Critical Historiography
Where is My Name? – Contemporary 
Funeral Posters as an Arena of 
Contestation and (Re)negotiation  
of Chiefly Relations Among the Ewe 
of Ghana and Togo
Edem Adotey
Abstract: In Ghana and other regions of West Africa a funeral poster is an impor-
tant part of funerary ritual. Examining two funeral posters – one about omission and 
the other about inclusion of names – printed to commemorate two chiefs in two 
Ewe communities in Ghana and Togo, this article shows funeral posters as arenas of 
contestation, negotiation, affirmation, and elaboration of beliefs and conflicting 
views. The article argues that funeral posters are written with a local audience in 
mind, which means that they are a very useful source for historical enquiry about 
how people address the subjects of kinship and relationships among chiefs.
Résumé: Au Ghana comme dans d’autres régions d’Afrique de l’ouest, les affiches 
funéraires sont une partie importante du rituel funéraire. En se penchant 
sur deux affiches funéraires – une sur l’omission et l’autre sur l’inclusion des 
noms – imprimées pour commémorer deux chefs de deux communautés éwé au 
Ghana et au Togo, cet article montre que les affiches funéraires sont des scènes 
de compétition, de négociation, d’affirmation et d’élaboration de croyances et de 
vues contradictoires. L’article soutient que les affiches funéraires sont écrites en 
pensant à un public local, ce qui signifie qu’elles sont une source très utile pour la 
recherche historique sur la façon dont les gens adressent les thèmes de la parenté et 
des relations entre chefs.
History in Africa, Volume 45 (2018), pp. 59–69
Edem Adotey is a Research Fellow in the History and Politics section of the Institute 
of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. E-mail: eadotey@ug.edu.gh
© African Studies Association, 2018
doi:10.1017/hia.2018.4
59
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
60 History in Africa
Introduction1
This article argues that funeral posters are an important lens through which 
we can view historical information on disputes about chieftaincy. Funeral 
posters are written with a local audience in mind and so are a very useful 
source for investigating how people communicated about relationships, 
particularly about cultural values pertaining to kinship and socio-political 
relations. We can see too how such posters were used to negotiate and 
re-negotiate relations among chiefs.
Funeral pamphlets have long been recognized as a useful historical 
source.2 Joan Omoruyi, for instance, has described the value of the funeral 
programme as a historical source in Nigeria. Funeral programmes usually 
include a biographical sketch, picture, names and nicknames, date and 
place of birth and death, educational background, marital status, and 
survivors. She notes the importance of these, as well as the quality of the 
printed material.3 Olive Adjah too has made similar examination of funeral 
posters in Ghana as sources of biographical information.4 However, there 
has been no systematic consideration of how funeral posters and in partic-
ular the “chief mourners” shown on them might become an arena of con-
testation in kinship and socio-political relations. Nor has there been any 
investigation of how they shed light on chiefly relations and history.5
Funerals are events during which various ideas and beliefs co-exist, 
conflict, merge, or converse with each other, and this article discusses the 
importance of contemporary funeral posters as a source for historical 
enquiry into such contestations and negotiations. It shares the approach 
of the ground breaking work by Jindra and Noret in their edited volume 
Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon. That work looked at 
funerary practice more generally as an evolving process and an arena of 
negotiation, contestation and conflicting views about them concerning 
1 I wish to thank Kate Skinner, Samuel Ntewusu, Mjiba Frehiwot, Frank Afari, 
and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Generous support 
for the research and writing was from the American Council of Learned Societies’ 
African Humanities Program dissertation completion fellowship (F’12) and post-
doctoral fellowship (F’17), and the University of Birmingham and Economic and 
Social Research Council partnership grant.
2 By funeral pamphlet I mean printed matter relating to funerals, including 
therefore funeral brochures, handbills, posters, and orders of service for funerals.
3 See: Joan Omoruyi, “Nigerian Funeral Programmes: An Unexplored 
Source of Information,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 58–4 
(1988), 466–469.
4 Olive Akpebu Adjah, “Ghanaian Funeral Brochures: An Unexplored Rich 
Source of Biographical Information,” African Research & Documentation 103 (2007), 
33–44.
5 Some describe the “Chief Mourners” as “Chief Celebrants.” This stems from 
the idea of not grieving the death but rather celebrating the life of the departed.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
Contemporary Funeral Posters in Ghana and Togo 61
such things as socio-political relations, economic relations and kinship.6 
De Witte’s and Roberts’s contributions to this volume, for instance, highlight 
changes and contestation over the processes as well as appropriations of 
the changing forms of funerary practices in Ghana.7
This article shows how funeral posters have been appropriated for use 
in chiefly contestations. The posters shed light on responses to colonial 
legacies of indirect rule in Ghana and on international boundaries that 
bisected Ewe communities who found themselves living on the new Ghana-
Togo boundary.
The article uses two case studies to show two different kinds of effects 
of funeral posters. First I consider posters as a source of conflict and dis-
pute about relations between different chiefdoms in Ghana – Sokpoe and 
Tefle. Then I shall consider their function in affirming relations between 
groups in Ghana and Togo that have been divided by the boundary between 
those two countries – Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo. First, I will look at the 
importance of funeral posters in Ghana, and then interrogate the contes-
tation over the absence of Tefle from the fiaga (paramount chief) of 
Sokpoe’s funeral poster and the list of “chief mourners” on the funeral 
poster of a particular chief in Nyive-Ghana. Both aspects illuminate the 
importance of funeral posters as arenas of contestation and negotiation in 
chiefly relations.
Funeral Announcements and Funeral Posters
Funeral announcements among the Ewe in Ghana have been transformed as 
a result of the multiplicity of ideas and practices from a long history of colo-
nial and postcolonial contact. Regarding the announcement of funerals, 
A.B. Ellis, writing about the Ewe in the late nineteenth century, noted that:
A death in a family is announced by an outbreak of shrieks and lamentations 
on the part of the women, who throw themselves on the ground, strike their 
heads against walls, and commit a variety of extravagances; calling upon the 
deceased the meanwhile not to desert them, and endeavouring, by all kinds 
of supplications, to induce the soul to return and reanimate the body.8
6 See: Michael Jindra and Joël Noret (eds.), Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a 
Social Phenomenon (New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011).
7 Marleen de Witte, “Of Corpses, Clay, and Photographs: Body Imagery and 
Changing Technologies of Remembrance in Asante Funeral Culture,” in: Michael 
Jindra and Joël Noret (eds.), Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon 
(New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011), 177–206; Jonathan Roberts, “Funerals 
and Fetish Interment in Accra, Ghana,” in: Michael Jindra and Joël Noret (eds.), 
Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon (New York/Oxford: Berghahn 
Books, 2011), 207–226.
8 A.B. Ellis, The Ewe Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, Their Religion, 
Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, & C. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1890), 157.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
62 History in Africa
Jakob Spieth, a German missionary writing in the early part of the twen-
tieth century noted of the Ewe that if a sick person died two gun shots 
were fired in the evening to announce the death.9 Technology has 
changed the face of funeral announcements in contemporary times, 
for besides mass media like radio, television, and newspapers there are 
funeral brochures, hoardings, banners, posters, and new social media 
platforms like Facebook and Twitter. There are however differences in 
the forms of announcements in those various media, and all of them 
usually differ from those of funeral posters. In comparison with new 
social media platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp where funeral 
posters can be directly inserted, the information broadcast in other 
media tends to be an abridged version of a funeral poster. Funeral bro-
chures might even contain funeral posters, although most do not. Of 
particular importance to this study is the fact that unlike funeral posters 
media for funeral announcements do not give lists of “chief mourners,” 
so that funeral posters are a unique source of information about chiefly 
contestations.
Posters, most of them printed in color, have become an integral part of 
funerals.10 Considering the limitations of the traditional ways of spreading 
the information to a wider audience especially in an urban setting, and the 
prohibitive cost of radio, television, and newspaper announcements, 
funeral posters have become an important medium for funeral announce-
ments. They can be found posted on walls, trees, electricity poles, motor 
vehicles or indeed on any strategically placed surface. As a result it is 
common to see the notice “Post no Bills” on walls all over Ghana due to 
these and other posters.
Funeral posters come in different sizes but are mostly printed on 
A2-size sheets (42.0cm x 59.4cm). Typically in Ghana the funeral poster 
has a heading, one or more photographs of the deceased and his or her 
age and date of death, along with the names of the chief mourners and 
family members. There will also be information about the funeral arrange-
ments and dress code – whether red, black, white, or a combination of 
black and white or red and black, each color preference reflecting the age 
and status of the deceased.11 The information on posters is given chrono-
logically and in many cases in order of importance and includes the date, 
time, and place of burial, and other related activities such as wake-keeping 
9 Jakob Spieth, The Ewe People: A Study of the Ewe People in German Togo (Komla 
Amoako [ed.]) (Accra: Sub-Saharan, 2012), 305.
