Akan Protocol

Akan Protocol PDF Author: Nana Akua Kyerewaa Opokuwaa
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595348505
Category : Akan (African people)
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
This book begins your exploration of the culture and traditions of the Akans of Ghana, West Africa. It introduces the reader to the lifestyle of the traditional Akans living in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, and other West African Countries. Little has been written on the Akan culture and spirituality especially in the style and with the sensitivity of this author. The reader gets a glimpse of the traditional life of the Akan with its protocols, hospitality, and embedded cultural spirituality. This is a user friendly guide to anyone seeking knowledge on the culture and/or spirituality of the Akans. The author has spent more than 15 years traveling throughout Ghana, observing and participating in cultural activities as well as studying day-to-day life. Additionally, the Author has spent many years interviewing practitioners of traditional Akan customs and rituals in Ghana. This book is a must read for social workers, psychologists, professors, teachers, and students. It is a great reference guide for those who plan to travel to Ghana and other parts of West Africa. Akan Protocol is infused with stories of interest and humor that will place you in the heart of Ghana, West Africa with Nana Kyerewaa.

Akan Protocol

Akan Protocol PDF Author: Nana Akua Kyerewaa Opokuwaa
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595348505
Category : Akan (African people)
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Get Book

Book Description
This book begins your exploration of the culture and traditions of the Akans of Ghana, West Africa. It introduces the reader to the lifestyle of the traditional Akans living in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, and other West African Countries. Little has been written on the Akan culture and spirituality especially in the style and with the sensitivity of this author. The reader gets a glimpse of the traditional life of the Akan with its protocols, hospitality, and embedded cultural spirituality. This is a user friendly guide to anyone seeking knowledge on the culture and/or spirituality of the Akans. The author has spent more than 15 years traveling throughout Ghana, observing and participating in cultural activities as well as studying day-to-day life. Additionally, the Author has spent many years interviewing practitioners of traditional Akan customs and rituals in Ghana. This book is a must read for social workers, psychologists, professors, teachers, and students. It is a great reference guide for those who plan to travel to Ghana and other parts of West Africa. Akan Protocol is infused with stories of interest and humor that will place you in the heart of Ghana, West Africa with Nana Kyerewaa.

The Quest for Spiritual Transformation

The Quest for Spiritual Transformation PDF Author: Nana Akua Kyerewaa Opokuwaa
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595350712
Category : Akan (African people)
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Are you searching for a spiritual path that speaks to your cultural identity? Are you curious about the connection of the African-American experience to ancient African culture and spirituality? The Quest for Spiritual Transformation: An Introduction to Traditional Akan Religion, Rituals, and Practices is an important contribution to the exploration of cultural approaches to healing the mind, body, and spirit. Author Nana Opokuwaa clearly illustrates the connection between the traditions and beliefs of Africans born in the Diaspora to the ancient customs of the Akans. Her writing style exhibits a special sensitivity and compassion that shows appreciation for the reader's need for guidance. Opokuwaa's approach to explaining the Akan Akom Tradition brings clarity to the complicated practices associated with African religion in the Diaspora. In addition to seven study guides meant to serve as discussion points within your organization, group of friends, or for yourself, this book includes a list of references to enlighten you about Akan culture, customs, and traditions. There is a glossary of Twi words, with which readers may not be familiar, utilized in the book and an index for readily available reference. In the follow-up to Akan Protocol: Remembering the Traditions of Our Ancestors, Opokuwaa continues her effort to share information about the ancient traditions and customs of the Akans of Ghana, West Africa.

The Akan Diaspora in the Americas

The Akan Diaspora in the Americas PDF Author: Kwasi Konadu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199889279
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
In his groundbreaking study of the Akan diaspora, Konadu demonstrates how this cultural group originating in West Africa both engaged in and went beyond the familiar diasporic themes of maroonage, resistance, and freedom. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Akan never formed a majority among other Africans in the Americas. But their leadership skills in war and political organization, efficacy in medicinal plant use and spiritual practice, and culture archived in the musical traditions, language, and patterns of African diasporic life far outweighed their sheer numbers. Konadu argues that a composite Akan culture calibrated between the Gold Coast and forest fringe made the contributions of the Akan diaspora possible. The book examines the Akan experience in Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, former Danish and Dutch colonies, and North America, and how those early experiences foreground the modern engagement and movement of diasporic Africans and Akan people between Ghana and North America. Locating the Akan variable in the African diasporic equation allows scholars and students of the Americas to better understand how the diasporic quilt came to be and is still evolving.

