Contemporarising ɔhene tene (the Akan chief’s procession) as political communication
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Legon Journal of the Humanities
Abstract
This paper is about politics and communication in a Ghanaian traditional setting. It
focuses on ɔhene tene (the Akan chiefly procession) as a single act of non-rhetorical
symbolic communication. Situated within the conceptual frameworks of public relations
and political communication, the description and analysis of ɔhene tene characterises its
staging as image-making which communicates and projects power and authority. Through
in-depth interviews, observation, and drawing on encoding and decoding of the sight
spectacle, observed visual and sound elements of ɔhene tene are detailed, highlighting
their signification and consequential roles that combine as public relations and political
communication activities. Ɔhene tene is contextualised and proposed as a constructed
image typology and “political language” with lessons for political communication and
public relations practices.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
ɔhene tene, chief’s procession, image-making, public relations, political communication