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UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON
INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES
PHILOSOPHY OF ART IN EWE VODU RELIGION
By
SELA KODJO ADJEI
(10508258)
THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN
PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF PHD
AFRICAN STUDIES DEGREE.
JULY, 2019
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work towards the award of Doctor of Philosophy
in African Studies and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contains neither material previously
published by another person nor material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree of the University, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.
SELA KODJO ADJEI (10508258) ………………………… ….……………………
Student Name & ID Signature Date
Certified by:
PROF DANIEL AVORGBEDOR ………………………... .….……………………
(Supervisor) Signature Date
Certified by:
PROF ESI SUTHERLAND-ADDY ………………………... .….……………………
(Supervisor) Signature Date
Certified by:
DR. STEPHEN OWOAHENE
ACHEAMPONG ………………………... .….……………………
(Supervisor) Signature Date
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DEDICATION
For my father, Dr. Mawuli Adjei.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMNTS
I owe my deepest appreciation to my father, Dr. Mawuli Adjei, for giving me his blessing and full
support to embark on this challenging intellectual and spiritual journey. Words cannot express how
supportive he was in encouraging me to pursue higher education throughout these difficult years.
This research was mainly funded by my dad and partially self-funded with the funds I generated
from several curatorial projects and art exhibitions I staged in order to support myself through
higher education. Again, all this couldn’t have been possible without the initial support from my
dad. I am profoundly indebted to Prof. Avorgbedor for supplying me with all the research leads,
thoughtful clues and an endless reading list that I fully enjoyed! Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy and
Dr. Stephen Acheampong also deserve my profound gratitude for their diligence, prudence and
intellectual contributions in making this research a valuable contribution to the study and
appreciation of indigenous African Religions and the arts. Together, their collective intellectual
guidance, constructive criticism and unrelenting efforts inspired me to successfully complete my
research.
Special thanks go to Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, Tɔgbui Addo VIII, Fiaga of Klikor Traditional Area,
Tɔgbui Klu Agudzeamegah II, Chief of Dagbamete, Mama Adzorhlor III, Christopher Voncujovi,
Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata, Prof. Kwasi Dunyo, Prof. Ablade Glover and Dr. Obadele Kambon for all
the invaluable assistance, motivation and warm reception they offered me during the course of my
research. Most importantly, I greatly appreciate the contributions of all my research assistants and
collaborators, Godwin Azameti, Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali, Tɔgbui Dzokpoto, Dumega Koku
Nyonator, Anthonio, Wisdom Akli, Tsoene Humali, Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi, Fianugɔ
Womegbeamewo, Tɔgbui Afadi Nuwordu, Tɔgbui Humali, Tɔgbui Dawubo Gbadagba, Tɔgbui
Kofitsey Humali, Rose AƲadada, Sofo Anani Humali, Afanyehu Nuwordu, Oliver Torgboh, Adzo
Humali, Noble Kunyegbe, Puduo Nana Baffour-Awuah (Nana Sufi), Curtis Andrews, Meera
Venkatachalam, Worlanyo Ahaddo, Julius Akoto Brown and all those who assisted me in my
research in various ways. I also thank Dr. Ramatu Dadzie for her patience and understanding.
I also wish to extend special thanks to esteemed African elders like Opanyin Kwabena Kusi
Appouh, Prof. Nana Afia Opoku-Asare, Dr. Steve Kquofi, Dr. Opamshen Osei-Agyemang, Dr
Samuel Nortey, Ato DeGraft Johnson, and Dr Rahman Adam for laying the groundworks to forge
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the warrior spirit within me during my KNUST days. Throughout my research, certain colleagues,
loved ones and relatives supported me in various other ways. I’m most thankful to everyone,
especially Rebecca Tandoh, Wiz Kudowor, Sami Bentil, Kofi Boachie-Ansah and anyone who
supported me throughout this research with moral support. My final, but not least, appreciation
goes to my mother Rosemary Adjei, even though we disagreed in many ways on my research
interests, we all have different journeys in life and destiny keeps calling.
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PREFACE
Over the last six years, I have been researching into the arts of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion in order
to attain a full grasp of its rudimentary philosophies. But the actual spiritual journey began over a
decade ago. My research, my subjects and the research topic were nothing new to me. In fact, the
areas where I conducted my research were very familiar terrains for me because they constitute
my ancestral home. Some of the sites where I conducted my field interviews and participant
observations were actually just a few minutes motor ride or within a walking range from our family
house in Atiteti. I attended senior high school (between 2001-2004) in Keta, Volta Region. I also
made frequent trips to my village even after high school. My first encounter with Vodu art occurred
while I was studying visual art in high school. I remember during my high school days, while
negotiating shortcuts and “secret” routes through town at night, my colleagues1 and I would cringe
in “fear” and “horror” at the mere sight of Legba or other Vodu sculptures in front of people's
houses and shrines. What actually struck fear into us was not the “intimidating” presence of the
Vodu sculptures per se, the truth is, we were mostly breaking the law and school regulations by
sneaking out of boarding house through unapproved routes and without permission! In most
indigenous Anlo-Ewe societies, Vodu still actively remains the “keepers of the law and order”. To
make matters even difficult, superstitions, mysterious tales and unsavoury rumours were
constantly being peddled around in school about the “ghoulish” and “dangerous” tendencies of
Vodu deities (particularly Anlo-Ewe Vodu) and how the “mere sight” of some Vodu sculptures
may even “zap your soul” into “non-existence”. Countless tales also abound of Vodu deities
“shape-shifting” into “lizards”, “goats”, “crows” and other “domestic animals” to “initiate
1 Especially those brought up as Christians in Accra and other cities. Those who did not grow up in the villages or get
the opportunity to live and share the spiritual experiences of village life.
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conversations” with students who “study too much” just to “enquire” if “they weren't tired of
learning”! Keta being a coastal town, was awash with mami wata superstitions just too
overwhelming for one to fathom. The fabricated tales that surrounded mystical aspects of Vodu
and sacred arts were unimaginable. Some of these “accounts” have been distorted and reproduced
in publications by some Western researchers as though they are concrete facts:
Imagine a place where the dead can speak to the living through mediums, dreams,
and prophesy and where malicious individuals who seek to harm have the power
to kill by merely staring someone in the eye. […] Imagine a place where your
brother can be your mortal enemy and where witches brew curses into the night,
meeting undetected as owls in ominously tall baobab trees interspersed throughout
most villages. Imagine a place where hairy dwarves with backwards feet can
kidnap and drag you from the forest, bruising your body with their powerful little
kicks while training you to be spiritually powerful and adept. Imagine a place
where spiritual pregnancies can have ghosts lay with their widows and vampirous
spirits sneak into a person’s bedroom under the guise of a frog. […] Imagine a
place where animals can be people in disguise, listening in on your
secrets.2(Dietrich, 2012:6)
Strangely enough, despite all the fear and mystery that surrounded Vodu, I mustered courage and
began to develop a rare kind of appreciation and raw passion towards Vodu art—a mystical
connection. I gradually became entranced by these sublime sculptures any time I encountered
them. Their mere apparent ‘lifelessness’ enthralled my young curious imagination to an extent that
on certain occasions I pleasantly became transfixed by simply gazing at them. The spiritual aura
they triggered was uplifting. As a young naïve child, I recall spending extended periods
“observing” (at a ‘semi-safe’ distance) if the ‘Vodus’ would actually ‘come and eat’ the sacred
meals served before them in earthenware bowls. My colleagues saw me as an oddball who needed
to be “excommunicated” from the ‘clique’. To them, I was a ‘forbidden non-conformist child,’ a
bit too ‘morbid’ in my aesthetic pleasures for a mere teenager. They tried every strategy in their
2 See Christina M. Dietrich. Spirit Messengers, Divine Encounters: Practitioner Inhabitants of the Anlo-Ewe Spirit
World. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of California, 2012, p.6.
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hopes of “dissuading” me from engaging in what they deemed “ungodly” ventures. This fear-
mongering was intensified with groundless claims that I would “swiftly die” if I get close or tried
to understand “these things”. It has been over 15 years on, some of my colleagues have passed on,
I am still here! (at least “for now”). I have even drawn extra close to the Vodu sculptures than
before.
Researcher posing with a cluster of Vodu sculptures in front of Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s Brékété Shrine
Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
In retrospect, I came to a realization that perhaps I was utterly fearless of the Vodu sculptures not
because I was necessarily a ‘foolhardy’ child but rather due to the fact that I merely perceived
them as interesting artworks. I vividly recall going on unaccompanied trips to graveyards in
Ŋɔlivimɛ and Whuti just to appreciate funerary sculptures, sometimes pleasantly lost in thought
while in the process of admiring these remarkable artworks. In my young fanciful mind, I kept
imagining how my image would be immortalized into one of these fine sculptures someday in the
near future when I die. Even in my childhood “fantasies”, I kept comforting and reminding myself:
…this is authentic art, this is my culture, these are my people, this is where I come
from, I’m a child of the Land, this is where I shall be buried when I join the ranks
of the noble Ancestors, it would only be wise for me to begin my spiritual journey
now…
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This thesis presents an account of my academic and intellectual immersion in Vodu art which was
sparked from my childhood days. In this thesis, I have documented the mystical experience of
engaging with Ewe Vodu aesthetics at close quarters and with the custodian and practitioners of
the various artforms.
“If Africans don’t tell their own stories,
Africa will soon disappear”
- Ousmane Sembene
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ABSTRACT
This study examines Anlo-Ewe indigenous knowledge systems and the extent to which they inform
and explain the scope and significance of the visual arts as employed in Vodu religion and
spirituality. The thesis further explores the particular ways in which artistic expression and local
aesthetic norms are articulated in everyday modes of being-in-the world in order to sustain
arguments on the significant place of the visual arts in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion and spirituality.
One of the major premises and conclusions of this thesis is that religious and ritual contexts often
constitute significant sites for discoursing and exhibiting artistic-aesthetic preferences—these sites
have been largely underrepresented in studies on Ewe society, history and culture. A growing
number of contemporary art historians recognize and attempt to explain the integration of
indigenous worldview and spirituality as part of the larger sociocultural universe in which artistic-
aesthetic expressions are encountered; this study builds significantly on this trend of scholarship
in African art history. The thesis demonstrates and at the same time argues for a deeper
understanding of not only the ways in which religious and artistic-aesthetic expressions are closely
interrelated, but also the specific ways in which they are dialogically connected to and rooted in
indigenous ontologies and knowledge systems. Analytical perspectives draw on several
disciplinary sites, including methods of art history, oral history and debates in cultural
anthropology, linguistics, religious studies, critical theory and postcolonial studies. Field methods
and techniques of research emphasize qualitative approaches with visual ethnography,
ethnographic interviews, oral history, direct observation, practice-based research and
autoethnography as the primary modes of data collection and analysis. The theory and practice of
the autoethnographic research encouraged constructive but critical engagement of personal
biographical, experiential and deeply reflective moments as integral parts of the total interpretive
framework. Drawing additionally on techniques of purposive, simple random sampling techniques
and stratified further (e.g., along gender, age, type of shrine or religious house, etc.) the
investigation identifies and underscores the relevance of indigenous philosophical outlook,
knowledge systems, and everyday lived experiences in understanding the aesthetic dimensions of
the visual arts in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion and spirituality. Key findings and conclusions build on
emergent perspectives and methodologies of African religious traditions and expressive art forms
that privilege contextual-functional and “art-for-life’s sake” understanding, including spheres of
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religion and spirituality. Additionally, the thesis provides major correctives based on a set of
indigenous perspectives and practices (in the areas of aesthetics, philosophy, visual arts and
religious traditions) and which caution former and lingering usages and misguided perceptions
rooted in notions of the “fetish,” “primitive,” etc. Since the religious contexts of Anlo-Ewe Vodu
represent a complex of rituals that integrate the various art forms, the analysis argues that the Vodu
tradition is best understood as a synesthetic whole involving the visual, corporeal, motional, sonic-
aural (music dance, costume, gesture), and related affective domains of creativity; Anlo-Ewe
examples sustain and elaborate on those of other African contexts. In sum, this work represents a
major contribution to the identification and interpretation of the visual arts in African religious
contexts, with emphasis on local aesthetic constructs and philosophical traditions and in relation
to visuality as embodied tradition.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
TITLE PAGE ...................................................................................................................................i
DECLARATION.............................................................................................................................ii
DEDICATION................................................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................iv
PREFACE…...................................................................................................................................vi
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................x
TABLE OF CONTENTS…...........................................................................................................xii
1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND……....................................1
1.1 Background to the Study............................................................................................................1
1.2 Research Questions…................................................................................................................5
1.3 Statement of the Problem...........................................................................................................6
1.4 Theoretical Framework............................................................................................................11
1.5 Objectives ................................................................................................................................23
1.6 Scope of Research ...................................................................................................................23
1.7 Significance of the Study.........................................................................................................24
2.0 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE..........................................25
2.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................25
2.2 A Historical Overview of Primary European Accounts of African Art………………..…….25
2.3 The Philosophical Foundations of European Accounts of African Art and Culture...............35
2.4 Summary of Discussion............................................................................................................55
2.5 Critical Perspectives of Primary European Accounts of African Art: A Case Against African
''Primitivism'' and ''Fetishism''........................................................................................................57
2.6 Summary of Discussion............................................................................................................67
3.0 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY............................................................................68
3.1Introduction...............................................................................................................................68
3.2 Data Collection and Data Instruments…..................................................................................69
3.3 Population and Sampling Method.............................................................................……........78
3.4 Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Conducting an Auto-ethnographic Research..........
........................................................................................................................................……..…..79
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3.5 Experiential Learning and Active Research Participation…………...……….…….………...84
3.5.1 Concrete Experience.............................................................................................….……....85
3.5.2 Brief Description of my Learning Experience (Practical Evidence of Field Research). What
did I do? ….................................................................................................................……...…....85
3.5.3 Where did I work, how many days, what was my Position as a Researcher?
........................................................................................................................................................87
3.5.3.1 Activity Outline/Work Plan Timeline Employed for Research and Field
Studies…………...................................................................................................................…….87
3.5.4 Reflective Observation..........................................................................................................89
3.5.4.1 Challenges and Brief Analysis of the Effects of how what I did Filtered through my own
Concepts.........................................................................................................................................89
3.5.5 Abstract Conceptualization...................................................................................................90
3.5.6 Action Experimentation........................................................................................................90
3.5.7 Presentation of Findings........................................................................................................91
3.5.8 Major Challenges Faced During Research............................................................................94
3.5.9 Concluding Remarks.............................................................................................................97
4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 1 ..........................................98
4.1 Is there an African Aesthetic?: Towards Defining African Aesthetics....................................98
4.2 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................................116
5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 2 ..........................................118
5.1 Towards Redefining Ewe Vodu Aesthetics: A Primer to the Discourse on “Fetishism”
......................................................................................................................................................118
5.2 Introduction............................................................................................................................118
5.3 Intercultural Roots of “Fetishism”: A Theological Overview ...............................................121
5.4 Intellectual Roots of “Fetishism”……...…………………....................................................126
5.5 On Aesthetics, Art Criticism and Genuine Appreciation of Vodu Arts (Part 1) ……….…..136
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5.6 On Aesthetics, Art Criticism and Genuine Appreciation of Vodu Arts (Part 2) – Towards
Conceptualizing Visual Identity in Vodu Aesthetics ..................................................................142
5.7 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................................147
6.0 CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 3 …….....................................140
6.1 Colour Symbolism and Psychological Properties of Blue in Ewe Vodu Aesthetics ............151
6.2 Photographic Documentation of the Aesthetics of Blue in Kli-Adizma, Mama Vena and other
Vodu Religious Rites and Worship. ...........................................................................................162
6.3 Ewe Vodu Tri-Colour Aesthetics in the Context of African Spirituality..............................177
6.4 Vodu as Combat Science: Healing, Psychic Warfare and the Psycho-Spiritual Dimensions of
the Arts. .......................................................................................................................................185
6.5 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................................195
7.0 CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 4 .......................................196
Towards Redefining Ewe Vodu Aesthetics................................................................................. 196
7.1Introduction............................................................................................................................ 196
7.2 On Western Aesthetic “Standards” and Critical Perspectives of Ewe Vodu
Aesthetics.................................................................................................................................... 196
7.3 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................................223
8.0 CHAPTER EIGHT: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 5 ………….......................225
8.1Introduction............................................................................................................................ 225
8.2 ‘Tradition’ versus ‘Modernity’ in Art: Myth, Reality or Mirage?.........................................226
8.3 Modern Art and Sacred Vodu Aesthetics: Neglected Symmetries .......................................228
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8.4 Modernism, Abstraction, and the Sublime in Art: A case for Ewe Vodu
Aesthetics.....................................................................................................................................247
8.5 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................................296
9.0 CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..............................299
9.1 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................299
9.2 The Need for Further Investigations and Research into African Art: With Special Reference to
the Performing Arts......................................................................................................................301
9.3 The Need for Further Philosophical Inquiry and Multicultural Research in African
Studies..........................................................................................................................................304
9.4 Vodu and Community Development………..........................................................................311
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................298
Bibliography…............................................................................................................................298
Internet Sources……...................................................................................................................314
Online Sources of Images……....................................................................................................314
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
Figure 2.1 British soldiers of the infamous Punitive Expedition of 1897 “proudly” posing with the
looted Benin artefacts………………………………………………................…………….........40
Figure 2.2 Withdrawal notice of Gilley (2017) article on Taylor and Francis webpage
…………………………………………………………………………………….………...........44
Figure 2.3 Resignation notice from editorial team of Third World Quarterly…..……….............44
Figure 2.4 A shot of Sape Agbo’s protective Du-Legba, Denu-Hedzranawo…………………….54
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Figure 2.5 Left: Josef Herman, the polish-British artist, at his home in London. Right: Helena
Rubenstein poses by her curio cabinet………………………………..………………………….63
Figure 3.0 Researcher participating in the communal drinking of sacred Aliha at the sacred grove
of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta Region (2016).………………….…….………...........70
Figure 3.1 Focus group discussion with Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali and important members of
Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine Torgodo, Volta Region (2017). ………………………………………....70
Figure 3.2 Researcher interacting with Dumegawo (community elders) in Dzogadze, Volta Region
(2017) …………………………………………………………………………………..………..72
Figure 3.3 Researcher in a meditative mood (while participating as a performer) during a Brékété
worship ceremony. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2017).…….………….………………………….73
Figure 3.4 Researcher in a shot with the High Priest of Mama Vena Shrine, Tɔgbui
Nuwordu.......................….............................................................................................................76
Figure 3.5 One of the rare surviving pictures of my great-grandfather Tɔgbui Akakpo Adjei I,
Dufia of Atiteti………………………………………...………………………...…....……….....77
Figure 3.6 I learnt how to think, talk, ask questions and behave in new ways……………..........86
Figure 3.7 Tᴐgbui Dzokpoto pouring libation and asking for the blessings of the Vodu dieties in
his shrine before I commenced my research. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016) ……...................95
Figure 4.0 Left: “Immersion – P---Christ”, Right: Nkisi nail sculpture……………………..…..114
Figure 4.1 Drs. Clark’s “Doll Test”....................................………..............................................115
Figure 4.2 Racist illustrations positioning the Caucasian race as “superior” to the African race
through fabricated religious doctrines…………….......………...................................................116
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Figure 5.1 Legba stationed around the vicinity of Kli-Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta
Region.………………………………………………………………………………….........…131
Figure 5.2 Du-Legba on the way to Atiteti, Volta Region……………………………............…133
Figure 5.3 Observing the creative process of sculpting a Legba Torgodo, Volta Region, (2017)
……………………………………………………………………………………….……….…135
Figure 5.4 Hunᴐ Amegashie Abinga, praying to the deities and the ancestors to seek their approval.
Torgodo, Volta Region (2017) …….………………………………..………………………..... 145
Figure 5.5 Researcher painting the walls of Tɔgbui Adzima’s Shrine. Torgodo, Volta Region
(2017).……………….……………………………………………….….…………………...…146
Figure 5.6 Researcher painting a Vodu sculpture in front of Adzima’s Shrine. Torgodo, Volta
Region…………………………………………………………………………………….….…146
Figure 5.7 Putting finishing touches to the painted Vodu sculpture. Torgodo, Volta Region
(2017)…………………………………………………………………………………...…..…..147
Figure 5.8 A back shot of the entrance to Hutɔ Adzimashie’s Shrine Torgodo, Volta Region (2017)
……….……………………………………………………………………………...………..…149
Figure 5.9.2 Vodu sculptures representing Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ and Ɖɛɖɛ. Woe, Keta, Volta
Region……………….……….…………………………………………………………………149
Figure 6.1 Variations of Egyptian Blue Lapis Lazuli pebbles and stone ……………………....152
Figure 6.2 Samples of the pulverized pigment Pile of Egyptian blue frit and pebbles.
…………………………………………………..………………………………………….…...153
Figure 6.3 From left, 1. Pinedjem I Worker 1 Faience, 13.6 cm 21st Dynasty, 1026 Circa Dutch
private collection 2. Henuttawy A Worker 1 Like worker 2 Faience, 11.7 cm 21st Dynasty, 1040
Circa. Dutch private collection 3. Ushebti figure (servant of the defunct Pharaoh Seti I) 1301-1290
BCE, 19th dynasty. (Photo credit – VB)..................................................................................... 153
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Figure 6.4 From Left, 1. Egyptian cobalt blue glaze vessel, Louvre, 2. The sovereign’s sphinx
Amenothep III bidder to the gods, 3. Egyptian blue mummy ……………….……………..….154
Figure 6.5 From left, 1. Egyptian Faience Beads, 2. Ancient & Medieval History - Egyptian
Faience Collar Necklace, Late Period, C. 664-332 circa, 3. New Classic Egyptian Lapis Lazuli
Stone Chain Beads Necklace ………………………..………………………………………... 154
Figure 6.6 Left: Remains of the Knossos palace in Heraklion of Crete right: The-Throne-room-at-
Knossos palace in heraklion of crete …………………………..………………….……..……..155
Figure 6.7 Ancient human sacrificial rituals by the ancient Mayans and other Meso-American
regions involved smearing of blue pigments on the people condemned to death (as “offerings” to
the gods)…………………………..…………………………………………………...………..156
Figure 6.8 Left: Lord Ram, as Rama is called in India, surrounded by worshipers Right: A boy
with his face painted blue like the Hindu god Shiva, stands near a sculpture of Ganesh before
immersing it in the River Ganges ……………………..…………………………..………….. 156
Figure 6.9 Left: A Vodu Sculpture on top of Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor Volta Region. Right: A
Vodu Sculpture atop of Mama Vena Shrine.………………………………………….………...162
Figure 6.9.1 Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem. Afiadenyigba, Volta Region………………….………….162
Figure 6.9.2 Left: Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem represented on the sign board of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku’s
Shrine. Dagbamete, Volta Region (2015). Right: In the 2018 American superhero film titled Black
Panther, costume designer, Ruth Carter incorporated the Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem into the costume
design of the ‘River Tribe Elder’, Isaach de Bankolé…………………………………….…….163
Figure 6.9.3 Mama Vena Shrine in Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region……………………..…...164
Figure 6.9.4 Ritual Procession of Fiasidiwo. Klikor, Volta Region…………………………....165
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Figure 6.9.5 Left: Tɔgbui Naza Kudese two weeks before he joined the ranks of the Ancestors
Alakple. Right: A Minawo in a demure pose during the Kli-Adzima spiritual festivities. Klikor,
Volta Region……..………………..…………….………………………………………….…..165
Figure 6.9.6 An Amegashie fully clad in her spiritual regalia. Klikor, Volta Region……….…166
Figure 6.9.7 A group of Hunuaw of in a procession exiting the sacred grove where prayers are
offered through libation and animal sacrifices made to Kli-Adzima for spiritual renewal Klikor,
Volta Region (2016). ….……………………………………………………………………….167
Figure 6.9.8 Tɔgbui Humali saying prayers and interceding on behalf Kli-Adzima and Mama Vena
devotees at Mama Vena Shrine in Ablᴐgame, Klikor, Volta Region…………………….…....168
Figure 6.9.9 Left: Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the ancestors and community
deities. Right: Ritual procession after the Tagbayiyi spiritual prayers, libation and sacrificial ritual
at the sacred grove during the Kli-Adzima Festival. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)………….....169
Figure 6.10 Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the ancestors and community deities,
during Tagbayiyi spiritual prayers, libation and sacrificial ritual session at the sacred grove of the
Kli-Adzima cluster of Shrines.………………………………………………………………... 170
Figure 6.10.1 Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the the ancestors and community
deities in front of the Kli-Adzima Shrine. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……………….……...170
Figure 6.10.2 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into an Amegashie’s beads.
Klikor, Volta Region……………………………….………..……..…….………….……….... 171
Figure 6.10.3 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into an Amegashie’s beads.
Klikor, Volta Region. …………………………..………………..…………..………………... 171
Figure 6.10.4 Komfo Bakai, formerly a Christian, now a Vodu Priestess. After futile attempts to
resist Vodu spirituality, she finally relented and obeyed the demands of the deities who “chose”
her to serve. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)………………………………..…………….……... 172
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Figure 6.10.5 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into coiffure. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016)………………………..…………….………………………………………….. 173
Figure 6.10.6 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into bead necklace. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016)….……………………..…………….………………………………..……….... 173
Figure 6.10.7 Aesthetics of white and blue incorporated into body painting of Goʋu performers in
Mama Vena Shrine. Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…………….….…………..….… 173
Figure 6.11Sacred aesthetics of blue evident in the body painting by members of Brékété Vodu.
Woe and Dagbamete respectively, Volta Region (2016)……………………………………..…174
Figure 6.11.1 Aesthetics of white and blue incorporated into body painting of Goʋu performers in
Mama Vena Shrine. Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…………….….…………..….… 174
Figure 6.11.2 Close-up shot of a young Goʋu performer during Kli-Adzima festivities in Mama
Vena Shrine, Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)….……………………..………….…... 175
Figure 6.11.3 Right: Entrance to Brékété Shrine in Ashaiman, Greater Accra Region. Left:
Entrance to a Vodu cubicle. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……………………………………... 178
Figure 6.11.4 Researcher (in red) with Tɔgbui Hutɔ Adzimashie Bali (in white cloth) and Tɔgbui
Hunɔ Abinga (in navy blue cloth) saying prayers before pouring libation to seek approval from
the Vodus and ancestors Torgodo, Volta Region (2016).…….………………….……...…….. 178
Figure 6.11.5 White kaolin and the aesthetics of red, white and blue incorporated into the sacred
costumes and physical make-up of Brékété adherents of Brékété Vodu in Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s
Brékété Kponu. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016)…….…………………..……….…….…….. 179
Figure 6.11.6 Left: A common sight to behold on the walls of most Adzima shrines is an
intersecting palette of red and white splashes on a large expanse of black or indigo colour fields.
Right: Traditional drums, Dagbamete, Volta Region (2016)……………………………...…….179
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Figure 6.11.7 Left: Kli-Adzima devotee seeking spiritual assistance casually leans against a pillar
supporting Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Right: A group of traders (also Kli-Adzima devotees)
sit in a pensive mood while awaiting the arrival of the Adzima priests from the tagbayiyi ceremony
in the sacred grove, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……………….………………………………182
Figure 6.11.8 Notice the colours of the beads that adorn the neck of the Kli-Adzima devotees
during the 2016. Kli-Adzima religious Festival. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…………….……182
Figure 6.11.9 Tri-colour aesthetics and symbolism: red, white and black (and blue) incorporated
into bead necklace. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…….………………..….………...…….……183
Figure 6.12 Performers in a ‘frozen’ pose during a funerary procession at Tɔgbui Kporku’s funeral
(2017) ………………………………..…………….……………..……………………….……184
Figure 6.12.1 From left: Vodu sculptures representing Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ, Ɖɛɖɛ and Adzahɔlu. Woe,
Keta, Volta Region (2016) …..……………………………………………….……..…………..192
Figure 6.12.2 Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi (left) and Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo (Right), both Vodu
Priests of Kli-Adzima Shrine. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……………………………………192
Figure 7.1 Michelangelo’s David Marble Statue juxtaposed by Andrew Loomis’ illustration of
Head Length Theory………………………………..…………….………………………….… 198
Figure 7.2 ɛtᴐrmigbo (sculpture) juxtaposed by Loomis’ illustration of head length theory. Woe,
Keta, Volta Region (2016).……………………………………………………………………...199
Figure 7.2.1Legba sculpture paired with Benin Bronze sculptures…………….…………..….. 204
Figure 7.3 Du-Legba Shrine, Alakple, Volta Region (2017)………………..…….….…….….. 210
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Figure 7.4 Entrance to Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima Shrine. Torgodo, Volta Region (2016)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..211
Figure 7.5 Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016).………………………..………..212
Figure 7.6 Shrine paintings on the wall of Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima Shrine. Torgodo,
Volta Region. Paintings by “Prof” ‘Sampayo-Togo’ (2017)…………………………..………. 212
Figure 7.7 Sign post leading to Hunᴐ Amegashie Abinga and Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima
Shrine Torgodo, Volta Region (2017)….....……….………………………….……………..….212
Figure 7.8 The caption literally translates as, “shoes, clothes, caps/hats, and scarfs cannot enter the
shrine. In the shot is the researcher posing with a modernist artist at Mama Vena Shrine in Klikor,
Volta Region, Ghana………………………………..…………….………………………….... 200
Figure 7.9 A sign-post to Tsabashi Dorkenu Shrine, Afiadenyigba Junction, Volta Region (2017)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..213
Figure 7.9.1 A set of three rusty crucifixion nails………………………………..…….……… 216
Figure 7.9.2 A Jesus sculpture juxtaposed by a Nkisi nail sculpture.………….………….……216
Figure 7.9.3 This image visually sums up Böhme’s observation in a certain wry cynical
manner…………………………………………………………………………………………. 218
Figure 7.9.4 News clipping from Daily Graphic depicting derogatory terms used in describing
African religions.………………………………………………….………………………….…220
Figure 7.9.5 Adzevodu……………………...………………………….…………………….….221
Figure 8.0 Dankoli Vodu Art Installation (Photo by Catherina Unger) ………………………. 229
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Figure 8.1 Left: A Sacred Vodu (Legba) installation at the entrance to Tɔgbui Adzima’s Shrine in
Torgodo, Volta Region (2016). Right: Gustav Metzger collected a pile of rubbish, put it in a brown
paper bag and declared it as “art” which was subsequently exhibited at the Tate Modern Gallery
in London (2004)………………….…………………………………………………….……....230
Figure 8.2 Left: Dankoli Vodu Installation. Right: Alexander Duncan’s installation titled “Cove’
(2007-2017) …………………………………………….…….………………………………..231
Figure 8.3 Dankoli Vodu installations, Benin. Image Courtesy: Catherina Unger……….……231
Figure 8.4 Tracy Emin’s "My bed", a messy installation, surrounded by used condoms and dirty
knickers ……………………………………………………………………….………………. 232
Figure 8.5 Left: Pia Männikkö’s Still Live, 2010. Unfired clay, 260 x 290cm. In the Glasgow
School of Art Degree Show, the floor of the room, (Mackintosh building) was covered with 400
kilos of clay. ……………………………………………………………………………………232
Figure 8.6 Olafur Eliasson-Riverbed (2014). Olafur Eliasson's take on Louisiana is radical,
fascinating and unique.…………………………………………………………………………233
Figure 8.7 Vodu Shrine sculpture installation – Brékété Shrine, Dansoman, Accra (2017)…….235
Figure 8.8 Dzawuwu (as in thanksgiving or first-harvest offering to the ancestors and divinites).