Akan Traditional Religion

Akan Traditional Religion PDF Author: Kofi Bempah
Publisher: Booksurge Publishing
ISBN: 9781439249451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Among most products of alien education, there is total lack of moral virtues, honesty, integrity, eagerness to serve and readiness to sacrifice. Rather, he is enslaved by the glittering fancies and fascinations of other cultures. He has embraced, and is enthused by, a religion which compels him to acknowledge that he is a sinner who has to work hard to attain purity which he already is. If the new religions made him more caring, honest, sincere, God-fearing and less sin-loving' there would be no need for this work. He has assumed political and judicial roles and is ruling a society, the majority of whose members live with, and cherishes, the traditional knowledge he holds in contempt and disdain. His rule can be successful, fruitful and beneficial to himself and others if he re-educates and equips himself with the philosophy underpinning his religious/spiritual heritage, instead of using political power to impose his new-found religion and its values on his people. In Akan Traditional Religion, the author has revisited the native religion of the sophisticated Akans who built the vast Asante Empire even before the British dreamt of an empire. He has re-examined, analysed and reinterpreted this heritage from the Akan point of view rather than as part of the colonial legacy in Africa. He concludes that the Akan traditional religion is no less holy than, or the ethical values it espouses inferior to, any other religion. Akan traditional religion proclaims that the one God is, and in, everything, that is to say, a living universe based on Universal Consciousness. (This is why Akans readily accept any name, such as Allah, Jesus, Krishna, the Father, etc. used by other communities to denote the One God). In other words, it espouses the doctrine of unity in diversity. The individual forms (bodies) are activated and operated by the same one God. The differences between individuals only reflect the diversity. The self-aware individual shares in divine power and majesty; the totally ignorant person thinks he is the body and caters only to the needs and comforts of the body. Identification with the body makes him prone to suffering from excessive desires which expose him to fear, anxiety, lust, anger, pride, etc. as a consequence. The heaven/hell dichotomy is absent in Akan doctrine. All will become divine, eventually. This principle of unity in diversity, rather than conflict and strife, guides the Akan in his personal life, (wo yonko da ne woda; i.e. the bed you make for your neighbour is the same one you will lie in), as well as the organisation of his society (wo amma wo yonko antwa nkron a, wonso wonya du ntwa; i.e. your right to ten can be exercised if, and only if, your neighbour's right to nine is guaranteed). The esoteric significance of the title 'Nana', which every Akan 'Ohene' or 'Ohemaa' bears, has been clarified and the phrase, 'Nananom Nsamanfuo', means 'the Enlightened Ones' rather than 'ancestral spirits'. (Ch. 5) Anatomical analysis of prayer has shown that the Akan congregational prayer, 'Nsa Guo' is as valid a prayer as any offered to the Supreme Deity and has no resemblance to the Judaic tradition of libation pouring. Therefore, 'Nsa Guo' cannot be described as 'Pouring Libation'. (Ch. 9) The concluding chapter will make interesting reading for those toying with the idea of Africanising the Christian religion or Christianising Africa.(Ch.14)

An Essay on African Philosophical Thought

An Essay on African Philosophical Thought PDF Author: Kwame Gyekye
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781566393805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
In this sustained and nuanced attempt to define a genuinely African philosophy, Kwame Gyekye rejects the idea that an African philosophy consists simply of the work of Africans writing on philosophy. It must, Gyekye argues, arise from African thought itself, relate to the culture out of which it grows, and provide the possibility of a continuation of a philosophy linked to culture. Offering a philosophical clarification and theology, and ethics of the Akan of Ghana, Gyekye argues that critical analyses of specific traditional African modes of thought are necessary to develop a distinctively African philosophy as well as cultural values in the modern world. --

Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana

Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana PDF Author: Kwasi Ampene
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000060322
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana is a comprehensive portrait of Asante court musical arts. Weaving together historical narratives with analyses of texts performed on drums, ivory trumpets, and a cane flute, the book includes a critical assembly of ancient song texts, the poetry of bards (kwadwom), and referential poetry performed by members of the constabulary (apae). The focus is on the intersections between lived experience, music, and values, and refers to musical examples drawn from court ceremonies, rituals, festivals, as well as casual performances elicited in the course of fieldwork. For the Asante, the performing arts are complex sites for recording and storing personal experiences, and they have done so for centuries with remarkable consistency and self-consciousness. This book draws on archaeological, archival, historical, ethnographical and analytical sources to craft a view of the Asante experience as manifested in its musical and allied arts. Its goal is to privilege the voices of the Asante and how they express their history, religious philosophy, social values, economic, and political experiences through the musical and allied arts. The author’s theoretical formulation includes the concept of value, referring to ideas, worldview concepts, beliefs, and social relationships that inform musical practices and choices in Asante.

