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Projecting Power: Akan Society On he of played he ladies answer little though nature
Mustafa Aydogdu ’22, Samuel Honegger ’20, Olivia Muro ’20
Artists in Akan society, located in present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast, crafted objects to bring their rulers into communication with spiritual and ancestral realms. Akan society includes a subgroup called Asante that historically used art to project rulers’ power and prestige. This section considers art from three phases of Akan history: pre-colonial period, British colonial rule in the early twentieth century, and post-colonial society in the twenty-first century. In moving through this chronology, visual expressions shift away from articulating the power of an individual ruler and towards the prestige of Akan culture. Such changes may have come in response to political transformations due to evolving relationships with Britain and Europe during the colonial period.

Commemorative head, date unidentified

Artist unidentified

Akan peoples, Ghana

Commemorative head, date unidentified

terracotta
height 13 3/4 inches (35 cm)
On loan from the Wyvern Collection

Terracotta heads were used in Akan funerals and likely placed in a sacred grove with other clay objects to aid the transition of a powerful individual into the world of the ancestors. Terracotta heads like this one often commemorated Akan leaders and royals, and this example may reference a queen mother. Akan rulers retained prestige and power after death. Scarification marks on the face and neck with life-like proportions accentuate this figure’s individualism, while symmetry heightens them to a divine status.

   Noah Keates ’20

Sword ornament, early twentieth century

Artist unidentified

Akan peoples (Asante subgroup), Ghana

Sword ornament, early twentieth century

gold and felt
6 x 5 inches (15.2 x 12.7 cm)
On loan from the Wyvern Collection

Ornaments placed on ceremonial sword blades represent the continued authority of Asante leaders during the British colonial period from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. Gold was valued for trade and was a marker of dominance and prestige in the pre-colonial Asante empire. While Asante people and scholars still debate exactly who is represented on figural sword ornaments, facial features suggest portrayal of an authoritative person. Depictions of human heads in ornaments are called “the head of Worosa” after a chief whom Asante leaders conquered.

   Destiny Kearney ’21

Adinkra cloth, 2013–2015

Gabriel Boakye

Ghana, 1966–2018
Akan peoples (Asante subgroup), Ntonso, Ghana

Adinkra cloth, 2013–2015

Hand-woven cotton cloth and acrylic
Anonymous loan

Adinkra cloth is a hand-printed fabric made among Akans of Ghana, a practice that dates to at least the early nineteenth century in Asante society. Historically made as a stamped cloth for Asante royalty to wear at events, adinkra cloths are patterned with symbols laden in meaning. This cloth design includes the symbol akofena meaning sword. Akofena represents courage, strength, and state authority, while also highlighting the triumphant legacy of the pre-colonial Asante kingdom. Gabriel Boakye screen-printed this adinkra cloth, with assistance from his family members, using new printing technology that upholds Asante cultural traditions in contemporary life.

   Destiny Kearney ’21