10 There are different types of funerals based on the religious faith of the 
deceased. Some funerals blend Christian or Islamic practices with traditional African 
burial practices. Funeral posters are usually for Christians and adherents of tradi-
tional African religions.
11 Black is the usual color for funerals; red is usually worn for a young person, 
and white and black and white for an elderly person.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
Contemporary Funeral Posters in Ghana and Togo 63
before the burial or a thanksgiving service in church on the Sunday after 
the burial (see photo 2).12
Professional accomplishments might be included on the funeral poster, 
as well as standing within various social and political hierarchies, and any 
awards received, all intended to emphasize the deceased’s accomplish-
ments. A poster will include where the deceased had lived and the profes-
sions of any children or other kin will be mentioned, for they are important 
indicators of the deceased’s status especially if the children or family have 
moved abroad to the USA or Europe. Further status will be reflected on the 
deceased if children or family follow “prestigious” professions such as those 
of medical doctors, lecturers, army officers, lawyers, or engineers. Indeed 
it is usual for even an unemployed family member, if living abroad, to have 
his or her name mentioned before that of even a well-established profes-
sional or businessman in Ghana. That therefore shows that many people 
in Ghana still privilege the west over the rest of the world without regard 
to the unique and individual circumstances that exist abroad. The attitude 
may perhaps be traced to colonialism, or at least examined as one of the 
important legacies of colonial rule in Ghana.
An interesting element about funeral posters is the headings, which 
are designed to draw as much attention as possible. Some posters come 
with eye-catching headlines besides the standard “Obituary,” such as for 
example “Rapid Departure,” “Crash Landing,” “What a Shock,” “Gone too 
Soon,” “Celebration of Life,” “A Life Well Lived,” “Home Call,” “Call to 
Glory.” Such attention-grabbing headings also provide background to the 
relationship between the deceased and his or her family, the nature of the 
death and the achievements of the deceased. “Rapid Departure,” “Crash 
Landing,” “What a Shock,” and “Gone too Soon” are usually used for some-
one cut down in his or her prime; “Home Call” and “Call to Glory” are used 
for the elderly, and “Celebration of Life” and “A Life Well Lived” are for an 
adult who had led a successful life.
The announcements on the poster if the deceased was royal usually 
follow this template: “Togbe (title of a chief) X, the fiaga (paramount chief) 
or regent (if the stool is vacant) of A, … (followed by others) announces 
the death of Z” (see photo 1). If it is an ordinary person the order is: “The 
hlↄtatↄ (family head) of C, … (followed by others) announce the death of X.” 
The template seems to be a relic of the traditional responsibility of the 
paramount chief of a village or the head of family to announce the deaths 
of subordinate chiefs or family members.
An important section of a funeral poster which is of interest for this 
article is the section captioned “chief mourners.” The chief mourners are 
the principal overseers of the funeral and are usually the heads of lineage 
12 The funeral poster might include two photographs, especially if the deceased 
was an adult and elderly. The bigger one will be a more recent photograph of the 
deceased and the smaller one, as an inset, will show a more youthful version.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
64 History in Africa
Photo 1. Funeral poster of a chief indicating the order of announcement
and heads of families. The chief mourners include the principal chiefs of the 
village if the deceased was a chief, and among them might be the deceased’s 
principal superiors at work, or if he or she was a national figure perhaps even 
the head of state. Pastors too might be included among the chief mourners.
Ebow Daniel makes an interesting list of chief mourners in a funeral 
brochure which also applies to the funeral poster as well:
The list of the chief mourners is becoming long indeed. They include 
whole Bishops (if the deceased had merely been a prominent member of 
the church), Vice-Chancellors (if the deceased had been a student). 