Atiteti, Volta Region (2017)…....………………….…………………………..…….…….……235
Figure 8.9 Apart from mainly focusing on the “tribal”, “functional” and “exotic” aspects of African
art, early Western writers also focused their attention on how colonialism and Christian missionary
activities influenced African art……………………………………………………..…..…….. 238
Figure 8.9.1 Picasso in his studio in the Bateau-Lavoir, Paris. Photographed for Gelett Burgess
(1908) ………………………………………………………………………………….……….240
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Figure 8.9.2 A close-up of Les Demoiselles D'avignon juxtaposed by an Mbuya Mask, Pende
peoples – The Mask can be found in Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA, Tervuren,
Belgium. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). - Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907 – Painting can be found
in The Museum of Modern Art or MOMA, New York…………………………………………241
Figure 8.9.3 Left: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).- Horse, “Parade” (Cocteau, Diaghilev, 1917) paired
with a Baulé Mask on the right, Ivory Coast. Former Lévy Collection………………….……...242
Figure 8.9.4 Left: Details from Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) compared with the head reminiscent
of the Baule mask on the right ……………………………………….……………….………...242
Figure 8.9.5 Henri Matisse, Portrait of Madame Matisse (1913) and a Shira Punu Mask from
Gabon placed side by side, in a “Primitivism” Catalog ……………………………..………..…243
Figure 8.9.6 A “modern” painting by Paul Klee juxtaposed with an Akan Akuaba doll………..243
Figure 8.9.7 Vodu shrine sculpture installation – Brékété Shrine, Dansoman, Accra…….........244
Figure 8.9.8 Gloria O’keefe popularly regarded as the “mother of Modernism” standing by her
work ……..…..…………………………………………………………………...…………… 244
Figure 8.10 Vodu shrine Mural at Kli-Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…….…245
Figure 8.10.1 Abstract painting by Cy Twombly………………………………………….……245
Figure 8.10.2 Researcher Painting on the wall of an Adzima Shrine in Torgodo, Volta Region
(2017)..…..…………………..………………………………………………………………… 246
Figure 8.10.3 Jackson Pollock Painting in his studio (1950). ………..………………………...246
Figure 8.10.4 Left: Mama Ablᴐgame Vena Xanukplᴐ. Right: Noble Kunyegbe, Two of the
Principal artists in the Kli-Adzima cluster of shrines. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)
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…………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 254
Figure 8.10.5 Left: Afanyehu Nuwordu Right: Rose AƲadada. Both body painters, Mama Vena
Shrine. Klikor, Volta Region (2019).………………………………….………………………. 255
Figure 8.10.6 Ngᴐgbeda Sodolo Tekpe leading Mama Vena (Ablᴐgame) fiasidiwo to trek in single
file procession from the shrine to a sacred site to collect kaolin. Klikor, Volta Region
(2016)…………………………….……………………………….…..……………….….…… 257
Figure 8.10.7 Kli-Adzima devotees pulverizing sacred kaolin (mixed with sacred water) into a fine
paste while waiting for their turns to plaster the shrine walls. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).......258
Figure 8.10.8 Kli-Adzima devotees in the process of ‘balili’ (plastering the shrine walls with
sacred Kaolin). Klikor, Volta Region (2016).………………………………………………..… 259
Figure 8.10.9 Kli-Adzima devotees in the process of ‘balili’ (plastering the shrine walls with
sacred Kaolin) Klikor, Volta Region (2016).…………….…………………………………..… 259
Figure 8.11 Mama Vena Shrine Xanupklor engaged in the dripping, splashing and sprinkling
process of making abstract expressions on the plastered shrine wall. Klikor, Volta Region.
…………………………………………………………………………………..…….….…..…260
Figure 8.11.1 Ablᴐgame Xanukplᴐ engaged in the dripping, splashing and sprinkling process of
making abstract expressions on the plastered shrine wall. Klikor, Volta
Region………...………………………………………………………………………….….… 260
Figure 8.11.2 A finished modernist ‘balili’ mural on Kli-Adzima Shrine wall, Klikor
(2016)………………………………………………….……………….…………………...… 261
Figure 8.11.3 Kli-Adzima devotees pose in front of the freshly painted ‘balili’ mural on Kli-
Adzima shrine walls. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……...………………………..…………… 261
Figure 8.11.4 Vodu devotee in a contemplative pose making her final supplications on the finished
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masterpiece mural. Klikor, Volta Region (2016)..………………………..…….…...………… 262
Figure 8.11.5 Close up shot of ‘balili’ shrine mural on Mama Vena Shrine wall. Ablᴐgame, Klikor,
Volta Region (2016) …...……………………...…………………………………….……....… 262
Figure 8.11.6 Researcher posing by a variation of Modernist soak-stained mural on the mud walls
of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Torgodo, Volta Region (2016) ………………..………....…...… 265
Figure 8.11.7 Young child poses in front of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine wall. Klikor, Volta
Region………………………..…………….………………………………..……………….... 267
Figure 8.11.8 A group of German academics appreciating my artwork during an art exhibition in
Accra. Title of artwork – Shaka’s Military Reforms (130cm x 175cm) (2017)…………………268
Figure 8.11.9 Incorporating symbols and aspects of modernist Vodu body art into the installation
performance for my Purple Harmattan Exhibition opening at Alliance Francaise in Accra (2017)
……………………………………………………………………………………………..…... 268
Figure 8.12 Vodu devotee being decorated by a modernist Vodu artist ahead of performances at
Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……………….…………………………..…269
Figure 8.12.1 Repetitive circles incorporated into body art of a Vodu performer Klikor, Volta
Region
(2016).……………………….……………………………………………....…...…..…………269
Figure 8.12.2 Young Ewe performance artists in Alakple and Klikor Respectively (2017)…...270
Figure 8.12.3 Young Ewe performance artists in Avenɔƒeme, Volta Region (2018)…......…...270
Figure 8.12.4 Tɔgbui Afadi on his way to join Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi and Fianugɔ
Womegbeamewo for spiritual renewal ceremonies in honour of Kli-Adzima and Mama Vena
Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……..……………………………………………………….….....271
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Figure 8.12.5 Researcher and a Brékété adherent in a pose with a spot-painted sacred sculpture of
Nana Adziwonor (a protective occupational deity) Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016).…….…....271
Figure 8.12.6 Amegashie sitting in front of her spot-painted shrine (Tsabashi Dorkenu Shrine),
Afiadenyigba, Volta Region (2017)………………..………………………..………....…….…272
Figure 8.12.8 The Qatar Museums Authority’s Al Riwaq exhibition space in Doha is decorated as
a giant Damien Hirst spot painting………………..………......................................……………277
Figure 8.12.9 Damien Hirst’s “Pharmaceutical Series” .......………………………….…277
Figure 8.13 Close up shot of an Amegashie sitting in front of her spot-painted shrine (Tsabashi
Dorkenu Shrine), Afiadenyigba, Volta Region (2017)……….....................................…..…..…278
Figure 8.13.1Damien Hirst’s spot painting .……..………........................................…..….……278
Figure 8.13.2 Left: Ife Mask paired with “Golden heads (Female)” by Damien Hirst ……...…279
Figure 8.13.3 Left: Damien Hirst’s “Prodigal Son” paired with “latsotso” (Vodu sacrifice) during
the Kli-Adzima Festival in Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016)…………………280
Figure 8.13.4 Two Ndebele women sitting in front of their colourful house......…..….…………282
Figure 8.13.5 Shot of an Ndebele artist painting a modernist mural on her wall…..….……..…283
Figure 8.13.6 Esther Mahlangu………….……..……….....................................…..….….……283
Figure 8.13.7 A Photomontage of Piet Mondrian and three of his paintings...…..….….…....…284
Figure. 8.13.8 Rectangular fractal models and developed from an Aerial view of the city from a
chief's palace in Longone-Birni, Cameroon ……………………..…………………....…….…284
Figure 8.13.9 Aerial view of the city Logone-Birni, built by the Kotoko people of Cameroon.
The buildings, made of clay, are examples of architecture by accretion …………….......….…285
Figure 8.14 A Kli-Adzima devotee adorned with yibotsi hairstyle. Klikor, Volta Region
(2016)……….………………..……………………..……………………..…………………....291
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Figure 8.14.1Beads trader spotted posing with Ewe beads during the Kli-Adzima festivities.
Klikor, Volta Region (2016)………………….……..………..............................…..…..………294
Figure 8.14.2 Kli-Adzima muralist, posing before a finished sacred mural in Mama Vena Shrine.
Klikor, Volta Region (2016)……..…….……..………..............................…..….….……..……294
Figure 8.14.3 Notice the different expressions and aesthetic responses to shrine art, Kli-Adzima
creative ritual processes and general social experience within the sacred space. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016)…………………….………….……..………................................…..….………295
Figure 8.14.4 Notice the facial expression and tactile aesthetic response of the Vodu devotee being
decorated by a modernist Vodu artist ahead of performances at Mama Vena Shrine. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016)……………….…………. …..………..........................................…..…..………295
Figure 8.14.5 “Vomit Artist” Millie Brown creating one of her infamous “Vomit
Paintings”………………………………………………………………………………….…....297
Figure 9.0 Left: Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali in a performance with a Kokushi.. Right: : Powder being
sprinkled on a Vodu Performer. Dagbamete and Dzogadze respectively, Volta Region
(2016)……………………………………………………………………………………...……304
Figure 9.1 Left: Lorry park under construction in Dagbamete Community Right: Accommodation
for shrine members during festivals………………….........................................…..….………313
Figure 9.2 Left: View of the clinic that will serve Dagbamate Community Right: Patients
accommodation in Dagbamete community ………………….............................…..….………313
Figure 9.3Left: A shot of the new community hostel in Dagbamete. Right: Tɔgbui Sri poses with
his entourage, the Chief of Dagbamete and high-ranking members of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku Shrine and
the Dumagawo of Dagbamete community. …………………........................................………314
Figure 9.4 Tɔgbui Sri III in a sodcutting pose flanked by his entourage, the Chief of Dagbamete
and high-ranking members of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku Shrine and the Dumagawo of Dagbamete
community …………………...............................................................................…..….………314
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LIST OF DIAGRAMS, ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES.
LIST OF DIAGRAMS Page
Diagram 2.0 Diagram explaining Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement……………….……... 28
Diagram 2.4 Illustrations of “Creatures” of “Guinea,” or West Africa…………………………..47
Diagram 3.3.1 Diagram showing the three stages of participant observation…….…………..….74
Diagram 3.5.1 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle.……………………………………..….…...84
Diagram 3.9.5 Dale’s Cone of Experience.………………………………….…………….....….. 91
Diagram 5.0 A diagram of Brékété pantheon in Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s Shrine in Woe, Keta ….....119
Diagram 5.3.1 Kieran's (2006) Aesthetic triad …………………………………………...….…136
Diagram 8.12.6.1 Left: Sim’bi Right: Sim’bi Africain. Circles incorporated into Veve symbols in
sacred Vodu symbolism among people of African descent in Haiti..………....………....…..…272
Diagram 8.12.7 Visual representation of the Fon creation myth ………………………....….…274
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 7.1 Michelangelo’s David marble statue juxtaposed by Andrew Loomis’ illustration of the
head length theory.…………………………….......………........................................................186
Figure 7.2 ɛtᴐrmigbo Sculpture juxtaposed by Loomis’ illustration of head length theory….….187
Figure 8.13.6 Hypothetical Cycle of the Sacred Vodu Aesthetic Experience.
…….……………………………………………………...………………..…….………...……275
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LIST OF TABLES
Figure 3.1.2 Gender distribution of key respondents (they primarily included Vodu Priests,
Priestesses, Spirit Mediums, Psychic Healers, Mystics, Chiefs, Queen Mothers, Community
Elders, Academics and Artists). ………………………………………………………..………..71
Figure 3.6.1 Activity Outline/Work Plan Timeline Employed for Research and Field Studies…87
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.1 Background to the Study
The definition of art has been fraught with so many controversies, from ancient to our modern
times. Thus, any attempt at a comprehensive definition will remain futile, or partial at best. This
has been one of the primary concerns of art critics, or philosophers of art, who might concentrate
on specific artforms—art, dance, music, film, drama, and so forth. Various scholars have made
some attempts to register useful and working definitions of art. Today’s definition of art
incorporates the idea, philosophy and the purpose of the artwork; it also relies greatly on the
reaction and appreciation of the artwork by the public and humanity at large. As such, it has
become an essential part of research methodologies and orientations to focus on audience,
including their immediate and bio-historical and socio-cultural contexts that inform their
sensibilities in the context of African art. As cited by Haase,
[…] the answer to the question What is art, is not the same for all cultures. The
idea of special objects made as “fine art” is not common to all cultures. In some
cultures, what Westerners have traditionally called art, represent principles that
guide every thought and action. Esthetic traditions are visible in everything such a
culture produces, including functional objects.3
With this developing trend of reassessing and defining art, African art may be considered as a
universal ideal in redefining art. According to Chanda (1994:53),
African art is a contextual art, it is a manifestation to be understood only in the
light of its cultural origins. It may be admired for its formal qualities, but the
3See Fee-Alexandra Haase. Beauty and Esthetics Meanings of an Idea and Concept of the Senses: An Introduction to
an Esthetic Communication Concept Facing the Perspectives of its Theory, History, and Cultural Traditions of the
Beautiful.https://publikationen.unituebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/44052/pdf/EstheticsLatestversionNE
W.pdf?sequence=1 See also Africa, Zaire. Arts Connected. Retrieved from:
http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/whatsart/kongo.html (published online, June 12, 2007)
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formal qualities tell us nothing about the artist who carved it, the culture he or she
worked in, or its efficacy as useful, powerful object.
Gyekye (1996:126) posits that ''in contrasting the conception of African art with that of the
European, most writers in the past asserted that, while the European held a conception of ''art for
art's sake,'' that is, a purely aesthetic conception of art, the African held a functional and symbolic
conception of art''. Francoise Gilot is also reported to have stated in an interview that:
[...] a Negro mask was an ethnographic object [...] Men had made those masks and
other objects for a sacred purpose. A magic purpose. A kind of mediation between
themselves and the unknown hostile forces that surround them in order to
overcome their fear and horror by giving it form and image. (Philips, 1995:29)4
African art and artefacts such as masks, clothes, body painting, architecture and sculptures, like
African music, have often emerged in the function of religion, rites and rituals, and are undoubtedly
expressions of African emotions and identity. These expressions of art have reached high levels of
aesthetics and can be divided into different styles and techniques.5 However, a controversial debate
about African art that has surfaced in the past few years concerns its role as a mirror of Western
colonial history. Two questions are central to this debate: who creates meaning for African art?
Who or what determines its cultural authenticity?6 Another raging debate among Western and
African art scholars is the question of whether African art is ''pure'' art or not?7 Two interesting
4 Philips (1995) and Gilot cited in Jennifer Wilkinson. Using and Abusing Art. In Coetzee, P.H and Roux A.P.J
(Eds.), The African Philosophy Reader, London: Routledge Publishers, 2000, p.388.
5 See Miller et al. (Ed.). African Knowledge and Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the Ways of Knowing in
Sub-Saharan Africa. In Papers and Proceedings of an International Conference on African Knowledge and Sciences,
October 23 to 29 2005, Bolgatanga U/R Region Ghana, 2006, p.26.
6 See Sidney Kasfir. African Art and Authenticity: A Text with a Shadow. In African Arts 25(2):40-97. 1992, p.2.
7 Refer to Jennifer Wilkinson. Using and Abusing Art. In Coetzee, P.H and Roux A.P.J (Eds.), The African Philosophy
Reader, London: Routledge Publishers, 2000, p.386.
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questions are hereby applicable to this particular debate. The first being, ''who defines art''?
Secondly, ''who has the sole monopoly to determine what is art and what is not 'pure art''?
Till this day, the study of African art remains largely a Western discipline, the product of Western
sensibility and an expression of Western aesthetic responses to African visual culture. This
partially explains the disparity between African art as it is presented in written texts and African
art in reality. As argued by Jan Vansina, 'African art' is usually the label given to the visual arts of
people south of the Sahara, and, in particular, those of Western and Central Africa. Perceived to
be authentically less 'African', northern Africa - almost half of the continent including Egypt - has
been excluded from the discourse of traditional African art history.8 Moreover, students of African
art have focused primarily on the sculpted form and its aesthetic appeal, neglecting other forms.
Even when students turned to the study of style and the cultural and social contexts of African art
forms, they have focused primarily on the description of the function and uses of objects in an
ethnographic context. Hence, their written texts, often presented in the mode of the 'ethnographic
present', have expressed no concern for history, time-scale or change in African art. This approach
to African art and creativity has evolved into what Sidney Kasfir has called the 'one tribe9 one
style' paradigm, a model of the theory that has dominated African art studies to date. It is due to
this approach that African art, mostly presented as traditional masks and wooden sculpted figures,
8Olu Oguibe, & Okwui Enwezor, (Ed.). Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace, MIT
Press: Cambridge, Mass, 1999, p.214.
9 Apart from Kasfir, Fried, Chinweizu, Lewellen and several other scholars have discouraged the use of ‘tribe’ in
modern anthropological scholarship. Refer to Fried (1967: 154) cited in Ted C. Lewellen. Political Anthropology: An
Introduction. Westport: Praeger Publishers. 2003, p.26, p.49) See also Chinweizu. (1975) The West and the Rest of us
White Predators, Black Slavers and the African Elite. Lagos: Pero Press. p.387.
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has been perceived as a product of a universal, unchanging 'tribal' essence and communal
sensibility within which the creative individual remains largely anonymous and unimportant.10
African art has always been a historical curiosity among art history scholars for its unique aesthetic
appeal and philosophical dimensions. The combination of imagination, creativity and spiritual
dexterity exhibited in African artworks goes a long way to demonstrate the extraordinary creative
minds ancient African artists possessed. The link between African art and spirituality exemplifies
how art is inseparable from religion—which is in essence an African way of life; a wholeness in
living life. In this philosophical discourse, I explore art and the sacred, humanity and the divine,
creativity and spirituality, art being a vehicle through which Africans express a sense of the sacred
and spiritual experiences. Art is at the centre of how we conceive the world. Creativity and other
ways of knowing (epistemology), ways of being (ontology) and ways of making meaning out of
life itself (existentialism).
In this study, I argue from revised academic perspectives, about the relationship between
philosophy of art, artistic modes of expression in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion and concrete
ethnographic paradigms of religious aesthetic experience within the sacred Vodu space. The
discourses outlined in the research essentially reinforce the intellectual foundations laid by
researchers to explore the mystical link11 between humanity, art and the spiritual forces in Anlo-
Ewe Vodu religion. Aesthetics forms a vital component in practicing and appreciating Anlo-Ewe
Vodu religion, as such, it requires a thorough investigation. The concepts propounded in this
10Ibid. p.214.
11 Blier (1990:91), in her studies on African art, has hinted on the links between art and African religions, political
systems, philosophies, social structures, cosmologies, mythologies, geomancy systems, histories, languages, and
dramaturgical forms [...] This explains how art generally plays a pivotal role in understanding, appreciating and
practicing Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion like any other West African religion.
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research are based on my personal experiences12 as an artist, curator and participant-observer in
the field.
1.2 Research Questions
1. What are the key features of Anlo-Ewe Vodu traditions and how do they support or illuminate
the definitions of African religion (or indigenous religion in African contexts)?
2. What is the significance of Vodu in the total Anlo-Ewe philosophy and cosmogony?
3. What are some of the specific features, practices, and local ideas that explain or distinguish
Anlo-Ewe aesthetics?
4. In which specific ways do Anlo-Ewe aesthetic traditions support the notion of Art for Life’s
Sake?
5. What role does aesthetics play in the arts of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion?
6. What constitutes African Aesthetics?
7. How has sacred Vodu aesthetics shaped and influenced modern art?
8. What specific insights derive from the fields of Anlo-Ewe music, dance, everyday gesture and
bodily practices, for example?
9. In which specific ways are the traditions of the aesthetic exemplified in Vodu and why?
10. How does Vodu art and the general area of aesthetic explain the interrelationship of indigenous
philosophy, mysticism, metaphysics, and ontology?
11. What are some of the basic problems and misconceptions in African art history?
12 Some of these personal experiences have been addressed and discussed at length in Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6. For
instance, in Chapter 3, I discuss the pros and cons of autoethnographic research to address some of the prevailing
academic debates that question its “validity” as a “scientific” research methodology. I also discuss how my personal
experience and role as an “insider researcher” facilitated a rigorous and reliable “scientific” theoretical-
methodological procedure and ways in which it contributed to the overall integrity of the thesis. All these have been
elaborated in the Chapters mentioned.
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12. What are the main challenges facing the research of Vodu and how are these reasonably and
impressionably mediated?
13. What specific contributions does the Anlo-Ewe Vodu tradition bring to recent studies and
debates on spiritual phenomena in relation to artistic traditions?
1.3 Statement of the Problem
This research began as a personal intellectual journey to investigate (by adopting a philosophical
approach) and appreciate art in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion. Early on, I realized that much scholarly
studies and research have already been conducted into Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion and philosophical
thought. However, detailed attention is rarely paid to the philosophy of art and its crucial role in
preserving various philosophical aspects of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion. A few scholars have done
some significant studies on Anlo-Ewe Vodu religious art and funerary sculptures such as Cudjoe
(1969, 1971), Dogbe (1989) and Gilbert (1982) respectively. Other scholars include Dennis
(2004), Aronson (2007), Ross (1998) Farris-Thompson (1983), and Meyer (2012). Most of these
publications apparently do not provide all the in-depth information for art critics, art historians,
aestheticians and philosophers of art. Hackett has also cited Blier’s observation concerning this
issue:
In her review of Sieber's and Walker's African Art in the Cycle of Life (1987), she
notes that the section on religion relies on scholars of religion (such as Mbiti)
rather than African-art scholars 'probably because this is an issue few, other than
Leon Siroto (1979), have really dealt with critically, even though religion is an
important secondary topic of nearly all African-art scholarship' 13
13 Rosalind I. J Hackett. Art And Religion in Africa: Some Observations And Reflections. In Journal of Religion,
Africa, 24(4), Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1994, p.295.
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As a result, the need to fill this epistemic gap has produced quite a number of important works.
Some of these critical publications discuss philosophy of African art at length.14 Faced with
methodological problems and often prescriptive Western paradigms in African art scholarship,
Abiodun (1990, 1994, 2014) has emphasized the crucial responsibility of harmonizing
anthropological approaches and art historical perspectives to African art with African philosophy
being the core of such studies or what he refers to as the element of 'soul'. 15 Houtman and Meyer
(2012) have also stressed the need for a materialist approach in religious studies. Other scholars,
such as Gyekye (1996, 2013), Blocker (2003), Avorgbedor (2015), and Venkatachalam (2015),
have charged African art scholars to conduct more research into African philosophical notions of
art and African religious aesthetics.
Another key challenge emerging researchers encounter in ethnographic studies and visual
anthropology is confronting the issue of looking through research materials and archival records
for information on indigenous Anlo-Ewe artists (especially women). The scarcity of
comprehensive art-related documentation on Anlo-Ewe women or by Anlo-Ewe women is, in my
view, a major lacuna in the scholarship related to Anlo-Ewe art and sacred aesthetics. Addressing
a similar concern, Sandra Morgen (1989: 10) has also noted:
Dominant anthropological understandings of gender are revealed not only by
where anthropology textbooks and theory do discuss women and/or gender, but
also by where those discussions are significantly absent.16
14Ogbechie (2008, 2005), Okediji (1992, 1997, 2002), Onyewuenyi (1984), Okafor (2000), Avernorgbo (2008),
Abiodun (1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2014), Gyekye (1996), Anyanwu (1981), Okpewho (1977), are among
some noteworthy scholars. Key texts such as Principles of traditional African art,Onyewuenyi’s (1984) Traditional
African aesthetics: A Philosophical Perspective" and Diagne’s (2011) African Art as Philosophy also deserve mention.
15 See Rowland Abiodun. Understanding Yoruba Art and Aesthetics: The Concept of Ase. In African Arts Journal,
27(3), 1994. See also Rowland Abiodun. Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2014, p.1.
16As cited by Ted. C. Lewellen (2003). See “Gender and Anthropology: Introductory Essay.” In Sandra Morgen,
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These omissions have created academic lapses in the study and appreciation of Anlo-Ewe religion
and necessitates the need for critical documentation. Consequently, the growing need to fill such
epistemic gaps has been an area of concern for critical scholars over the last few decades.
The basic problems of the philosopher concern facts about the nature and plan of the universe,
questions and answers to which are intermingled with deep and far-reaching consequences of
people’s daily activities. The fundamental task of philosophy, therefore, is to seek and unravel the
deepest and basic meanings underlying human life, thought and daily activities.17 Reflecting on
some problems and observations on art and religion in Africa, Hackett (1994) was spot-on when
she drew the conclusion that:
Africa's artistic and religious traditions offer primary evidence of the expressive
and intellectual vitality of a vast and fascinating continent (cf. McNaughton
1988:50). Art objects, whether sculpted figures, textiles, paintings or pots, are
generally enjoyed, critiqued and used by communities or groups, rather than being
the prerogative of individuals alone. Hence, they provide important points of entry
into people's conceptual worlds. African art is held to be successful at evoking and
abstracting the powers which are central to human life because artists are not
bound to produce forms that resemble or portray individual humans. Yet, despite
this and the obvious ritual significance of many artistic objects, the interactive
relationship between art and religion in the African context remains remarkably
understudied and misunderstood. 18
Art is the quintessential core of religion universally. Granted the significance of art in the ''great''
religions of the world, it can be surmised that Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion is equally impractical if it
Ed., Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Research and Teaching. Washington, D.C.: American
Anthropological Association, 1989, p.10.
17 Kwame Nkrumah. Mind and Thought in Primitive Society: A Study in Ethnophilosophy: With Special Reference
to The Akan Peoples of The Gold Coast, West Africa. (Unpublished doctoral thesis), Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 1944, p. iv.
18 Rosalind I. J Hackett. Art and Religion. In Africa: Some Observations and Reflections. In Journal of Religion,
Africa, 24(4), Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1994, p.294.
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lacks the various art forms such as the visual, oral and performing arts. From an African religious
perspective, a sculpture piece devoid of what Placid Tempels terms the “vital force”, is just a plank
of wood or art for art’s sake. Tempels writes about how this ''vital force''19 (which is a life-giving
energy prevalent in the universe) permeates Bantu existentialist thought. Tempels states that:
This supreme value is life, force, to live strongly, or vital force. The Bantu say, in
[…] their purpose is to acquire life, strength or vital force, to live strongly, that
they are to make life stronger, or to assure that force shall remain perpetually in
one's posterity [...] Force, the potent life, vital energy are the object of prayers and
invocations to God, to the spirits and to the dead, as well as of all that is usually
called magic, sorcery or magical remedies [...] These various aspects of Bantu
Behaviour already enable us to see that the key to Bantu thought is the idea of vital
force, of which the source is God. Vital force is the reality, which though invisible,
is supreme in man. (1959:20-23)
What Tempels refers to as “vital force” is what the Anlo-Ewes refer to as “Gbɔgbɔ” (breath of life,
cosmic energy), or Ŋusɛ (Power).20 Inferences are being drawn from the spiritual philosophies of
the Bantu people in the Congo region because Vodu art, religious practices and spiritual beliefs
are not confined to West Africa but they are also a shared religious experience in other parts of
Africa and the Diaspora. Sub-Saharan Africa has a lot in common, as its peoples have known a
19 An important yet basic view about nature held by the African is that life forces permeate the whole universe and
that matter and spirits are inseparable from religion. See Millar et al. (Eds.), (2006), African Knowledge and
Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the Ways of Knowing in Sub-Saharan Africa in Papers and Proceedings of
an International Conference on African Knowledge and Sciences, October 23 to 29 2005, Bolgatanga U/R Region
Ghana, p.12.
All beings, whether living or spiritual, posses vital energy, or ase (power). Wise individuals such as priests, initiates,
and fortune tellers are known as alase or alawo. See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller, Soul of Africa: Magical
Rites and Traditions.Maveville: Imprimerie Jean Lamour, 1999, p.263.
20Also, this universal ''vital force''or ''life force'' is what Tzu, the Taoist philosopher, similarly refers to as (Tao or
''the way'') in his philosophical treatise Tao te Ching which forms the religious foundations of the Taoist faith. In his
research on Vodun and the Bocio Tradition, Springer advances compelling theories and parallels between vodu life
or energy and the Wei wu Wei concept is deeply embedded in Lao Tzu’s Taoist Philosophy. See Lao Tzu. Tao te
Ching. Translated by Stephen Mitchell.1994, p.1. See also Odette Springer, Drawing Water, Drawing Breath: Vodun
and the Bocio Tradition (Publication details unavailable).
Henri Bergson also projects the theory in his work Creative Evolution that human life depends on a similar force he
describes as élan vital. See Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution. New York: Dover Publications,1998.
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great number of migrations across the continent. Although there are more than a thousand ethnic
groups, many of them have similar origins or historic relationships.21 Riguad (1969:9) provides a
rough ethnic/geographic distribution of where Vodu religion is prevalent on the African continent:
The Voodoo[sic] pantheon of gods is composed of loas (gods) that come from all
parts of Africa. Tradition has it that the term vo-du is drawn from the language of
the Fons. Other tribes[sic] that contributed to Voodoo[sic] gods were the Nago
people, the Ibos, Congos, Dahomeans, Senegalese, Haoussars, Caplaous,
Madinges, Mondongues, Angolese [sic], Libyans, Ethiopians, and the Malgaches.
Moreover, the names of these tribes [sic] generally serve to designate separate
Voodoo [sic] rites themselves.
Fascinating studies exist on Vodu, Candomblé and Santeria, providing important parallels for
studies on culture and religion among recent, but also politically weak or disenfranchised, African
immigrants in the West.22 In this regard, it becomes imperative to adopt an all-inclusive approach
when conducting comprehensive African-centred research. As such, I endeavor as much as
possible to include what Pinn (2009:1) describes as the “Black Labyrinth” (people of African
descent on the African continent and in the Diaspora regions) in order to present a very broad body
of knowledge regarding philosophy of art not only in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion but also other
related philosophical issues among other African people in different geographic regions. A quote
from Pinn provides a clearer understanding of what he describes as the “Black Labyrinth”. He
infers that:
[…]—the Black labyrinth—as it relates to the process of enslavement and
colonization […] African diaspora or what I call the Black labyrinth is not
unidirectional, but rather overlapping, complex, multidirectional—assuming the
significance of porous boundaries. Stemming from these qualifications there is a
21 See Miller et al. (eds.), African Knowledge and Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the Ways of Knowing in
Sub-Saharan Africa. In Papers and Proceedings of an International Conference on African Knowledge and Sciences,
October 23 to 29 2005, Bolgatanga U/R Region Ghana. 2006, p.13.
22See Emmanuel Akyeampong, Africans in the Diaspora: The Diaspora and Africa. In African Affairs, 104/416, 429-
447. 2005, p.193.
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somewhat obvious caveat: The nature and meaning of the Black labyrinth extends
beyond the confines of any particular location while also needing to be represented
in relationship to particular locals.23
Stressing on particularistic studies in continental African philosophy, Wiredu (1998) argues that,
different forms of inquiries must be taken into consideration or topical issues must be discussed
from diverse ethnic backgrounds. For instance, “The Akan doctrine of God,” “The Anlo-Ewe
notion of Metaphysics,” “The Yoruba concept of afterlife and so on.”24 It is in view of these
discussions, issues and attitudes pertaining to the relationship between African art and religion that
this study proposes to focus primarily on the philosophy of art in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion.
1.4 Theoretical Framework
Granted, this is an Africanist study, it is crucial to take into consideration the philosophical
viewpoints of African intellectuals. This mediation comes in the wake of calls by Kambon (2017)25
among other scholars within Africanist academic circle for researchers to consider, study, cite and
critique works not only by Western scholars, but also, intellectuals of African descent.
This call is epistemically imperative because in every given society, distinguished intellectual
accomplishments in the form of philosophy and history are preserved and passed on through its
musicians, philosophers, artists, historians, poets, nationalists, scientists etc. In that regard, I turn
to art criticism, religious-aesthetics, argumentative discussions, counter-debates and philosophical
dialectics, principally through the theoretical perspectives of Nkrumah, Abiodun, Gyekye, and
23 See Anthony B. Pin, Introduction: The Black Labyrinth, Aesthetics, and Black Religion. In Black Religion and
Aesthetics, Religious Thought and Life in Africa and the African Diaspora. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009,
p.1.
24 See Kwasi Wiredu, Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion. In African Studies Quarterly, 1(4),
1998, p.23.
25Personal interaction with Dr. Obadele Kambon during a presentation of my doctoral thesis proposal (2017).
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Gbolonyo, all of whose profound thoughts I have found quite crucial to the theoretical framework
of this research. My theoretical framework includes but not limited to Nkrumah’s philosophical
dialectics (philosophy of African art, logical reasoning, counter-colonial epistemic examples and
deductive arguments). Abiodun’s revised philosophical approach to studying African art will also
form a core component of my conceptual framework as a synthesis of anthropology and art
historical perspectives with African philosophy at the core. Other key ideas include his critical
theories of aesthetics, rationalistic debates on psycho-aesthetics and the reconceptualization of
empirical observations or findings of aesthetic practices in the field. Gbolonyo’s analytical
approaches to understanding Anlo-Ewe aesthetics, epistemology and religious philosophy will
equally serve as guiding rubrics.
A general aesthetic triad will serve as a logical prism, through which the discourse of aesthetics
will be assessed in order to boost a deeper understanding and appreciation of sacred Vodu art.
Pietz’ dialectic reasoning on the discourse of “fetishism” and Johnson’s rational approach to
argumentative discussion will undergird some of the debates advanced in various chapters. To
further ground the theoretical framework in revisionist scholarship, it is necessary to explore
developing academic trends in improving religious studies. As advocates of studying religion from
a materialist perspective, revisionist religious scholars like Meyer and Houtman (2012) affirm
that renewed interests and the turn to the notion of materiality in order to correct slanted Protestant
views of religious beliefs and practices widely shaped the comparative study of religions ever since
its inception around the mid-19th century. Addressing the significance of a materialist approach
in studying ‘material religion’ and its key analytical concepts, Meyer and Houtman (2012) suggest
that we take, as an entry point for comparative religious studies, concrete examples, for instance:
Objects like relics, amulets, dress codes, painted or sculpted images, written words
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and architectural spaces. Feelings and sensory experiences like seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting and touching. Bodily performances in specific gestures, rituals,
ceremonies and festivals.26
Meyer’s materialist approach in religious studies will be principally employed in this current study
taking into consideration the over-arching materialist notion of giving life, form and image to
African spirits via creative or artistic interventions. As a result, the theoretical framework
establishes the foundations of this research by first interrogating religious iconography and the
African concept of God. At the core of this philosophical inquiry is the conscious effort to dislodge
some of the misconceptions and bias towards Vodu religion.
Innumerable representations of gods, deities, totems and ancestors abound in the Anlo-Ewe Vodu
iconography and yet no single representation of god or goddess could ever exhaust the
limitlessness of the power of the Supreme Being (Mawu-Sogbolisa) in the Anlo-Ewe pantheon.
What constricting theological belief accounts for this contradiction in Anlo-Ewe religious
iconography? This is a phenomenon, which has for so long remained under-researched or
persistently been overlooked by some iconoclastic Western scholars. A few Western scholars who
have attempted to address this particular issue apparently do not have a full grasp of the African
conception of the Supreme Being. For instance, commenting on the Akan conception of the
Supreme Being, Ellis wrote that Nyankopon:
Is really a god borrowed from Europeans and only thinly disguised [...] To the
negro of Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nyankopon is a material and tangible being,
possessing a body, legs, arms, in fact all the limbs, and the senses, and faculties of
man[...] no sacrifice was offered to him. There were no priests for Nyankopon [...]
consequently no form of worship of Nyankopon was established.27
26 See Johan M. Strijdom. The Material Turn in Religious Studies and the Possibility of Critique: Assessing
Chidester’s Analysis of “the Fetish”’. In HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70(1), 2014, p.1.
27See Ellis A. B., Twi-Speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, quoted in: Smith, E. W., African Ideas of God. p.162.
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Yet, in Akan art, there seems to be very little or no evidence of a physical representation of
Nyankopon (which is apparently considered as taboo and gross sacrilege on the part of an artist
who will dare to create such physical representations).28 Neither did Ellis produce concrete
ethnographic evidence of, say, a sculpture or sacred installation consecrated in Nyankopon’s
honour to illustrate his so-called “material” or “tangible” conception of the Supreme Being in Akan
religious philosophy.29 Other scholars include E.B Tylor, Sandra Greene and Jacob Spieth.
Greene, for instance, indicates that until their contact with the European missionaries, the Ewe
neither had the concept of, nor believed in Mawu as the Supreme Being. She states that Mawu was
just one of the Ewe gods and that the Ewe conferred and/or expunged the status of supremacy of
any of their gods at different times.30 Reacting to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies in Greene’s
posit, Gbolonyo proceeds to explain the etymological roots of the word ‘Mawu’. He notes that:
With the knowledge that contrary research exists we are better prepared to analyze
the details of Greene’s misinterpretations. First, there is no deity in Ewe culture
that is defined as supreme other than Mawu (the Supreme God). The name Mawu,
by ontological definition, means Supreme. Etymologically, two words or phrases
make up the word “Mawu.”
Ma or Ema = He/She that
Wu or Ewu = surpasses or supersedes. Thus, Mawu (Ema si ke wu), which literary
translates as ‘that which surpasses or supersedes all else’, refers only to one
Supreme entity (God). Mawu by Ewe definition was never a lesser deity. There do
28 It is a shared belief in West Africa, that, the supreme deity is usually a remote creator deity who is never represented
in sculptural form nor worshipped directly. Instead worshipers make offerings and sacrifices to groups of intermediate
ancestral and nature spirits. See Judith Perani and Fred T. Smith. The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power and Life
Cycle in Africa, London: Pearson Publishers, 1998, p.9.
29It must be also stressed here that “Nyamedua” is not considered as a physical representation of the “Supreme Being”
as the Akans conceived it.
30 Gbolonyo expressed his disappointment in Greene’s neo-colonial philosophical framework of writing which
further promotes a condescending notion about Anlo-Ewe Vodu. See Justice Stephen Kofi Gbolonyo. Indigenous
Knowledge and Cultural Values in Ewe Musical Practice: Their Traditional Roles and Place in Modern Society.
Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Pittsburg, 2009, pp.210-211.
G.K Nukunya, Insider Anthropology: The Case of the Anlo-Ewe. Etnofoor, Jaarg. 7(1), 1994, pp. 29.
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exist many lesser deities in Ewe culture. However, there has never been one single
lesser deity that all Ewe worshipped in time and space. Lesser deities and other
metaphysical entities are subordinate to one Supreme God.31
Spieth also presents a parallel linguistic analysis of the word Ma–wu. It is interesting to note that,
in his linguistic analysis on the concept of Supreme God in Ewe theology, Spieth classifies Mawu
under “Sky Gods”.32 Such misrepresentations further deepen the myth of mislabeling Mawu as a
“subsidiary deity”. However, his submission remains relatively enlightening for this particular
theological debate. According to Speith (2011:454):
They explain, the word means “more” or “surpass”. Accordingly, Mawu would
be unrivalled, unequalled of all beings […] When you ask about the area that is
surpassed or transcended by God, the answer given is as follows: Ewu dzifo kple
anyigba, ewu trᴐ᷉wo kple amegbetᴐ᷉wo ha᷉. “He surpasses (transcend) heaven and
Earth and the trᴐ᷉wo, ‘earth Deities’ and human beings”. The conclusion of their
explanation is always expressed, Ewu nusianu, “He surpasses everything that
exist” […] The younger people among them, particularly the educated among
them, on the contrary, explain ma as the future form of the first person, thus: “I
shall be more”, or but also the negation “un”, “not”, and would then mean ma-wu,
“the unsurpassed” or “insurmountable”.
In fact, Spieth (2011:452) further reinforces Gbolonyo’s thesis when he wrote centuries earlier
that:
It is not the advent of the Christian religion that brought to them (Ewes) the belief
in God or a particular idea of God. This they had long, long before the arrival of
the missionaries, but in the sense that their original perception about God has
perhaps broadened[...]
Gavua (2000:84) also offers a similar theory. He states that:
31 See Justice Stephen Kofi Gbolonyo, Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Values in Ewe Musical Practice: Their
Traditional Roles and Place in Modern Society. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Pittsburg, 2009, p. 213.
32 Abraham has similarly observed that, in their attempt to discuss Akan concept of God, a number of Western writers,
(like Rattray, Westerman and Meyerowitz) have made theological blunders by “trying to identify Onyame or Nyame
as a “sky god”, because of a supposed etymology.” See William E. Abraham, The Mind of Africa. Accra: Sub-Saharan
Publishers, 2015, p.47.
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The indigenous religion of the Northern Ewes combines a belief in a High God,
Se, Segbo-lisa, or Mawuga, who is spirit, omnipresent, omnipotent, and
omniscient, with belief in other smaller gods that serve as agents of the High God
and as media through which humans communicates, with this God.
Commenting on the same subject among the Asantes, Radin (1952) had this to say about the
Supreme Being of the Asantes:
The religion of the Ashanti[sic], like that of all the Guinea coast tribes[sic], is
highly developed and intricate.33 An earth goddess is acknowledged, and a
supreme god in the firmament, called Nyankonpon or Nyame, from whom stems
a bureaucracy of lesser gods, the Abosom, graded in a descending scale.34
Of particular concern here is the manner in which the concept of a Supreme Being is expressed
not only in Anlo-Ewe theology but also in Anlo-Ewe socio-linguistics. Contributing to this
discussion, Gavua (2000:98) advances the argument that:
there are close similarities between the indigenous religions and Christianity. In
both religions, there is a belief in a High God and intermediaries through whom
human beings could communicate with Him/Her. While Christians recognize
Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Angels and Saints as channels of contacting God,
community gods, personal gods and the ancestors are the media of communication
for the followers of the indigenous religion. While some Christians invoke the
blood of Jesus to seek redress, their counterparts in the African religion invoke
spirits of their gods. The belief in life after death and the expectation of spiritual
protection from worship are also common to both religions.35
33 Radin’s observation clearly invalidates Ellis’ misinformed opinions about the Akan religious world view which he
erroneously captured when he wrote that: ‘On the Gold Coast we found a multitude of village gods, a few tribal gods,
and none at all which were worshipped by the Tshi-speaking peoples as a whole […] the possession of a number of
general objects of worship by the Ewe-speaking peoples, clearly marks a step made by them in the evolution of religion
in advance of the condition in which we found the Tshi-speaking peoples. See A.B Ellis. The Eʻwe-Speaking Peoples
of the Slave Coast of West Africa, their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages. London: Chapman and Hall
Limited, 1890, pp.13-14.
34See Paul Radin. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books Inc, 1952, p.ix
35See Kodzo Gavua (Ed.). A Handbook of Eweland: Volume II: The Northern Ewes in Ghana. Accra: Woeli Publishing
Services, 2000, p.98.
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Several other scholars have contributed similar ideas to the study of African religions that
authenticates the concept of monotheism inherent in African religions. For example, Gérarde
Magloire-Danton (2005) writes that Price-Mars “contributes to a major epistemic change in regard
to Afro-Christian and African-derived belief systems by placing Vodu [...] in the same category of
thought as monotheistic belief systems”.36 Again, a rational inquiry re-emerges to ascertain why
Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion, like many other African religions, is still vilified in modern times by
Western scholars and some African “Evangelists” as ‘heathenism’, ‘animism’, 'satanic',
‘paganism’, ‘demon worship’, ‘superstition’, ‘ancestral worship’, ‘fetishism’, ‘juju’, ‘voodoo’,
‘black magic’ and ‘idolatry’? Williams provides a fitting answer to that effect by explaining that:
The Blacks’ conception of God was of a scale too grand to be acceptable to
Western minds. They had to reduce it by using a term that is equated with
paganism, ''primitive'' backwardness and barbarism. The word is ''animism.'' But
the historian and anthropologist are witnesses against themselves, still proving the
very opposite of what they intend. In documenting animism as the chief
characteristic of the religion of the Blacks from the remotest times they are also
documenting the fact that the Blacks' belief in the existence as well as the nature
of one Universal God also goes way back to time immemorial. And what is
animism? As applied to Africans it is the belief that the spirit of the Creator or the
Universal God permeates all of His creations would be regarded as highly
''civilized'' if expressed by a Westerner in some such terms as a ''reverence for life.''
Indeed, precisely the same African religious belief becomes the doctrine of
''Immanence'' in Christianity.37
Indeed, Williams’ intellectual position is still shared by many academics in modern religious
studies and revisionist anthropology. Before we proceed to properly address the notion of animism
falsely attributed to African religions, it is important to briefly stress the fact that, few Western
scholars are cautious enough to admit errors in the formulations of early Eurocentric
36Celucien L. Joseph. The Religious Philosophy of Jean Price-Mars in Journal of Black Studies, 43(6), 2012, p.621.
37See Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of the Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race From 4500 B.C to 2000
A.D. Chicago: Third World Press, 1987, p.230.
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anthropologists. Discussing the science of how the original Homo sapiens in Africa harnessed
brain chemistry through ritual performances and religious practices, Thompson (2011:46)
acknowledges “only one real religion” whose roots can be traced to ancient Africa some 50,000 to
70,000 years back. Among the practitioners of this ancient true religion are the Kung San people
of Africa, the people living in present-day Bay of Bengal’s Andaman Islands and the Aborigines
of Australia who originally migrated out of Africa.38 In Thompson’s own words:
All three of these tribes[sic] have religions striking in their similarity. They are all
based on song, dance, and trance. Why? It turns out those are activities that harness
some of our most powerful brain chemicals, the ones that influence pleasure, fear,
love, trust, self-esteem, and attachment. So powerful was the religion our ancestors
discovered that if you look closely, you still see echoes of this first religion in all of
the faiths on the planet today. Just as we are all the sons and daughters of a small
band of hunter-gatherers that roamed Africa less than a hundred thousand years ago,
so too are all our religions.39
Writing about African religion, 'animism' was first used by the British anthropologist E.B. Taylor
in an article in 1866. The word actually comes from the Latin word anima, which implies an
association with the idea of spirit or soul. Africans do not believe that every object has a soul but
rather that spirits can have certain objects as their abode. Acheampong (1998) has discussed this
particular debate at length in his refutations of such ill-informed views. He particularly addressed
various issues pertaining to this discussion. 40 It is, therefore, a misnomer.
38 The exact time of arrival in Australia is still an unresolved question among scholars, but the period is usually
speculated to be between 50,000 to 65,000 years ago. See Clarkson et al. Human Occupation of Australia by 65,000
Years Ago. In Nature 547, 2017, pp. 306-310.
39 See Anderson Thompson. Why we Believe in Gods: A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith. Pitchstone Publishing
North Carolina. 2011. p.46.
40 Refer to Chapter four where Talbot’s “four elements of the structure of African religion” is brought under critical
academic scrutiny. See Stephen Owoahene-Acheampong. Inculturation and African Religion: Indigenous and
Western Approaches to Medical Practice. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, 1998, pp.49-54. Also refer to Coleen
Wright. Art and Symbolism in Ewe Religion: Ritual Objects of the Yewe and Tro Mami Worship in Klikor, Ghana.
African Diaspora ISPs, 1999, p.6.
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Another contributor to misrepresentations of African religion, Blier (1995:62), has also suggested
that, “certain features of natural environment which are in some way distinctive — trees,
mountains, stones, rivers, and springs for example — also are identified as Vodu.”41 This is equally
an oversimplification. She also leads researchers on with no concrete information to support this
debatable claim. Blier further generalizes by identifying kings as “Vodu”: “not surprisingly, Kings,
because they display various forms of mysterious power, are also described as Vodu.”42 This
notion clearly neglects the subtle spiritual intricacies and distinction between Divine Kingship and
Vodu. In response to and refutations of all these misconstrued opinions equating African religions
to “animism” or “mysterious forces”, Mbiti emphatically declares:
African people are aware of all these elements religion: God, spirits and divinities
are part of the traditional body of beliefs. Christianity and Islam acknowledge the
same type of spiritual beings. The theory of religious evolution, in whichever
direction, does not satisfactorily explain or interpret African religion. Animism is
not an adequate description of these religions and it is better for that term to be
abandoned once and for all.43
A critical etymological study of similar ideologies and terms associated with various aspects of
West African religions in general reveals that they convey distorted views and concepts. For
instance, Davis (1985:11) argues that:
The orthography of the name of the Haitian traditional religion has been the source
of some academic debate. The word voodoo comes from the Fon language of
Dahomey (Now Benin) and Togo. It means simply ''god'' or ''spirit''. Unfortunately,
as a result of the sensational and inaccurate interpretations in the media,
Hollywood in particular, the word voodoo has come to represent a fantasy of black
magic and sorcery. Anthropologists have attempted both to highlight and avoid
this stereotype by using a number of terms including vodun, voudoun, and vodoun.
41 See Susan Blier. West African Roots of Vodou. In Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. (Ed. Donald J. Cosentino). Chai
Wan: South Sea International Press Ltd, 1995, p.62.
42Ibid. p.65.
43 See J. S. Mbiti. African Religions and Philosophy. Frederick Praeger: New York, 1969, pp.7-8.
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I have followed their lead because I feel, as I hope this book will show, that the
rich religion of the Haitian traditional society deserves to be recognized, and what
we have come to know as ''voodoo'' bears little resemblance to it.
I have also subsequently proceeded to follow suit by using ‘Vodu’ which sounds linguistically and
phonetically close to how it is actually pronounced in the Anlo-Ewe language that is spoken around
the regions where I conducted my field research. African religion has been denigrated, scorned
and misunderstood in all respects. One of the major reasons for this problem is that Vodu (just like
any other African religion) remains a religion deeply steeped in African rituals and esoteric
practices, for people of African descent, and based on an understanding of the connection between
the ordinary and metaphysical realm. This poses a huge challenge for Westerners and non-Vodu
adherents, who lack adequate knowledge and understanding of the religion and its spiritual
practices.
The problem of misunderstanding Vodu religion is apparently more pronounced in Western
societies than one can imagine. McCarthy Brown (2004:166) has noted that:
There is in the United States a perverse will to misunderstand Haitians and their
religion. It is almost as if the United States needs Haiti to carry its projections, to
justify our long history of racism. A strikingly persistent line of reasoning about
Haiti can be traced from Moreau de St. Mery through to Laurence Harrison, a
former chief of USAID, who made strikingly similar argument in summer 1993
edition of Harper's, at the height of Haitian suffering during the period of Aristde's
exile. Vodou, Harrison argued, has no morality and therefore Haiti has no
civilization. That is the country's biggest problem, Harrison argued. Haiti's case is
hopeless.44
Such polarized viewpoints have led several scholars to empirically refute some of the
misconceptions of African religion. Mbiti (1969:11) maintains that:
44 Karen McCarthy Brown Vodou in the "Tenth Department" New York's Haitian Community. In Beyond
Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity. Jacob K. Olupona (Ed.), New York: Routledge, 2004,
p.166.
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The fact remains that African religions and philosophy have been subjected to a
great deal of misinterpretation, misrepresentation and misunderstood. They have
been despised, mocked and dismissed as primitive and underdeveloped. One needs
only to look at the earlier titles and accounts to see the derogatory language used,
prejudiced descriptions given and false judgements passed upon these religions.
In missionary circles, they have been condemned as superstition, satanic, devilish
and hellish.
Venkatachalam (2012:47) puts forward a parallel theory by stating that:
The introduction of Christianity did not represent a break in Anlo religious history.
Rather, Christianity was inserted into local religious concepts and practices,
coming to function within the historical dynamics and structural schema of those
local religious agents. Instead, spiritual entities in the pre-Christian pantheon were
reconceptualized and often understood as satanic forces located in opposition to
Christianity.
Mbiti's and Venkatachalam's observations present a general overview of how African religion is
not only denigrated by the West but also Christianized Africans who do not believe in African
religion also malign African religions through ignorance.
To the outsider, Vodu has long been thought of as a primitive form of magic and belief in ghosts.
Most of what the average layman knows of Vodu comes only from misleading use of it in
Hollywood horror movies and in paperback thrillers that emphasize the “witch doctor’’ or the
“sticking of pins” in “Vodu dolls.” But the fact is that Vodu encompasses an exceedingly complex
religion and magic with complicated rituals and symbols that have developed for thousands of
years—perhaps longer than any other of today's established faiths. The believer in Vodu—and
there are millions of blacks and some whites who practice it—centers his hopes and fears as
strongly on it as does a follower of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, or Islam.45 There is more
significance to the Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion than the superstitious beliefs being propagated by non-
45 See Milo Rigaud. Secrets of Voodoo. New York: City Lights Books, 1969, p.7.
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Vodu worshippers. Davis (1985:72) provides a constructive definition of Vodu. By Davis'
definition, Vodu is:
A complex mystical world view, a system of beliefs concerning the relationship
between man, nature, and the supernatural forces of the universe. Vodu cannot be
abstracted from day to day life of the believers. In Haiti, as in Africa, there is no
separation between the sacred and the secular, between the holy and the profane,
between material and the spiritual. Every dance, every song, every action is but a
particle of the whole [...] Vodu not only embodies a set of spiritual concepts, it
prescribes a way of life, a philosophy, and a code of ethics that regulates social
behavior.
Mazrui has written that while the West was going to the moon, Africans were going to the village.
Perhaps they needed to go to the village. For, it is in the village that they can find their true selves
as Africans. Their Africanness started in the village and their roots will remain in the village. As
they return to the village, they need to understand that their village is, was and has not been a
perfect place. As they look back with nostalgia to their past and reclaim their ways, they need to
understand that their forebears had produced some knowledge but had not completed the process.
They need to understand that their forebears were constantly searching for meanings and even
welcomed intruders as part of that search. They need also to understand that their past has been
interrupted in many ways. They need to understand that our villages remain tainted, adulterated or
even polluted due to such intrusions.46 The realization is dawning on many African scholars that
philosophy is really a profound examination and analysis of the cultural and historical experience
of a people. Philosophy is essentially a cultural phenomenon. And, therefore, to do African
philosophy, Africans will have to come to grips—analytical grips—with the cultural experience
46 See Miller et al. (Ed.). African Knowledge and Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the Ways of Knowing in
Sub-Saharan Africa, in Papers and Proceedings of an International Conference on African Knowledge and
Sciences, October 23 to 29 2005, Bolgatanga U/R Region Ghana, 2006, p. 87.
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of the African people, with the multifaceted problems of the African society and intellectual life.47
Fanon also in his discourse on national culture discusses the need for colonized intellectuals to
delve and immerse themselves into African culture and philosophy. Fanon asserts that colonized
intellectuals “have decided to delve deeper. Since there is little to marvel at in its current state of
barbarity, they have decided to go further, to delve deeper, and they must have been overjoyed to
discover that the past was not branded with shame, but dignity, glory, and sobriety” (1963: 148).
1.5 Objectives
This research aims to:
1. Examine the philosophical role art plays in the practice of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion in relation
to the lived experiences of the people, both the purely aesthetic and the so-called functional;
2. Interrogate and redefine some misleading theories and misconceptions associated with the art
of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion.
3. Visually document Anlo-Ewe Vodu art in order to contribute a broader knowledge that would
facilitate the appreciation of the significant interaction of art, religion and socio-cultural domains
of life among the Anlo-Ewe people.
1.6 Scope of Research
This research scope is limited to the Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion, principally among the Anlos in
Klikor, Torgodo, Dagbamete, Woe (Keta) and Afiadenyigba area.
• This study examines the significance of art, along with its philosophical dimensions and
socio-religious purposes in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion.
47 See Kwame Gyekye. Philosophy, Culture and Vision: African Perspectives. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013,
p.66.
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• The religious module of this research will focus on the artistic elements employed in the
diverse aspects of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion (such as sacred aesthetics of Brékété,
Gorovodu, and Adzima).
• The arts are examined under the two main branches, namely the visual and performing arts.
The areas covered include the relevance of wall paintings, shrine art, religious symbolism,
iconography, installation art, pottery, textiles, sculpture, jewelry, body art, scarifications
and coiffure.
1.7 Significance of the Study
Often, Ghanaian culture is defined in terms of drumming, dancing, languages, clothing, food etc.
Not much attention is paid to the visual arts as an integral part of the totality of Ghanaian culture.
It is in view of all these issues that this research principally aims to re-examine, critically analyse
and explore the philosophy of art in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion. This will help future scholars and
the public at large to acknowledge and appreciate all the inherent qualities in the arts of Anlo-Ewe
Vodu religion. Prominence will be given to Ewe women artists who have been largely under-
represented in the documentation of Anlo-Ewe Vodu art. The research will also serve as a source
of reference for future researchers who want to further their research in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion
and art. It will also foster a genuine understanding of the philosophical essence that underscores
the arts employed in Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion. In a much broader sense, the findings produced in
this research will serve as a medium of redefining Ghanaian culture and promoting Ghana’s rich
cultural heritage to a wider audience. It will also help to dislodge some of the prevailing
misconceptions and negative attitudes towards Anlo-Ewe Vodu art and religion and in African art
in general.
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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction
This chapter has been broadly classified into three topical issues and sub-topics to boost the general
understanding of the various issues being discussed. The review begins with a rationale for
engaging in argumentative discussion for this particular chapter. The various topics reviewed are:
Western psycho-historical perspectives of African art, philosophical foundations of European
accounts of African art, socio-historical roots of African “primitivism” and “fetishism,” in the
study of African art (among other relevant related discussions). The review also captures various
intellectual discussions on African art and the colonial encounter. References are also made to
African art in the religious space. Furthermore, the review traces the academic trajectory of
Eurocentric bias of documenting African art and the current intellectual developments surrounding
some of the prevailing negative notions associated with it. Finally, there is a summary of discussion
under each sub-topic and the overall discussion has been summarized at the concluding section of
this chapter.
2.2 A Historical Overview of Primary European Accounts of African Art
Engaging in a philosophical discourse on African art is not necessarily limited to a historical
account, descriptive cataloguing or an “interpretative” analysis of the arts per se. The ever-growing
intellectual demands of the discipline has necessitated a synthesis between anthropology,
philosophy, linguistics, religion, socio-historical context, psycho-aesthetic48 foundations of
48 Psycho-aesthetics refers to the study of the psychological aspects of aesthetic perception but the term has perhaps
broadened to capture other disciplines related to perception.
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African art and recent intellectual debates and developments within the global art world over the
years. The main rationale here is to position ourselves as what Gramsci (1996) refers to as the
‘organic intellectual’ in order to have well-rounded academic discussions not only about art but
other related disciplines as well.49 In art history methods, this school of thought is best captured
by Klonk et al. (2006):
Since the 1970s, art historians, like their colleagues in other disciplines, have
become suspicious of the kind of generalisations about the human condition and
identification of transcendental ideals that ran through earlier systematic accounts.
They have also become suspicious of explanations of art that refer to global changes
in the economy and society. Instead they concentrate on the analysis of the specific
historical circumstances in which a work of was produced. The social roots of
works of art are much more concretely identified in these accounts. They include
religion, politics and gender, as well as economics, without privileging any one of
them.50
Relatedly, this review proceeds by first outlining some of the rationales and rubrics of
argumentative discussion, in order to ground the philosophical dialogue along a continuum of
contesting intellectual enquiries. Stressing the significance of practicing argumentative discussion,
Onyewuenyi (1999) emphasizes that “philosophy thrives in the cesspool of argumentation;
discussion, dialogue, using analysis and conversation that does not end in the evaporative stream
of verbalization but in the systematic documentation of ideas.”51Among other functions, the
fundamental purpose of practicing argumentation is characterized by the exchange of theoretical
ideas, rational persuasion and reaching a shared rationally-supported position or the common truth
49 See Antonio Gramsci. Prison Notebooks. Vol 2, Joseph A. Buttigieg. (Ed.). Colombia University Press: New
York. 1996. p.202.
50 Michael Hate and Charlotte Klonk. Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods. Manchester University
Press: Manchester, 2006. pp.120-121.
51 See Onyewuenyi, I. C. “Traditional African Aesthetics: A Philosophical Perspective”. In Kit R. Christensen (Ed.),
Philosophy and Choice. London: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1999.
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about some particular subject matter.52 In his treatise on 'Manifest Rationality’, Johnson (2000)
further expands our understanding of argumentative discussion by defining it as:
a sociocultural activity of constructing, presenting, interpreting, criticizing, and
revising arguments for the purpose of reaching a shared rationally supported
position on some issue. […] This activity cannot be understood as the activity of
any individual or group of individuals but rather must be understood within the
network of customs, habits, and activities of the broader society that gives birth to
it, that continues to maintain it and that the practice serves. An argument is a
product of that practice that means that typically it is the outcome of a process of
arguing that involves both the arguer and the other. 53
In reforming intellectual ideas, the practice of argumentative discussion prevails in many regards
because critical scholars usually maintain that, to rationally persuade, one needs to give strong
reasons for others to assess and accept their ideas. Being the most secure route to correct views
and wise policies, argumentative discussion apparently seems to be the utmost logical path to this
particular revisionist philosophical discussion.54 Yet argument is more than a set of expository or
rhetorical skills. Like art itself, a successful piece of argument communicates somewhat more than
it says explicitly. It stimulates readers to think in new ways not only about the author’s topic but
about other aspects of their lives as well.55 While good argument is an efficient approach to present
fresh perspectives and revise quaint ideas, a good indicator of a strong argument is that which is
built on solid research and empirical evidence. However, merely compiling facts does not
constitute a good argument. In research, facts are presented to strengthen solid arguments for
52 See Ralph H Johnson. Manifest Rationality: A Pragmatic Theory of Argument, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc,
2000, p.158.
