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Time and the Calendar in Nineteenth - Century Asante: An Exploratory Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

T.C. McCaskie
T.C. McCaskie*
Affiliation:
Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham
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Extract

Historians recognize that the perception and organization of time are fundamental to the internal ordering of all human cultures. However, the history of pre-colonial Africa has largely been written to conform to the calendrical rhythms of an imposed European chronology. Regret over this discrepancy has been tempered by recognition of the very real problems involved in rectifying it. Chief among these is the fact that linear chronology per se -- in purist interpretation requiring numbered series derived from a fixed base, and therefore the mnemonic support of a graphic record -- is beyond the technological competence of any pre-literate society. However, the inability to maintain chronologically precise memorials of the past by no means precludes the existence of sophisticated mechanisms for ordering and dividing temps courant. That is, a historical sense disordered or dissolved through the agency of unassisted, and thus all too fallible, human memory may happily co-exist with an exact (and often symbolically charged) calendrical time. Broadly speaking, the foregoing was the situation obtaining-in Asante in the nineteenth century. Time in nineteenth-century Asante, in a number of its aspects, is the subject of this paper.

The establishment of a historical chronology in nineteenth-century Asante was severely inhibited, and in ultimate terms negated, by the absence of a literate culture. It is the case that rare and isolated individuals like oheneba Owusu Ansa (ca. 1822-1884) and oheneba Kwasi Boakye (1827-1904) acquired in foreign exile skills in European languages. However, Akan Twi was not effectively reduced to writing until the mid-nineteenth century, and then not in Asante. Thus, at the time of the British usurpation in 1896 Asante was still a pre-literate culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 7 , 1980 , pp. 179 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1980

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References

NOTES

1. For some leading remarks see Hopkins, A.G., “Clio-Antics: a Horoscope for African Economic History” in Fyfe, C., ed., African Studies Since 1945 (Edinburgh, 1976) 31–48.Google Scholar I am grateful to A.G. Hopkins, M.D. McLeod, J. Rice and I. Wilks for general conversations on this subject, and more especially to J.D. Fage and C. Flight for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of the present paper. All contributed to the refinement of ideas in the present text. None, however, is responsible for errors of omission or commission.

2. See Goody, J.R., The Domestication of the Savage Mind (Cambridge, 1977).Google Scholar For an interesting discussion of some of the issues involved see Gibson, G.D., “Himba Epochs,” History in Africa, 4(1977), 67–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. For Owusu Ansa see Wilks, I., Asante in the Nineteenth Century: the Structure and Evolution of a Political Order (Cambridge, 1975), 589–665.Google Scholar For Kwasi Boakye see ACBP/pcs/35/Kwasi Boakye, forthcoming in Asantesem: the Asante Collective Biography Project Bulletin. In fact, Kwasi Boakye wrote a number of papers on geological and ethnographical subjects; see, for example, his contribution on Chinese settlement in Java in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 9(1853), 808–23.Google Scholar

4. For a cursory summary of the process see Debrunner, H.W., A History of Christianity in Ghana (Accra, 1967).Google Scholar

5. See McCaskie, T.C., “Innovational Eclecticism: the Asante Empire and Europe in the Nineteenth Century,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 14(1972), 30–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. Dupuis, J., Journal of a Residence in Ashantee (London, 1824).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7. Manhyia Record Office, Kumase, “The History of the Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself,” dictated by Asantehene Agyeman Prempe and recorded by T.A. Prempeh (commenced 6 August 1907 in the Seychelles Islands.)

8. Wilks, , Asante, 344–53.Google Scholar

9. See Fraser, J.T., ed., The Voices of Time (New York, 1968)Google Scholar and Doob, L.W., The Patterning of Time (New Haven, 1971).Google Scholar

10. National Archives of Ghana, Kumase, File 2950, Political Prisoners, especially the enclosure in Acting Colonial Secretary to Chief Commissioner (Ashanti), dd. Accra, 24 June 1908.

