Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:43:56.136Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The economic implications of transformations in Akan funeral rites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Kwame Arhin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Two related problems are raised: (1) why the persistence, and increase in scale, of funeral rites (with consequently much greater expenditure) both colonially and post-colonially; (2) what is the effect of this greater funeral expenditure on the economy of today's Asante? It is suggested that present-day funeral rites have only superficial religious significance; it is their economic and social importance that explains the vigour with which they are still performed. Far from being economically wasteful, they fuel economic activities that are on balance beneficial. It is the combination of economic and social utility that sustains, even enhances, the scale of the performance of the rites.

Résumé

Deux problèmes liés sont abordés ici: 1) pourquoi la persistance et L'augmentation au niveau de l'échelle des rites de funérailles (avec pour conséquence beaucoup plus de dépenses) a la fois pendant L'époque coloniale et après-coloniale; 2) quel effet ont ces plus grandes dépenses des funérailles sur L'économie de PAsante aujourd'hui? II est suggéré que les rites de funérailles d'aujourd'hui ont seulement des significances religieuses superficielles; ce sont leur importance socio-économique qui explique la vigueur avec laquelle ils sont toujours pratiqués. Loin d'être un gaspillage sur le plan economique ils nourissent des activités économiques qui sont lucratives dans l'ensemble. C'est le mélange de l'utilité économique et sociale qui soutient, et même accrôit l'échelle de la pratique des rites.

Type
Grave charges
Information
Africa , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 307 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arhin, K. 1983. ‘Rank and class among the Asante and the Fante in the nineteenth century’, Africa 53 (1), 2–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arhin, K. 1990. ‘Trade, accumulation and the state in Asante in the nineteenth century’, Africa 60 (4), 524-37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arhin, K. 1993. ‘The political economy of a princely city: the economy of Kumasi in the nineteenth century’, Research Review, Supplement No. 5.Google Scholar
Bailey, S. Rea. 1988–1989. The Dramatization of Mourning: essays on Asante funeral rites in reference to Kumasi. Legon: University of California Education Programme at the University of Ghana.Google Scholar
Bowdich, T. E. 1819. Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee. London.Google Scholar
Busia, K. A. 1951. The Position of the Chiefin the Modern Political System of Ghana. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.Google Scholar
Busia, K. A. 1954. ‘The Ashanti’, in Forde, D. (ed.), African Worlds. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.Google Scholar
Fortes, M. 1950. ‘Kinship and marriage among the Ashanti’, in Radcliffe, A. R.Brown, and Forde, D. (eds.), African Systems of Kinship and Marriage. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute. Reprinted 1987, London: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Fortes, M. 1969. Kinship and the Social Order: the legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Gilbert, M. 1988. ‘The sudden death of a millionaire: conversion and consensus in a Ghanaian kingdom’, Africa 58 (3), 281–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goody, J. 1962. Death, Property and the Ancestors: a study of the mortuary customs of the LoDagaa of West Africa. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
, Lawuyi, Olatunde, B. 1991. ‘The social marketing of elites: the advertised self in obituaries and congratulations in some Nigerian dailies’. Africa 61 (2), 247–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCaskie, T. C. 1989. ‘Death and the Asantehene: a historical meditation’, Journal of African History 30 (2), 417–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manoukian, M. 1950. ‘Akan and Ga-Adangbe peoples of the Gold Coast’, in Forde, D. (ed.), Ethnographic Survey of West Africa: Western Africa, Part 1 London: International African Institute.Google Scholar
Mauss, M. 1966. The Gift:forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies, trans. Cunnison, Ian. London: Cohen & West.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. 1955. Funeral Dirges of the Akan Peoples. Achimota.Google Scholar
Rattray, R. S. 1923. Ashanti. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rattray, R. S. 1927. Religion and Art in Ashanti. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rattray, R. S. 1929. Ashanti Law and Constitution. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar