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BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE CROSS: RELIGION, SLAVERY, AND THE MAKING OF THE ANLO-EWE*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2012

MEERA VENKATACHALAM
MEERA VENKATACHALAM*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
Author's email: meera.venkatachalam@gmail.com
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Abstract

The idea that mission Christianity played a pivotal role in the creation of modern African ethnic identities has become paradigmatic. Yet, the actual cultural and social processes that facilitated the widespread reception of specific ethnic identities have been under-researched. Suggesting that historians have overemphasised the role of Christian schooling and theology in ethnic identity formation, this article examines how the Anlo people of south-eastern Ghana came, over the twentieth century, to recognise themselves as part of the larger Ewe ethnic group. Although Christian missionaries were the first to conceive of ‘Ewe’ as a broad ethnic identity, a corpus of non-Christian ritual practices pioneered by inland Ewe slave women were crucial to many Anlos' embrace of Eweness.

Keywords

Ghanaethnicityreligionslavery
Type
Politics of Ethnic Identity Formation
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 45 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

This article was written during the course of an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship held at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh. I would like to thank Girish Daswani, Tom Fisher, Angela McFarlane, Paul Nugent, Ben Nyamesi, Martin Tsang, and the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of African History for their comments on draft versions of this article. The late Edison Amegbor greatly facilitated research for this article.

References

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2 Meyer, B., ‘Christianity and the Ewe nation: German Pietist missionaries, Ewe converts and the politics of culture’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 32:2 (2002), 167–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; J. D. Y. Peel, ‘The cultural work of Yoruba ethnogenesis’, in E. Tonkin, M. Chapman, and Maryon M‘Donald (eds.), History and Ethnicity (London, 1989), 198–215; Peel, J. D. Y., Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba (Bloomington, IN, 2000)Google Scholar.

3 Peel, ‘Cultural work’, 198.

4 The NMG was founded by Lutheran and Reformed Protestants in 1836. A rift between the Lutherans and Reformed Protestants led to the mission reorganising itself as the Reformed Protestant Mission in 1851, with Bremen as its headquarters. Meyer, B., Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana (Edinburgh, 1999), 28Google Scholar.

5 Meyer, ‘Christianity and the Ewe nation’, 169.

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10 Meyer, Translating the Devil.

11 Early African independent churches aimed to Africanise Christianity by consciously incorporating local elements and forms into Christian theology and worship. See Gifford, P., African Christianity (London, 1997), 75Google Scholar.

12 Peel, ‘Cultural work’, 200–1.

13 T. Wendl, ‘Slavery, spirit possession and ritual consciousness: the Tchamba cult among the Mina in Togo’, in H. Behrend and U. Luig (eds.), Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa (Madison, WI, 1999), 111– 23.

14 Eweland is divided into three geographical belts: the coastal, middle, and northern. ‘Ewedome’ or ‘Awudome’ translates as ‘Ewe in the middle’ and is strictly associated with the central Ewe belt and the dukowo located around Ho. ‘Krepi’ or ‘Creepi’ refers to a loose confederacy of dukowo centred around Peki, associated with the northern Ewe belt. The Anlo, however, used – and continue to use – these two terms loosely and interchangeably, to refer to all inland Ewe-speaking peoples located to their north.

15 The Anlo bought slaves from markets such as Salaga where most slaves hailed from the savanna. Akyeampong, Between the Sea, 45.

16 This event is widely referred to in most of Eweland as the Asante Wars, as from a central and northern Ewe perspective they were brought about by Asante forces of occupation. The Anlo, however, refer to them as the Peki Wars, as they were allied with the Asante against the Krepi. Peki was the most significant of the Krepi dukowo.

17 Debrunner, Church Between Colonial Powers, 77.

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20 Meyer, ‘Christianity and the Ewe nation’, 177.

21 Bremen City State Records (Staatsarchiv Bremen), Bremen, Germany StAB7, 1025-85/3, address by Franz Zahn to the NMG, 3 Sept. 1872.

22 Meyer, ‘Christianity and the Ewe nation’, 177.

23 Greene, S. E., Sacred Sites and the Colonial Encounter: A History of Meaning and Memory in Ghana (Bloomington, IN, 2002), 14–34Google Scholar.

24 During the course of my fieldwork in Anlo (2003–11), reference to the Notsie myth was often made in history lessons. Although it was not taught as an official part of the educational curriculum in all schools in Anlo, it is common knowledge.

