KWA BA
The Kwa Ba, also referred to asAkua’ba, is the
great primal mother of all humans in the Akan
construction of the universe. She is the one who
welcomes humans into social existence and makes
it possible for human community. Without the
Kwa Ba there is no greeting, and without greeting
there is no recognition of the humanity that exists
in each person.
The primal mother is the one who receives
young girls into womanhood when they have their
first menstruation and receive the wooden or clay
images of Akua’ba from their elder mentors.
Indeed, in some societies in West Africa, a massive
image of Kwa Ba precedes the king in royal pro-
cessions through villages and to special festivals.
Each of these uses of the Kwa Ba refers to the
power of the image and concept to have meaning
in the lives of the people for two reasons. The first
reason is the reverence for the idea of mother-
hood, and the second reason is the relationship of
the Kwa Ba to the establishment and maintenance
of communal values. These are interrelated ideas
that are held together by a reverence for propriety
and respect.
In the first instance, the mother is the one who
brings all humans into life. Without a mother, it is
impossible to have community and the source of
life, as we know it, is from the womb of a woman.
The primal mother (i.e., Kwa Ba) recalls for
humans the unique position the mother holds in
society. Second, the maintenance of communal
values could only exist if there were common
ideas of origin, meaning of life, modes of thinking,
norms of relationships, and respect and propriety
among all in the community. It is this profound
understanding of the role of the mother, the pri-
mal mother, the one who gives birth to society
that marks the coming of the Akan into a philo-
sophical relationship with an active social idea.
Often represented by wooden statues with out-
stretched arms, the Akua’ba or Kwa Ba figure
appears like the ankh of ancient Egypt. It has not
been established that there was a relationship
between the creation of the ankh and the creation
of the Akua’ba, but there is certainly a conver-
gence of meaning in the idea of the two figures.
This is not simply based on the similarity in the
construction of the symbols, but also in the philo-
sophical, indeed religious, underpinnings of the
symbols.
In the case of the ankh, it is a symbol for life; in
the case of the Akua’ba, it is also a symbol of life,
but in the sense that it represents not so much per-
sonal life as it does the idea of communal life. One
does not enter community life without first being
brought into existence and greeted by the primal
mother. In this regard, the Akan notion of the
Kwa Ba, the Akua’ba, is the prime example of
the social creator as the natural gatekeeper to the
human community.Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoAnkh; NkwaFurtherReadings
Asante, M. K. (1998).The Afrocentric Idea.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Idowu, B. (1973).African Traditional Religion.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.KwaBa 373