Cultural CharacteristicsLingusitically, the collective termAkanrefers to a
group of languages belonging to the Kwa subfam-
ily of the Niger-Kordofanian language family
spoken in both Ghana (south of the Volta River)
and Côte d’Ivoire. What distinguishes one group
from another are their linguistic variants (dialects)
that include Akuapem, Asante, and Fante; the for-
mer two are referred to as Twi. Akan is the first
language of approximately 44% of Ghana’s pop-
ulation, with Asante Twi being the most widely
spoken of the variants.
Making use of figurative speech, the Akan are
probably best known for their proverbial wisdom.
Proverbs are popular maxims used to express
practical truths gained through experience and
observation. They are expressed not only in
words, but also through music, particularly tradi-
tional drumming, and dance, as well as through
textile art, specifically adinkra and kente cloths.
Proverbs constitute an important characteristic of
the Akan language(s) and are used to imbue com-
munication with life. Proverbs, metaphorical
guides for righteous living, provide a better under-
standing of the Akan outlook on existence, both
physical and spiritual. The following Akan
proverbs are instructive in this regard:
True power comes through cooperation and silence.
Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue.One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
The one who asks questions does not lose his way.No one points God out to a child.
A family is like a forest. When you are outside it is
dense; when you are inside you see that each tree
has its place.The knot tied by a wise man cannot be undone by
a fool.
If you hold a snake by its head, its body will turn
to rope.Even the teeth and tongue fight sometimes,
although they live together.
Death has no cure. Be a good person and
remember that you will die someday.If someone takes care of you in childhood, take
care of them during their old age.
If you know how to advise, advise yourself.What distinguishes the Akan from many of the
other cultural groupings in Ghana is that they are
a matrilineal people. Every Akan belongs to a clan
or abusua (family)and is bound to that abusua
by blood relation. They believe that, during inter-
course, the sunsum (spirit) from the father mingles
with the mogya (blood) of the mother, giving rise
to conception. This joining of spiritual and physi-
cal components gives rise to the mother–child
bond and lays the foundation for the matrilineal
system of descent by the Akan. As the Akan
proverb informs us, “A crab does not beget a
bird.” Thus, a child born to a Kwahu mother and
an Nzema father is a Kwahu.Spirituality
Although Christianity and Islam attempted to col-
onize their spirituality, the Akan have not departed
from their ancestral and spiritual culture, which
defines them as Akan. Spirituality is the founda-
tion on which Akan society and culture is built.Cosmogony
A cosmogony is an account of how the universe
(cosmos) came into being. It differs from cosmol-
ogy, or the structure of the universe, in that the
latter aims at understanding the actual composi-
tion and governing “laws” of the universe as it
now exists, whereas the former answers the ques-
tion as to how it first came to be.Abrewa na ni
mba, the Old Woman and Her Children, is the
name of the Akan creation narrative.
The Akan believe that, in the beginning, Nyame
(Creator) lived in the sky, which was actually very
close to the Earth, where the old woman and her
children lived. Each day when the old woman
would pound her fufu, the pestle hit Nyame.
Although Nyame continuously warned the woman
to stop hitting him or else he would move far away
into the sky, the woman continued to pound her
fufu. So Nyame in fact moved far away into the
sky where the people could no longer reach him.24 Akan