11. For the visits of Freeman and the akompi sa see McCaskie, T.C., “The Paramountcy of the Asantehene Kwaku Dua (1834-1867): a Study in Asante Political Culture” (Ph.D., Cambridge, 1974).Google Scholar For the chronology of the events associated with Amankwatia and Boakye Tenten see ACBP/pcs/14/Amankwatia, Asante Seminar, no. 3(June 1975), 10–12Google Scholar, and ACBP/pcs/4/Tenten, Boakye, Asante Seminar, no. 6 (December 1976), 5–13.Google Scholar

12. For example, Manhyia Record Office, Kumase, Civil Record Book 4, 1928, in re Chief Kwame Kyem vs. Odikro Yaw Atinkah, Agyeman Prempe, in delivering judgment on 28 February 1929, remarked that “Nana Agyeman who succeeded Nana Osei Yaw died forty days after the death of Owusu Ansa Panin …” As a feat of memory, this was remarkably accurate. Owusu Ansa Panin died on 21 February 1867, and Kwaku Dua Panin (Nana Agyeman) died on 27 April 1867. Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, Leiden, Ms. H-509, P. de Heer,” Aanhangsel: Journaal gehouden te Comassee door eenen tapoeier.”

13. For the most recent statement see Bartle, P.F.W., “Forty Days: the Akan Calendar,” Africa, 48(1978) 80–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. I am grateful to J. Agyeman-Duah and to W. Boaten for conversations respecting the days of the adaduanan cycle.

15. For the adae in general see Rattray, R.S., Ashanti (Oxford, 1923), 86–120.Google Scholar

16. These dates are derived from Huydecoper, W., Diary: Journey from Elmina to Kumase, 28th April 1816-18th May 1817, trans Irwin, G., (Legon, 1962)Google Scholar; Bowdich, T.E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (London, 1819)Google Scholar; Dupuis, Journal; General State Archives, The Hague, ARA MK 3965, “Journal of the Factory and Warehouse Officer J. Simons,” trans Yarak, L., 1978Google Scholar; Methodist Missionary Society, London, Freeman, Wharton and Laing correspondence; Ramseyer, F. and Kühne, J., Four Years in Ashantee (New York, 1875) (and ms. version of the same in the Basel Mission Archives, Basel)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Further Correspondence, C.3386, 1882, Lonsdale’s Report on his Mission of 1881-82; and, Further Correspondence, C.5615, 1888, Barnett to Governor, dd. Kumase, 20, 24, and 29 March 1888.

17. The computer print-out was prepared under the auspices of the Asante Collective Biography Project by I. Wilks and R. Hay at Vogelbeck Computing Center, Northwestern University

18. See Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 210–11Google Scholar, and Further Correspondence, C.5615, 1888, Barnett to Governor, dd. Eduabin, 24 February 1888.

19. I am grateful to Manwerehene Nana Kwabena Boaten and Gyaasehene (Gyaasewahene) Opoku Frefre II for information on this point. See further Rattray, R.S., Ashanti Law and Constitution (Oxford, 1929), 109–10n2.Google Scholar

20. For one aspect see Sarpong, P., Girls Nubility Rites in Ashanti (Accra, 1977).Google Scholar

21. Dupuis, Journal, 213n.

22. A sample of Asante attitudes may be derived from Rattray, R.S., Ashanti Proverbs: the Primitive Ethics of a Savage People (Oxford, 1916).Google Scholar

23. Bowdich, , Mission, 266.Google Scholar I am grateful to J. Agyeman-Duah for information on these points.

24. It would be otiose to list here the generality of sources employed. However, apart from the sources mentioned in footnote 16 above, discrete dated examples were drawn from the following: Methodist Missionary Society, London, Journals of T.B. Freeman (some of which were published in Freeman, T.B., Journal of Two Visits to the Kingdom of Ashanti [London, 1843]Google Scholar) and W. West to General Secretaries, dd. Cape Coast, 9 June 1862 (a version of which was published in Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, October 1862); National Archives of Ghana, Accra, ADM 1/2/4, Winniet’s Diary, 1848; Basel Mission Archives, Basel, Visit of D. Huppenbauer and K. Buck to Kumase, 1881, (a version of which was published in Huppenbauer, D., Von Kyebi nach Kumase: Fine Reise ins Hinterland der Goldküte (Basel, 1914)Google Scholar, and translated by Wilks, A.A., Asantesem, no. 8, (March 1978), et seq.)Google Scholar; and, correspondence relevant to the visits of Hull, H.M. (1891) and Vroom, H. (1894) to Kumase, in Further Correspondence, C.7917, 1896.Google Scholar

25. For some treatment of Kofi Kakari's personality see Lewin, T., “The Structure of Political Conflict in Asante, 1875-1900,” Ph.D., Northwestern, 1974.Google Scholar I am also grateful to T. Lewin for conversations on this subject.

