Akan Economic Views

Akan Cultural Symbols Project

Gold jewelry

Economic development in the Akan society is evidenced by several adinkra symbols that depict means of production (e.g., afena ne aso, asase ye dur ), housing (e.g., fihankra, blok, eban), modern modes of transportation (e.g., Senchi bridge, VW, mercedes, and sitia bekum doroba - the driver may die at the steering wheel); technological advancements in media indicated by such symbols as TV, rapid urbanization as indicated by Koforidua frawase/nhwiren (Koforidua flowers), and new forms of energy as indicated by UAC nkanea - UAC lights.

       That the Akan economy had been monetized through the use of gold dust as currency long before direct contact with Europeans suggests that the Akan had more than subsistence economy. History indicates there had existed contacts with North Africa through the trans-Saharan trade routes.

Mako nyinaa - All peppers

       The Akan economy was stratified by what Arhin (1983) refers to as "status differentiation." When the economy was integrated into the capitalist world system, the stratification became intesified into social classes as depicted by such adinkra cloth symbols as ebi te yie and mako nyinaa mpatu mmere, and by kente cloth designs such as woenya wo ho a, wonye dehyee.

Kookoo dua - Cocoa Tree

Kookoo dua (cocoa tree), bese saka (bunch of cola nuts), and abe dua (palm tree) are examples of symbols that record about crops that have played important roles in the economy of the society at different times over the years. Bese (cola nut) was very important in the trans-Saharan trade long before Europeans had direct contact with the Akan. Abe dua became a very important source of vegetable oil for making soap and greasing machines in the industrialization of Europe.

Cocoa became important only after the 1880s. Since then it has played a very significant role in the incorporation of the Ghanaian economy into the global system. It symbolizes new sources of wealth and the enterprise of the Ghanaian farmer (Hill, 1963). In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ghana supplied about 25 - 50 percent of the world's cocoa. Cocoa has brought tremendous changes in land ownership and tenure systems, inheritance rights, and some disastrous family relations as well as changes in political developments in the country. Between 1903 and 1930, cocoa production brought both land and labor into the market, and radically transformed the relations of production (Kay, 1972). Busia (1951, p. 127) stated as a measure of what the Akan considered to be the disastrous effects of cocoa on family relations thus: "kookoo see abusua, paepae mogya mu - cocoa ruins the family, and divides blood relations".

Samples of Adinkra Cloth Symbols Encoding Akan Economic Views

UAC NKANEA -UAC LIGHTS

From the expression: UAC nkanea dwann mma yenhunu awam adwadifoo. 
Literal translation: The bright UAC lights make it difficult to expose the colluding merchants. 

UAC stands for United Africa Company. This Company is a subsidiary of the giant multinational corporation, UNILEVER. 

The first street lights in Kumasi were placed in front of the UAC Store in the Adum section of the city. Some people, therefore, claim that the symbol represents this historical event. Some other people also claim the ideograph represents the floodlighted-Kumasi Sports Stadium that UAC presented to Ghana to commemorate Ghana's independence in 1957. 

The verbal expression that goes with the ideograph depicts the ubiquitous presence and the dominant influence of the UAC Group of Companies in Ghana. 

The UAC presence in Ghana dates back to when Lever Brothers entered the West African market to buy slaves and palm oil for soap manufacture. 

In the 1930s and 1940s UAC spearheaded a ring of European trading companies, Association of West African Merchants (AWAM), that controlled the market for imported items and the exporting of agricultural produce, especially palm oil and cocoa. The price fixing rings led to violent protests by Ghanaian farmers. The machinations of these companies gave rise to the word AWAM which has come to mean shady dealings, price fixing, or corruption in many Ghanaian languages.

KOOKOO DUA  - COCOA TREE

From the expression: Kookoo dua ye sika dua; kookoo see abusua, paepae mogya mu.   
Literal translation: Cocoa is a money tree; yet cocoa ruins the family, and divides blood relations  

Cocoa was introduced into Ghana in the late nineteenth century as a cash crop. Within a decade or so after its introduction, it became Ghana's number one foreign exchange earner. As a new source of wealth, it has brought in its wake changes in land ownership and tenure, and  has contributed to the increasing intensification of social stratification. It has been a source of political upheavals and family disputes over land ownership. It has helped to create a situation of landlessness in some rural areas.