Family abroad always features: Mrs. A (London), Miss B (Germany), Mr. C 
(USA); a recent list also referred to Messrs. D, E and F (Returnees)! We 
have a chance to remind ourselves that we used to be somebody; Mr. G 
(Former Ambassador), Madam H (Ex-Deputy Minister): if we never were 
Minister of State in the First Republic. And we can demonstrate how 
forward-looking we are, which is what an entry in a recent list does: Mr. M 
(Managing-Director-Designate, name of company supplied)! A still more 
recent announcement lists among chief mourners a prominent Ghanaian 
himself dead: Mr. N (Deceased)!13
De Witte refers to “wealth-in-people,” by which she means the numerous 
names of people on the funeral posters – and particularly the long list of 
13 Ebow Daniel, “The Funeral Brochure,” West Africa 3660 (1987), 1965–1966.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
Contemporary Funeral Posters in Ghana and Togo 65
“chief mourners.” De Witte sees them as an indication of social success, for 
the names reveal a network of dependents and influence.14 However this 
may also be seen as a “liability-in-people.” The sense of liability comes from 
the deceased’s obligation or accountability to the people in the network, 
and might refer for example to political relationships, as in a subordinate 
chief to a superior one. I shall return to this subject here in due course.
While it might appear that the “chief mourners” are no more than a 
long more or less random list of people, within the list there is a definite 
order which provides important historical information. The key things to 
note in deconstructing a list of “chief mourners” on a funeral poster are 
first what names do or do not appear on the poster and second, the order 
in which the names appear.
“Chief mourners” are listed hierarchically to show relationships, social 
or political, with the deceased. Social relations are usually kin, while polit-
ical relations, especially in the case of royalty, usually indicate the deceased’s 
position in the political structure of his or her village or town. The forms 
and order of authority given in specific domains serve as important checks 
on potential rivalries.
Disputing Relations – Sokpoe and Tefle
In a letter headed “Protest against poster published by Sokpoe Traditional 
Council regarding the funeral and interment of Togbe Zoga I devoid of 
Tefle” dated 29 March 2009, the Tefle Traditional Council protested 
against the omission of the names of chiefs and elders of Tefle from the 
funeral poster for the fiaga (paramount chief) of Sokpoe, the late Togbe 
Zogah I.15 The protest was based on the Tefle claim that the Sokpoe stool 
(a symbol of chiefly authority) was subordinate to the Tefle stool, and 
highlights the importance of funeral posters in debates over chieftaincy 
relationships.
In the protest letter the Tefle chiefs and elders were arguing that their 
names should have been included because the Tefle stool was superior to 
the Sokpoe stool. In this section I shall examine the context of the dispute 
over the absence of Tefle names from the funeral poster of the paramount 
chief of Sokpoe and what their absence reveals about the effects on chief-
taincy stools of contested legacies of British colonial rule.
14 de Witte “Of Corpses, Clay, and Photographs,” 184.
15 Private documents of Togbe Ganu II, dumega of Sokpoe. The dumega is one 
of the principal chiefs of Sokpoe. He was then the acting head of Sokpoe following 
the death of the paramount chief. The Traditional Council is the governing body 
of a traditional state and comprises the paramount chief and other principal chiefs 
and elders. Both Tefle and Sokpoe are traditional polities located in the south-
eastern part of the Volta Region of Ghana. Both belong to the Tongu-Ewe subgroup 
of the Ewe.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
66 History in Africa
Two competing historical narratives have been put forward in the dis-
agreement over the origin and status of the Sokpoe stool. The Tefle main-
tain that the stool was split off from the Tefle stool by the British colonial 
administration, but the Sokpoe disagree, insisting instead that it was tradi-
tionally and historically a paramount stool.
The debate first surfaced in 1974 when the government of Ghana set 
up a committee to investigate which stools were paramount stools and 
who qualified to be paramount chiefs, according to customary law.16 Nana 
Agyeman Badu chaired the committee’s sittings and the two competing 
histories were put forward in attempts to justify the right to paramountcy. 
According to Togbe Dugbazah IV, the fiaga of Tefle:
(…) the Sokpoes are Tefle people. They are the sons of the fiaga of Tefle. 
They are his servants. They do not serve any other fiaga except the Tefle 
fiaga (…) they still remain, as far as I am concerned, Tefle people according 
to customs, traditions and history. They should be under the Tefle stool.17
Togbe Zogah I, the fiaga of Sokpoe, categorically denied any such familial 
relationship with the Tefle. He insisted that the Sokpoe stool was indepen-
dent of Tefle.18
In 2009 the arena of contestation had moved from committee meet-
ings to funeral posters but the claims and counter claims were the same. 
