At the Cape Coast Castle/“Door of No Return”, I noticed the many windows, in different sizes, shapes and purposes throughout. I started to think of how we use windows… for light, air, viewing, warmth, but never for seeking freedom or survival, as the slaves did. Being in the slave dungeons at the castle made me realize how often we take simple things for granted…such as windows. Never could I have imagined what I experienced on this day. The different emotions jumbled up in my mind were bittersweet, as I tried to both empathize with my ancestors who suffered this repulsive brutality and demise, and yet, celebrate their afterlife and be able to proudly walk back through the “Door of Return” as a descendant.

In Front of the “Door of Return”

The Windows in the Slave Dungeons

Thank you WTIG for this amazing, life-changing experience! I look forward to what lies ahead on this powerful journey.

Tasha Summers

Grade 5 Humanities

The Park School, Brookline, MA

Ghanaian Identity Through Dance and Music

I am Krista Galleberg, a fifth grade teacher at a project-based learning school in San Diego, California. I am excited and grateful to be part of the Witness Tree Institute of Ghana cohort. Thanks you for reading!

Two of the most important themes that have run through this trip have been dance and music. The questions we focused on during the past several days were, “Why are music and dance so important to the Ghanaian?” and a related question, “What is Ghanaian identity?”

On Saturday, we received a private lecture about Ghanaian identity and the importance of Ghanaian dance and music from Dr. Sylvanus Kuwor at the University of Ghana, Accra (Legon campus). On Sunday we returned to the University of Ghana’s performing arts department for another private lecture on the anthropology of dance, and take a private dance class from Dr. Kofi Antonio and his colleague Mr. Awuah.

Dr Kwashie Kuwor

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Dr. Kuwor was our first lecturer and the first dance professor to welcome us to Ghana’s largest and oldest university. Dr. Kuwor is a master drummer; music, dance and theater practitioner and teacher; and scholar of traditional Ghanaian dance and music. He earned several degrees in dance practice and theory, culminating in his PhD from the University of Roehampton in London in Dance Anthropology. After working and studying in London for more than a decade, Dr. Kuwor returned to the University of Ghana to be the head of the Department of Dance.

Dr Kofi Anthonio

Likewise, Dr. Kofi Antonio also has earned several degrees in dance theory and practice, culminating in a PhD. degree from the University of Ghana, Accra, where he studied the indigenous wisdom and histories that are encoded in traditional Ghanaian dances. Pre-colonial, or traditional Ghana, was a collection of ethnic groups that were not literary; these groups did not use writing and reading to record their history, politics, or forms of knowledge. Rather, knowledge was recorded and enshrined in dance, music and stories. Dr. Kofi’s research involved translating the knowledge found in these village dances to the university context.

Mr. Awuah Zooming to Discuss Ghanaian Identity and Dance

Ghana has sixteen separate regions, over thirty indigenous languages, and more than thirty million people. So what, according to Drs. Kuwor and Antonio, is “the Ghanaian”? As Dr. Antonio explained, Ghanaian identity is a “mishmash of unique ethnic characteristics.” Despite many cultural differences among the groups and cultures found in Ghana, there are some similarities. Some of the most important and fundamental similarities of Ghanaian identity are enshrined in music and dance.

In Ghana (and in West African more generally) music and dance cannot be separated: music is the rhythm of the body, and dance is the body responding to music. Indeed, Dr. Kuwor shared that music and dance form the four major elements of African life: sound (the cry of a baby), rhythm (progression of sound), vibration (the source of empowerment, or the impetus to move), and movement (the body’s response to the first three elements). Stillness, in this tradition, connotes death: if someone does not dance to music, that person is dead. And I would add that if the descendants of master drummers and dancers do not understand the cues of the music, that is a form of cultural death.

In short, as Dr. Kuwor put it, “to live is music and dance.”

Dr. Kuwor has developed a theory of aesthetics of African dance to explain its importance and the role it plays in maintaining and preserving traditional Ghanaian society. This theory relates to theories of holism: in order to understand the importance of dance and music to the Ghanaian, one must understand the facets of dance in all its forms: body, visual forms, multi-sensory modalities, and music. Every aspect of a traditional dance is important just as every word is important in an ancient text: the color of the costumes, the direction of the dancers, the space where the dance is performed, the body movements, the musical rhythms, etc. all work together to shape the message.

There are four main types of traditional dances: royal dances, war dances, cult dances (to commune with the spiritual realm), and social dances. Traditionally, only certain people can perform certain dances. However, in order to preserve these dances in the face of colonization and urbanization, dances are now collected and performed at the university and by others who are not members of the traditional or ethnic groups that created these dances.

For example, there are certain dances that are traditionally only performed at funerals. Depending on the color of the costumes, that funeral may honor an extremely tragic or untimely death (red costumes), a moderately untimely death (black costumes), or a natural death following a long life (white costumes).

Kings and queen-mothers are the custodians of certain traditional dances. The origin of the “Wakanda” gesture from Marvel’s Black Panther movie (arms crossed over chest) was taken from a war dance. In the original dance phrase, the movements encoded the message: from the east to the west, all power rests on me. The shortened “Wakanda” gesture represents the portion of that movement phrase that says, “on me.”

The experience of the dance class was both fun and enriching, especially in the context of all that we had learned about the role and function of dance in West African societies. Kofi (Dr. Antonio) was an amazing dance teacher who made the experience silly, energizing, and inclusive. We learned and performed a part of a traditional dance and song for about an hour and a half. We learned it as a group then took turns performing for one another, complete with impromptu group names and false biographies of our respective dance troupes.

There is so much more I would like to share about this fascinating and hands-on experience learning about Ghanaian dance and identity, such as the role dance plays in the new curriculum for a post-colonial Ghana, and the ways in which the Performing Arts department has engaged in mentorship from the university to the street. If you are interested in learning more about these themes, I encourage you to check out Dr. Kuwor and Dr. Antonio’s research and biography pages on the University of Ghana’s website. In the meantime, thank you for reading this installation of the WTIG blog! Stay tuned for more stories, adventures, and small tidbits of life from the WTIG experience in Ghana.

By Krista Galleberg, a fifth grade teacher at a project-based learning school in San Diego, California.