53Ibid. p.12.
54See David Hitchcock. The Practice of Argumentative Discussion. McMaster University: Ontario, p.1.
55 Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and get it
Published. W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 2002. p.71.
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effective communication and comprehension of issues being discussed. As remarked by Rabiner
and Fortunato (2002:72), ‘to be effective it must be intellectually defensible.’
In a related theory, Graham (2008) proposed a “disagreement hierarchy” in an essay entitled, “How
to Disagree”, placing different kinds of arguments into a seven-point hierarchy and observing that,
“If moving up the disagreement hierarchy makes people less mean, that will make most of them
happier.”56 Graham further stresses that:
The most convincing form of disagreement is refutation. It's also the rarest,
because it's the most work. Indeed, the disagreement hierarchy forms a kind of
pyramid, in the sense that the higher you go the fewer instances you find. To refute
someone, you probably have to quote them. You have to find a "smoking gun," a
passage in whatever you disagree with that you feel is mistaken, and then explain
why it's mistaken.57
Diagram 2.0 Diagram explaining Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement 58
56 Retrieved from: http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/grahams-hierarchy-disagreement/ (Accessed on 13/02/2018)
57 Retrieved from: http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html (Accessed on 13/02/2018)
58 Source of diagram: http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/grahams-hierarchy-disagreement/ (Accessed on
13/02/2018)
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To this effect, Graham’s disagreement hierarchy will also serve as a guiding principle to argue
rationally. The practice of rationalistic argumentative discussions, refutations and critical debates
is even more prevalent in the study of aesthetics and criticism where opposing viewpoints
crisscross each other in publications with various scholars trying to entrench their intellectual
positions. Till today, discussions within the African art academies are tainted with raging debates
and strong disagreements even though most art critics and aestheticians have similar educational
backgrounds. All of this can be linked to how each and every individual, ethnicity, race,
organization or society express, perceive, “interpret,” appreciate or define art based on their shared
philosophies and lived experiences. Solso (2003) further extends this notion by inferring that:
The interplay between the internal (cognitive) representation of reality and the
external (physical) representation is a fascinating problem in cognitive
psychology, art, science, and philosophy.59
Engaging in critical debates with Western theoretical formulations of African art seems a valid
approach to consider in reexamining African art. The significance of trained subjectivity becomes
particularly indispensable in decolonizing African art scholarship. Articulating the importance of
decolonizing African philosophy, Wiredu (1998) charges African philosophers to adopt analytical
positions toward some of the problematic theories Western philosophy poses to African studies.
He advises revisionist scholars to adopt what he refers to as a “doubly critical stance” in re-
examining inherited colonial culture, religion and the colonial system of education. He notes:
philosophical decolonization is necessarily a conceptual enterprise; it is not just a
critique of doctrine but also of fundamental conceptualization. I use "critique" here
in the sense of an examination of validity rather than the exposure of invalidity.
Indeed, philosophy, or at any rate the best kind of philosophy, is a critique, for the
most part, of fundamental conceptualization. That is to say, it is the critical
59See Robert L. Solso. The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain. Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 2003, pp.228.
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examination of the conceptual framework upon which the thought of a culture is
erected.60
The critical examination of the academic discourse on African aesthetics must be taken into
consideration in that regard and also properly documented. This becomes essential because, as an
academic discipline, African aesthetics was mainly erected on racist ideologies, racist world views
and racist interpretations by Western writers. As noted by Gordon (2017:24), “a problem with
constructing black aesthetics is whether aesthetics has been so colonized that its production would
be a form of colonizing instead of decolonial practice.” Gordon (1997, 2000, 2008, 2014) has also
argued that, “over the years that colonial and racist theory necessitated at least three intellectual
responses from those it degrades: (1) critical reflection on what it means to be human, (2)
meditations on freedom, and (3) a metacritique of reason.” Gordon further stresses the importance
of maintaining a link between aesthetics, liberation and metacritical reflection on reason.61
Another role to assume as a philosopher in response to colonial African aesthetics is critique,
contrarian analysis and the shrewdness of a “skeptical skeptic”. This simply requires philosophers
to reject and subject everything to question and assume nothing is true or logical until it has been
critically analysed, proven and theoretically resistant to doubt. Then, and only then, can we hold
a theory to be intellectually sound and logically consistent. This approach to philosophizing is
what analytical philosophers refer to as “universal methodic doubt”. A prerequisite rule about
logical debate, as already illustrated in Graham’s (2008) hierarchy of disagreement, is that you
have to produce credible logically-consistent arguments of your own and to also show where each
60 See Wiredu. Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion. In African Studies Quarterly,1(4), 1998.
61 See Lewis R. Gordon. Black Aesthetics, Black Value. In Public Culture 30:1, 2017, pp.23-24. doi
10.1215/08992363-4189143
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of your “opponent’s” argument is faulty. This is made possible by finding a logical fallacy,
ambiguity or inconsistencies in each of your opponent’s arguments. Like warfare, you need to
“devise powerful offense strategies” to utterly “vanquish” your “opponent’s forces” and “tough
defense systems” to “protect” your “army”.
Gyekye (2013:71) has also inferred in an interview that we exercise caution in making
commentaries on Western philosophies in order not to make African philosophy an appendix to
Western philosophy.62 It must be stressed, however, that, in an attempt to cross-examine inherited
colonial doctrines, it becomes imperative to selectively cite and critique Western publications on
African art since they are among the early chroniclers and purveyors of the discipline. As
revisionist scholarship becomes very necessary, African philosophers constantly need to call
Western scholars out in order to address false philosophical assumptions and to also draw the thin
line between fact and cynicism. African scholars certainly need to create a kind of “us versus them”
dynamic to settle some of the pertinent academic grievances we are still grappling with. What will,
in contemporary times, characterize African philosophy, notes Gyekye (2013), is:
Paying attention an analytical, reflective attention to the values and assumptions
of traditional society, or traditional thought system; and, second, paying analytical
attention to contemporary African cultural and historical experience. This is, to
me, what will bring out the “Africaness”, of African philosophy. The “Africaness”
will consist in paying attention to African cultural values, to the cultural and
historical experience of the African people.63
Deductions from the preceding philosophical discourse makes it imperative that the early
historiography of African art be revised and critically reexamined through the psychological filter
62 See Kwame Gyekye. Philosophy, Culture and Vision: African Perspectives.Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013,
p.71.
63Ibid. pp.71-72.
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and philosophical framework of Eurocentrism and colonialism respectively. Since philosophical
discussions of art derived their issues from the evolution of art, I will proceed in a similar academic
style.64As such, I wish to begin this discussion by echoing some essential facts from Miller’s
discussions concerning the evolution of art.
Miller (2001) has documented that some archeologists have argued that art only emerged 35,000
years ago in the Upper Paleolithic period, when the first cave paintings and Venus figurines were
made in Europe. They follow archaeologist John Pfeiffer's65 suggestion that this period marks a
"creative explosion" when human art, language, burial ceremonies, religion, and creativity first
emerged. This is a remarkably Eurocentric view.66 In his presentation of facts, Miller (2001) also
acknowledges that the Aborigines colonized Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and have
apparently been making paintings on rock ever since. If art were an invention of the Upper
Paleolithic 35,000 years ago in Europe, how could art be a human universal? There is evidence
from Africa of red ochre being used for body ornamentation over 100,000 years ago. This is about
the latest possible time that art could have evolved, since it is around the time that modern Homo
sapiens spread out from Africa. Had it evolved later, it is unclear how it could have become
64 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art Brussels: Springer
Science + Business Media B.V. 2009, p.vi.
65Feder exemplifies himself as one of Pfeiffer's ''followers'' when he referenced in his book, ''it is abundantly clear that
it is in the past 40,000 years that humanity experience what more than one author has likened to an ''explosion'' of
artistic and symbolic creativity (Conkey 1978, 74; Pfeiffer 1982, who titles his book The Creative Explosion). From
incised bone to carved statues to cave paintings, the period beginning 40,000 years ago is marked by the beginning of
human artistic and symbolic expression. See Kenneth L. Feder, The Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human
Prehistory. California: Mayfield Publishing Company Limited, 2000, p.216.
66 See Miller, Geoffrey. The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. New York:
Anchor Books, 2001, p.260.
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universal across human groups.67Discussing the psychological perspectives of art and evolution,
Solso provides a rough approximation of this creative burst by indicating that:
The coincidental development of modern man and manifest art objects was
enormously important because, it is hypothesized, both were the direct
consequence of the rise of consciousness. To comprehend the idea that art, mind,
and consciousness are essentially connected, consider the evolution of the modern
brain. About 120,000 to 30,000 years ago, the effusive mass of tangled neurons
took a significant new step that formed essential patterns for thoughts and greatly
increased human consciousness—a special type of consciousness that would spew
forth a cornucopia of artifacts, and art, as well as imagery, language, complex
technology, and religion. It was the big step for humankind—probably the biggest
since slithery creatures moved from sea to land. It also represented a fascinating
type of adaptive mechanism that was based on symbolic or non-present
representations.68
Garland (2012) validates both theories cited afore in his audio history lecture on daily life in the
ancient world when he points to the fact that:
The earliest paintings come from the Chauvex cave in Southern France and may
be as old as 30,000 BC. Other examples of cave art have been found in Lascaux
also in southern France dated about 15,000 BC and in Altamira in northern Spain
dating 2000 years later […] Cave art however does not provide the earliest
evidence of painting. Pieces of ochre inscribed with geometric patterns dated about
80,000 BC have been found in the Blombos cave in South Africa and what is
fascinating here is that the art is non-representational which suggests that early
man could already think abstractly and perhaps as well as symbolically.69
Summarizing and narrowing down the history of West African art in the past few millennia, Fosu
(2004:83) states:
Ghana shares an artistic civilization with great West African art culture, which is
67Ibid. p.260.
68See Robert L. Solso. The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain. Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 2003, pp.39.
69 See Robert Garland. The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World Lecture. In The Great Courses.
Colgate University: Teaching Company, LLC, 2012.
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also a part of the great African art heritage. This heritage dates back to the green
Sahara period of between 8000-6000 BC through the Pharoenic period of 5000BC
and the ninth century BC Nok cultures of West Africa. The art tradition manifested
itself through the celebrated wall paintings and sculptures of the continent. About
the 10th century AD, many of the major ethnic groups which settled in the present
day Ghana had formed themselves into powers with distinctive artistic cultures
which found expression into in the classical art traditions of the indigenous
population, namely, the Ashanti, the Fanti, the Ewe, the Ga-Adagnme, the
Dagomba, the Grunsi, the Mamprusi and others [...] These were areas, which also
boasted of the other ancient kingdoms of Ife and Benin as well as the ancient
empires of Mali and Ghana, which were well respected for their established art.
However, since its inception, Western accounts of African art have proven to be a subject of debate
for many art historians, philosophers and art critics. Based on Western academic prejudice,
Africans have been portrayed as “savage”, “uncivilized”, “primitive” and “fetish” by most early
European writers. Writers, whom Opoku (2010) advises,
Should have appropriately acknowledged that the creative achievements of the
African people measured up to other civilizations which were extolled with pride.
Instead, the label “primitive” has been attached to all things African – religion,
language, music, dance and most importantly art. This negation results in frequent
astonishment that African artworks are comparable to arts from other areas of the
world.70
It is with such hesitations that some Western art historians still dread to equate African art to
European art which has long been perceived as the “paragon” of “civilized art” itself. As a result,
the historiography of African art has been marred by controversies, misinterpretations, obscurity
and limpidity depending on whom you read and in which period. Some early Western writers
composed their annals of African art with imperialist and supremacist agenda. The supremacist
approach was diametrically opposed to the approach and presentation of other European
70 See Kwame Opoku. Ile-Ife Triumphs in the British Museum, London: Who said Nigerians were Incapable of
looking after their Cultural Artefacts? p.3 Retrieved from:
http://www.afrikanet.info/uploads/media/ILE_IFE_TRIUMPHS_IN_BRITISH_MUSEUM.pdf (Accessed on
13/07/2016)
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contemporaries and, later, levelheaded scholars who adopted a rather candid and sympathetic
stance. This review critically examines the fundamental philosophy behind Early European
accounts of African art. It also assesses the delicate aspects of European accounts, modes of
presentation, terms, how they interpreted what they reported and the validity of the information
they presented.
2.3 The Philosophical Foundations of European Accounts of African Art and Culture
Before the review proceeds, it is crucial to elucidate and rationalize the philosophy behind the
accounts and modes of presentation in the historiography of African art. First of all, it is noteworthy
to point out that the roots of the historiography of African art apparently operated within the
prevailing propagandist framework of Eurocentric philosophies. Debates examining such
foundations will be reviewed through argumentative discussions supported by various scholars,
artists and experts from various disciplines.
To get a general understanding of how racism influenced the early documentation of African art
we need to peruse the writings of some European philosophers. To begin with, Hume asserts that,
“I am apt to suspect the negroes, and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or
five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of
any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation.
No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts”.71 Hume’s Eurocentric ideas had some serious
71 See Kenneth N. Addison. We Hold these Truths to be Self-evident": An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of
Racism and Slavery in America. Maryland: University Press of America, 2009, p.47.
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ideological repurcussions which certainly influenced Kant’s philosophical anthropology,
subsequently reinforcing the disparaging notion that the African is less human than Whites:
Mr. Hume challenges anyone to cite a single example in which a Negro has shown
talents and asserts that among the hundreds of thousands of blacks who are
transported elsewhere from their countries, although many of them have even been
set free, still not a single one was ever found who presented anything greater in art
or science or any other praiseworthy quality, even though among the whites some
continually rise aloft from the lowest rabble, and through superior gifts earn respect
in the world. So fundamental is the difference between these two races of man, and
it appears to be as great in regard to mental capacities as in color”72
To situate this discussion in its proper philosophical context, it is imperative to cite these two
observations:
The true Negroes share some cultural features [...] Their achievement in plastic art
not only is the highest known among aboriginal peoples, but compares more than
favourably with that of major European and Asiatic civilizations. It reached its
zenith in southern Nigeria, among the peoples of Ife and Benin. 73 (Radin, 1952)
Explorers just brought new proofs, which could explicate “African inferiority.”
Since Africans could produce nothing of value; the technique of Yoruba statuary
must have come from Egyptians; Benin art must be a Portuguese creation; the
architectural achievement of Zimbabwe was due to Arab technicians; and Hausa
and Buganda statecraft were inventions of white invaders.74 (Mudimbe, 1988)
Here, Radin (1952) and Mudimbe (1988) deliver opposing perceptions of African creative
achievements through the mind of Europeans. Variations of contradictory perceptions are recurrent
in African art scholarship. Such contradictions only deepen the myth of “pre-European Africa
devoid of arts”, “pre-European Africa devoid of history, culture and social structure”. It takes
careful reading and critical thinking to read in between the lines concerning these kinds of
72 Ibid. p.47.
73 See Paul Radin. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books Inc. 1952.
74See (Davidson, 1959; Lugard, 1905; Randall-MacIver, 1906; Sanders, 1969; Mallows, 1984) as cited by Mudimbe.
in V.Y. Mudimbe. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press.1988, p.26.
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contradictions. Müller et al. (1999:428-429) note in that regard, that, two other Europeans who
deserve mention in the revionist school of thought regarding Africans are Leo Frobenius (1873-
1938), whom African thinkers to this day acclaim for restoring the dignity of the peoples of Africa,
and Marcel Griaule (1898-1956). The latter undertook several expeditions in the 1930s, primarily
to the Dogon in Mali, and impressively demonstrated that traditional societies certainly do have
ideological systems which, as in the case of the Dogon, entail no less differentiation, complexity,
and depth of thought than those of ancient pre-Socratic philosophers. Nkrumah also notes in his
African Genius Speech that:
Among non-African students of Ghana's history and institutions, one of the most
distinguished was undoubtedly Captain Rattray. By his intellectual honesty and
diligence, he was able to appreciate and present to the world the values in a culture,
which was, after all, foreign to him. It is impossible to respect an intellectual unless
he shows this kind of honesty. After all, Academic freedom must serve all
legitimate ends, and not a particular end. And here the term 'Academic Freedom'
should not be used to cover up academic deficiencies and indiscipline.75
Western discriminatory philosophies of African art prevailed from late 17th century to the 18th
century. Hegelian imperialist philosophies particularly advocated colonial and imperialist
expansion designs to conquer “virgin lands” in Africa. With the emergence of Hegelian
philosophy, the “psycho-imperialist” foundations of racial supremacy were intensified and widely
propagated. In addition to the imperialist ideology, the ''discovery'' of America in 1492 opened up
new opportunities for the spread of Christianity. In an act of extraordinary arrogance, Christian
conquistadors repressed and exploited the people, environment, and culture of the continent. They
imposed the ''new faith'' through cruel punishment of those who resisted it. Having decimated the
75This speech was delivered by Kwame Nkrumah as the first president of the Republic of Ghana at the opening of the
Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon on October 25th, 1963. See Kwame Nkrumah. The African
Genius. In Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and
Kofi Anyidoho (Ed.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.911.
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indigenous population, they established a slave trade, something that figures among history's
greatest crimes against humanity, the primary scene of which became black Africa.76
In his compelling study, Terror in the Mind of God, Juergensmeyer (2003:25-26) affirms a parallel
argument in what he refers to as the “just-war” theory. In that regard, episodes from missionary
exploits and colonial domination among the aboriginal Indians (in the Meso-America region) and
Haitians (in the Caribbean Islands) further expands our notion of the gravity of the problems
religious colonialism posed.77 Similarly, in German Togoland, threatened by the Bosomfo's
influence, the Germans captured and executed him, destroying his shrine and exiling most of his
entourage.78 History has proven some European colonialists to be notoriously malevolent and
ruthless in conquest and material exploitation.79 Examples of these are the series of infamous
crimes they perpetrated not only on African soil but also across the entire globe from the Americas
all the way to Australia. Europeans committed crimes ranging from slave raids to all manner of
atrocities. Often ignored in academic discussions about the history of African art is the blatant
raids and plundering of sacred African artworks by marauding colonial gangsters in various
colonial territories. Till now, large collections of sacred African artworks “rest” in European
museums and private collections. Mass looting during the colonial era and other illegal means of
acquiring African artworks accounts for this state of affairs.
76 See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller. Soul of Africa: Magical Rites and Traditions. Maveville: Imprimerie Jean
Lamour, 1999, p.443.
77 See Charles Alexander Eastman. The Soul of the Indian. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911, pp.20-
24.
78 Meera Venkatachalam. Between The Devil and The Cross: Religion, Slavery, and The Making of Anlo-Ewe. In
Journal of African History, 53(1), Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2012, p.56.
79 This is a well documented fact shared by several erudite scholars. Refer to Rodney (1972), Diop (1981), Nkrumah
(1965, 1973), Williams (1987), Ginzburg (1962), Hochschild (1998), Beard (1863).
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In his PhD thesis, van Beurden (2016) discusses, at length, colonialism, cultural artefacts and their
modes of “acquisition” (loot, punitive expeditions, war booty etc.). van Beurden also examines
cultural heritage policies and the ambiguities surrounding negotiations, repatriation or “protective
custody” of illegally held artworks in Western Museums and Galleries.80 In 1970, Nii Kwate
Owoo, a Ghanaian scholar and film maker produced a relevant documentary (You Hide Me) on
illegally held African artworks in the British Museum. You Hide Me is an exposé of the theft and
concealment of ancient and rare African Art hidden in plastic bags and wooden boxes in the
basement of the British Museum with Owoo making a case for the artworks being returned to their
place of origin. According to Owoo, ‘my film was banned in Ghana in 1971 and was rejected by
Ghana Television at the time for being Anti-British: it was the result of this banning which was
reported and given prominent publicity by West African Magazine in 1971 that gave the film its
world wide acclaim and controversy’. 81
Sylvester Ogbechie has also been a strong advocate for the repatriation of African artworks back
to their countries of origin (especially looted bronze works from Benin Kingdom where he hails).
He has presented quite a number of important seminars and publications in relation to his
campaigns. Chinweizu (1975) summarizes the events which led to the looting of cultural histories
and artworks from the ancient Benin Kingdom:
Under the familiar pretext of abolishing human sacrifices, the British marched on
Benin and subdued it. The Oba of Benin had refused to allow British traders to enter
the city and dominate its trade. But the British would not take no for an answer. In
spite of the Oba’s clear message that he did not wish to see them, especially not at
a time when he had pressing priestly duties to perform, a party of Europeans, led
80 See Joseph Maria van Beurden, Treasures in Trusted Hand: Negotiating the Future of Colonial Cultural Objects.
Unpublished PhD Thesis. Vrije Universiteit. 2016.
81 Retrieved from https://www.revolvy.com/page/Nii-Kwate-Owoo (Accessed on 13/08/2019)
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by the acting British consul, set out to “persuade” him to grant Europeans the right
of free trade within his kingdom. For rudely forcing their avaricious company upon
the Oba, they were gunned down at the command of some of the Oba’s lieutenants.
Here was a fine pretext for the British to attack. Stop African savagery! Abolish
human sacrifices! Brandishing their usual assortment of humanitarian excuses, a
British column marched on Benin, sacked the city and looted its art treasures,
dragged Oba Overamwhen off the throne of his ancestors, deported him and broke
the ancient but decayed power of that kingdom.82
Figure 2.1 British soldiers of the infamous Punitive Expedition of 1897 “proudly” posing with the
looted Benin artefacts.83
82 See Chinweizu. The West and the Rest of Us White Predators, Black Slavers and the African Elite. Lagos: Pero
Press, 1975, p.44.
83 Source of image: https://www.modernghana.com/news/233465/would-western-museums-return-looted-objects-if-
nigeria-and-o.html (Accessed on 10/05/2016)
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Presenting perspectives of how the Germans are also implicated in such punitive expeditions,
Apoh (2019: 259-261) recounts narratives of how German colonial aggression stripped the Akpini
people in Kpando of their royal artworks. Among the artworks that were looted by colonial
gangsters included ivory side blown horns with human jawbones, royal smocks, headdresses and
royal drums. According to oral accounts these royal objects were stolen by Dr Gruner from the
palace of the King of Kpando, Tɔgbuiga Dagadu III after he was arrested and exiled to Cameroun
on trumped up charges in 1914. Some of these royal items have been catalogued and stored in
database of the Ethnologisches Musuem.84
While some African artworks were also seized through stealth and intimidation, quite a huge
collection was also consigned to flames on the orders of Christian Missionaries. Quite oddly,
though, some of the same works which were condemned as “fetish” and “demonic” by the colonial
gangsters and “missionaries” made their way into the private collections of European “nobles”,
the clergy and Papal vaults. Greenfield (1996:94) states that the Vatican also has its own museum
with African objects:
A vast collection of ethnological objects is held by the Vatican Ethnological
Museum in Rome. There are more than 60,000 objects, with approximately
10,000 from Africa, 10,000 from the Americas, 20,000 from Asia, 6,000 from
Oceania, and another 15,000 labelled 'prehistoric'.
Greenfield further states that:
In 1925 Pope Pius XI organized a missionary exhibition extolling missionary
work all over the non-western world. About 100,000 items were sent and after
the exhibition only about half were returned. The Pope proclaimed the
formation of a new museum, the Pontifico Museu Missionario-Etnologico, so
that the ‘dawn of faith’ among the infidel of today can be compared to the dawn
of faith, which illuminated pagan Rome.
84 See Wazi Apoh. Revealations of Domination and Resilience: Unearthing the Buried Past of the Akpini, Akan,
Germans and British at Kpando, Ghana. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2019, pp.259-261.
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Thus, the bulk of these artworks were acquired under duress, scam, and thievery or through
violence and other illegal means. Of grave concern here is how the “missionaries”, mostly under
the orders of the papal authorities, misuse of the bible and distorted Christian doctrines, furthered
the agenda of cultural imperialism, religious indoctrination and systematic erasure of crucial
aspects of African cultural values in the name of “civilization” and “comforts” of “European
culture”. A classic example is captured in Redpath’s biography of Toussaint, which chronicles
some of the horrendous mass executions and mind-numbing tortures people of African descent
had to endure in their struggle for freedom, liberation and human dignity during the Haitian
revolution. Redpath (1863:262) recounts an episode here:
Among the number of these victims were female priests, who worshipped African
fetish [sic] idols. That veneration for the gods of their fathers was punished with
death; so little does unbelief guarantee toleration. A French General, touched with
compassion at the approaching death of one of these superstitious but well-meaning
women, implored that her life might be spared. Rochambeau, taking into his hands
the pigmy Idols of her worship, said, "How can I save the life of one who worships
these? Yet, during the fever, these very women had bestowed every attention on sick
French soldiers. Unhappy women! Their charity had no other recompense than the
punishment which is reserved for the vilest crimes. Base ingratitude of the
commander! Here, again, on which side is the moral superiority?
There are several other accounts of very sadistic colonial/missionary “exploits” apart from the
episodes cited above. Akrong (2012:309) summarizes this perverted Eurocentrism and
problematic Christian ideology in a doctrine he terms 'Manifest Destiny'. According to Akrong:
Manifest Destiny as a doctrine can be described as the colonial ideology of
conquest that attempted to justify the invasive colonising enterprise on the basis
of an assumed metaphysical destiny imposed on Europeans by providence.
Actually, manifest ‘destiny’ is a quasi-theological rationalisation of the western
colonial enterprise. Despite the obvious economic and political motives for
colonialism, the doctrine of 'manifest destiny' theology of divine providence in
which Western Europe is presumed to have been given a divine mandate often
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described as-'the white man's burden' to civilise the world in anticipation of the
fulfilment of the kingdom of God.85
Slogar (2005) also raises similar concerns in his PhD thesis on how such undermining views
adversely influenced Western perceptions of Africans, which subsequently advanced the
imperialist designs to further “justify” white supremacy. He notes that:
G. A. Robertson, after visiting the “Kingdom of Qua” at “old Calabar,” essentially
called for its colonization in 1819: The remedy for this [Leopard Society
masquerade] and other disgusting traits in the African character is the introduction
of civilization, —the arts, conveniences, and comforts of civilized society; an
improvement in their morals and minds, both of male and female, must be the
necessary result.86
Such contestable Eurocentric doctrines led to many problems in Africa, some of which Gbolonyo
enumerates in his PhD thesis.87A recent example of such doctrines can be gleaned from Gilley’s
(2017) article The Case for Colonialism, which essentially advocates the recolonization of Africa
states.88 The article caused massive public outrage and criticism on social media and in the
academic community respectively, further compelling the whole editorial board (of Third World
Quarterly Journal) to resign.89 Other auxiliary journals and online repositories that subsequently
hosted Gilley’s controversial article on their academic platforms were compelled to take it down
following threats. The screenshots from Taylor and Francis webpage is self-explanatory.
85 See Abraham A. Akrong. African Traditional Religion and Christianity: Continuities and Discontinuities. In
Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi
Anyidoho. (Eds.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.309.
86 See Christopher Lawrence Slogar. Iconography and Continuity in West Africa: Calabar Terracottas and the Arts
of the Cross River Region of Nigeria/Cameroon. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Maryland, 2005, pp.87-88.
87 See Justice Stephen Kofi Gbolonyo. Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Values in Ewe Musical Practice: Their
Traditional Roles and Place in Modern Society. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Pittsburg, 2009, p.7.
88 Bruce Gilley (2017): The Case for Colonialism, Third World Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1369037
89 See also http://duckofminerva.com/2017/09/the-case-against-the-case-for-colonialism.html
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Figure 2.2 Withdrawal notice of Gilley (2017) article on Taylor and Francis webpage. 90
Figure 2.3 Resignation notice from editorial team of Third World Quarterly.91
90 Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436597.2017.1369037 (Accessed on 12/11/2017)
91 See also https://scroll.in/article/851305/third-world-quarterly-row-why-some-western-intellectuals-are-trying-to-
debrutalise-colonialism (Accessed on 01/12/2017).
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Colonialism, Fanon informs us, is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and
emptying the native's brain of all form and content. By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past
of the oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures, and destroys it. This work of devaluing pre-
colonial history takes on a dialectical significance today. When we consider the efforts made to
carry out the cultural estrangement so characteristic of the colonial epoch, we realize that nothing
has been left to chance and that the total result looked for by colonial domination was indeed to
convince the natives that colonialism came to lighten their darkness.92 J.A Hobson also linked the
scramble for Africa to capitalism and capitalist search for higher profits from colonial conquests.
For J.A. Schumpeter, in 1919, colonialism as well as its cause, imperialism, did not obey logic. It
was ''non-rational and irrational purely instinctual inclinations toward war and conquest'' that
guided ''objectless tendencies toward forcible expansion, without definite, utilitarian limits.''93
From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, the merging of the radical Christian theology and the
“Hobbesian-Hegelian” philosophical framework further propagated the pre-existing reasoning and
mode of presenting the historiography of African art by Eurocentric chroniclers, reporters, writers,
missionaries and “scholars”, some of whom never set foot on African soil or made any direct
observation of any African society whatsoever. Most of their works lacked factual support and
merely plagiarized from pre-existing reports, travelogues and ethnographic/anthropological field
notes of early writers. For instance, Pietz highlights the following observation:
Another index of the supreme success of Bosman's account is the frequency of its
plagiarization by subsequent eighteenth-century accounts. And while Labat's
famous 1730 account of Guinea claimed to rely mostly on Des Marchais, many of
the facts, interpretations and anecdotes about the Gold and Slave Coasts were
92 See Franz Fanon. Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press, 1963, p. 210.
93See V.Y. Mudimbe. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, Indianapolis:
Indiana University Press, 1988, pp.14-15.
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drawn from Bosman, whose acknowledgement tended to be avoided for reasons
of nationalism and colonial rivalry in the area. In 1743-47 there appeared the great
English collection of voyage accounts by Thomas Astley, who attempted a critical
edition of all the accounts in the earlier collections of Hakluyt, Purchas, and Harris.
In his preface, Astley justifies the need for such a critical edition because authors
so frequently copied or stole from each other, he writes, ''not excepting Bosman
himself''.94
Others simply concocted preposterous speculations and inaccurate accounts of African art and
customs, which are too implausible for discerning scholars to fathom, let alone integrate into a
rational philosophical discourse without critical examination. A typical example is the case of the
17th century English printer and bookseller Nathaniel Crouch who plagiarized and fabricated an
elaborate ''anthropology'' and “annals” about “West African history”, complete with “taxonomies”
and “illustrations”. Mayer summarizes Crouch’s “publication” in the paragraph below:
Nathaniel Crouch, operating under the pseudonyms Robert or Richard Burton,
adapted a number of genres for the young in his prolific plagiarising, reprinting
and remarketing of late seventeenth-century texts, including versions of Samuel
Crossman’s The Young Man’s Monitor (first published in 1664) as The Young
Man’s Calling (first published in 1685), Remarks upon the lives of Several
Excellent Young Persons of Both Sexes (1678) and Youth’s Divine Pastime
(1691).Crouch also published a companion specifically for apprentices, The
Apprentices Companion (1681). 95
Mayer also presents a description of Crouch’s annals:
Today I present some images I came across in a work Crouch published under the
name of R.B. entitled ‘The acquisitions in Guinea and East India’ (London, 1700).