26. See for example Irwin, G.W., “Precolonial African Diplomacy: the Example of Asante,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, 8(1975), 81–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. This view achieved its apotheosis in the literature generated by the Anglo-Asante war of 1873/74.

28. For these missions see Huydecoper, Diary; Bowdich, Mission; Dupuis, Journal; Hutton, W., A Voyage to Africa (London, 1821)Google Scholar; Public Record Office, London, PRO, CO/267 and 268; Ricketts, H.J., Narrative of the Ashantee War (London, 1831)Google Scholar; Simons, “Journal,” General State Archives, The Hague, NBKG Series, Elmina Journals; Douchez, F., Causeries sur la Côte de Guinée (Amsterdam, 1839)Google Scholar; Freeman, , JournalGoogle Scholar; Riis, A., “The Journey of Riis to Kumasi in 1839-40,” Magazin für die neueste Geschichte der Evangelischen Missions und Bibel-Gesellschaften, 3(1840) (original ms. of visit in the Basel Mission Archives, Basel)Google Scholar; Methodist Missionary Society, London, General Incoming Correspondence; Winniet, “Diary”; correspondence relevant to the visit of C.C. Lees (1874) to Kumase, in Correspondence, C.1140, 1875Google Scholar; correspondence relevant to the visit of J. Parker (1881) to Kumase, in, Affairs, C.3064, 1881Google Scholar; Huppenbauer and Buck (see fn 24); Basel Mission Archives, Basel, Visit of F. Ramseyer and F. Mohr to Kumase, 1881, (I have used here the very useful annotations prepared by P. Jenkins); correspondence relevant to the visits of R. La T. Lonsdale (1881 and 1882) to Kumase, in Further Correspondence, C.3386, 1882, and, C.3687, 1883Google Scholar; Jenkins, P., “Abstracts from the Basel Mission Archives,”Google Scholar for the visit of F. Ramseyer and D. Asante (1882) to Kumase; correspondence relevant to the visits of K. Barrow and B. Kirby (1883) and B. Kirby (1884) to Kumase, in Further Correspondence, C.4052, 1884, and, C.4477, 1885Google Scholar; Methodist Missionary Society, London, Journal of a Visit to Asante by W. Terry Coppin, 1885; correspondence relevant to the visits of W. Badger (1886) and E.A. Barnett (1888) to Kumase, in Further Correspondence, C.5357, 1886, and, C.5615, 1888Google Scholar; Freeman, R.A., Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman (London, 1898)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and, Further Correspondence, C.7917, 1896, and, C.7918, 1896.

29. For the ‘great roads’ and movement along them see Wilks, , Asante, 1–42.Google Scholar

30. Dupuis, , Journal, 58.Google Scholar

31. Simons, , “Journal,” entry for 17 January 1832.Google Scholar

32. See Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entries throughout March 1839Google Scholar, and Ramseyer and Mohr (fn. 28) entry for 31 August 1881.

33. Huppenbauer and Buck (fn 24) entry for 3 February 1881.

34. See, Further Correspondence, C.7918, 1896, for the relevant correspondence.

35. See PRO, CO/267 and 268, and Methodist Missionary Society, LondonGoogle Scholar, Picot to Boyce, dd. Cape Coast, 3 May 1876.

36. Ibid., Hillard to General Secretaries, dd. Kumase, 4 September 1847 (enclosing extracts from his journal), and relevant correspondence in Further Correspondence, C.4477, 1885.

37. For some discussion of enstoolment see Yarak, L. and Wilks, I., “A Further Note on the Death of Asantehene Osei Yaw Akoto and on the Enstoolment of Kwaku Dua Panin,” Asantesem, no. 9 (June, 1978), 56–57.Google Scholar On the armies see Methodist Missionary Society, London, Chapman to General Secretaries, dd. Kumase, 21 June 1844, and Ramseyer, and Kühne, Four Years, 135–36.Google Scholar

38. Further Correspondence, C.3687, 1883, 109-10.

39. Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entries for December 1841.Google Scholar

40. Further Correspondence, C.5615, 1888, 34.Google Scholar

41. Further Correspondence, C.7918, 1896, for the relevant correspondence.

42. For correspondence relevant to Asantehene Agyeman Prempe’s observations on Hull’s mission see Further Correspondence, C.7917, 1896.

