Research Review of the Institute of African Studies

Akan Proverbs and Aphorisms about Marriage

K Agyekum

The paper discusses the Akan concept of marriage, and analyses aphorisms and proverbs that relate to Akan marriage. The aphorisms are discussed under four categories namely (a) marriage in general, (b) pre-marriage, (c) during marriage, and (d) post marriage. These maxims are analysed to depict how the Akans themselves conceptualise marriage and all its values and intricacies. The paper subjects the aphorisms into linguistic analysis by looking at evidentials and factive expressions, focus markers and conditional and subjunctive clauses. The paper identifies the Akan traditional types of marriage and the specific terms for each of them.

Historical and Cultural Context of Folk Opera Development in Ghana: Saka Acquaye’s “The Lost Fishermen” In Perspective

MN Nii-Dortey

The article examines the historical and cultural contexts of folk opera development in Ghana. It argues that Saka Acquaye created folk opera in response to Ghana's post-colonial policy initiatives to redress negative colonial mindsets among the citizenry, and also to foster national identity and unity through the arts. The paper analyzes Saka Acquaye's 'The Lost Fishermen,'—the most popular folk opera in Ghana, to illustrate the genre‘s form as well as the depth of appropriations from indigenous theatre resources for the above stated purposes. The paper establishes that despite the obvious Western influences in folk opera, it is essentially the unscripted indigenous theatre resources that served as its biggest thematic and performance resource base; and that it was such deliberate appropriations from diverse ethnic and regional settings of the country repackaged for a national audience that were intended to address the political and cultural challenges mentioned. The paper concludes by attributing the current low patronage of folk opera in Ghana to the near irrelevance of the cultural and political challenges that influenced its birth and popularity.

Modern Nigerian Art: Art Pricing and the Nigerian Economy, 1960 to 2008

F Odiboh

The turbulent situation which the chaotic years of military rule created in Nigerian politics from 1966 to 1999 signalled systemic regression in the economy of the country. From the 1980s to the 1990s, despite the negative factors prevalent as a result of corruption and mismanagement in the nation, there was an astronomical growth in the sale of art works. A new trend also emerged in the art market; artists became increasingly engaged in the collection, distribution and marketing of art works. The development impacted positively on the living standard of the Nigerian artist, such that artists, both young and old, thrived. This trend contradicted the opinion of Ben Enwonwu, Nigeria’s foremost modernist artist, who opined in 1966 that for a piece of painting by a Nigerian artist to be priced for so much as five hundred guineas (about five hundred British pounds), the artist should be much older in age with long years of professional experience as an artist, and quality of training (see Ekwenzi 1966). The state of art pricing in modern Nigerian art has defied such limitations. Many factors have come to influence the economy and contemporary artistic developments in this direction in Nigeria and this paper considers these.

Reforms in Katsina and the Kano Government Crisis of 1908

P Afeadie

This paper examines the success of colonial government reforms in the Katsina division in 1908, and the failure of the reforms in the neighbouring division of Kano within the same province. These developments, the study explores within the context of indigenous cooperation to colonial rule involving the concept of clientage and its attribute of pretended cooperation, taqiyya. The crisis of local government in Kano during 1908 derived from colonial consolidation such as reforms in territorial organization and tax administration, which met with resistance from indigenous rulers, contrary to the success of the reforms in Katsina. There, colonial reforms developed with capable and responsive indigenous clients, and astute management of relations between the colonial patron and clients. The reforms in Kano experienced some cooperation but passive resistance from the ruling emir. Efforts to control the emir's opposition led to a crisis in administration and slackening of the reform movement. The Kano crisis and the contemporary reforms in Katsina epitomize the relationship of cooperation and opposition between colonizer and the colonized in the determination and implementation of colonial policies. Considering the inter-dependent nature of colonial rule, the attitudes and values of colonial clients would influence colonial ideology and practice.

Turncoat Colonial Administration: The Gambian Experience

A Omasanjuwa

The paper examined the effects of the World Wars on Gambians as they discharge their obligations to the British Empire as colonial subjects while Britain, mainly on economic grounds, failed to fulfil hers to the people as a colonising power. The deprivations and adversities tolerated by the indigenous people were inextricably linked with the experiences of their kith and kin in Senegal whose shared colonial boundaries separated the French from the British, but not the indigenes. The conditions Gambians were subjected to from 1914 to 1945 were at variance with the self-styled intentions of The British coming to The Gambia.