Make-Up Aesthetics: Body Adornment Practices Of The Krobo

Abstract

This dissertation investigates body adornment practices as a visual culture of the Krobo of the Eastern Region of Ghana from the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first century. In order to also document the depth and impact of Krobo embellishment, the study identifies and confirms a relationship between the different genres of verbal arts among the Krobo and their standards of visual beauty within the Dangme society. The study further analyses the impacts of these ideas and beliefs on Krobo adornment and examines how the Krobo apply them to their daily, ceremonial and ritual forms of dressing. Using aesthetics as a methodology, and positioning it as a framework, this dissertation investigates the perceptions, cultural symbolisms, and significance inherent in the art of Krobo body ornamentation. The methods of research for this dissertation are mainly qualitative; I employ instruments such as interviews, participant-observation and photograph analysis. In this research, I hypothesise that the aesthetics of the Krobo is determined by the people’s worldview and aspects of their verbal arts which are expressed in, and inform, the evaluation of body adornment. Unlike the works of previous scholars whose research focused on the visual aspects of aesthetics in Ghana and the world at large, this thesis makes an important contribution by drawing from the language, religion and philosophy of the Krobo. My research findings further demonstrate that the main principles governing the Krobo social structure, and thus the way they dress, are ground in Mawu (God) and the tripartite concept of eda (uprightness) namely, munyu (speech), hedrami (dress), and su (character). These findings which are largely informed by language, religion and the philosophy of the Krobo people will not only play a major role in illuminating the study of concepts and practices among other ethnic groups with specific emphasis on their aesthetics but also encourage other scholars to pursue the study of aesthetics from different perspectives than those already recognized.