43. West (fn 24).

44. For a summary of the context of this period see ACBP/pcs/15/Asafo Boakye, Asantesem, no. 9 (June, 1978), 15–27.Google Scholar

45. Freeman, , Travels, 89–90.Google Scholar

46. Further Correspondence, C.7917, 1896 for the relevant correspondence.

47. Freeman, , Journal (account of a visit to Kumase in 1843).Google Scholar

48. Methodist Missionary Society, London, Wharton to General Secretaries, dd. Kumase, 31 May 1846 (enclosing extracts from his journal), and, Moister, W., Henry Wharton, the Story of His Life and Missionary Labours, (London, 1875).Google Scholar

49. See in particular Lewin, “Structure;” idem, Asante before the British, the Prempean Years, 1875-1900, (Lawrence, 1978); McCaskie, “Paramountcy;” Wilks, Asante; and, Aidoo, A.A., “The Asante Succession Crisis, 1883-1888,” THSG, 13(1972), 63–80Google Scholar; idem, “Political Crisis and Social Change in the Asante Kingdom, 1867-1901,” Ph.D., UCLA, 1975; idem, “Order and Conflict in the Asante Empire: a Study in Interest Group Relations,” The African Studies Review, 20(1977), 1-36.

50. The key figure here, of course, is R.S. Rattray. Elements of the same concerns can be found in the works of M. Fortes, K.A. Busia, and A.A.Y. Kyerematen.

51. Methodist Missionary Society, London, Ms. of an unpublished book on Asante and Dahomey by T.B. Freeman, ca. 1860. A version of the foregoing was published in successive issues of The Western Echo, Cape Coast, in 1886.

52. The fullest description of the palm wine drinking ceremony is contained in ibid.

53. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Fours Years, 103.Google Scholar

54. Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entries for 11 April 1839 and 20 December 1841.Google Scholar

55. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 109.Google Scholar

56. Riis, “Journey.”

57. Ibid.

58. Further Correspondence, C.3687, 1883, 109.Google Scholar

59. Dupuis, , Journal, 128–50.Google Scholar

60. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 226.Google Scholar

61. There are numerous descriptions of this ceremony. The reader is referred to the entries in footnote 16.

62. Freeman, Journal, Journals, and Methodist Missionary Society, London, Wharton to General Secretaries, dd. Kumase, 31 May 1846, under the appropriate dates of entry.

63. For the frequency of funeral customs see for example de Heer, “Aanghansel.”

64. There is no comprehensive survey of all the aspects of odwira. The most convenient general introduction is Rattray, R.S., Religion and Art in Ashanti (Oxford, 1927), 122–43.Google Scholar A popular but indigenous treatment is to be found in Opoku, A.A., Festivals of Ghana, (Accra, 1970).Google Scholar The political implications of odwira are explored under the appropriate heads in Wilks, Asante.

65. See ibid, 389 for a brief discussion of timing.

66. Manhyia Record Office, Kumase, “The Ashanti Odwira,” typescript, n.d., but prepared at the direction of Asantehene Osei Agyeman Prempe II.

67. See Huydecoper, , Diary, entry for 22 August 1816Google Scholar, and Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 147.Google Scholar

68. Bowdich, , Mission, 274–75.Google Scholar

69. Huydecoper, , Diary, sub 23 August 1816.Google Scholar

70. Bowdich, , Mission, 274–75.Google Scholar

71. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 148Google Scholar; Methodist Missionary Society, London, Correspondence of R. Brooking from Kumase, 1842, Chapman to General Secretaries, dd. Kumase, 20 September 1843, and Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entry for 2 September 1843.Google Scholar

72. Bowdich, , Mission, 278Google Scholar; Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entry for 3 September 1843Google Scholar; Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 148.Google Scholar

73. Bowdich, , Mission, 278Google Scholar; Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 148.Google Scholar

74. Bowdich, , Mission, 279.Google Scholar

75. Freeman, , Journal, Journals, entry for 8 September 1843.Google Scholar

76. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 149-50, 179–80Google Scholar; Further Correspondence, C.3386, 1882, 60.Google Scholar

77. Bowdich, , Mission, 384–85.Google Scholar

78. Ramseyer, and Kühne, , Four Years, 180.Google Scholar