25 Kumassah, A., The Migration Saga of the Anlo-Ewes of Ghana (Keta, Ghana, 2009)Google Scholar; Mamattah, C. M. K., The Eues of West Africa: The History of the Eves (Accra, 1976)Google Scholar.

26 Greene, Sacred Sites, 36.

27 Akyeampong, Between the Sea, 186.

28 Amenumey, Ewe Unification Movement; Welch, C. E. Jr., Dream of Unity: Pan-Africanism and Political Unification in West Africa (Ithaca, NY, 1966)Google Scholar.

29 The TC was also backed by non-Ewe minorities in Eweland including the Avatime, Buem, Likpe, and Santrokofi. See P. Nugent, ‘ “A few lesser peoples”: the central Togo minorities and their Ewe neighbours’, in C. Lentz and P. Nugent (eds.), Ethnicity in Ghana: The Limits of Invention (London, 2000), 162–82.

30 The chief aim of the TC was not complete freedom, but to resist integration into the Gold Coast. Nkrumah's Convention Peoples Party (CPP) was the main enemy of the TC in the run up to independence, as the former supported the decision to integrate British Togoland into Ghana and to leave French Togoland under the control of France. The main aim of the TC was to bring an end to the colonial border that divided the former German Togoland. See K. A. Collier, ‘Ablode: networks, ideas and performance in Togoland politics, 1950–2001’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002).

31 Nugent, P., Smugglers, Secessionists, and Loyal Citizens on the Ghana-Togo Frontier: The Life of the Borderlands since 1914 (Oxford, 2002), 147–98Google Scholar.

32 Ibid. 160, 163–4.

33 Akyeampong, Between the Sea, 191–2.

34 Togolese politics is characterised by a north-south divide. Since Eyadema's successful coup in 1967, government positions have been dominated by northern ethnic groups, mainly the Kabye. The political opposition in Togo is associated with southern ethnic groups including the Ewe. Ghanaian politics reflect a coastal-inland divide. On Togo, see J. Rosenthal, Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo (Charlottesville, VA, 1998), 79–80; on Ghana, see Venkatachalam, M., ‘Between the umbrella and the elephant: elections, ethnic negotiations and the politics of spirit possession in Teshi, Accra’, Africa, 81:2 (2011), 248–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 256–58.

35 Morrison, M. K. C., ‘Political parties in Ghana through four republics: a path to democratic consolidation’, Comparative Politics, 36:4 (2004), 421–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nugent, P., ‘Living in the past: urban, rural and ethnic themes in the 1992 and 1996 elections in Ghana ’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 37:2 (1999), 287–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nugent, P., ‘Winners, losers and also rans: money, moral authority and voting patterns in the Ghana 2000 election’, African Affairs, 100:400 (2001), 405–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Rawlings and his closest advisors were often dubbed the ‘Dzelukope mafia’ in the Ghanaian press, a reference to the suburb of Keta from which most of them hailed.

37 Jockers, H., Kohnert, D., and Nugent, P., ‘The successful Ghana election of 2008: a convenient myth?’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 48:1 (2010), 95–115CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 The NDC is widely supported by other ethnic groups, such as the coastal Fante and the peoples of the northern savanna.

39 Akyeampong, Between the Sea, 67.

40 Ibid.

41 Greene, Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change, 39.

42 Brydon, L., ‘Constructing avatime: questions of history and identity in a West African polity, c. 1690s to the twentieth century’, Journal of African History, 49:1 (2008), 23–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 34, n. 57.

43 G. K. Nukunya, ‘A note on Anlo (Ewe) slavery and the history of a slave’, appendix to C. C. Robertson, ‘Post proclamation slavery in Accra: a female affair?’, in C. C. Robertson and M. A. Klein (eds.), Women and Slavery in Africa (Madison, WI, 1983), 243–4.

44 Interview with David Nyamesi, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 9 Dec. 2010.

45 Allman, J. and Parker, J., Tongnaab: The History of a West African God (Bloomington, IN, 2005)Google Scholar; McCaskie, T. C., ‘Anti-witchcraft cults in Asante: an essay in the social history of an African people’, History in Africa, 8 (1981), 125–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; M. McLeod, ‘On the spread of anti-witchcraft cults in modern Asante’, in J. Goody (ed.), Changing Social Structure in Ghana: Essays in the Comparative Sociology of a New State and an Old Tradition (London, 1975), 107–17.