This was the funeral of the first chief of Sokpoe so that inclusion on the 
Sokpoe chief’s funeral poster of the name of the paramount chief of Tefle 
would have meant acknowledgement of the Tefle’s version of the origin 
of the Sokpoe stool. In fact, Togbe Ganu, then acting head of Sokpoe, 
explained that the omission of the Tefle from the funeral poster was 
intended precisely as a categorical rejection of the Tefle claim.19 The omis-
sion of the Tefle was therefore in effect a declaration of independence. 
Funeral posters had therefore become an arena for contested origins, 
status and allegiances to stools, and a platform to contest the British colo-
nial policy of Indirect Rule and the legacies of the creation by the British 
of chieftaincy stools.
16 The institution of chieftaincy is socio-politically important in Ghana, with 
chiefs performing key administrative functions especially in the rural areas where 
most people reside. The institution is hierarchical with the paramount stool, occu-
pied by a paramount chief, having the highest status.
17 Public Records and Archives Administration Department, Accra, ADM 
5/3/215, “Proceedings of the Enquiry into Volta Region Chieftaincy Affairs,” 50th 
sitting, 10 May 1974.
18 Public Records and Archives Administration Department, Accra, ADM 
5/3/215, “Proceedings of the Enquiry into Volta Region Chieftaincy Affairs,” 72nd 
sitting, 19 September 1974.
19 Personal communication, Madina, 17 April 2010.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
Contemporary Funeral Posters in Ghana and Togo 67
Affirming Relations – Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo
Nyive was a part of the former German protectorate of Togo which after 
the First World War was divided between the British and French with the 
river Wutↄ set as the boundary under an agreement made in 1919. The 
smaller part and the seat of the traditional polity went to the French and 
became known as French Nyive, or Nyive-Togo; the other part across the 
river became British Nyive, or Nyive-Ghana.20
In both Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo there is a widely held belief that the 
inhabitants of the two communities are one people, irrespective of their divi-
sion by an international boundary. The belief is popularly expressed in daily 
interactions as well as the joint performance of rites such as marriages, festivals 
and funerals. Chiefly functions too are performed across the international 
boundary. Indeed, Togbe Apasu, the mankralo of Nyive-Ghana, claims that the 
chiefs and elders of Togo-Nyive performed his enstoolment rites in 1986.21
The funeral poster is an important arena for the negotiation and 
re-negotiation of relations between a community divided by a colonial 
boundary. The poster for Togbe Tsatsa II of Nyive-Ghana (photo 2) in 2013 
nicely illustrates the relationship between Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo stools.
Photo 2. Funeral poster of the late Togbe Tsatsa II, asafohene of Nyive-Ghana22
20 For details on the Ghana-Togo boundary, see: R. Bagulo Bening, “The Ghana- 
Togo Boundary, 1914–1982,” Africa Spectrum 18–2 (1983), 191–209.
21 Personal communication, Nyive-Ghana, 25 September 2012.
22 Togbe Tsatsa II the asafohene of Nyive-Ghana had once been a police officer, 
hence the picture of him in police uniform in the bottom right hand corner.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
68 History in Africa
Togbe Tsatsa had been the asafohene (warrior chief) of Nyive-Ghana. 
His funeral was the occasion for the bisected community to affirm their 
relationship and his funeral poster became a platform for the expression of 
that relationship. On the “chief mourners” list of the funeral poster were 
the names of the chiefs and elders of Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo as well 
as other chiefs and relations.23 Of importance to this article is the order of 
the first three names. First stood Togbe Gle, who was the acting head of 
Nyive-Togo; his name was followed by that of Togbe Gugu, who was the asafo-
hene of Nyive-Togo, and then came Togbe Koko Apasu III, mankralo of Nyive-
Ghana, who was then acting as the paramount chief of Nyive-Ghana.24
Togbe Gugu VII explained that the order of “chief mourners” on the 
funeral poster was derived from the nature of the relationship between 
Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo.25 Nyive-Togo is the traditional seat of both 
Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo and the chiefs and elders there are consid-
ered to be senior to those of Nyive-Ghana. Togbe Gle was the acting head 
of Nyive-Togo, and as such overall head of both towns. For his part Togbe 
Gugu VII as asafohene of Nyive-Togo was the overall commander of Nyive 
warriors. Togbe Tsatsa had been asafohene of Nyive-Ghana, which meant 
that Togbe Gle appeared first on the funeral poster because he was acting 
chief of Nyive-Togo and therefore head of both Nyive-Togo and Nyive-
Ghana; Togbe Gle was then followed by Togbe Gugu VII who was asafohene 
of Nyive-Togo and therefore Togbe Tsatsa’s superior commander. Togbe 
Apasu III, mankralo of Nyive-Ghana, was at the time acting as the paramount 
chief of Nyive-Ghana to whom was Togbe Tsatsa II subordinate, appeared 
third on the list because he was subordinate to the paramount chief of 
Nyive-Togo.
