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The Role of Proverbs in Fante Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

James Boyd Christensen
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Extract

A Knowledge of what has been traditionally termed ‘folklore’, and more recently ‘verbal art’, has long been considered essential for any well-rounded ethnography. Among many non-literate peoples this art form sanctions and validates other aspects of culture such as religious, economic, social, and political institutions. This paper will discuss the role of one of its elements, the proverb, in a West African culture.

Résumé

LE RÔLE DES PROVERBES DANS LA CULTURE FANTE

Les Fante sont l'un des groupes ethniquement apparentés, connus collectivement sous le terme d'Akan, qui habitent la majeure partie de la moitié sud de Ghana et les régions contiguës de la Côte d'Ivoire. Ces proverbes ont été recueillis parmi les Fante de la région centrale de la Côte de Ghana, mais la plupart des faits rapportés ici à leur sujet s'appliquent à tous les Akan. Certains aspects de la culture Fante ont été choisis pour illustrer les différents emplois des proverbes. Le groupe social principal est le clan matrilinéaire, dont tous les membres semblent descendre d'une ancêtre commune, et entre lesquels le mariage est interdit. Le clan est divisé en matrilignages, et c'est le lignage qui veille à la distribution des terres et des biens, qui est chargé du culte propitiatoire des ancêtres et qui est responsable des enterrements et des cérémonies funéraires. Certains proverbes illustrent la conduite à suivre pour les membres d'un clan et d'un lignage, tandis que d'autres ont trait à l'éducation des enfants et soulignent l'autorité des aînés et le respect accordé aux vieillards, caractéristiques de la vie sociale Fante. Dans la procédure judiciaire les proverbes sont considérés comme faisant partie des textes traditionnels et sont utilisés par les plaideurs presque de la même façon que les textes des décisions judiciaires faisant autorité. Des proverbes relatifs au système politique soulignent son double aspect: le chef détient l'autorité traditionnelle mais sa désignation et sa révocation sont entre les mains du peuple. La récitation des proverbes était aussi considérée comme un divertissement lors des concours. Les Fante, lorsqu'ils discutent de leurs traditions et coutumes, emploient continuellement des proverbes; leui recueil pourrait aider l'ethnographe à déterminer les formes idéales de conduite et même, dans certaines régions, la verbalisation de la loi.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , July 1958 , pp. 232 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1958

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References

page 232 note 1 Bascom, William R., ‘Verbal Art’, Journal of American Folklore, lxviii (1955), pp. 245–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 232 note 2 Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Fulbright Program, Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for making the field research and subsequent work on the field materials possible.

page 232 note 3 Many of the Fante proverbs collected by the writer have already been published in Rattray's, R. S.Ashanti Proverbs (Oxford, 1916)Google Scholar, although the translation differs somewhat. Rattray's work in turn is a translation of 830 of the 3,600 Akan proverbs appearing in the work by Christaller, J. G., Mmebusem Mpensa-Ahansia Mmoaano (Basel, 1879)Google Scholar which is a collection compiled by Christaller and his associates and published in Akan. This show: the universality among the Akan of a large number of proverbs, although many are localized and regional variation does occur. Unfortunately, these rather rare works of Rattray and Christaller were not available to the writer while in the field, so the extent to which the Fante had proverbs in common with the other Akan could not be more accurately ascertained.

page 233 note 1 See Herskovits, M. J., Man and his Works (New York, 1948), pp. 542–61.Google Scholar

page 233 note 2 An article dealing with the religious concepts of the Fante and relevant proverbs is scheduled for publication elsewhere.

page 233 note 3 While there is only one paramount chief or omanhen (from oman, ‘state’ and ohen, ‘chief’) in each Fante state, there are numerous chiefs of varying degrees of importance. The term ‘chief’ is used here to refer to an individual who occupies the sacred or ancestral ‘stool’ of his clan. However, all clans do not have a chief and a sacred stool, as some are headed by a senior elder or abusua panyin. See Christensen, J. B., Double Descent among the Fanti (New Haven, 1954)Google Scholar for material on the clan and other aspects of Fante culture discussed here.

page 234 note 1 ‘Bathroom’ here refers to a four-sided screen, shoulder high, made of bamboo or occasionally sheet metal. The Fante, who are meticulous about at least one bath per day, carry a tin gourd of water into this enclosure to bathe when a river or the sea is not convenient.

page 237 note 1 For a discussion of the political system of the Akan see Busia, K. A., Position of the Chief in the Modern Political System of Ashanti (London, 1951)Google Scholar and Christensen, J. B., ‘African Political Systems: Indirect Rule and Democratic Processes’, Phylon, First Quarter (1954).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 240 note 1 See Rattray, R. S., Ashanti (Oxford, 1923), ch xxv.Google Scholar Rattray's discussion of the nature and function of the Ashanti weights is applicable to the role of this form of plastic art among the Fante.

page 240 note 2 See Christensen, Double Descent, ch. vi, for a detailed discussion of the role of the asafo.

page 240 note 3 , Ashanti, ch. xxii. Most often the asafo drum is used to accompany the dance or to sound standard military messages. However, speech could be indicated. This was done by representing tone, emphasis (loudness or softness), pauses and accents which combine to make a form of linguistic music. The instrument is not a pressure drum, and as near as the untrained eat of the writer could ascertain, a change of tone was achieved on the single drum by using the open hand, which produced a tone different from that made by use of the drumstick, or by hand pressure on the drumhead while striking it. Inquiry of the drummers as to how they approximated speech was not particularly fruitful, as they maintained they just played the way they had been taught. What the drummer played could best be described as a musical phrase, familiar to the audience.

page 241 note 1 It is recognized that to have a section of the paper dealing with behaviour and values is somewhat unrealistic, as virtually all of the proverbs in the article are related to behaviour and the value system.