46 Debrunner, H. W., Witchcraft in Ghana: A Study on the Belief in Destructive Witches and Its Effect on the Akan Tribes (Kumasi, 1959)Google Scholar; Field, M. J., Search for Security: An Ethno-Psychiatric Study of Rural Ghana (London, 1960).Google Scholar

47 Allman and Parker, Tongnaab; McLeod, ‘On the spread’.

48 Rosenthal, Possession, Ecstasy, and Law. In Ewe, Atike means medicine and Atikevodu translates as the religion of medicine. Gorovodu derives its name from the goro (kola nut), a gentle stimulant from the northern savanna that southern coastal peoples bought in trade.

49 Krachi was a border province of the Asante kingdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, one of a cluster of north-eastern provinces that frequently challenged Asante supremacy. A rebellion against the Asante in 1874, orchestrated by the Krachi people, culminated in independence for Gwandjiowa, Krachi, Brunfo, and Buem. These states organised themselves into the Bron Confederation, over which the Dente Bosomfo exercised supreme political and spiritual authority. Maier, D., Priests and Power: The Case of the Dente Shrine in Nineteenth-Century Ghana (Bloomington, IN, 1983)Google Scholar.

50 Ibid. 142–3.

51 National Archives of Ghana, Accra (PRAAD) A/ADM 11/1/751, letter from the Secretary of Native Affairs to the Acting Colonial Secretary, 28 Sept. 1921.

52 Allman and Parker, Tongnaab, 129.

53 While the Akan were specifically interested in ritual resources from the northern savanna, which set in motion a gradual southward movement of such items, coastal peoples, such as the Anlo, associated all societies to their geographical north with anti-witchcraft remedies.

54 In addition to the Bosomfo's influence, Dente's reputation was widespread, as a number of individual ritual entrepreneurs attempted to spread Dente worship during the 1880s. A Dente priest, Keteku Kwami, was welcomed into Peki in 1884, suggesting that several individuals continued to set themselves up as Dente specialists. B. Meyer, ‘ “Translating the devil”: an African appropriation of Pietist Protestantism, the case of the Peki Ewe in southeastern Ghana, 1847–1992’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam, 1995), 68–9.

55 Kunde is one of the deities associated with the Atikevodu or Gorovodu cluster. Rosenthal, Possession, Ecstasy, and Law, 61–4. Adina is one of the constituent Anlo dutowo. PRAAD A/ADM 11/1/1679, letter from District Commissioner to the Secretary of Native Affairs, 27 May 1939.

56 Interviews with: Quasi Ajakoku, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 24 March 2004; David Nyamesi, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 20 Aug. 2006; and Patrick Tamakloe, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 26 Feb. 2004.

57 A. de Surgy, Le système religieux des Evhe (Paris, 1988); M. Venkatachalam, ‘Slavery in memory: a study of the religious cults of the Anlo-Ewe of southeastern Ghana’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 2007), 54–84.

58 Interview with Komla Donkor, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 15 Sept. 2005.

59 Interview with David Nyamesi.

60 Ablesi's descendants continue to maintain this shrine in the Nyerwese division of Anlo-Afiadenyigba. Venkatachalam, ‘Slavery in memory’, 155–6. Interviews with Quasi Ajakoku; and David Nyamesi.

61 I collected detailed family histories of about twenty Fofie worshipping lineages in Anlo-Afiadenyigba. These histories suggest that slave women of Ablesi's generation, following her example in the 1940s, went on to assist in the establishment of Fofie worship. Ablavi of the Nyamesi family and Acosua of the Agboado family were slave women carried away during the Peki Wars, who during the 1940s helped these families establish individual Fofie shrines. Interviews with David Nyamesi; and Elias Agboado, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 29 Feb. 2008.

62 Interviews with Elias Agboado; Quasi Ajakoku; and David Nyamesi.

63 Interview with Kwaku Amegbor, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 24 Aug. 2006.

64 The practices associated with Fofie may be observed in the contemporary Anlo religious system. The popularity of the cult, however, is dwindling. Venkatachalam, ‘Slavery in memory’, 221–2.

65 Akyeampong, Between the Sea, 69; Greene, Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change, 67. A deity called Fofie was worshipped not only in pre-1930s Anlo, but also in the northern Ewe belt. Meyer, Translating the Devil, 97. It is possible that Fofie worship may have been spread from Anlo northwards to Peki, though it probably occupied a different functional niche in northern Eweland.

66 Interview with Quasi Ajakoku.

67 Interviews with Quasi Ajakoku; David Nyamesi; and Patrick Tamakloe.

68 In Ewe, si means ‘pledged’ and is used in the context of religious cults.

69 Rosenthal, Possession, Ecstasy, and Law.

70 Interview with Metumisi, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, 24 Nov. 2003.

71 Interview with Elias Agboado.

72 Ibid.