As the full title reveals, this was an expansive work, which not only described the
new colonial possessions of an expanding British Empire but also offered accounts
of “Religion, Government, Trade, Marriages, Funerals, Strange Customs, &
others. Also, the Birds, Beasts, Serpents, Monsters and other Strange Creatures
found there. Intermixt with divers Accidents…Crouch did not shy away from gory
description, and indeed these may have contributed to the popularity of his
works.96
94 See William Pietz. Bosman's Guinea: The Intercultural Roots of an Enlightenment Discourse. In Comparative
Civilizations Review, 9(9), 1982, p.5.
95 See Edel Lamb. Youth Culture From: The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Culture in Early Modern
England. London: Routledge, 2014, p.37.
96 See Robert Mayer, ‘Nathaniel Crouch, Bookseller and Historian: Popular Historiography and Cultural Power in
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According to Brent, the woodcut illustrations of English Acquisitions are quite compelling, as they
center almost exclusively on depictions of “Monsters and other strange Creatures” that were
reported by travelers in the Indian Ocean region and coastal Africa. I suspect that most or all were
plagiarized from earlier accounts, a common practice of the era. Below are the images, intermixed
with extracts from Crouch’s accompanying text:
Illustration 2.3.1 In the single page on the left are illustrations of “Creatures” of “Guinea,” or West
Africa.97 In the double page on the right are more illustrations of “beasts” of Africa, accompanied
in true early modern fashion by an extract from the Roman poet Lucan.98
Late Seventeenth-Century England’, Eighteenth-Century Studies 27:3 (1994), 391–419.
97Source of illustration: visit https://benjaminpbreen.com/author/benjaminpbreen/page/6/ (Accessed on 27/04/2017)
98Source of illustration: visit https://benjaminpbreen.com/author/benjaminpbreen/page/6/ (Accessed on 27/04/2017)
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Here, the basis of Crouch's ''accounts'' clearly represents how early Eurocentric writers were
merely conjecturing to suit an already formed opinion of Africans. Crouch’s “armchair
speculation” is also highly symbolic of how some early Eurocentric chroniclers of African culture
fabricated and propagated fallacious claims to denigrate Africa as well as reinforce the notion of
the “dark continent”99 or “the white man's burden” as described in Akrong's “manifest destiny”
theory. It also discredits the methodologies some early European writers employed to gather and
interpret their accounts. As Plate (2005:12) cautions analytical philosophers:
Analytic philosophy is so different from empirical research; many entering
students distrust it or are puzzled by it. Its methods seem wholly speculative—
totally an affair of the armchair. And armchair speculation is not what is
encouraged in the empirical sciences; in fact, it is generally discouraged.
Kant (1781) also raises similar arguments in his philosophical discourse on similar issues. In The
Critique of Pure Reason, a chapter emphasizes the fact that the human intellect, even in an
unphilosophical state, is in possession of certain cognitions “a priori” essentially questions the
intellectual origins of “a priori” formulations. With Kant’s arguments in mind, let us briefly
examine Hegel’s a priori formulations. Hegel (2001: 22) in ‘The Philosophy of History’, ironically
postulates that:
The Philosophy of History means nothing but the thoughtful consideration of it.
Thought is, indeed, essential to humanity. It is this that distinguishes us from the
brutes. In sensation, cognition, and intellection; in our instincts and volitions, as far
as they are truly human, thought is an invariable element. To insist upon thought in
this connection with history may, however, appear unsatisfactory. In this science,
it would seem as if thought must be subordinate to what is given, to the realities of
fact; that this is its basis and guide: while Philosophy dwells in the region of self-
produced ideas, without reference to actuality. Approaching history thus
prepossessed, speculation might be expected to treat it as a mere passive material;
and, so far from leaving it in its native truth, to force it into conformity with a
tyrannous idea, and to construe it, as the phrase is, “à priori.”
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The Hegelian premise reminds the historian, who studies and observes over time that history
revolves around a cycle of conflict, a clash of ideas and “established truths”. Hegel’s “a priori”
premise of philosophizing through self-producing ideas without concrete field experience was
adopted by some European writers. It must be noted that Hegel was emphasizing logical reasoning
and systematic thought creation. He hints readers of the distinction of how the process of thought
creation and producing ideas in philosophy is not necessarily an applicable methodology in
Historiography. Hegel progresses in the philosophy of history by stating specifically that:
But as it is the business of history simply to adopt into its records what is and has
been — actual occurrences and transactions; and since it remains true to its
character in proportion as it strictly adheres to its data, we seem to have in
Philosophy, a process diametrically opposed to that of the historiographer (2001:
22).
The Hegelian premise of self-produced ideas explains some of the inaccuracies in early African
art annals as opposed to painstaking legwork, observation, studies and systematic research by some
other Europeans. The critical question here is, why did he write fabricated tales to propagate
derogatory perceptions about Africans without ever having set foot or making any direct field
observation on the African continent? Factual support is also totally absent in his claims about
Africans. Why did he also divorce Africa from world history in the same book in which he negates
'self-produced ideas'? According to Hegel's Eurocentric Philosophy of History, Africa is of no
consequence or substance in world civilization. He further explains that:
At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of
the World; it has no movement or development to exhibit. Historical movements in
it—that is in its northern part—belong to the Asiatic or European World. Carthage
displayed there an important transitionary phase of civilization; but, as a Phoenician
colony, it belongs to Asia. Egypt will be considered in reference to the passage of
the human mind from its Eastern to its Western phase, but it does not belong to the
African Spirit. What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical,
Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had
to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World’s History (2001:117).
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Considering the need for an Afrocentric idea in education, Kete-Asante presents key strategic ideas
in correcting distorted information in our educational curricula. Kete-Asante (2000:107) argues
that hegemonic education can only exist only so long as true and accurate information is withheld.
Hegemonic Eurocentric education can only exist so long as Whites maintain that Africans and
other non-Whites have never contributed to world civilization. Kete-Asante supports his theory by
citing an example in which he states that:
One cannot remain comfortable teaching that art and philosophy originated in
Greece if one learns that the Greeks themselves taught that the study of these
subjects originated in Africa, specifically ancient Kemet. The first philosophers
were Egyptians Kagemni, Khun-anup, Ptahhotep, Kete, and Seti; but Eurocentric
education is so disjointed that students have no way of discovering this and other
knowledge of the organic relationship of Africa to the rest of human history. Not
only did Africa contribute to human history, African civilizations predates all other
civilizations. Indeed, the human species originated on the continent of Africa—
this is true whether one looks at either archaeological or biographical evidence.100
Nkrumah (1964:153), before Kete-Asante, advanced the argument that:
The study of history too can be warped. The colonized African student, whose roots
in his own society are systematically starved of sustenance, is introduced to Greek
and Roman history, the cradle history of modern Europe, and he is encouraged to
treat his portion of the story of man together with the subsequent history of Europe
as the only worthwhile portion. This history is anointed with a universalist
flavouring which titillates the palate of certain African intellectuals so agreeably
that they become alienated from their own immediate society.
The truism in Nkrumah's theory is no doubt a great problem in history. This distinction in
methodology and mode of presentation helps scholars to clearly read in-between the lines of
fabricated scorn literature. On the foundations of the discrepancies in annals provided by “official”
and colonial records, it is possible to distinguish fact from fiction. It also grants African art history
scholars a fair opportunity to reconstruct the history of their arts prior to Eurocentric accounts.
100 See James A. Montmarquet and William H. Hardy. Reflections: An Anthology of African American Philosophy.
Belmont: Von Hoffman Press, 2000, pp. 107-108.
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As opposed to Europe's keen interest in African cultures and societies, some early Arab writers
simply expressed a total lack of interest in African affairs as demonstrated by Ibn Haukal, a 10th
century Arab writer. Haukal who simply did not see the need to write about Africans enquired that
''for how could I, a lover of wisdom, intelligence, religion, justice and an orderly government, take
notice of people like these or even honor them with the privilege of being written about''?101
Accordingly, Nkrumah in his ‘African Genius Speech’102 declared that:
Until recently the study of African history was regarded as a minor and marginal
theme within the framework of imperial history. The study of African social
institutions and cultures was subordinated in varying degrees to the effort to
maintain the apparatus of colonial power. In British institutes of higher learning,
for example, there was a tendency to look to social anthropologists to provide the
kind of knowledge that would help us to support the particular brand of colonial
policy known as indirect rule [...] African music, dancing and sculpture were
labelled 'primitive art'. They were studied in such a way as to reinforce the picture
of African society as something grotesque, as a curious, mysterious human
backwater, which helped to retard social progress in Africa and to prolong colonial
domination over its people.
While there has been considerable attention to the influence of voyage texts on the European
literary imagination, we are just beginning to take seriously the constitutive role of the problems
and categories that developed in early European colonial experience for the discourse and project
of Enlightenment discourse and theory.103
Admittedly, the specific records of the cultural and social history of the relationship between
African religions and Christianity can only be gleaned from letters and impressions of traders who
101 See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller. Soul of Africa: Magical Rites and Traditions. Maveville: Imprimerie
Jean Lamour. 1999, p.425.
102 See Nkrumah’s “The African Genius Speech.” In Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through
African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi Anyidoho. (Eds.). Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.909.
103 See William Pietz. Bosman's Guinea: The Intercultural Roots of an Enlightenment Discourse. In Comparative
Civilizations Review, 9(9), 1982, p.1.
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cared to document their impressions of the religions and the cultures they came to meet on the
West Coast of Africa [...] Generally, the Europeans saw the local cultures and religions as just
social arrangements and institutions from which they could seek help to survive in a strange land.
They ate the local food, married the local women, were treated by local medicine men and
herbalists, consulted traditional priests about spiritual matters, consulted local leaders about
political matters, and did so with profound due respect for the culture which provided them their
means of survival.104 A usual example is a “protective deity” for “safeguarding” the Europeans.
Ellis who did some “ethnographic studies” among the Anlo-Ewes reports that:
On the Gold Coast, nearly every sea-coast town, or village to which Europeans
have been in the habit of resorting for trade, has its ''Slayer of white men,'' but
there are no protectors of white men such as are found in Whydah in the gods
Dohen and Ajaruma, and formerly in Nabbaku; and whose existence may possibly
be accounted for by the great importance that is there attached to commerce. Of
these, Dohen brings ships and Englishmen to the English fort when that building
is empty, and protects Englishmen generally. He is worshipped in the fort, where
beans, and occasionally sheep and fowls, are offered to him. Ajaruma's sole
function is to protect Europeans: his shrine is in the English fort, and he is
represented by a tree and a clay pot. Nabbaku was a former protector of
Englishmen, who is now forgotten. He is described by Dalzel as ''the titular god of
the English fort in Whydah.''105
A critical mind would question why deities were created to ''protect'' the same Europeans who
were enslaving Africans all across the continent, pillaging and “raping” African land? Akrong
provides an explanation below:
One can describe this pre-colonial interaction between traditional religion and
culture as one of mutual accommodation based on means-end assessment of
advantages of survival. This type of relationship was possible because the earliest
European traders did not look down on Africans and their culture, rather, the
traders saw the local cultures as different but comparable life-worlds capable of
104 See Abraham A. Akrong. African Traditional Religion and Christianity: Continuities and Discontinuities. In
Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi
Anyidoho. (Eds.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.308.
105A.B Ellis. The Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws,
Languages. London: Chapman and Hall Limited, 1890, p.82.
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addressing human needs, particularly their own immediate needs. And indeed,
they used these cultural practices when they needed them. However, with the
advent of colonialism and Christian missions, this dominant relation of reciprocity
and mutual accommodation radically changed.106
As indicated by Akrong, the Europeans and Africans initially encountered each other on the terms
of relative equality and mutual understanding. However, the story narrated below captures some
of the dramatic turn of events following the clash of civilizations in Denu. The Danes who were
then colonial settlers in Anlo-Ewe land had instigated a war between the Anlo-Ewes in Keta and
Anloga as a result of the reckless actions of the Danish Governor who shot and killed Chief Degani
for a minor “transgression”. The people of Keta who secretly sought military alliance with
neighbouring Anloga staged a “pretend battle” in order to secure more firearms from the Danes
for a later revenge attack to punish them (the Danes) for the murder of Chief Degani. The Danes
learnt about the “battle” between the people of Anloga and their “new enemies” and supplied
firearms with the hope that blood relations would fight and kill one another. The Danes were
unaware of the secret military designs until an unexpected incident foiled the “pretend battle”. A
section from Dietrich’s PhD thesis captures the aftermath of such colonial interferences:
One Keta resident accidentally shot an Anloga resident; within the chaos of the
moment, a battle between the two groups ensued […] While war was brewing
among former brethren, Chief Degani’s paternal nephew (or brother, depending
on the account), Sape Agbo, was still angered by the financial compensation for
his uncle’s loss of life. With revenge in mind, he ultimately killed one Dane at
Agorko, which is at the boundary between Aflao and Klikor, near Denu, on the
slave route at the juncture separating Denu from the Keta district. Sape Agbo was
able to accomplish this feat by climbing up one of the seven royal palms (now
three remain) located at Agorko on the route that colonial administrators, slavers,
and the enslaved passed. He waited patiently with his cutlass until the time came
when a Danish officer (or the governor himself, depending on the account), passed
106 See Abraham A. Akrong. African Traditional Religion and Christianity: Continuities and Discontinuities. In
Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi
Anyidoho. (Eds.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.308.
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by the palms, being carried by African servants on top of a hammock for his
comfort. Upon seeing the Dane, Sape Agbo descended rapidly from the palm,
frightening the carriers away. When his Anlo bodyguards ran for their own
protection, the Dane was killed and his dead body became a sacrificial offering
and sign of community power used to complete Xedzranovawor’s DuLegba.107
Figure 2.4 A shot of Sape Agbo’s protective Du-Legba, Denu-Hedzranawo.108
Du-Legba are invariably named, and serve to protect the town from all external evil in the form of
malevolent spirits and disease. In fishing towns, such as Anlo-Afiadenyigba, they also ensure a
regular source of fish for the towns people, protect the men from drowning, and provide general
protection for children and women. Powerful medicinal and sacred herbs (ama), and in some cases,
107 It was the Danish governor himself, the one who killed the Keta leader Tɔgbui Degani, that was passing on that
day; archival sources imply that it was a lower-ranked Danish officer (ADM 39/1/237). Amenumey notes that the
agent Dane may have been referred to as “Sagbadre” (meaning swallow) Colonial documents refer to the story as
cited. See Christina M. Dietrich. Spirit Messengers, Divine Encounters: Practitioner Inhabitants of the Anlo-Ewe
Spirit World. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of California, 2012, p.115.
108 Ibid. p.116.
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humans, are buried under them and give the Du-Legba their power.109 Such episodes give readers
a glimpse into the power relations between colonial power and colonized subjects. It also provides
an overview of how the colonial encounter influenced or affected certain religious experiences in
Anloland.
2.4 Summary of Discussion
The first section of the review concludes by stressing the often-neglected relationship between
anthropology viz-a-viz colonial psychology and how it is apparently trivialized in modern
anthropological scholarship. Fortunately, Marxists still insist that issues relating to unequal power
struggles and class differences must constantly be taken into consideration in modern scholarship.
Writers in the Marxist tradition write from a decidedly partisan point of view and their view of the
public for art is also a political one. Writers on art have, of course, always recognised that
spectators come in many different forms. But, traditionally, it was standard practice to differentiate
only between those (well-educated and leisured) who were well able to appreciate artistic quality
and the supposedly ‘philistine’ masses. Marxists with their radically anti-elitist political stance will
have nothing to do with this, of course. They have urged consistently that spectators should be
understood not by their supposed greater or lesser degree of awareness of a timeless canon of
values but as interested agents within a social whole that is radically divided along class lines. 110A
quote from Assad’s study on Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter underscores this notion:
We have been reminded time and again by anthropologists of the ideas and ideals
of the Enlightenment in which the intellectual inspiration of anthropology is
109 See Cudjoe 1971:191; Cudjoe-Calvocoressi 1974:55) in Michelle V. Gilbert, Mystical Protection Among the Anlo-
Ewe, African Arts, 15(4),1982, pp.60-66+90.
110 Michael Hate and Charlotte Klonk. Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods. Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2006. pp.121.
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supposed to lie. But anthropology is rooted in unequal power encounter between
the West and Third world which goes back to the emergence Bourgeois Europe,
an encounter in which colonialism is merely one historical moment. It is this
encounter that gives the West access to cultural and historical information about
the societies it has progressively dominated, and thus not only generates a certain
kind of universal understanding, but also re-enforces the inequalities in capacity
between the European and the non-European worlds (and derivatively, between
the Europeanized elites and the ‘traditional’ masses in the Third World)111.
Assad’s observation is a reflection of how anthropologists stationed in Africa failed to recognize
colonialism and Eurocentrism as a conflict of interest. Anthropology, since its inception, has,
through critical studies, proven to be theoretically constrained and tainted with its complicity with
imperialism and the colonial agenda. The relationship of how early anthropological studies is
intertwined with colonial religious indoctrination has also been essentially undermined to some
extent. At the core of this veiled colonial machinery were European “missionaries” who were
laying the groundwork to reinforce such imperialistic mechanisms. Hence, the colonial encounter
and its impact on the negative perceptions of African art scholarship has necessitated renewed
authorship within the discipline. Assad notes:
Quite apart from the moral objections, ulterior use of the anthropologist’s position
to support colonialism or the CIA is dangerous for the development of the
discipline.112
Such ideological positions were extended into colonial educational structures in African
institutions within Nkrumah’s government. Nkrumah’s long-standing campaign against
colonialism made him poised to critically assess African educational structures through the lens of
colonialism and imperialism. This is perhaps one of the academic concerns which contributed to
111 See Talal Assad (Ed.) Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter. London: Ithaca Press, 1975, p.16.
112 Ibid. p.31.
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the many other reasons why he approved the dismissal of four American professors from the
University of Ghana, Legon during his regime.113 He will later avow:
Not all the ramparts of colonialism have yet fallen. Some still stand, though
showing gaping rents from the stormy onslaughts that have been made against
them. And we who have battled our way to independence shall not stand quiet until
the last stronghold of colonialism has been laid to the ground in Africa.114
In summary, early European “anthropologists” proved to be apologists of colonialism by
producing propaganda texts principally in defense of white “supremacy” and African “inferiority.”
Operating under the pretext of being “participant observers”, they were in effect clandestine agents
in cahoots with colonial governments to generate primary texts in order to understand the social
organization of Africans, merely for the purposes of furthering the colonial agenda to keep their
colonies perpetually subjugated—in the process, alienating the colonial peoples from their culture
and also deluding them into perceiving everything of theirs (particularly religion and art) as
“inferior”, “barbarous”, “primitive” and “fetish”.
2.5 Critical Perspectives of Primary European Accounts of African Art:
A Case Against African ''Primitivism'' and ''Fetishism''
Controversial debates and contradictions surrounding primary European accounts of African art is
an over-flogged issue in several intellectual discussions. Revisionist African art studies welcomed
a new generation of art historians who sought to develop a new study approach. Among these
113The four American professors also turned out to be CIA spies. See David Rooney. Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and
Tragedy. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 1988, p. 276.
114 See Kwame Nkrumah. Africa Must Unite. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc, 1963, p.x.
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revisionist scholars were Robin Poynor, Roy Sieber, Rene Bravmann, Robert Farris-Thompson
and Herbert Cole. These revisionist art historians pushed the boundaries of modern scholarship by
adopting new research methodologies and presentation of facts. Credit must be given to several
other scholars who adopted a rather dignified approach, to correct the corrosive views of African
culture prevailing in academia at the time.115 The researcher has subsequently followed the
revisionist school of thought because African art is still being bashed by some Westerners as ''third-
rate'' art in present times. This issue is still an on-going discourse in academia, as such, this section
seeks to also contribute to this raging debate.
One principal term falsely ascribed to African art in early European annals is “primitive”. The
term “primitive” originally referred to something primal, the earliest, or a basic quality as in the
basic developmental stage of humanity or primates. But over the centuries, the term “primitive”
has been politicized, demonized and has gradually assumed aggressive and derogatory
connotations with particular reference to things African or non-Western.116 As noted by Grof
(2000):
By pathologizing holotropic states of consciousness, Western science has
pathologized the entire spiritual history of humanity. It assumed a disrespectful and
arrogant attitude toward spiritual, ritual, and cultural life of pre-industrial societies
throughout the centuries, as well as spiritual practice of people in our own society.
In this view, of all the human groups in history only the intellectual elite of Western
civilization that subscribes to monistic materialism of Western science has an
accurate and reliable understanding of existence. All those who do not share this
view are seen as primitive, ignorant, or deluded. 117
115 See Edward Jesse Shaw. Ethnography of the Howard School: Art of Agency, of Resistance and Syncretism.
Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Florida, 2011, p.164.
116 See Rowland Abiodun. Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2014, p.9.
117 See Stanislav Grof. Psychology of the Future: Lessons of Modern Conscious Research. New York: State University
of New York Press, 2000, p.155.
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Hackett discusses the context of “primitivism” in her article by citing Blier, who maintains:
'Primitive' and 'primitivism' have been virtually expunged from anthropology but
they are not far from art history (Blier 1990:95f.). African art is still portrayed as
primary or primeval, and static, even deviant. Many of the best collections of
African art are still to be found in natural and cultural history museums (such as
the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C Smithsonian Institution,
and the Museum of Mankind in London).118
A current real-world example of how these negative projections remain actively in circulation is
demonstrated by US-based dance artist-scholar, Dr S. Ama Wray, who reprimanded Dr. Peter
Keller, President of The Bowers Museum, after she attended an exhibition opening. Carol
Beckwith and Angela Fisher’s poorly-worded captions in the photo exhibition titled, African
Twilight: Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies, apparently portrayed African cultural practices in a
negative light. To quote from Dr. Wray’s letter:
As regards the captioning, much of the cultural activity was ascribed to something
called “voodoo” – voodoo is a term created and defined by Euro-Americans to
portray Africans as a people whose practices are deviant and dangerous. This is
outdated language, it is inaccurate and inflammatory, leading to false assumptions
and stereotypes that are not educational in any way. In addition, the captions also
make overt negative use of other words with equally derogatory associations —
‘fetish’, ‘sorcerer’ and ‘magical.’ Largely speaking, the western worldview chooses
not to relate to African religious practices on par with its own, therefore it
objectifies others, constantly exploiting and exoticizing them. Such labeling as
found in this exhibition is detrimental to African and African descended people
worldwide being respected. I would like to work with the Bowers Museum to
change this perpetual diminution of African people’s cultures and bring a team of
experts together to help you do this.119
118 Blier quoted in Rosalind I. J. Hackett. Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections. In Journal
of Religion in Africa, 24(4), 1994, p.296.
See George W. K. Dor. Exploring Indigenous Interpretive Frameworks in African Music Scholarship: Conceptual
Metaphors and Indigenous Ewe Knowledge in the Life and Work of Hesino Vinorkor Akpalu. In Black Music
Research Journal, 35(2), 2015, p.23.
119 Personal communication with Dr. S. Ama Wray (3rd Spetember, 2019). To see the ‘deviant representation’ of
African art and cultural practices accompanied by derogatory terminologies (e.g. “fetish”, “voodoo”, “sorcerer”), refer
to Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher’s exhibition titled: African Twilight: Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies at the
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To counter Westerners' assumptions, and to place the issue in its proper context, some considerable
degree of criticism has been levelled against Nkrumah by a few scholars.120 Nkrumah is “accused”
of regurgitating “racist” anthropological terms for having used “primitive” in reference to West
Africans in his autobiography and other works. To this effect, I have noted in the introductory
section to this discussion, the non-politicized meaning of the word “primitive” which simply
connotes “basic”, “earliest”, “fundamental” etc. Notice how Nkrumah’s presentation is to an extent
contextually depoliticized in comparison to that of Freud (and several other Western scholars).
Nkrumah states:
The education of the child, therefore, began seriously from the cradle. From the
investigation and experiments in the field of psychology of learning by men like
Mobius, Thorndike, Yerkes, Sackett, and Keeler, we know that learning is a slow
and gradual process. The primitive mind of the West African grasped this fact long
ago—hence the education of the child began very early in his life […] Primitive
West Africa was able to carry on its culture chiefly through its secret societies.
These organizations acquired their nature from the mysteries and mysticism that
surrounded the primitive folk, and were the media of primitive education.
(Nkrumah, 1941:88-90)121
Freud (1913:17), on the other hand, makes the following remarks about the Aborigines of
Australia:
The Australian Aborigines are regarded as a distinct race, showing neither physical
nor linguistic relationship with their nearest neighbours, the Melanesian,
Polynesian and Malayan peoples. They do not build houses or permanent shelters;
they do not cultivate the soil […] they are not even acquainted with the art of
pottery […] The tribes[sic] in the interior of the continent, who have to struggle
against the harshest conditions of existence as a result of the scarcity of water,
appear to be more primitive in all respects than those living near the coast
Bowers Musem, Santa Ana, California, July 7, 2018 – January 6, 2019. For more information on this exhibition see:
https://carolbeckwith-angelafisher.com/african-twilight-vanishing-rituals-ceremonies/ (Accessed on 20/08/2019).
120 E.g. Ayi Kwei Armah, Ali Marzrui etc.
121 Kwame Nkrumah. “Primitive Education in West Africa,” Educational Outlook 11(2), 1941, pp. 89-90.
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Such forceful oversimplifications by Freud raise intellectual arguments about how the Aborigines
coped with nature and their immediate environment. Which implements did they employ to
perform survival tasks as farming, cooking, eating, drinking, storing water, herbs, medicine, potion
and beverages (considering the epoch in which they were “discovered”)? Evolutionary psychology
and fundamental logical reasoning aptly implies that, scarcity of water will necessitate the
mechanics of creating implements and receptacles to store water with its slightest availability.
Since its inception as an academic discipline, social anthropology has been conceived and treated
basically as the study of non-European peoples by Europeans and Euro-Americans. Specifically,
it has been regarded as the study of ‘primitive’ or ‘backward’ peoples by the “advanced, civilized
Europeans and Americans.” This has affected its language and outlook. It has led, on the one hand,
to a rather condescending attitude by its practitioners towards peoples forming its subject matter
[…] From the early 1930s to the 1960s when the principal ethnographic works on the continent of
Africa were published, the earlier view of Africa as the dark continent inhabited by savages,
cannibals, and heathens was to be changed.122 Thomas Jefferson, for instance, had the effrontery
of denying blacks a capacity for art or poetry. In Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (Paris,
1784), there is the following astonishing observation:
Never yet could I find that a black man had uttered a thought above the level of
plain narration; never saw even an elementary trait of painting or sculpture […]
At this point, it must be brought to the fore that the varied “theories” and “historiographies” of
African art by Western writers were originally mere hypotheses and wild speculations respectively.
Such speculations about African artistic capabilities have reverberated over the centuries in art
journals, travelogues, anthropological annals, voyage texts, and “scholarly” texts, with such a
122 See G.K Nukunya. Insider Anthropology: The Case of the Anlo-Ewe. Etnofoor, Jaarg, 7(1), 1994, pp.25.
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questionable authority that they have been accepted by some mainstream “art historians” as
“fundamental truths” in the scholarly domain. Indeed, not only does the notion of “primitive”
persist, but other inexact terminologies used in describing African art are still pervasive in Euro-
Western art historical scholarship, exhibition catalogues, presentations and museum labeling of
African art. Labels such as “pagan”, “fetish”, “tribal”, “ethnographic'', “objects” are still
widespread in Euro-Western African art academies. The etymologies of the variant designations
used in describing African art have similar chauvinistic and denigrating connotations as with the
word “primitive”. Upon “discovery” by Europeans, African art was barely recognized as art due
to ignorance and phobic prejudice. Religious sculptures were tagged as “demonic” and
“idolatrous”. Feminine statuettes were simply classified as “fertility symbols”. According to Miller
(2001:263),
Museum collections of art from primitive [sic] societies routinely label almost every
item a fertility god, an ancestral figure, a fetish, or an altarpiece. Until recently,
archeologists routinely described every Late Paleolithic statue of a naked woman as
either a "goddess" or a "fertility symbol." Usually, there is no evidence supporting
such an interpretation. It would be equally plausible to call them "Paleolithic
pornography."
Gradually, African artworks were tagged as “rare objects” and “curiosities” interchangeably.
Gerbrands (1990:14) gives art historians a glimpse of how African art was perceived:
The great craftsmanship of most of the objects also generated much appreciation.
Souvenirs that did not fit in the well-known spectrum of everyday life, however, were
quickly labelled “Curio or “rarity” and were proudly displayed by Kings and
noblemen in their cabinets of curiosities.
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Below are some examples of “cabinets of curiosity”:
Figure 2.5 Left: Josef Herman, the polish-British artist, at his home in London.123 Right: Helena
Rubenstein poses by her curio cabinet.124
The status of African art remained undecided for centuries until they were termed “art objects” by
Victorian European writers. After the “discovery” of African art by artists like Picasso, Matisse
and others, the status of African art was upgraded, making their way into art museums under the
guise of “art objects”. Typically, the research methods through which African art was first
documented have largely been neglected in modern scholarship.
An interesting and observable fact that occurred during the European “exploration” and
“documentation expeditions” of the African continent is that many got lost and shipwrecked in the
123 Source of image: https://vincebevan.photoshelter.com/image/I0000ZYa02chIMzs (Accessed on 16/10/2017)
124Source of image: http://www.theblogazine.com/2014/11/beauty-is-power-in-the-life-of-helena-rubinstein/
(Accessed on 16/10/2017)
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process. As demonstrated by Ibn Battuta's reports and the accounts of other explorers, the
geographical expertise of the Arabs was far superior to that of their European counterparts. This
situation remained basically unchanged until the end of the 18th century.125 A typical example is
the case of David Livingstone (1813-73) who undertook several expeditions, the first of which he
was on in 1849 [...] Often ill or suffering from total exhaustion, he had to be carried along some
stretches of the journey, several times suffering life-threatening conditions. He eventually went
missing, presumed dead like so many before him, whereupon the New York Herald sent its best
reporter, Henry Morton Stanley, to Africa to look for him.126 Some Europeans who got lost in their
exploration and colonial expeditions were compelled to report on the 'ethnography', 'anthropology'
and art as a result of curiosity and boredom. An example is the case of the Dutch explorers who
reported on the Khoikhoins as a pastime when they got shipwrecked on the coast of the southern
cape of Africa. These are classical examples of “shipwrecked crew turned historiographers”, “lost
explorers turned anthropologists” and “missionaries turned ethnographers”. Dapper and his fellow
Dutch “scholars” present a brief description of their “accurate accounts” of the artistic and creative
abilities of the Khoinkhoins in the Southern African region:
You might as well look for jewels in a sty as for art in this degraded people.