MAKO NYINAA MPATU MMERE

MAKO NYINAA MPATU MMERE

Symbol of UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITY and UNEVEN DEVELOPMENTt  
From the expression: Mako nyinaa mpatu mmere. 
Literal translation: All the peppers on the same tree do not ripen simultaneously.  

While there may be some unequal distribution of natural endowment, Akans recognize socially created inequalities. Akans believe in equitable distribution of goods and services. In the past, for example, chiefs redistributed wealth to ensure equitable distribution of goods.

KOFORIDUA FRAWASE
KOFORIDUA FLOWERS

KOFORIDUA FRAWASE - KOFORIDUA FLOWERS

Symbol of URBANIZATION, ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, and CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION  

From the expression: Koforidua nhwiren, dea mede wo reye! 
Literal translation: Koforidua flowers, what use do I have of you! 
The ideograph stems from the conspicuous consumption by some rich people during the rapid urbanization of Koforidua following the success of the cocoa industry, and later the diamond mining industry in the Eastern Region of Ghana at the turn of the nineteenth century.

MENSO WO KENTEN  -  I DO NOT CARRY YOUR BASKET

MENSO WO KENTEN  -  I DO NOT CARRY YOUR BASKET

Symbol of industry, self-reliance and economic self-determination 

From the expression: Menso wo kenten. 
Also, Me ne m'aware bone, meso kenten hunu kora a na worehwehwe mu. 
Literal translation: I do not carry your basket. 
Also, Me and my bad marriage, even when I carry an empty basket you search through it. 

The symbol implies the economic self-determination of one, especially a woman.  Baskets are used to carry food items from the farm to the house, to store things and to decorate rooms. In the past, as part of the naming ceremony, the female child was momentarily covered with a basket to signal to her that she should grow up into an industrious woman whose responsibility  would be to collect foodstuff from the farm, carry it home to prepare food for the husband and children

ABE DUA  -  PALM TREE

ABE DUA  -  PALM TREE

Symbol of SELF-SUFFICIENCY, RESILIENCE, VITALITY and WEALTH 

From the proverb: Nipa nnye abe dua na ne ho ahyia ne ho. 
Literal translation: The human being is not like the palm tree that is self-sufficient. 

The palm tree is a source of various products such as oil, wine, yeast, broom, soap, mat, mushroom, and roofing material. From this perspective, the palm tree is said to be self-sufficient. But the human being as an individual is not self-sufficient. Thus humans need to co-operate in a system of inter-dependence in order to achieve self-sufficiency.

ASASE YE DUR - LAND IS MIGHTY 

ASASE YE DUR - LAND IS MIGHTY 

Symbol of POWER, LIFE'S SUSTAINER, MIGHT, WEALTH, and AUTHORITY 

From the maxim: Tumi nyinaa ne asase. 
Literal translation: All power emanates from land. 

This symbol reflects the importance of land to the Akan. Even though land is communally  owned among the Akan, land ownership by group or individuals is an important source of economic and political power.

EBI TE YIE - SOME PEOPLE ARE BETTER SEATED

EBI TE YIE - SOME PEOPLE ARE BETTER SEATED

From the expression: Ebi te yie ma ebi so nte yie koraa. Or, Obi akabo ye obi ahonya, obi amiadie ye obi nso nkwa, na obi ahohia ne obi ahoto.

Literal translation: Some people are better seated, yet others are not. Or, The prosperity of one person depends on another person's poverty.

This symbol alludes to the unequal economic relations and unequal political power relations in the society. This symbol gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s when Ampadu and his African Brothers Band recorded a song with the title, Ebi te yie.

BLOCK DAN - BLOCK HOUSE

BLOCK DAN - BLOCK HOUSE

Symbol of PROTECTION, SECURITY, WEALTH and PROSPERITY

From the expression: Wonni sika a wontwa blocks.

Literal translation: One builds a cement or cinder block house when has the money.