The Akan, Other Africans and the Sirius Star System

The Akan, Other Africans and the Sirius Star System PDF Author: Kwame Adapa
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781952228018
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
The Akan are an African indigenous group found primarily in the southern parts of Ghana, as well as in Cote d'Ivoire and in Togo. This book explores certain aspects of Akan language, culture and tradition that point to association with star beings from the Sirius star system. Akan language and culture offers clues and revelations that point to links with the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and of the Nile valley. Among these revelations, Kwame Adapa shows that names of Akan deities can be traced back to Egyptian and Mesopotamian deities who have links with the Sirius star system. Having grown up in Akan culture, it was a starting point for Kwame Adapa to do more research on the Akan and other African people. Among the revelations in this book are language and cultural connections between the Akan and other African groups as well as with human groups beyond Africa. Kwame Adapa tells an engaging story that implies that the Akan, the Bakwama, the Bambara, the Dogon and just about every African ethnic group is connected to the Sirius star system in one way or another. These connections can be found in their legends, their language and their culture.

Pentecostal Exorcism

Pentecostal Exorcism PDF Author: Opoku Onyinah
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004397108
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
"Witchcraft" and exorcism have long been dominant features of life in African cultures. This unique book provides a thorough, field research-based description and analysis of a specifically Pentecostal Christian response to these phenomena within the Akan culture of Ghana. Anthropological studies generally claim that the ultimate goal of exorcism is modernisation. Using interdisciplinary studies with a theological focus, the author takes a different view, arguing that it is divinatory consultation or an inquiry into the sacred and the search for meaning that underlies the current "deliverance" ministry, where the focus is to identify and break down the so-called demonic forces by the power of God and to "deliver" people from their torment. The deliverance ministry is one attempt to contextualise the gospel for African people. However, preoccupation with demonisation and exorcistic practices is found to bring Christianity into tension with the Akan culture, family ties and other religions. In order to develop a properly safeguarded ministry of exorcism in an African context, the author examines contextualisation and suggests the integration into African Christianity of divinatory consultation, which has strong resonances with the biblical concept of prayer.

Our Own Way in This Part of the World

Our Own Way in This Part of the World PDF Author: Kwasi Konadu
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 1478005637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Kofi Dᴐnkᴐ was a blacksmith and farmer, as well as an important healer, intellectual, spiritual leader, settler of disputes, and custodian of shared values for his Ghanaian community. In Our Own Way in This Part of the World Kwasi Konadu centers Dᴐnkᴐ's life story and experiences in a communography of Dᴐnkᴐ's community and nation from the late nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth, which were shaped by historical forces from colonial Ghana's cocoa boom to decolonization and political and religious parochialism. Although Dᴐnkᴐ touched the lives of thousands of citizens and patients, neither he nor they appear in national or international archives covering the region. Yet his memory persists in his intellectual and healing legacy, and the story of his community offers a non-national, decolonized example of social organization structured around spiritual forces that serves as a powerful reminder of the importance for scholars to take their cues from the lived experiences and ideas of the people they study.

Entrepreneurship in Africa

Entrepreneurship in Africa PDF Author: Moses E. Ochonu
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253032628
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
A tapestry of innovation, ideas, and commerce, Africa and its entrepreneurial hubs are deeply connected to those of the past. Moses E. Ochonu and an international group of contributors explores the lived experiences of African innovators who have created value for themselves and their communities. Profiles of vendors, farmers, craftspeople, healers, spiritual consultants, warriors, musicians, technological innovators, political mobilizers, and laborers featured in this volume show African models of entrepreneurship in action. As a whole, the essays consider the history of entrepreneurship in Africa, illustrating its multiple origins and showing how it differs from the Western capitalist experience. As they establish historical patterns of business creativity, these explorations open new avenues for understanding indigenous enterprise and homegrown commerce and their relationship to social, economic, and political debates in Africa today.