Since however they wear skins sewn together with needle, they cannot be
absolutely said to be without arts and crafts. Their needles are of iron (for
they have mines and, as I guess, very rich ones) or of ivory, and for thread
they use sinews of animals. They shave their hair skillfully with sharp
razors, whence it follows that they are acquainted not only with the tailor’s
and barber’s craft, but also with that of the smith. Hence, they are provoked
to a certain flattering conceit of themselves, although in truth they are rude
creatures with no tincture of any arts except the humblest (Dapper et al.,
1668: 157).
125 See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller. Soul of Africa: Magical Rites and Traditions. Maveville: Imprimerie
Jean Lamour, 1999, p.425.
126Ibid. p.427.
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Gravenbroeckii, on the other hand, asserts:
There are no arts and no crafts here, and no hired workers, every man is the
designer and maker of his own equipment, they have no books, no writing;
everything is plunged in an ignorance darker than Cimmerian night (Dapper
et al., 1668:318).
The sharp disparity in the presentation of their “facts” denigrates and obscures rather than inform
scholars and art historians. These inconsistencies are very common in European annals, which
were purporting to provide “accurate accounts” of African art and visual culture in general.
Lévy Bruhl is one of the founding fathers of French anthropology in the early 20th century. It was
Lévy Bruhl who used the term “primitive” to describe how the ideas of ''pre-modern'' people
differed from the ideas of “modern” people. Unlike Durkheim, Lévy Bruhl was more interested in
the “pre-modern” societies and tried to explain this contrast between the “modern” and “pre-
modern” in various works including the influential book called How the Natives Think (1910). In
this book, Lévy Bruhl tended to stress the difference between what he called “primitive” people
and “modern” people as a way of understanding social relations, social rituals and social
categories. However, other anthropologists and scholars were more interested in structural
similarities between “pre-modern” and “modern” cultures and they disliked the word
“primitive”—they simply rejected that term. They wanted to think in more comparative structural
terms. Some of these cross-cultural analytical scholars were Clifford Geertz, Marcel Mauss and
Claude Levis-Strauss.127 These scholars together with others advanced several intellectual ideas in
sharp contrast with the “primitive” school of thought—one of the most compelling intellectual
127See Lloyd Kramer. The Great Courses: European Thought and Culture in the 20th Century. Retrieved from:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/european-thought-and-culture-in-the-20th-century.html (Accessed on
26/10/2016)
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movements being “anarcho-primitivism.”Anarcho-primitivism pushes the boundaries of the
prevalent discourse by rejecting civilization entirely, and proposes in its place some sort of
primitive or feral community, most popularly some sort of hunter-gatherer society. John Zerkan is
considered one of the leading theoreticians of such an anarchism in the United States, and in his
enlarged edition, Against Civilization (of an anthology initially published in 1999), he assembled
a variety of readings that evoke, elucidate and defend its essential elements.128
Geertz addresses the fact that anthropology traditionally looked at so-called “primitive” art as
something exotic and not being in the same category as the “fine art” of Western civilisations.
Geertz also argues that although the aesthetic framework in which the so-called “primitive”
societies work are not the same as the aesthetic framework of Western art, the meanings certain
techniques or forms and objects have, are the same. Artworks in “primitive” art are not just random
contingent objects, but follow strict rules and aesthetic standards in the same way that Western art
submits to certain standards and rules in order to fit into certain genres. As noted by Ehrenzweig,
from a psychoanalytic perspective:
The psychoanalytic concept of creative sublimation implies that the highest human
achievement should be linked very directly with what is lowest and most primitive
in ourselves […] once we have accepted the dynamic model of creative
sublimation which psycho-analysis has introduced, we can only expect that the
most sublime be joined by a short-circuit with what is most debased in human
nature. Nothing else will do, and squeamish readers who cannot bear such
juxtapositions should keep away from depth psychology. Primitive
undifferentiation turns into an instrument of high efficiency. 129
128See John Zerkan (Ed.) Against Civilization. Los Angeles: Feral House, 2005.
129See Anton Ehrenzweig. The Hidden Order of Art: A Study in the Psychology of Artistic Imagination. California:
University of California Press, 1971, p.129.
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Geertz, like Gell, contends that the work of art should be studied from within the local knowledge
of the cultural system from which it emerges (Geertz 1983: 97). Geertz agrees with Henri Matisse,
that “the means of art and the feeling for life that animates it are inseparable (Geertz 1983: 98).”
By placing art within the local knowledge system, the collective ways in which a certain group of
people define “social relationships, [sustain] social rules and [strengthen] social values” are made
visible (Geertz 1983: 99).130
2.6 Summary of Discussion
While the intention of Westerners to “document” African religious practices is commendable, their
racist, supremacist and condescending attitude associated with their efforts are flawed in scholarship.
The psychological and philosophical perspectives of these discussions have addressed the various
contradictions, fabrications and inaccurate notions associated with the early European accounts of
African art. It also covered their modes of presentation as well. Over the centuries, there has been
a vain effort by Westerners to reject Africa’s contribution to world history in the discipline of art.
Some Western “art historians” and “aestheticians” over the ages have propounded faulty premises
to discredit the attempts of other art historians (usually of African descent) who challenge such
biased historiographies presented in this section.
130 Allen provides an extended discussion on this subject in her Masters dissertation. See Rika Allen. The
Anthropology of Art and the Art of Anthropology - A Complex Relationship. Unpublished M.A Thesis, University
of Stellenbosch, 2008, pp.19-20.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
There is a close link between research methodology and theoretical framework and vice versa.
This close link particularly becomes more vital during critical aspects of field studies and data
processing. Relying on such basic principles of field research, my research questions, interviews,
focus group discussions, active participation and general data collection procedures and
approaches were guided and shaped by the theoretical framework established for this research in
Chapter One.
Over the last six years, I have been researching into the arts of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion to attain
a full grasp of its rudimentary philosophies. Apart from desk research, one of the responsibilities
of this position is to do direct field observation, participate and actively engage with the artists and
practitioners of the Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion respectively. This is where practical findings from
the field are meant to complement the theories from authorities and critical perspectives by experts
in a given discipline. As a result, field studies granted me the opportunity to research and learn
more about my identity, race, spirituality, religion, art, traditions, history and the social
anthropology of the Ewes in a much broader sense. A bulk of this information cannot merely be
studied from books or academic journals alone, it is enshrined in the Ewe societies. This
opportunity placed me in a very unique position to successfully conduct this research as an Ewe
scholar, curator and multidisciplinary artist. Through the entire learning process, I also discovered
that exposure to the religious aesthetics and ceremonies of the Anlo-Ewe people gives my life
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more meaning and value. Generally, this phenomenal learning experience has also complemented
and significantly enhanced my overall thesis and professional artistic practice.
3.2 Data Collection and Data Instruments
The research began through questioning, by questioning Anlo-Ewe elders. Simple questions like,
what do you consider art in Vodu shrines? What does this or that artistic expression imply in sacred
Vodu spaces? What are the spiritual dimensions of Anlo-Ewe Vodu sculptures? What is the role
of this or that Vodu artist? What is the significance of this body art or that scarification on Anlo-
Ewe Vodu devotees? What is the notion of Anlo-Ewe Vodu religious aesthetics? Why do outsiders
and non-Vodu initiates fear Anlo-Ewe Vodu art? I was exceptionally curious and it yielded very
good results. Making use of the answers and feedback I got from these basic questions I asked then
led me on to discover other new and bigger philosophical questions. This subsequently guided my
data collection process. My data collection process was also driven through artistic research
methods mainly through “the Artist as a researcher” approach. Throughout my data collection
process, I didn’t only engage my research associates in interviews and focus group discussions, I
was fully immersed in the creative process. Artistic research methods are slightly different from
the research methods employed by social scientists. Artistic research methods require you to
engage in an activity or an experience which is usually the creative process itself to get a better
understanding of the kind of art you’re researching into. Practice-based learning helped me to gain
more knowledge and experience for a deeper understanding of Vodu art.
Doing an ethnographic study requires the researcher to go to the field (village, market, town square,
streets) or where people thrive to engage in practical field work. The descriptive approach of the
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qualitative research method was employed in this exploratory field research. Collecting
ethnographic data was done, principally, through interviews, participant observation, studying
critical texts. The research instruments included Canon 70D DSL camera, microphone, Sony audio
recorder, iMac, tripod, iPad, iPhone, and an external hard drive and monetary inducements and
honoraria for respondents, facilitators and field assistants. Participating in the religious rites and
activities of the people generally stimulated a broader understanding of the socio-cultural
philosophies of Anlo-Ewe Vodu art.
Figure 3.0 Researcher participating in the communal drinking of sacred Aliha at the sacred grove
of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Research Assistant.
Figure 3.1 Focus group discussion with Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali and important members of
Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine, Torgodo, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
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The participant observation I engaged in began through broad descriptive observations, which later
shifted to focused observation and finally narrowed down to selective observations and active
participations in Vodu ceremonies, performances, rituals and the spiritual creative process. I
essentially conducted field studies by collecting primary data through the observer as participant
method. The field studies also involved more experiential learning, active inquiry, discussions,
cooperation, less-structured interviews, and building rapport with the respondents. Every
ethnographer makes use of what people say during interviews, conversations, and informal
interactions but anything respondents say must be subjected to cross-verification. During my less-
structured interviews and focus group discussions, my respondents were mostly the ones doing the
talking while I did most of the listening. I had engaged in several other formal and informal
interactions and did some great listening to that effect. The feedback generated from my research
associates during interviews were triangulated and cross-checked through a few other valid
sources. Other data gathering activities included audio recordings, video recordings, high-
resolution photography, note-taking and sketching. In the initial stages of my observation, so many
actions, activities, performances, rites and ceremonies arrested my attention but with time and
through extended visits, my attention span was only able to focus on specific sites and activities.
Gender Number of Number of Number Number of Number of Number of Percentage
Vodu cultural of Vodu academics Vodu Non-Vodu (%)
spiritual bearers and devotees artists and adherents, According
leaders activists “formally spiritual to gender
educated leaders, artists distribution
“artists and academics.
MALE 25 25 45 35 30 15 47.2%
FEMALE 10 30 80 20 45 20 55.4%
TOTAL 35 55 125 55 75 25
Table 3.1.2 Gender distribution of key respondents (they primarily included Vodu Priests, Priestesses,
Spirit Mediums, Psychic Healers, Mystics, Chiefs, Queen Mothers, Community Elders, Academics
and Artists).
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Figure 3.2 Researcher interacting with Dumegawo (community elders) in Dzogadze, Volta Region
(2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
Several authorities were consulted, interviewed and greatly relied upon to collect, document and
analyse all the findings generated in this study. Among some of the prominent Vodu Priests,
diviners, and spirit mediums were Tɔgbui Naza Kudese, Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali, Hutᴐ Abinga
Tɔgbui Dzokpoto, Prof Kwasi Dunyo, Tɔgbui Amedaxo “Dictionary” Sodo Atoklo, Tɔgbui
Humali II, Tɔgbui Sowordo Goku, Tɔgbui Dawubo Gbadagba, Tɔgbui Nuwordor, Tɔgbui Agagli
Asipodi, Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo, Komfo Bakai, Amegashie Fiakomeshie, Vodushie Yevugah,
Amegashi Ablorshie, Amegashie Losu, Christopher Voncudjovi, Nana Baffuor et cetera. Some
politcal authorities and cultural bearers include Tɔgbui Addo VIII (Chief of Klikor), Mama
Adzorhlor III (Queen Mother of Dagbamete), and Tɔgbui Klu Agudzeamegah II (Chief of
Dagbamete).
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Figure 3.3 Researcher in a meditative mood (while participating as a performer) during a Brékété
worship ceremony. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
Some of the artists who were engaged to broaden my understanding of certain key discussions in
various aspects of this research include Brékété performers, Koku performers, Wiz Kudowor,
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Tɔgbui Kofi Agorsor, Nyonuwofia Agorsor, Sami Bentil, Victor
Ehikhamnor, Noble Kunyegbe, Kli-Adzima Xanukplᴐwo. Apart from educational resources and
academic guidance from my supervisors, several academics, educational authorities were
personally consulted. A few of the scholars I formally and informally interacted with in order to
expand ideas in the study include, Dr. Obadele Kambon, Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, Mawlana Sheikh
Mohammadu Mahy Cisse,131 Shokola Mori, Prof. Ablade Glover, Meera Venkatachalam, Prof. Birgit
Meyer and other scholars. This is not in anyway an exhaustive list as it mostly includes persons who
significantly contributed in one way or another to the data generated from the field or for studies
131Spiritual Father of the Tariqa Tijaniyya Sufi Order headquarted in Kaolack, Senegal
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especially those directly cited in the text. All interviews, unless noted, were conducted between
February 2014 and May 2018.
Through experience and the need to narrow in on key research associates and spiritual authorities
to collect specific data, my participation and observation skills became very selective. It was
geared exactly towards what I wanted to document and what was directly relevant to my study.
One efficient strategy to this approach was identifying primary social situations and locations to
do my participant observation. This involved attending and participating in several Vodu festivals,
ceremonies, performances, spirit mediumship sessions, and the spiritual creative process.
Diagram 3.3.1 Diagram showing the three stages of participant observation.132
Using the details of the cumulative data gathered from the field observations and interviews, data
and the learning experience can be analyzed through Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle. Doing
practical fieldwork usually got me involved in performing various ethnographic tasks, observation
132 Source of diagram: See James P. Spradley. Participant Observation. Florida: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
1980, p. 34.
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and participation in activities such as establishing new friendships, eating new meals, drumming,
dancing, watching Anlo-Ewe Vodu ceremonies, interviewing respondents, filming,
photographing, audio recording, drawing and taking field notes. Apart from all these, I participated
in a few rites, ceremonies, rituals, creative works and other activities to learn and fully grasp their
deeper aspects. These community engagements were very beneficial to elicit complex and deeper
meanings encoded in language, symbolism, abstraction, psychology and performative actions. The
bulk of the deeper core information I uncovered was stored in the language. Language was a great
tool for navigating the complex interconnected philosophy of Anlo-Ewe Vodu art. Being an insider
Anlo-Ewe artist, my ability to speak and effectively communicate with key respondents as well as
research assistants proved to be my greatest advantage in conducting this research successfully.
It must be stressed that being able to study and understand a culture through its language does not
completely purge generalizations, skewed opinions, factual inaccuracy, historical errors or blind
assumptions. The added advantage here is that language reduces the chances of these occurrences
to a considerable degree which makes progress of the research rather smooth and effective. It must
be further emphasized, however, that, being able to speak and understand Ewegbe was not
necessarily what opened so many opportunities for me that would otherwise be denied to an
outsider anthropologist. My proficiency can be attributed to a number of advantageous factors.
Quite a few priests and spirit mediums were my relatives and most of my key respondents were
either acquaintances or good friends of my relatives who were generally supportive in my
intellectual and spiritual journey. The principal locations of where I conducted my main fieldwork
(Klikor, Torgodo, Woe (Keta), Afiadenyigba and Dagbamete) are neighboring villages of where I
hail from (Atiteti). Another crucial factor that actually made some of my respondents earn my trust
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and respect was the fact that my late paternal grandfather was the Chief of Atiteti. Some of the
respondents, priests and devotees I interviewed actually knew him personally during his reign.
There was even a coincidence in which one respondent from Afiadenyigba affirmed that she sold
royal Kete to my grandfather on a number of occasions. In such instances, the attitude of my
respondents towards me was generally appreciable respect and great admiration for my rare and
keen interest in Vodu arts. I also personally knew some of the oral historians, sage philosophers,
and local researchers like the late Dale Massiasta who was my father’s classmate and research
collaborator, introduced to me during my high school days. Massiasta was a leading sage
philosopher and reliable researcher in Vodu matters.133 The areas I conducted the field studies
were very familiar terrains and I personally knew my bearing around most of the primary sites for
data collection. I was home.
Figure 3.4 Researcher in a shot with the High Priest of Mama Vena Shrine, Tɔgbui Nuwordu,
Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor Volta Region (2016). Photography by Research Assistant.
133Dale Massiasta, known in private life as Samson Kwaku Azameti, was the founder of the now defunct Blakhud
Research Center at Klikor of which my father, Dr. Mawuli Adjei, was a co-director.
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But the most crucial aspect of doing ethnography is learning to see the world from the perspective
of indigenous people being studied (Anlo-Ewe people). In that regard, I essentially had to unlearn
“book knowledge” and became a new student in the field all over again in order to properly learn
a way of life I wanted to immerse myself into; to “indigenize” or to learn what Africans refer to as
“home sense”.
Figure 3.5 One of the rare surviving pictures of my great-grandfather, Tɔgbui Akakpo Adjei I,
Dufia of Atiteti. (undated).
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3.3 Population and Sampling Method
The research associates I engaged for this research were indigenous Anlo-Ewe people in the Keta
and Ketu South municipalities in the southern Volta Region of Ghana. The sampling techniques
employed for this research were snowball and purposive sampling. The purposive sampling
method was used to define the population (in the afore-stated area) for this study. The target
population sampled included towns and villages in and around Klikor and Dagbamete. Others
include Woe (Keta), Afiadenyigba, Torgodo, Aflao, and Atiteti. Once the target population was
defined, members of the sample frame were sampled through the snowball sampling method. The
unit of observation included community and group units. Purposive sampling method was chosen
to define the target population because the data gathering sources contained relevant data and also
because the selected sampling method adequately met the goal of the proposed research.
Additionally, purposive sampling offered me the chance of focusing on respondents who were
very relevant to the study and where there was most likely a high probability of concentrated data
in the defined target population. In this regard, snowball sampling method was chosen to sample
members of the sample frame in the target population primarily due to the reliability of reaching
the respondents in the hidden target population. This was due to the fact that some respondents are
usually denied access (mostly non-initiates of the Vodu religion) to secret traditional practices and
beliefs associated with Anlo-Ewe religious art. Some were also difficult to contact because of
their undocumented status and the general sensitivity of the research due to the stigma some
previous researchers and Christian NGOs have attached to Anlo-Ewe Vodu religion and other
aspects of spiritual practices. As a result, choosing the snowball-sampling method offered me a
study sample through multiple referrals made among the respondents who knew and directed me
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to other high-ranking Vodu practitioners with relevant information. All these challenges were
limited by simply finding respondents (some of whom were my close relatives) with inside
information to find the key respondents for the research.
3.4 Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Conducting an Auto-ethnographic Research
It is imperative to emphasize the critical dimension of auto-ethnographic research and how my
personal experience, cultural background, academic interests, artistic career and several other
factors influenced the general outcome of the findings in this study. Before I proceed further with
the auto-ethnographic aspects of this study, it will be prudent to engage in some of the prevailing
debates in academic circles concerning auto-ethnographic scholarship. In terms of methodological
approach, this research is by all means a comprehensive auto-ethnographic study that seeks to
document Anlo-Ewe religious aesthetics and material culture in the broadest sense. Being auto-
ethnographic in scope, this methodology comes with its advantages and drawbacks. Some scholars
have raised arguments about the validity and authenticity of auto-ethnography. A major concern
among these scholars is how the background and personal beliefs of the researcher influence the
findings and judgments of the research. For instance, Öberg (2017) notes that:
Auto-ethnography aims to blur the boundary through the writing process
primarily. Writing the text as a story, with different narrators, that go through
various elements common in storytelling, not just to build an introduction for an
eventual scientific analysis, as ethnographers can often do now after the influence
of postmodernism, but as the whole product itself, is part of the current tradition
in auto-ethnography. It is a conscious decision, to forego values commonly
associated with the scientific method, and to instead focus solely on the final text
itself. This makes it very difficult to critique auto-ethnography, as auto-
ethnography does not try to adhere to the same standards as regular science. It does
not perturb auto-ethnography to call it unscientific, because auto-ethnography
does not try to be scientific (Bochner, 2000; Ellis, 2009). The only validity and
reliability an auto ethnographer has to follow, is in relation to credibility of the
final text, and not in relation to the how the text came to be (Bochner, 2002, p.86).
Scientifically speaking, that makes no sense. It is not about enforcing some kind
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of unattainable ideal of objectivity, it is not about avoiding beautiful literary
descriptions in the text, it is about the reader being able to trace the methodological
choices and antecedent justifications. Otherwise anyone could write a convincing
text, call it auto-ethnography, and publish it as a paper in a scientific journal. 134
In addressing the ''validity'' or ''scientific quality'' of auto-ethnographic research, Hayler and
Edmond (2013) assert that:
It raises what Gee (2005) refers to as ‘the frame problem’ in recognising meaning
as situated and opens a further area of potential debate around issues of validity
and quality within educational research methodology. [...] to summarise, our own
position is that ‘validity’ in studies which seek to authentically represent lived
experience depends upon confronting the inescapable problem of representation
by recognising that the link between experience and representation are inevitably
problematic (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). Our work contributes to the ‘rethinking
of terms such as validity, generalizability and reliability’ (ibid: 190), which Denzin
and Lincoln called for in 2005. Similarly, the ‘quality’ of research can only be
understood within the reader’s framework of understanding which it may in itself
change or extend. Issues of validity and quality within qualitative research are
necessarily subjective, inter-subjective and determined by context.135
Generally, in research, no matter how hard researchers strive to remain objective in their findings,
they still reveal thinly-veiled personal biases because every individual has his or her own bias,
shaped by their experience, world view, social psychology and personal beliefs. A critical
rhetorical question might suffice here: is there really such a “thing” as “objectivity” in research?
Proposing counter-hegemonic academic perspectives on the question of “objectivity” for African
scholars trained in Euro-Western academies and research methodologies, Ani (1994) offers a
decisive solution:
It is not possible to be objective towards Europe: Certainly, the victims of its
cultural, political, and economic imperialism are not objective, if they are sane. And
Europeans cannot be “objective” about their own cultural history. The question,
then, becomes: What could objectivity possibly mean in terms of human mental
134Retrieved from: http://harrisjonesanthropology.com/2017/04/autoethnography-nonsense/ (Accessed on
25/04/2017)
135 See Mike Hayler, Nadia Edmond. Telling Tales on Either Side of the Teacher: Methods of Researching
Professional and Biographical Transformations. In the Context of Education. In Reconceptualizing Educational
Research Methodology, 4(1), 2013, p.4.
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attitudes? […] It is a concept that acts to mystify Europe’s victims: one of the most
effective tools of European ideology. The claim to an absolute ultimate truth is a
psychological necessity for the European mentality. And since we have accepted it,
it is an edict that has constrained most of us who have been trained in European
academies. […] As African scholars, it is our responsibility to create systematic
theoretical formulations which will reveal the truths that enable us to liberate and
utilize the energies of our people. In this view, the self-determinist, the
revolutionary, and the scholar are one, having the same objective, involved in the
same truth-process.136
In a similar academic style, Postcolonial theorists profess a corresponding logic:
Postcolonialism maintains that universal claims are mistaken since they assume that
a certain white, Western identity or position is the template for all people, and that
cultural differences are ignored. Indeed, the very term ‘postcolonial’ suggests this,
evoking as it does histories of empire, resistance and decolonisation […]
Postcolonial theory asks this: what would history look like if it were written from
the point of view of the periphery? What stories would history tell if, rather than
the perspective and values of the colonised voice narrated and evaluated? What if
the colonizer ceased to speak for the colonized, and the colonized spoke instead for
the colonizer? Postcolonial history, then, might be described as the periphery
talking back to the centre, as the viewpoints of the marginalized or the colonized.
It challenges or questions the authority of some voices, and demands that others be
heard.137
Alacovska and Gill (2019) put it much more pointedly: ‘Like the postcolonial critic, the ex-centric
scholar might be thought of as a ‘party pooper’ who will upset and destabilise the taken for
grantedness of congealed knowledge claims.’ Building on postcolonial theory and Ani’s (1994)
critical perspectives, it can be deduced that, in modern ethnographic and anthropological studies,
one needs not to be only objective but also some appreciable amount of subjectivity is required to
level the academic field which is marred by prejudice, racism, sexism and false philosophical
136 See Marimba Ani. Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. Trenton:
Africa World Press, 1994, p. 23
137 Ana Alacovska and Rosalind Gill. De-Westernising Creative Labour Studies: The informality of Creative Work
from an Ex-centric Perspective. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367877918821231. See also Ang I. On
not Speaking Chinese: Living between Asia and the West. Psychology Press. 2001.
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assumptions. This is a permissible academic practice in auto-ethnography and revisionist
ethnographic work in general. Thoughful academic perspectives and revised approaches to
ethnographic research were taken into consideration since this type of research involves intensive
participant observation, personal experience and what Geertz terms “thick description”. This is
what revisionist anthropology/ethnography researchers refer to as “trained subjectivity” or “critical
subjectivity.” Bernard (2006:22), who has worked extensively on modern anthropological research
methodologies, states:
We need more, not less, science, lots and lots more humanistically informed
science, to contribute more to the amelioration of suffering and the weakening of
false ideologies—racism, sexism, ethnic nationalism—in the world. Humanism
sometimes means a commitment to subjectivity—that is, to using our own
feelings, values, and beliefs to achieve insight into the nature of human experience.
In fact, trained subjectivity is the foundation of clinical disciplines, like
psychology as well as the foundation of participant observation ethnography.
Ladkin (2005), on the other hand, has developed a connection between what Husserl138describes
as the enigma of subjectivity and the challenge of retaining critical subjectivity in action research.
She identifies three common threads of phenomenological thinking which have particular
relevance to issues of subjectivity in action research, the most significant one being: ''An aim to
apprehend the world in a way which reveals its truth, and acknowledging the way in which our
subjectivity contributes to truth''.139 The re-emergence of divergent views about the relevance of
re-examination, academic critique, argumentative discussions and critical subjectivity in African
philosophy, auto-ethnography and auto-anthropology (or modern scholarship) makes the
138See Donna Ladkin (2005). ‘The Enigma of Subjectivity’: How might Phenomenology Help Action Researchers
Negotiate the Relationship Between ‘Self’, ‘Other’ and ‘Truth’? In 3(1), pp.108-126, 2005, University of Exeter. See
also Husserl, E. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. An Introduction to
Phenomenological Philosophy. Trans. David Carr. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1970.
139 See Alan George. Aesthetic in Practice: Part A, Chapter 3, a Theoretical Framework. p.71 (Publishers and year of
publication unavailable).
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intellectual positions of some of its noteworthy proponents very instructive. For instance, Uchendu
noted in his book The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (1965) that the culture bearer:
is emotionally involved in his culture, especially in regard to its ‘sensitive’ zones.
This fact has been advanced as a reason why he should be restricted to the role of
an educated informant. But this emotional involvement is in itself relevant to our
science: it guides the reader in his assessment of the writer, and methodologically,
it can help us to determine the degree of objectivity (when we know how) with
which social scientist in general approach sensitive topics in other areas of human
behavior.140
However, other scholars are still hesitant and disagree with such intellectual positions. Uchendu’s
position was challenged by Nukunya (1960a: 20) who cautioned against bringing emotions into
the analysis and suggested that, “the most important single asset in field work is proper training in
research methods. This alone can alleviate the disadvantages emotional involvement in cultural
values entails.”141 Besides the “academic bashing”, Öberg quite candidly also acknowledges the
fact when he stated:
To be fair, auto-ethnographers give a voice to people’s concerns about social
representation. That is to say that they acknowledge the experienced importance
of gender, race, class, and a multitude of other social divisions, and of course all
experiences are real, so these social divisions do matter to the people in the field
where the (auto) ethnographer finds itself. 142
Auto-ethnography has gained prominence in methodological approach in conducting research for
the “marginalized” by the “marginalized researcher”—often yielding fresh perspectives and new
insights. Based on the on-going discussions, the crucial academic networks have been outlined in
auto-ethnography, critical debates, philosophical decolonization and subjectivity in research.
140 See Uchendu (1965:10) as cited in G.K Nukunya. Insider Anthropology: The Case of the Anlo-Ewe. Etnofoor,
Jaarg, 7(1), 1994, pp. 24-40.
141 Ibid. pp. 24-40.
142See http://harrisjonesanthropology.com/2017/04/autoethnography-nonsense/ (Accessed on 25/04/2017)
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These areas were linked in the critical debates and argumentative approach in presenting the
discussions and ethnographic materials throughout the various chapters.
3.5 Experiential Learning and Active Research Participation
The experiential studies I undertook will be analyzed through Kolb's four-stage experiential
learning cycle. They include: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract
Conceptualization and Action Experimentation.
L
RIENTIA LE
XPE
ARNIN
E G S ’ CY
Concrete Reflective
Experience Observation
Engaging in an Reflecting on the
activity or experience activity or experience
Active Abstract
Experimentation Conceptualization
Trying out and Gaining Knowledge
testing new skills or skills from the
and abilities experience
Diagram 3.5.1 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle. Diagram illustrated by Researcher.
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3.5.1 Concrete Experience
Before my field studies and experiential learning period began, I engaged myself in pre-fieldwork
preparations, background reading and revisions of related literature, with focus on Anlo-Ewe art,
African symbolism, philosophy of art, Vodu religion, performing auto-ethnography and religious
aesthetics. I also watched several documentaries on Vodu religion, Vodu performance and Vodu
art. These resources proved to be very helpful. When I got to the field, the first thing I did was to
first establish rapport with my research assistants and key respondents for my experiential learning
period. We agreed to meet twice a week to have informal interviews and focus group discussions
for a period of two hours. I later followed up with photography, guided tours, demonstrations and
active participation in some selected creative processes, rituals and performances.
3.5.2 Brief description of my learning experience (practical evidence of field research)
What did I do?
I engaged selected religious leaders and priests in extended and intensive interviews (These
engagements also involved observations, focus group discussions and informal interactions).
Methodologically, it proved to be advantageous to conduct the interviews in large groups to
generate diverse perspectives of the issues we discussed. I identified and observed Brékété
performances in Woe (Keta), Dagbamete, Dansoman and Ashaiman respectively to gain a deeper
understanding of the various artistic elements and religious aesthetics employed during Brékété
worship. I photographed some selected sculptures, murals, pottery, architecture and drums. I also
recorded Hu-koku performances and live Brékété music and dance performance.
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Figure 3.6 I learnt how to think, talk, ask questions and behave in new ways. I also enhanced my
ability to ask the right question to get the right information from the right person I am speaking to.
I honed my observation skills, information gathering ability and analytical thinking in relation to
my research. I participated in the creative process at every step of the way during my research.
Dagbamete, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Curtis “Fo Kordzo” Andrews.
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3.5.3 Where did I work, how many days, what was my position as a researcher?
As a lead researcher, I conducted several interviews, observations, focus group discussions and
photography principally in the Volta Region. Below is a general sample of my activity outline.
Table 3.6.1 Activity Outline/Work Plan Timeline Employed for Research and Field Studies.