The funeral poster of the late Togbe Tsatsa II reveals not only the rela-
tionship between the Nyive-Ghana and Nyive-Togo stools but most impor-
tantly the nature of that relationship. It shows that within the hierarchy 
of chiefs within the political structure of the two communities the Nyive-
Ghana chief was subordinate to the chief of Nyive-Togo. For that reason at 
23 Changes to funerals are evident in burial services in the church and a ser-
vice of thanksgiving, usually on the Sunday after the burial. The complexity of such 
changes is evident in funeral posters, and is sometimes reflected in the substitution 
of names of individuals as “chief mourners” with those of institutions or religious 
establishments. A perfect example is the mention of one of the churches in Ghana, 
the Royal House Chapel International as “chief mourner” on the funeral poster 
shown here as photo 2.
24 Both asafohene and mankralo are Akan words. Their Ewe equivalents are avafia 
(war chief) and afetↄ (owner of the land) respectively. The Akan words are however 
widely used, showing Akan influence on the institution of chieftaincy among the 
Ewe. A mankralo is one of the principal chiefs of a town, occupying his position by 
virtue of being the first settler or from the family of the first settlers. The mankralo 
enstools the paramount chief.
25 Togbe Gugu VII, personal communication, Nyive-Togo, 12 March 2013.
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4
Contemporary Funeral Posters in Ghana and Togo 69
least, funeral posters are important sources of information about an aspect 
of the legacy of the partition of Africa. Clearly, chiefly relations continued 
in spite of the international boundary.
Conclusion
This article has explored that use of funeral posters to express nuances of 
the power-politics of chiefly relations. The two case studies referred to here 
have reinforced the point that funeral posters are important too as sources 
of information about the effects of the British colonial policy of indirect 
rule and the European partition of Africa. The article also shows the impor-
tance of funeral posters in examining contemporary cultural values sur-
rounding kinship and political relations.
However, funeral posters must be approached with a degree of cau-
tion. The deliberate manipulation of names, status and titles means that 
information on funeral posters should be analysed in context and in con-
junction with other sources, preferably archival. Interviews too should be 
carried out, to allow deeper understanding of matters and events making 
up the backgrounds to any particular poster. However, none of that dimin-
ishes the methodological importance of funeral posters, for they can provide 
rich and eloquent historical insights into the lives both of individuals and 
communities.
References
Adjah, Akpebu Olive, “Ghanaian Funeral Brochures: An Unexplored Rich Source 
of Biographical Information,” African Research & Documentation 103 (2007), 
33–44.
Bening, R. Bagulo, “The Ghana-Togo Boundary, 1914–1982,” Africa Spectrum 18–2 
(1983), 191–209.
De Witte, Marleen, “Of Corpses, Clay, and Photographs: Body Imagery and Changing 
Technologies of Remembrance in Asante Funeral Culture,” in: Michael Jindra 
and Joël Noret (eds.), Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon 
(New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011), 177–206.
Daniel, Ebow, “The Funeral Brochure,” West Africa 3660 (1987), 1965–1966.
Ellis, A.B., The Ewe Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, Their Religion, 
Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, & C. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1890).
Jindra, Michael, and Joël Noret (eds.), Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social 
Phenomenon (New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011).
Omoruyi, Joan, “Nigerian Funeral Programmes: An Unexplored Source of 
Information,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 58–4 (1988), 
466–469.
Roberts, Jonathan, “Funerals and Fetish Interment in Accra, Ghana,” in: Michael 
Jindra and Joël Noret (eds.), Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon 
(New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011), 207–226.
Spieth, Jakob, The Ewe People: A Study of the Ewe People in German Togo (Komla Amoako 
[ed.]) (Accra: Sub-Saharan, 2012).
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Ghana, on 04 Jul 2019 at 15:09:19, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/hia.2018.4