Promoting Asante Customary Marriage through Theatre for Development

Abstract

This study is centered on “aware pa”, a customary marriage rite of the Asante in Ghana. “Aware pa”, until recently, was a complete marriage ceremony after which a man and woman were recognized as husband and wife. Observations have however, revealed that there is wrong perception of this customary marriage rite and the adoption of foreign culture has changed the name and outlook of the “aware pa” ceremony. Based on these observations, four main processes were employed for the study to find out why majority of the Asante people have negative perception of the customary marriage rite, why the change of the name to “engagement” and how to promote the customary marriage rite. The processes used were; library research,field work and story creation, performance and follow-up. From these processes, it was revealed that most people within the study area perceive culture to mean something primitive hence the adoption of “engagement”, a more refined name in place of “aware pa”. The study also showed that the Asante is losing touch with their custom and traditions as it was discovered that most people did not really understand “aware pa”. It was also revealed that religious doctrines do not oppose the „aware pa” since family endorsement of a marriage is required before the church ceremony. The family endorsement is the “aware pa” ceremony. The lack of knowledge and wrong perception of “aware pa” and the blind adoption of foreign culture became a fertile ground to use Theatre for Development (TfD) approach in promoting Asante customary marriage rite in Kumasi. To ensure the perpertuation of tradition, this study recommends the Asanteman Traditional Council to embark on educational campaign of the “aware pa” ceremony to erase the misconconception and also inform those who are ignorant of it. The council needs to further look at the extravagant nature with which marriage ceremonies are celebrated forcing otherwise prospective husbands to remain bachelors. Also course and subject contents of cultural studies in both lower and higher institutions should be reviewed to include issues of traditional values like the “aware pa”.