Task Data collection activities Town//Village/ Region Duration
Review the literature on the Extensive reading, Accra 18 weeks
Anlo-Ewe religious art and watching of Greater Accra Region
symbolism documentaries,
Reviewing photographs
of Anlo-Ewe art and
symbols.
Notes
Engage select leaders in Interviews, focus group Woe (Keta) 16 weeks
extended and intensive discussions Klikor,
interviews. Audio recordings Torgodo,
Focus group discussions Afiadenyigba
Video recordings Volta Region
Sketches
Notes
Engage amɛgashies and High resolution Woe, Keta 12 weeks
religious leaders in some photography, Volta Region
specific case studies of Interviews, focus group
dzogbɛshie, Spirit discussions
mediumship. Audio recordings
Sketches
Notes
Studying, understanding and High resolution Woe (Keta) 14 weeks
documenting the art and photography, Klikor,
philosophy behind spirit Interviews, focus group Aflao,
mediumship and spirit discussions Afiadenyigba,
possession performances in High resolution Torgodo,
Anlo-Ewe religion. This photography Volta Region
Audio recordings
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include sculptures, textiles, Video recordings
murals, pottery, jewellery, Sketches
body art, scarifications, Notes
installation art etc.
Observing, understanding and High Resolution Woe, (Keta), 16 weeks
documenting the various art Photography, Klikor,
forms employed in Brékété/ Interviews, focus group Dansoman,
Gorovodu performance and discussions Dagbamete,
religion. This include Audio recordings Volta Region
sculptures, textiles, murals, Video recordings
pottery, jewellery, body art, Sketches
scarifications, installation art Notes
etc.
Develop the literature on Sketches, Dagbamete, 18 weeks
Anlo-Ewe visuality, focusing Word processing, Klikor,
on the aesthetic tradition in Proof reading Woe (Keta),
which special colour Internet research Alakple,
symbolism, body markings, High resolution Torgodo,
body art, and visual symbols photography Afiadenyigba,
are constituted and displayed Library research Volta Region
during special music and Photo editing, Photo
dance performances, Enhancement
especially on contexts of
royal, spiritual, ritual and
highly framed performance
contexts.
Studying and Understanding High Resolution Klikor, 10 weeks
the art and philosophy behind Photography, Woe (Keta),
art in Ewe spirituality. This Interviews, focus group Torgodo;
include sculptures, textiles, discussions Atiteti
murals, pottery, jewellery, Audio recordings Dzogadze,
body art, scarifications, Video recordings Dagbamete
installation art etc. Sketches Anyako
Notes Volta Region
Studying, understanding and High resolution Afiadenyigba, 14 weeks
documenting the art and photography, Klikor,
performance in Anlo-Ewe Interviews, focus group Dagbamete,
religion. This includes discussions Volta Region
sculptures, textiles, Audio recordings
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symbolism, murals, pottery, Video recordings
jewellery, body art, Sketches, Notes
scarifications, installation art
etc.
Data analysis, Charts, diagrams, Greater Accra and Volta 20 weeks
findings, conclusion, transcription, photo Regions
recommendations. editing, cross-
referencing, proof
reading, interviews,
library research.
3.5.4 Reflective Observation
3.5.4.1 Challenges and Brief Analysis of the Effects of how and what I did Filtered through
my own Concepts
I realised very early on that the philosophy behind Vodu art is inextricably linked to the guarded
esoteric secrets exclusively among the Vodu priests, spirit mediums and some leading members of
the various Vodu shrines. Sacred barriers and religious exclusivity posed a huge challenge in
getting access not only to important gnosis but also entering certain ritual domains to access
information. One effective strategy was to promote the research as a good cause in favour of
educating the public about Vodu religion, which has been maligned, misinterpreted and demonised
not only by Western propaganda but also by the non-Vodu indigenes. My research partners and I
even went a step further to propose a future partnership with the shrine to be their official
cinematographers for their annual Brékété festival in order to promote the religion to a larger
audience to enable them understand it better. We went an extra mile by recognising and agreeing
to seek help from religious authorities to support the shrine in terms of logistics for their annual
festivals. This was like altering the research procedures to enhance the outcome of our findings.
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This strategy did not only build rapport and trust but it also made information more easily
accessible to us than before, even though they still withheld certain sacred knowledge from us.
3.5.5 Abstract Conceptualization
Vodu art comprises creative elements inextricably linked to the Vodu religion itself. In a typical
ritual space like a Vodu shrine, artistic elements are required and employed in performing almost
all religious rites and ceremonies. In a technical sense, the priests, the performers and the devotees
display a heightened awareness of the arts and apparently adhere to religio-aesthetic principles
ordained by the deities. They also display creativity in diverse ways. I gained in-depth knowledge
about the religious concepts and philosophies associated with Anlo-Ewe Vodu art and aesthetics.
Several authoritative theories explain or support most of the data I collected and what I learnt
during my experiential learning period. As such, academic sources have been used extensively and
appropriately to support critical academic discussions in the subsequent chapters.
3.5.6 Action Experimentation
One of the important places that I used concept of participant observer is when I was invited to
come and witness the Brékété music and dance performance sessions. I adapted to some of the
tactics I used during my previous field experience, which involved photography, videography,
taking notes, sketching, active participation and informal interviews. The feedback from the
respondents was largely positive. I can subsequently replicate this research procedures by simply
transferring and applying this knowledge to new/different ethnographic settings during the course
of my research and experiential learning period. The learning experience in my research has
boosted my field research skills and confidence to quite a significant level as demonstrated through
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Dale’s Cone of Experience. Introduced by Dale (1946) in his textbook on audiovisual methods in
teaching, the Cone of Experience is a visual device meant to summarize Dale’s classification
system for the varied types of mediated learning experiences. The organizing principle of the Cone
is a progression from most concrete experiences (at the bottom of the cone) to most abstract (at
the top) (Molenda, 2003:1). See diagram below:
Diagram 3.6.2 Dale’s Cone of Experience. Diagram by Researcher.
3.5.7 Presentation of findings
In his discourse on The Interpretation of Cultures, Geertz proposes pragmatic approaches to deep
understanding of cultures in order to produce a rigorous interpretation, “thick description” and
reliable documentation of cultural practices:
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In anthropology, or any social anthropology, what the practioners do is
ethnography. And it is in understanding what ethnography is, or more exactly what
doing ethnography is, that a start can be made toward grasping what
anthropological analysis amounts to as a form of knowledge. This, it must
immediately be said, is not a matter of methods. From one point of view, that of
the textbook, doing ethnography is establishing rapport, selecting informants,
transcribing texts, taking genealogies, mapping fields, keeping a diary, and so on.
But it is not these things, techniques and received procedures, that define the
enterprise. What defines it is the kind of intellectual effort it is: an elaborate ven-
ture in, to borrow a notion from Gilbert Ryle, "thick description." 143
In modern ethnographic methodologies, various researchers have advanced and developed Geertz’
approach to “thick description” by employing other effective means of documentation, rigorous
analysis, presentation and communicating findings through photography, tables, visual inquiry etc.
To this effect, the presentation of findings in the forthcoming chapters comparatively employs
thick description, philosophical dialogues, argumentative discussions, documentation of facts and
novel approaches of arts-based research and auto-ethnography. This approach aims at broadening
the understanding of researchers about the powerful roles and infinite possible uses of visuals in
ethnographic research. Visual data breaks down complex ideas, theories, concepts into smaller
units to support generalizations. It breaks down field data more easily into readily discernible units
which makes information processing simple and comprehensive. Images leave visual imprints in
the long-term memory of the human brain. Visual aids serve as aide memoires in storing,
processing, retrieving and recollecting information for a better understanding of any issue being
discussed. In discussing improved ways of how students learn, Brown, a gestalt psychologist
affirms that for a long time it was thought that forgetting was due primarily to traces in the long-
term memory decaying, but experiments on recall and recognition suggest that memories may be
143Clifford Geertz. The Interpretation of Cultures Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Publishers,1973,
pp.5-6.
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stored permanently. The major deterioration occurs in the working memory and the retrieval
mechanism. (Brown, 2004: 24).
But some scholars have raised concerns about using pictures to replace text or break down complex
concepts. Among such concerns is the worry that readers might read multiple meanings into the
images which might distort certain facts. However, once titles and brief captions are provided, the
advantages of integrating visuals into text and its comprehension benefits far outweigh its
disadvantages. All over the world CEOs, business executives, thought leaders and academics alike
are ditching their wordy-text laden presentations and boring statistical figures to replace them with
rich multi-sensory experiences and innovative presentations of facts, innovative ideas or research
findings. In modern presentations, multimedia contents sell ideas faster and have proven to be
much more persuasive and efficient in changing minds than mere text. Why? Simply because this
has been scientifically proven. In a study titled “A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning,”
multimedia psychologist, Mayer has argued that it is far more effective to explain concepts using
multiple methods of sensory inputs—such as auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Mayer is convinced
that one of the most important areas of study in cognitive psychology is the understanding of how
multimedia can foster student learning. In Mayer’s experiments, students who were exposed to
multisensory environments—text, pictures, animation, and video—always, not sometimes, always
had much more accurate recall of the information than those students who only heard or read the
information. Mayer said the principle should not be surprising. When the brain is allowed to build
two mental representations of an explanation—a verbal model and a visual model—the mental
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connections are not just a little stronger. They are much, much stronger.144
3.5.8 Major Challenges Faced During Research
Even though I was familiar with some key Vodu authorities within the Vodu communities I
experienced some slight difficulties. I initially faced some challenges concerning the anonymity
of my research associates during my data collection process. Some research associates were quite
noncommittal about revealing their faces for a number of valid reasons. The main reason was due
to their past experiences with earlier researchers who take photographs of devotees or Vodu
sculptures and publish them with derogatory captions. A few Christians practice some form of
religious syncretism that requires them to participate in certain ceremonies during Vodu festivals.
Such members made it clear that their pastors would ‘sack them out of the church if they should
see them engaging in Vodu-related activities so they were a bit cautious about publicizing their
pictures.’ But as time went on, I noticed that the as I built stronger rapport with them, they became
more relaxed and willing participants of my research interests. Despite all the permission I got to
do my photography, I made sure to protect the anonymity of my research associates who wanted
to remain anonymous in my work. This leads me on to stress the importance of building trust and
rapport with research associates for them to see me as a member of the community who shares
their values, aspirations and interests. I want to clearly establish the fact that I didn’t go into the
field as an undercover researcher. My intentions were clearly declared to my research associates.
I got the permission of the chief priests and they gave me their full support and approval to conduct
144 See Carmine Gallo. Talk like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds. New York: St. Martin’s
Press., p.176-175. See also Richard Mayer. Multimedia Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, p.
57.
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my research before I started any information gathering process. I did not misuse my privileged
position or abuse the permissions granted me in any way whatsoever. I followed the protocols, I
observed the rules, I also respected customs and practices of the Vodu community members which
proved to be quite helpful in getting the right information I needed to further my research.
Figure 3.7 Tᴐgbui Dzokpoto pouring libation and asking for the blessings of the Vodu dieties in
his shrine before I commenced my research. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
Throughout my research I performed ‘Dzadodo’ in various shrines. ‘Dzadodo’ is the act of giving
a small token or offertory in appreciation of a service, help or performance (dance, art, music,
drumming, singing, creative work) etc. One often reads in Western accounts that the indigenous
people make them ‘pay exorbitant fees’ to attend Vodu ceremonies or participate in Vodu
performances due to the fact that Westerners are perceived to be “rich”. This is not the case—
‘Dzadodo’ is ingrained in Anlo-Ewe ritual practices, particularly divination.145
145 For instance, Dietrich wrote in her doctoral thesis that ‘there were a few rare cases where I was invited to an event
only to find out that because I was culturally an outsider (and comparatively rich) I was expected to pay exorbitant
fees to see the celebration. This, in a way, was a type of community insult, as events are generally free of charge to
all initiates’. See Christina M. Dietrich. Spirit Messengers, Divine Encounters: Practitioner Inhabitants of the Anlo-
Ewe Spirit World. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of California, 2012, p.396.
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I took thousands of pictures in the field which made the sorting and editorial process in photoshop
a very daunting task considering the fact that submission of the thesis was time-bound. For this
reason, I had to be very efficient at combining thesis writing and my sharp photo editing skills.
Because of my communication design background, I’m a stickler for details when it comes to
design and multimedia related work so I spent endless hours editing the photographs to make them
“look perfect” (the photographer’s nightmare). There were also a few Vodu initiates and spirit
mediums who declared that their Vodus do not like them to be ‘photographed’. In fact, in
Dagbamete, people are not permitted to photograph the deities in the shrine mainly because non-
Vodu initiates post them online and write derogatory things about them. Taking pictures of the
deities was strictly prohibited. There are numerous accounts about how Zakadza, the Chief Deity
in Nogokpo, apparently “fries memory cards” of mobile phones, smart devices and photographers
who take pictures “without his consent”. Though I didn’t experience any of these challenges, there
was one instance where I took pictures and filmed the performance of some Brékété performers
which turned out very blurry and a bit over-exposed. But that was as a result of a the spiritually-
charged giddiness, my own negligence or poor camera settings and not some supernatural forces
‘acting on the functions’ of my camera.
With all these experiences in mind, I knew what, whom and how to photograph without showing
the faces of respondents or ‘deities’ who wanted to support my research without revealing their
identities. As the anonymity of my respondents is my topmost priority as a researcher, I made sure
to preserve the anonymity of my respondents the moment they declared to me they did not want
their faces to appear. Tiny bits of information like these guided my visual ethnographic data
gathering process. In the heat of the performances, it was quite difficult to interview the
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performers as they were busy in action. In certain instances, I was strictly not permitted to
follow the High Priests and medicine men to the inner sanctum of the shrines in the forest and
sacred groves to observe their purification and sacred rites of spiritual renewal. Even though
I had the special privilege as an insider anthropologist, I was not given exclusive privileges
to photograph certain deities or any of their associates. I was also denied knowledge and answers
to certain questions because they were sacred and I ought to have been initiated into certain
societies to retrieve such information.
3.5.8 Concluding Remarks
Generally, some key issues I personally observed have to do with the fact that, one of the primary
goals of field studies and experiential learning in research is to learn from one's mistakes; uncover
new information; acquire knowledge; acquire or develop and harness research skills (hone my
observation skills, information gathering ability and analytical thinking in relation to future
research). I certainly think experiential learning is a very effective way to learn because individuals
learn best from experiences. It also instils confidence in the learner to learn more about what he/she
is researching about. Spending extended periods in the Volta Region, meeting the religious leaders,
priests, spirit mediums and observing Vodu worshippers and performers was a great learning
experience for me. It is my hope that this chapter will particularly inform future researchers on the
basic methodology and practical approaches to engage respondents, observe and participate in the
field activities when conducting similar studies.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 1
4.1 Is there an African Aesthetic? Towards Defining African Aesthetics
Aesthetics is key to conceptualizing, defining, appreciating and critically engaging with any form
of art (visual, sculpture, performance, music, dance etc.). In defining aesthetics in anthropological
literature, Van Damme (1991:167) advances the notion that aesthetics “originated” in Western
cultural philosophical background. In the study of aesthetics, German philosopher, Alexander
Baumgarten, is often cited by Western scholars as the “founding father of aesthetics” for having
coined the term in the 18th century. For instance, Budd (2005) credits Baumgarten for having
derived aesthetics from the Greek word, aisthanomai, which means perception by means of the
senses. He further indicates that, by way of categorization, aesthetics consists of two distinctive
parts:
Þ The philosophy of art,
Þ The philosophy of aesthetic experience and character of objects or phenomena that
are not art. 146
Such views are noticeably Eurocentric and inaccurate, which only invites argumentative
perspectives. Citing Tatarkiewicz, Van Damme (1991:167) goes on to explain, that, within the
indigenous societies conventionally studied in anthropology:
it appears that a term comparable to the Western word 'aesthetics' does not exist;
but as we have just seen, it did not exist within the Western tradition either until
two and a half centuries ago. Yet what is nowadays called aesthetics had at that
time been discussed in Western philosophy for more than two thousand years (cf.
Tatarkiewicz 1980: 311-12). Similarly, we may expect aesthetics to be part of
other cultural traditions as well.147
146 See Malcolm Budd. Aesthetic Concepts. In The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward Craig
(Ed.), New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2005, p.4.
147See Tatarkiewicz (1980) cited in Wilfried Van Damme. Some Notes on Defining Aesthetics. In The Anthropological
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Similarly, Haase has argued in her studies on Beauty and Esthetics that, ‘the German philosopher
Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten introduced the term aesthetics in 1753, but the study of the nature
of beauty had been pursued for centuries. In the past it was chiefly a subject for philosophers. Since
the 19th century, artists also have contributed their views.’148Evolutionary psychologists also
maintain the fundamental notion that certain behaviours and cultural attributes exist universally in
all cultures. For instance, take into consideration, one of the lengthiest and most cited categories
of cultural universals, by the American anthropologist Donald Brown. Brown’s (1991) proposed
cultural universals include:
the existence of and concern with aesthetics, magic, males and females seen as
having different natures, baby talk, gods, induction of altered states, marriage, body
adornment, murder, prohibition of some type of murder, kinship terms, numbers,
cooking, private sex, names, dance, play, distinctions between right and wrong,
nepotism, prohibitions on certain types of sex, empathy, reciprocity, rituals,
concepts of fairness, myths about afterlife, music, color terms, prohibitions, gossip,
binary sex terms, in-group favoritism, language, humor, lying, symbolism, the
linguistic concept of “and,” tools, trade, and toilet training.149
By way of definitions, we are told that aesthetics is that branch of philosophy that has tried to
answer such questions as, ‘‘What is Art?'' ''What is Beauty?'' Dagobert Runes defines aesthetics
traditionally as the branch of philosophy dealing with beauty or the beautiful, especially in art, and
Literature, JASO, 22(2), 1991, pp.161-181.
148 See Fee-Alexandra Haase. Beauty and Esthetics Meanings of an Idea and Concept of the Senses: An Introduction
to an Esthetic Communication Concept Facing the Perspectives of its Theory, History, and Cultural Traditions of the
Beautiful. Universität Tübingen, 2008, p.7. Kaku (2018) has also noted that humanity shares common core values and
this notion applies to our sense of aesthetics. See also Michio Kaku. The Future of Humanity. New York: Penguin
Random House. 2018.
149 Thus, although there might be little evidence of a general adaptation for an aesthetic sense a disparate collection of
emotion-producing activities and entities may structure what we consider aesthetic. For further explanations of
aesthetics as cultural universals. See Donald Brown. Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1991, p.115. See
also Robert M. Sapolsky. Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst. New York: Penguin Press, 2017,
p.254.
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with taste and standards of values in judging art.150Runes' definition sounds very compelling and
well thought out but not the least satisfactory in intellectual scope. The idea of restricting the
definition of aesthetics to the notion of “beauty”, “the beautiful,” “perfection” or confining
aesthetic experience to “the good”, or what is “pleasing to the eye”, and so on, is a relatively flawed
approach and quite inaccurate in aesthetic scope. It simply fails to cover the rich diversity within
the realm of aesthetics from a cross cultural perspective.
The term aesthetics actually has very little to do with “beauty” if we carefully study its etymology
and how it was applied in some of its earliest studies within the field. Also, the critical question
here is, if aesthetics, as an academic discipline, originally had very little to do with what we have
come to know today as “beauty,” “order,” “the good”, or “the beautiful,” why do such aesthetic
definitions make ''beauty'' a central determinant in broadening our understanding of aesthetics?
Not to mention what Runes refers to as “standards of value” in “judging” art. Like Runes, other
scholars may argue that is aesthetics not a complacent field of interest itself? Is aesthetics not
obsessed with beauty (natural and artificial), high culture, fine arts, collectors’ tastes, and other
bourgeois interests? The answer, of course, is yes and no. Yes, this is certainly the predominant
understanding of aesthetics today, both in and out of the academy: When one hears the word
“aesthetics,” one tends to think of art and beauty (or of plastic surgery and beauty parlors). But
this is not a complete answer, for there are other ways to understand aesthetics.151 In that regard,
Plate (2005) suggests that:
150See Innocent Onyewuenyi. Traditional African Aesthetics: A Philosophical Perspective. In Albert G. Mosley.
African Philosophy: Selected Readings. Michigan: Prentice Hall, 1995, pp.421-422.
151S. Brent Plate. Walter Benjamin, Religion, And Aesthetics Rethinking Religion Through the Art. New York:
Routledge, 2005, pp.1-2.
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A more productive way to understand aesthetics is to start with the term’s
etymology. Stemming from the Greek aisthesis, aesthetics has to do with “sense
perception.” Its focus is on how we perceive (and, simultaneously, create) our
worlds through vision, taste, smell, touch, and hearing, among other possible
senses.
As Plate (2005) has pointed out, aesthetics originally had to do with all the human senses including
extra-sensory perception; as such, relying only on such inexact gauges like our visual senses alone
to attain a complete aesthetic experience would be quite impractical. Eaton, on the other hand, in
discussing what true beauty is actually made of, notes: “with all due respect to Plato, I am inclined
to think that it is philosophical folly to try to link 'beauty' or 'ugliness' to a single, precise definition
or attempt to restrict the number of kinds of jobs for which individuals use these words” (2006:40).
Taking beauty and ugliness out of context, Eaton further explains that, the ‘dilemma – beauty or
ugliness is strictly a matter of personal preference’.152
Judging from the previous discussions, it can be clearly deduced that aesthetics is a phenomenon
and social construct shared in every given society. Critical studies and research into African
aesthetic concepts and indigenous creative practices reveal comparably valid findings which agree
with the refutations expounded by Tatarkiewicz and Haase. A few classic examples are captured
by Farris-Thompson (1983), Dor (2015), Gyekye (1996) and Perani et al. (1998) Farris-Thompson
(1983) notes:
The Yoruba assess everything aesthetically—from the taste and colour of a yam
to the qualities of a dye, to the dress and deportment of a woman or a man. An
entry in one of the earliest dictionaries of their language, published in 1858, was
amewa, literally “'knower-of-beauty” or “connoisseur,” one who looks for
manifestation of pure artistry. Beauty is seen in the mean (iwontúnwonsi)—in
something not too tall or too short, not too beautiful (over handsome people turn
out to be skeletons in disguise in many folktales) or too ugly. The Yoruba
appreciate freshness and improvisation per se in the arts. These preoccupations are
152 Marcia Muelder Eaton.Beauty and Ugliness In and Out of Context. In Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and
the Philosophy of Art, Matthew Kieran. (Ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006, pp.40-41.
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especially evident in rich and vast body of works celebrating Yoruba religion.153
Perani et al. (1998) have also documented that, among the Frafra of northern Ghana, there is a
recognition of creative ability as well as a mastery of technique and style. For example, Frafra wall
painting, which is a female activity, exhibits highly creative and individualistic treatment.
Although the Frafra do not have a term that translates as “art,” they do recognize skilled or creative
behavior, gano, and two aesthetic concepts: bambolse and pupurego. Most African societies, in
fact, do not have a separate category designated as “art” It is important to point out that for the
Frafra, gano is not restrianed to those skilled in producing or decorating material forms, but also
includes other activities such as soothsaying, dancing, playing a musical instrument, or hunting.
Bambolse as a concept means “embellished, decorated, or made more attractive,” but it can also
refer to any design or motif that has no specific name (Smith 1978: 36). In addition, this concept
conveys more than just the placing of a motif on a particular form. The intention of that action
must have been primarily to increase the aesthetic merit of the form if the decoration is to be
classified as bambolse. 154
Categorizing the significance and quality of various types of cloths among the Ewe, Dor (2015:22)
notes that, Akpalu privileges only one type of cloth that the Ewe use; the process of mapping, in
order to invoke and parallel a variety of Ewe song types, will normally juxtapose other kinds of
cloths with their attendant cultural and socio-political values to agovor (the ‘ago’ or “velvet-type
153 See Robert Farris Thompson. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York:
Random House, Inc. 1983, p.5.
154 Judith Perani and Fred T. Smith. The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power and Life Cycle in Africa, Pearson
Publishers. Prentice Hall, 1998, p.7.
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cloth”), which Akpalu had implied as a superior body wear. Accordingly, Dor (2015) provides a
further explanation of more types of cloths among the Ewes:
Avor, the Ewe word for cloth, may carry prefixes or suffixes that serve as
adjectives that qualify the type, quality, monetary and social value, and/or its
contextual functionality. Hence, hovivor, pronounced with the tone bands [low-
high-high], and which literally and taxonomically means inexpensive cloth
[money-little- cloth], is the opposite of hogavor [low-high-high tones] that stands
for expensive cloth [money-big-cloth]. Synonymously, tsivivor [high-high-high
tones] or (“money-small- cloth”), whose cheaper quality is also evident in color or
dye of the cloth that fades faster and frequently when washed, is diminutively
implied in the designation, as against tsigavor [high-high-high], precisely
translates (money-big-cloth), which the Ewe consider as a cloth type that is
produced with good quality color and dye. The words “ho” and “tsi,” as used in
this context, bear the same meaning, but they represent the Anlo [southeastern
Ghanaian] and southern Togolese dialects of the Ewe language, respectively.
Another Ewe name for an expensive cloth is avorfufui [low-low-high-high], which
semantically translates “the dried-cloth” and means a “well-processed cloth.” 155
Explaining Ewe creativity, Gbolonyo (2009), stresses the importance of originality in Ewe musical
compositions and general artistic expression.The Ewes also assess a work of art through various
aesthetic judgements or simple expressions such as eɖo atsyɔ (it is aesthetically pleasing) or me ɖo
atsyɔ o (it lacks aesthetic grace or qualities), adanukaka (intricate design), edze nunye (it satisfies
me, I really appreciate), me nya akpɔm o (it is an eyesore/distasteful), eŋunyɔm (it is repulsive) and
so forth. Discussing the crucial considerations in Yoruba religious aesthetic canons, Farris-
Thompson (1984) refers to character as an everlasting aesthetic quality. To quote from an elder of
Ipokia in his research, “beauty is a part of coolness but beauty does not have the force that character
155See George W. K. Dor. Exploring Indigenous Interpretive Frameworks in African Music Scholarship:
Conceptual Metaphors and Indigenous Ewe Knowledge in the Life and Work of Hesino Vinorkor Akpalu. In Black
Music Research Journal, 35(2), 2015, p.23.
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has. Beauty comes to an end. Character is forever.”156 Similarly, the Akans attribute beauty to
character. Beauty, according to Gyekye (1996: 132), is measured in one's character when:
An Akan says ne suban nnye fe; 'bre nnye fe. The Akan equivalent of the
expression ''it is not beautiful'' in reference to character or behaviour is generally
used to indicate both aesthetic and moral disapproval. Similarly, the word ''ugly''
(Akan: tan) is used as both an aesthetic and moral term. Thus, the Akans say, '' His
character is ugly'' (ne suban ye tan). There are other aesthetic expression used to
designate moral approval or disapproval, such as' 'it is unbecoming (ense), as in
the moral statement, ''As for this behaviour, it is unbecoming of you''; ''it is
agreeable to the eyes''. (Eso aniwa); it is tasteful'' (Eye akondo).
In African Cultural Values, Gyekye (1996:127) further explains the concept of “fittingness” (nea
efata) as an important criterion of aesthetic value and judgement in Akan aesthetics. Clearly, such
aesthetic concepts have been observed and passed on for several generations. Gyekye further
outlines the multi-faceted notions of African aesthetics, its application and what is worthy of
aesthetic contemplation to the African. Generally delineating African aesthetics, Gyekye (2003)
observes that:
The objects that are aesthetically valued are works of art in fields of visual arts
(such as painting and sculpture), verbal or literary arts (such as epic and dramatic
poetry), and musical arts (such as dance and song). Equally valued aesthetically
are events, scenes, the human figure, humanity itself, and morality (or moral
behaviour). Beauty is the central notion in African aesthetics (as it is in the
aesthetics of other cultures), but the scope of its application – reflecting the focus
of its concerns – is much wider in the African aesthetic experience and valuation
than it is in to the cultures.157
Discussing aesthetics and criticism in textile art among the Akans, Sagoe made the following
observation:
The Akans are people imbued with a sense of aesthetics and this knowledge is
acquired through a protracted interacting with the works of art. The Akan critics
also have clear, lucid minds and strong articulate voices that help them to measure
156 See Robert Farris-Thompson. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy.1983, New York:
Random House, Inc. p.9.
157Kwame Gyekye. African Cultural Values: An Introduction. Accra: Sankofa Publishing Co, 2003.
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the qualities of art works with objectivity and accuracy. 158
Such aesthetic considerations and often ignored perspectives demonstrate that aesthetic practice
and application have been at the core of African art way before Western aesthetic theories were
coined or formulated. Aesthetics is a shared and lived human experience which is prevalent in
almost every society. African art reflects a multiplicity of philosophical features such as
metaphysics, divinity, existentialism and aesthetics, yet Western art historians and aestheticians
still question the authenticity and the existence of an aesthetic faculty inherent in African art. It is
also intentionally manifest or articulated at the foreground for both expressive and specific
contextual or functional needs.
Early anthropologists such as E. Vatter (1926), in Religiose Plastik der Naturvolker (Religious
Sculpture of Primitive Peoples), proposed a fundamental difference between African art and
Western art. He hypothesized that the artist's role is not, as it has generally been in modern Europe,
to express his own personality, but rather to serve the community. Further, he noted, that, “the
African artist is anonymous,” an idea that remained unquestioned until recent decades.159 Other
anthropologists had their own theories as to what characterized African art as ethnographic, and
therefore different from Western art. Raymond Firth, a sociologist, takes a functionalist approach
to examining African art in his book The Social Framework of Primitive Art (1951). Firth sees the
artist essentially as a craftsman, not working for aesthetic pleasure, but rather acting out a role in
a complex social and economic system. He views ''primitive art'' as reflective of social rather than
158 Isaac Kismet Sagoe. (1981), Criticism in Akan Traditional Visual Arts. Unpublished M.A, Thesis, KNUST,
Kumasi.
159As cited by Balsamao. See Jana. C. Balsamo. Aesthetics or Ethnographic: Historical and Contemporary Dilemmas
in Exhibiting African Art. Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). Paper 510. 1999, p.4.
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individual experiences.160 Ernest Gombrich, an art historian whose numerous essays (e.g., 1960)
reached a wide public, repeatedly characterized all “primitive art” as rigid, frontal, timeless,
marked by undifferentiated expression. This type of representation belonged together with the art
of children. Herbert Read, another influential writer on art (e.g., 1956), took care to separate the
arts of the primitive [sic] —inspired by emotions, mainly fear—from the intellectual efforts of
civilized artists. Behind these observations lies the widespread, negative higher values intrinsic to
European civilization. Motivated by the unthinking, childlike violence and fearful irrationality,
Africans had customs not culture.161 Such unquestioned ‘authorities’ of African art further inspired
and spawned more problemtic ideas of African art in Western minds. Wilkinson (2000:384)
advances the premise below:
The result is that African art, its status still unclear because it does not fully fit the
requirements for art, hovers as a hybrid at the edges, with the art of Western
countries continuing to occupy centre stage. African art therefore is seen as
something less than the other “pure” art, a sort of poorer cousin as it were.
