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Defining Akyemfo: the construction of citizenship in Akyem Abuakwa, Ghana, 1700–1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Richard Rathbone
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Extract

By the early twentieth century the ruler of the historic Akan kingdom of Akyem Abuakwa in what is now the Republic of Ghana and his subjects confronted one another over issues of identity and allegiance. The evidence suggests that not only was this debate unprecedented but also that its language was novel. Such divisive issues were forced upon them by a tranche of new factors. These included the ownership of, or rights to, land as farms acquired increasing cash value in the wake of the success of cocoa cultivation. No less important in a jural setting dominated by the institutions of indirect rule was the issue of which chiefly jurisdiction applied to individual communities and even families in a kingdom with a historically varied ethnic population. The article shows how the king gradually elaborated both an ideology and a corpus of regulation which attempted to define citizenship and stranger status. The king and his council's organising principle idealised an ethnically homogeneous state. Many sections of the kingdom's population strongly contested the idea. They did so in part because this agenda potentially disempowered long-settled communities while granting new privileges to those close to the centre of ‘traditional’ power.

Résumé

Au début du vingtième siècle, le dirigeant du royaume historique Akan de Akyem Abuakwa, qui fait main tenant parti de la république du Ghana, et ses sujets s'étaient confronté au sujet de l'identité et de l'allégeance. L'évidence suggère que non seulement ce débat avait été sans précédent mais que son language avait aussi été une nouveauté. De tels sujets controversiaux leur avaient été imposé par une succession d'éléments nouveaux. Ceux-ci avaient inclu la possession des terres ou les droits aux terres, comme les fermes avaient acquis de plus en plus de valeur à la suite du succès de la cultivation de cacao. Non moins important dans un système juridique dominé par des institutions au pouvoir indirect, avait été la question de savoir quelle juridiction s'appliquait aux communautés individuelles et même aux families, dans un royaume qui avait historiquement eu une population ethnique variée. Cet article montre comment le roi avait progressivement élaboré à la fois une idéologic et un corps de régulations qui avaient essayé de définir la citoyenneté et le statut de l'étranger. Le principe organisateur du roi et de son conseil était d'idéaliser un état ethnique homogène. Une grande partie de la population du royaume avait fortement contesté cette idée. Cette contestation avait été due en partie au fait que ce programme enlevait potentiellement le pouvoir aux communautés qui avaient habité là depuis longtemps, tandis qu'il accordait de nouveaux privilèges à ceux qui se trouvaient prés du centre du pouvoir ‘traditionnel’.

Type
What makes a citizen?
Information
Africa , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , October 1996 , pp. 506 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1996

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