The views expounded by all the authors cited above obscure rather than inform. Such debatable
views about African art prove to be quite obsolete and no longer fit within the revisionist
framework of genuinely appreciating African art or broadening the understanding of African
aesthetics. For instance, Radin (1952) has observed a particular approach to appreciating African
art in which he states:
There are two ways of looking at African Negro sculpture that, for fifty years,
impeded a true understanding of that art. One is the notion that an African carving
or casting is “pure art” and that its quality can be fully assessed by European
160 See Jana. C. Balsamo. Aesthetics or Ethnographic: Historical and Contemporary Dilemmas in Exhibiting African
Art. Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). Paper 510, 1999, p.5.
161 See Monni Adams. African Visual Arts from an Art Historical Perspective. In African Studies Review, 32
(2),1989,pp. 55-103.
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aesthetic standards, without reference the culture in and for which it was made.
The other and opposite view sees in an example of Negro sculpture not work of
art but merely a primitive [sic] utilitarian object made by a tradition-fettered artisan
for a barbarous community devoid of aesthetic feeling of any kind.162
Relatedly, Braembussche (2009) offers a comparable analogy:
To judge any artwork in terms of the artist’s “original emotion” is what Clive Bell
refers to as the ‘pathetic fallacy’. If there is anything at all that is expressed by art,
then it is the expression of a deep and universal emotion, which, at least in principle,
is common to all eras and people and which is therefore not unique to a specific
artist or a particular age. This explains why artworks from a distant past or even
from cultures entirely different from ours are still able to move us. 163
Abiodun (2001:18) further expands the discussion by stressing that, “Scholars today, however, are
more cautious and are trying to avoid the same old error: of believing that if artistic procedures in
other cultures do not take the familiar Western form, they must be absent.” This goes to prove that,
any form of disdain for African art is clearly based on biased reasoning coupled with ignorance of
what is and not considered as “pure art”. The West's attitude of contempt for anything African is
an all-pervading canker even in the academic community that needs to be intellectually addressed.
With common academic unanimity, revisionist researchers have produced sound arguments to
dislodge such inconsistent views of African art in modern scholarship. Carrol's (1999)
philosophical discussion of art initiates an argument which implies that a social scientist's
assessment or analysis of art is markedly different from the philosopher of art. According to Carrol
(1999):
We cannot discover the concept of art by polling. Why not? Many people have
false beliefs about what is art. In the decades of the twentieth century, the vast
majority of people thought that in order for paintings to count as artworks, they
162See Paul Radin. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books Inc, 1952, p.323.
163 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art. Brussels: Springer Science
+ Business Media B.V. 2009, p. 72.
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had to be representations. But this was wrong. A social scientist relying on such
poll this would miscount all the artworks in Paris in 1930; he would overlook too
many paintings by Mondrain, Malevich, Kandinsky and others.164
Carrol's exposition here is especially helpful because it breaks through the barriers of racist
stereotypes in the appreciation of art universally. In his study, The Innocent Anthropologist, Barley
(1983:10) shared the same view regarding prejudice in academia when he wrote that:
Outrage was quite general within the discipline when Malinowski, the 'inventor'
of fieldwork, was revealed as a rather human and flawed vessel in his diaries. Even
he had been infuriated and bored by 'blacks', tormented by lust and isolation. It
was widely felt that the diaries should have been suppressed, that they were a
'disservice to the subject', that they were gratuitously iconoclastic and would lead
to all manner of disrespect for the elders. This reveals a rather intolerable
hypocrisy on the part of purveyors of the art and should be remedied at every
opportunity.165
Some Western researchers often do not rely on critical discussions and publications by African
scholars in the documentation of African art and aesthetics. This position subsequently leads to a
failure in appreciating African art in the light of its philosophies and cultural origins. Sieber et al.
(1987) proposed a conceptual framework for contemplating aesthetic problems in appreciating
African Art:
Each work of African art springs from an ethnic unit that has a particular history
and that has made certain decisions about style, form, and aesthetics […] It is
necessary also to be careful in our use of the term aesthetics, which carries a great
deal of associated baggage in our culture. The literal meaning, the perception of the
beautiful or tasteful, is often based on the arts of the Greeks, and that perception is
carried as the canon for all works of art anywhere and anytime. (Sieber & Walker
1987:14)
164 See Noel Carrol. Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction, New York, Routledge Publishers, 1999,
pp.11-12.
165 Nigel Barley. The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut. Eland, 1983, p.10.
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Some of these persisting academic concerns by Euro-Western scholars led Nukunya (1994) to
write:
Since its inception as an academic discipline, social Anthropology has been
conceived and treated basically as the study of non-European peoples by
Europeans and euro-Americans. Specifically, it has been regarded as the study of
primitive or backward people by the advanced, civilized Europeans and
Americans. This has affected its approach, language and outlook. It has led, on
one hand, to a rather condescending attitude by its practitioners towards people
forming its subject matter and, on the on the hand, to a patronising one. Though
anthropologists have devoted some attention to Europe and America during the
past few decades, the basic conception has not changed and old attitudes and
prejudices remain. From the very beginning to the present, Africa, especially Sub-
Saharan Africa, has been a principal area of its concentration.166
Thus, as late as 1983, Verdon could write that his work on the Abutia Ewe was addressed to the
Anglo-Saxon world. Fortunately, the position had changed, indeed long before Verdon. Not only
are the hitherto primitive [sic] peoples able to read what the foreign anthropologists have been
writing about them, but scholars from these primitive[sic] cultures and societies have become
trained anthropologists.167 Discussing improved approaches to understanding African art, Willett
(2002:150) stressed that:
It is important for us not to deceive ourselves into believing that we can understand
the intention of an African Sculptor simply by looking at his work. For a true
understanding, we should pay particular attention to studies which are based on
direct observation in the field. Studies in the field have frequently disproved
generalizations formulated by scholars in their museums and studies, and in doing
so have sometimes produced new concepts.
From a standpoint of evolutionary psychology of art, Solso (2003:18) infers that, in the beginning,
art emerged as the result of a brain able to image things internally and to represent those imaged
166 See G.K Nukunya. Insider Anthropology: The Case of the Anlo-Ewe. In Etnofoor, Jaarg, 7(1), 1994, pp. 24-40.
167 Ibid. p.29.
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things externally. Art critics and philosophers of art followed. When art became a topic of
academic investigation, opinions were spun off with a passionate centrifugality in which theories
of art were flung to the far corners of social theory, political ideology, psychoanalysis, aesthetic
principles, religion, and philosophy—to name but a few of the aroused regions.168
To briefly digress, Willet was not alone regarding effective ways of appreciating and
understanding not only African art but art in general. Coomaraswamy, a Tamil Hindu
artist/intellectual who spent several years researching into Indian art, embarked on an intellectual
campaign to properly educate the West on Indian art. Coomaraswamy (1908) made the following
observation:
It must be admitted also that a certain prejudice has led European investigators to
think of classical Greece naturally as the source of all art, and to suppose that the
influence of Classic Art must have been as permanently important in the East as
in the West. At the same time, it is to be remembered that is not generally realised
by Western scholars, who are not often artists, that Eastern Art, whether Indian, or
Chinese, has a value and significance not less than that of the Western Art of any
time. The main difficulty so far seems to have been that Indian art has been studied
so far only by archaeologists. It is not archaeologists, but artists who are the best
qualified to judge of the significance of works of art considered as art, and unravel
the influences apparent in them.169
Carrol (1999:12) further reinforces Coomaraswamy's argument by stressing that:
[...] the analytic philosopher of art is concerned with a different direction of
research from the empirical social scientist, her methods are different. For
reflecting upon the nature and structure of our concepts, like the concept of art,
logic, definition, thought experiments and counterexamples (including imagined
ones), and deductive argument are her primary tools—rather than laboratory
experiments, polls, ethnographies, empirical observations, and the like. Of course,
this is not to deny that social scientists may also avail themselves of the strategies
that are so fundamental to analytic philosophers, but only to note that these
168See Robert L. Solso. The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain. Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 2003, p.18.
169See Churnjeet Mahn. British Women’s Travel to Greece, 1840–1914: Travels in the Palimpsest (Nineteenth Century
Series).New York: Routledge, 2016, p.45.
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strategies are at the very soul of analytic philosophy, whereas their use is generally
less central and frequently optional for the social scientist.
Carrol, Chanda and several other philosophers of art, aestheticians and art historians invalidate
misleading theories in the raging debate as to whether African art is “pure art” or not. According
to Carroll (1999: 115), “Artwork is still art, even if it fails to discover a significant form, that is,
many artworks are formally inadequate, and bad for that reason, yet they are still artworks; a theory
cannot render bad art nonexistent.”
In his discourse on African aesthetics, Onyewuenyi (1995) argues that African aesthetic values
are very different orientation from modern Western aesthetic values. He further asserts that:
The primary objects of aesthetic appreciation in modern Western culture are
removed from everyday life and preserved in museums as objects of
contemplation. They are valued in proportion to how much they reflect the
creativity and uniqueness of particular individuals. In contrast, the arts within
traditional Africa were intimately involved with communal values and the
practical realities of daily living. Building on Temples' notion of an ontology of
forces [....]170
From an Africanist perspective, Abiodun (2001:2), one of the founding fathers of revisionist
African art studies, also contributes his opinions in this regard:
Aesthetic values of Western art historians are shaped by European philosophical
aesthetics and uniquely Western visual preferences. With the generally low esteem
for and marginalization of African art within the broader field of art history,
Africanist art historians have begun not only to reexamine their Western derived
methodologies but also to search for theoretical alternatives, lest they lose the
"African" in African art. To make any substantial progress in dealing with the
problems of cross-cultural translation as it pertains to the study and presentation
of African art, however, we must consider both indigenous as well as Western
aesthetic perspectives.
170See Innocent Onyewuenyi. Traditional African Aesthetics: A Philosophical Perspective. In Albert G. Mosley.
African Philosophy: Selected Readings. Michigan: Prentice Hall, 1995, pp.420.
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Apart from Abiodun, other aestheticians/artists have called for the re-evaluation of African
aesthetics and the accommodation of Western aesthetics in African art. Uche Okeke, who—as an
art student at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bellow
University) in the late 1950's, and as a founding member of a radical student group, Art Society—
articulated one of the earliest points of decolonized aesthetics in the manifesto Natural Synthesis,
which sought not the outright erasure of Western aesthetics but an accommodation to it, by making
research into local forms a crucial part of art education.171In a similar effort, Fosu (1997:84)
provides evidence of the synthesis of Western aesthetics and African aesthetic elements:
Colonial education introduced a new kind of art expression in Ghana, which
differed markedly from the classic traditions of the indigenous art. The generation
of artists of this pioneering period was more inclined to the figurative. They chose
for their subjects the indigenous cultures, which touched on pageantry, folklore,
social life, market activities and domestic chores, and for the first time also the
artists demonstrated a choice for individual styles. A hybrid of art combining
aspects of modern European esthetic conventions of frontal and rigid poses
characteristic of Ghanaian indigenous art was introduced. Henceforth every art
expression in Ghana will demonstrate this contemporary transformation.
Quite on the contrary, the Black Arts Movement in America advocates the direct opposite of
embracing and integrating Western aesthetics into ''Black aesthetics.''
The Black Arts Movement is radically opposed to any concept of the artist that
alienates him from his community. Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of
the Black Power concept. As such, it envisions an art that speaks directly to the
needs and aspirations of Black America. In order to perform this task, the Black
Arts Movement proposes a radical reordering of the western cultural aesthetic. It
proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconography. The Black
Arts and the Black power concept both relate broadly to the Afro-American's
desire for self-determination and nationhood. Both concepts are nationalistic [...]
A main tenet of Black Power is the necessity for Black People to define the world
171See Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu. Contemporary African Art Since 1980. Bologna: Grafiche Damiami,
2009, p.18.
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in their own terms. The Black artist has made the same point in the context of
aesthetics.172
Aesthetics is prevalent in every culture, as such, what is aesthetically pleasing in one culture might
seem insignificant or tacky in another culture or society. The negative sentiments Westerners
impute to Legba or Nkisi173 sculptures (nail-studded sculptures) which they deem ''primitive'' or
''fetish'' is the same manner “pissing Christ''174will be utterly ''insignificant'' to a typical African
living in a remote village in the Congo forest. This is in no way to infer that Africans lack proper
aesthetic judgments—most African cultures demonstrate a high awareness of aesthetics and
artistry. Aesthetic appeal is simply culture-specific.
Discussing alternative approaches in conceiving art and aesthetics, Wingo presents conceptual
factors that make up the aesthetic essence of an artwork. Wingo’s focus of aesthetic inquiry further
veers towards Clive Bell’s (1969) aesthetic attitude of “detachment” to fully grasp the relationship
between art and aesthetics. For Wingo (2004):
The content of an art object is what is of primary importance. The focus is on what
is represented, not on the representation itself. From this standpoint, people can
approve or disapprove of a piece of artwork based upon its moral worth. The fact
that something has form and is made by an artist does not make it an artwork until
the moral element has been assessed. According to this view, elephant dung on a
representation of Jesus is ugly – nay, is non-art. 175
172See James A. Montmarquet and William H. Hardy. Reflections: An Anthology of African American Philosophy.
Belmont: Von Hoffman Press, 2000, pp. 353-354.
173 Typical sculptures among the Loango coast and lower Congo. See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller. Soul of
Africa: Magical Rites and Traditions. Maveville.: Imprimerie Jean Lamour, 1999, p.168.
174‘’Pissing Christ’’ is a very ‘’controversial’’ artwork. On Palm Sunday protesters in Avignon tried to smash a
blasphemous work of art with a hammer. The artwork, called “P— Christ”, is a statue of Christ submerged in urine.
Its display had provoked anger among Christians in France: On 18th April, 2011 about 1,000 people marched in protest
against it. Archbishop Jean-Pierre Cattenoz of Vaucluse called the work (by Andres Serrano) “odious”. Visit:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2011/04/21/debate-is-it-a-sin-to-destroy-a-blasphemous-
artwork/ (Accessed on 06/01/2017)
175 See Ajume H. Wingo The Many-Layered Aesthetics of African Art. In A Companion to African Philosophy
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Figure 4.0 Left: "Immersion - P--- Christ", a 1987 photograph by American artist Andres Serrano,
pictured after it was attacked on Sunday (AP Photo/Claude Paris).176Right: Nkisi nail sculpture.177
Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, summarizes this discussion with a Taoist quote, ‘'When
people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as
good, other things become bad.''178 Let us briefly examine the following situation to further
broaden our scope of aesthetics. Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s ‘Doll Test’ experiments best explain
the situation discussed afore. In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and
conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” to study the psychological
effects of segregation on African-American children:
Drs. Clark used four dolls, identical except for color, to test children’s racial
perceptions. Their subjects, children between the ages of three to seven, were
asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which color doll they prefer. A
majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive
characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and
Kwasi Wiredu (Ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p.426.
176 Source of image: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2011/04/21/debate-is-it-a-sin-to-destroy-a-
blasphemous-artwork/ (Accessed on 06/01/2017)
177Source of image: http://www.randafricanart.com/images/Nail_fetish_figure_134.jpg (Accessed on 22/12/2017)
178See Lao Tzu. Tao te Ching. Translated by Stephen Mitchell,1994, p.1.
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segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and
damaged their self-esteem. 179
Figure 4.1 Drs. Clark’s “Doll Test”.
On that note, Neal (2000) cautions that:
Unless the Black artist establishes a ''Black aesthetic'' he will have no future at all.
To accept the white aesthetic is to accept and validate a society that will not allow
him to live. The Black artist must create new forms and new values, sing new
songs (or purify old ones); and along with other Black authorities, he must create
a new history, new symbols, myths and legends (and purify old ones by fire). And
the Black artist, in creating his own aesthetic, must be accountable for it only to
the Black people. Further, he must hasten his own dissolution as an individual (in
the Western sense) painful though the process may be, having been breast-fed the
poison of ''individual experience.''180
Neal validates Fanon’s recommendation when he wrote earlier, that, ''destroy the culture and you
destroy the people. This must not happen. Black artists are culture stabilizers; bringing back old
values, and introducing new ones. Black Art will talk to the people and with the will of the people
stop impending ''protective custody''.''181
179 See http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-the-doll-test (Accessed on 27/04/2017)
180See James A. Montmarquet and William H. Hardy. Reflections: An Anthology of African American Philosophy.
Belmont: Von Hoffman Press, 2000, pp. 353-354.
181Ibid.
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Figure 4.2 Racist illustrations positioning the Caucasian race as “superior” to the African race
through fabricated religious doctrines.182
With all these intellectual perspectives about the true nature of aesthetics, as scholars, we would
not be contributing much to the study of modern aesthetics as an academic discipline if it were
merely reduced to ''beauty'', “order” or ''the beautiful.''
4.2 Concluding Remarks
This chapter has basically provided a general introduction to Aesthetics as a discipline. It also
discussed Western constructs of African aesthetics from renewed perspectives. Through
argumentative discussion of contemporary debates and prevailing studies in African aesthetics, this
chapter concludes by emphasizing the intellectual need for redefining African aesthetics and
182Ghanaians reacted angrily to a ‘racist’ statue commissioned by the Catholic Church in Ghana. The statue was
reportedly unveiled at the Tepa Roman Catholic Grotto in Manfo in the Brong region and it depicts a Caucasian angel
overpowering a dark-skinned “devil” beneath its feet. Ghanaians on social media strongly condemned the statue as
racist, giving credence to the white supremacist ideology. Source:
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Racist-Catholic-statue-causes-anger-in-Ghana-733689
(Accessed on 23/02/2018). See also: https://blackeyemag.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/war-on-black-people-pt-6-
religionspirituality/ (Accessed on 23/02/2018).
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reclaiming Black Art scholarship through academic discourse, constant research and assuming
unapologetic positions in criticizing Western aesthetic formulations of African art. Forthcoming
chapters outline some of the misconceptions surrounding sacred Vodu art in academic discussions.
The chapter further proceeds with identifying how the Western aesthetic establishments and academic
institutions still undermine African aesthetic through damaging Eurocentric opinions. It also presents
Vodu aesthetics as a shared and everyday experience which permeates the lives and religious world
view of the Anlo-Ewe.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 2
Towards Redefining Ewe Vodu Aesthetics: A Primer to the Discourse on “Fetishism”
5.1 Introduction
The religion of the African is intertwined with the totality of African culture and philosophical
knowledge systems. This forms an integral part of the African psyche. African spiritual life has
evolved over the ages through various esoteric practices and socio-cultural experiences. However,
Vodu religious practices and spiritual philosophies, like most other indigenous African religions,
as Mbiti (1969) has already noted, have been subjected to a great deal of misrepresentation and
misunderstanding. For instance, various arguments have been raised to ascertain whether African
religions are monotheistic or polytheistic. For that matter, we need not stress our intellectual
muscles in this particular debate. But just to briefly point out to future readers who may encounter
these writings, no matter how plausible some of the arguments questioning monotheistic
philosophies of African religions may sound, one still needs critical judgements to read in between
the lines. It can be deduced, according to Vodu philosophy and field interviews, that Vodu religion
is monotheistic at its very core. To deny this fact is to only disregard the complex and
interconnected hierarchical power structures of the Vodu pantheon.
To begin with, Africans believed that they were constantly at odds and vulnerable to malevolent
spirits that threatened their very existence and social order. Similarly, Ewes believed that there is
an all-pervading, unsurpassed supernatural cosmic force (Mawu) who presides over all the affairs
of humanity and has delegated auxiliary deities, elevated ancestors and deities to intercede on some
of these basic human affairs (such as politics, kinship, death, health, medicine, economics,
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nutrition, magic, art, music, warfare, natural disaster, fortune, tragedy, love, occupation etc.).183
As Dzobo has rightly captured:
The Anfoega-Ewe in their religious life may appear to be worshippers of many
gods but in their own thinking they are not, because they believe in one supreme
god called Se whose varied attributes find embodiment in different other gods on
earth.184
A sketchy example of a Brékété Vodu pantheon has been reproduced to illustrate this point in the
diagram below:
Diagram 5.0 A diagram of Brékété pantheon in Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s Shrine in Woe, Keta. Diagram
by Researcher.
Upon their first encounters with some of the ritual practices and esoteric processes surrounding
such spiritual arbitrations, colonialists, chroniclers, explorers and missionaries alike, described
183Acheampong advances propositions in his discussions of the nature and structure of the spirit world in Akan
religious conceptions of the Supreme Being. See Stephen Owoahene-Acheampong. Inculturation and African
Religion: Indigenous and Western Approaches to Medical Practice. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. 1998,
pp.51-72.
184Ibid. p.52.
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them as “fetish” out of sheer ignorance and phobic prejudice. The term “fetish” has actually been
ascribed in all manner of ways to African spiritual practices.
In his philosophical reflections on inculturation and African religions, Acheampong (1998:51)
expressed his worry about how some Africans, diasporans and colonial scholars alike “fail and
constantly fail in their attempt to give an accurate presentation and interpretation about African
traditional beliefs and religious practices.”185 Acheampong’s observation goes to prove how many
‘great scholars’, at best, only have a superficial knowledge about the “inner workings” of Vodu
and the sacred arts. This dearth of information has subsequently created an intellectual gap that
needs to be filled by well-informed insider anthropologists and ethnographers or the real adherents
of the faith itself. The aesthetics of Ewe Vodu arts have for long been an understudied and poorly
documented field. It is my hope that the critical perspectives discussed in this and other subsequent
chapters will help dispel some of the misconstrued beliefs about Vodu for better appreciation of
the arts associated with the faith. This discussion will essentially trace the philosophical
foundations of “fetishism” from its inception to recent scholarship in the disciplines of religion,
socio-linguistics, art appreciation, aesthetics and criticism of art. These areas will form the core
discussions in this particular chapter.
185 Personally speaking, aside a few reliable Western scholars and some distinguished diasporan and West African
intellectuals, a bulk of the discussions I have studied on Vodu art, so far, usually lacks in-depth analysis, critical
insights and “thick description.” The philosophical aspects are almost always lost and not adequately discussed. See
Stephen Owoahene-Acheampong. Inculturation and African Religion: Indigenous and Western Approaches to
Medical Practice. New York: Peter LangPublishing, Inc. 1998, p.51.
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5.3 Intercultural Roots of “Fetishism”: A Theological Overview
Growing up as a child, my parents forced Christianity down my throat. Like many Ghanaian
parents, they simply did not give me the chance to explore other faiths or belief systems and this
posed a great challenge to me. The problem was not Christianity, per se, but how Christian
doctrines were used as a bargaining chip in indoctrinating and ''conditioning'' my mind to reject
and despise African art as well as African religion itself (which is still erroneously perceived to be
the polar opposite of Christianity till today). This was simply because Christianity was constantly
being projected as the “most ideal faith” — “the only way to salvation”. There are a few ambiguous
verses in the Bible which seem rather odd in respect to how certain aspects of non-Christian rites
and rituals are demonized as “unworthy practices.”186 In the broader scheme of things, this
relatable episode of my personal experience has socially manifested itself in the form of religious
indoctrination of children against African religions and art through neocolonial educational
ideologies and distorted Judeo-Christian teachings in some urban and rural Ghanaian homes,
schools, and religious institutions. The Christian institutions and mass media have particularly
gained prominence regarding their “contributions” to this social dynamic.187 A few Bible verses
may suffice here to buttress the concerns being raised:
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess
knowledge.” [...] Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that
“an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although
there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many
186 See Acts 15:28-29, 1 Corinthians 8: 1-7, Ezekiel 9:5-7, Corinthians 10:14-22, Deuteronomy 25:11-12.
187Nkrumah earlier made this same observation decades ago when he wrote that ‘Perhaps one of the most insidious
methods of neo-colonialism is evangelism’. Refer to last Chapter of Nkrumah’s seminal work on Neo-Colonialism,
where he discusses at length, the “advanced” mechanisms of white supremacy organizations, neo-colonial
“propaganda machinery” and how these calculated psychological pressures affect the general mental well-being of
Africans. See Kwame Nkrumah. Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. New York: International
Publishers, 1965, pp.247-254.
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“gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are
all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are
all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge.
But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an
idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled (1 Corinthians 8: 1-7).
Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written. [...] Therefore, my
beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves
what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood
of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of
the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices
participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is
anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they
offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake
of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to
jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:14-22)
In academic circles, some theologians, religious critics, religious rights activists and social
scientists prefer to be very ''diplomatic'' and ''politically correct'' in their critiques and refutations
of such ambiguous verses in the Bible. For instance, Swedenborg (2009:233), an ecclesiastical
reformist, and an advocate of the revival of indigenous religions, presents this thought-provoking
argument in his philosophical discussion on Divine Providence:
The Israelites worshipped a golden calf in the wilderness and acknowledged it as
the god that had brought them out of Egypt, yet Jehovah saw this from Mt. Sinai
nearby and did not warn against it. This occurred in the desert of Sinai near the
mountain. It is in accordance with all the laws of divine providence recounted so
far and with those to follow that Jehovah did not restrain the Israelites from that
atrocious worship.
As an ecclesiastical reformist, Swedenborg (2009) also makes several theological arguments,
which suggest that there are many levels of worshipping God. As such, if “idolatry” is what, say
a group of people have chosen as their path to experience the divine or establish a mystical union
with their Supreme Being, they should be left entirely on their own to worship through such means
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in total freedom (and not coerced into an alien form of worship).188 Quite on the contrary, though,
art critics, analytical philosophers, free thinkers, philosophers of art, African fundamentalists and
discerning minds are more candid in their critiques and simply like to call such ambiguous verses
in the Bible exactly what they appear to be—''spurious accounts'' written by fallible scribes.189
In order to delineate logic from religious prejudice and vague presuppositions, I refer to Blocker
(2003) to further expand the discussion. Contemplating a rational philosophical allegory which
indirectly advocates revisionist scholarship in African art, Blocker narrates the following situation:
Suppose I am an early missionary to West Africa. I see people making what appear
to be ''sacrifices'' and ''offerings'' and ''prayers'' to carved wooden figures which
they call by what I have been told are the names of their ''gods''. Hence, I am led
to believe that they worship these idols, and so I write in my next report home that
the natives worship pieces of wood, that these carvings are idols worshipped as
gods. But this claim or interpretation of mine clearly assumes that these people
themselves believe that as well. Let us say that they come to my mission school
and begin to learn English, and after some years, they inform me that they do not
consider the carving itself to be the god, but only to represent it, or to be the
temporary abode of the god who can occasionally enter and occupy it. Then,
assuming I believe what my informants are now telling me, I would have to admit
that I had been wrong in my earlier report and to deny now that the practices I had
observed in connection with the wood carvings were instances of idolatry.190
Nukunya stressed on this paradox when he wrote that “the fact remains, however, that the insider
anthropologist has brought a new dimension and perspective into the subject. He is born and bred
in the society he is now studying. As such, language is not a problem to him. Also, having
188 `See Emanuel Swedenborg. Divine Providence. pp.119-120, 233. (Publishers and place of publication unavailable)
189See Richard Dawkins. The God Delusion, London: Bantam Press Publishers, 2006, pp.117-118.
190 See Gene Blocker. Is Primitive Art “Art”? In P. H. Coetzee. Philosophy from Africa: A Text with Readings. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003, p.411. Abiodun has pointed out Blocker’s inconsistency in the “primitive” versus
“classical/naturalistic” dichotomy. Blocker’s continued use of the term “primitive” demonstrates the powerful hold of
a biased art-historical paradigm on a scholar who, even today, attempts to repudiate it. Refer to Rowland Abiodun.
Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. p.9.
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participated as a full member in the society, he is to a large extent his own informant.”191 Nukunya
further noted that:
Not only are the hitherto primitive [sic] peoples able to read what the foreign
anthropologists have been writing about them, but scholars from these primitive
[sic]cultures and societies have become trained anthropologists. […] Today the
phenomenon of the insider anthropologist has become a fact of life, no more a
possibility. 192
The basis of Nukunya’s reasoning and Blocker's rational inquiry into African religious worship
proves the established notion of ''idolatry'' to be quite faulty and inaccurate. Even as a child, I had
my own reservations about such skewed notions in the Bible, though I did not completely denounce
my faith as a Catholic until I started researching into African religions.193
I vowed to myself, my mind would not be shackled by such ‘dangerous’ religious concepts; in
short, I wanted to break my wild spirit free. My stance even became more justified when I much
later delved into African history and began to study the works of Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus
Garvey, Malcolm X, Chancellor Williams, Franz Fanon, Jacqueline Chanda, Mirimba Ani, Akosua
Perbi, George James, Kwame Gyekye, J.S Mbiti, and other great African thinkers. Nearing the end
of my first degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, I went into a
self-imposed 'solitary confinement' and pored aimlessly on any philosophical treatise I could lay
my hands on till I started having a sense of intellectual direction. Other non-African thinkers whose
191 See G.K Nukunya. Insider Anthropology: The Case of the Anlo-Ewe. Etnofoor, Jaarg, 7(1), 1994, pp.24-40.
192Ibid. pp.29.
193Vogel’s interview with Prof. El Anatsui, also reveals that Anatsui shares a religious view that is not too dissimilar
to the personal reservations I had, growing up as a child. See Susan Mullin Vogel. El Anatsui: Art and Life. London:
Prestel, 2012, p.24.
Nkrumah (1957:15-16) also shares a similar experience concerning his religious views during his Achimota days in
his autobiography.
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works proved to satisfy my curious mind include Thomas Paine, Immanuel Kant, Alan Watts, Lao
Tzu, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Friedrich Nietzsche, Vladimir Lenin, Helena Blavatsky, Elaine
Pagels, Helen Ellerbe, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Musashi Miyamoto, Jidu Krishnamurti, Richard
Dawkins, Emanuel Swedenborg, Sri Swami Vivekenanda and several other philosophers.
Almost as soon as children learn to talk, they ask: Where did I come from? Where do people go
when they die? What's beyond the sky? How did the world start? Who made God? Why are one
and one two and not three? From the very beginning of our lives, we start to ask the questions that
make up philosophy.194 Although philosophy begins with wonder and questions, it does not end
there. Philosophy tries to go beyond the standard answers to these questions that we may have
received when we were too young to seek our own answers. The goal of philosophy is to get us to
answer these questions for ourselves—to make up our own minds about our self, life, knowledge,
art, religion, and morality without simply depending on the authority of parents, peers, television,
teachers, or society.195
Many of our religious, political, and moral beliefs are beliefs that we accepted as children long
before we could question them or understand the reason behind them. Philosophy examines these
beliefs. The aim is not to reject them but to learn why we hold them and to ask whether there are
good reasons to continue holding them. In this way, our basic beliefs about reality and life become
our own: we accept them because we have thought them through on our own, not because our
parents, peers, and society have conditioned us to believe them. In this way, we gain a kind of
independence and freedom, or what some modern philosophers call autonomy. The goal of
194Manuel Velasquez. Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, (8th Ed), 2002,
p.4.
195Ibid. p.4.
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philosophy, then, is autonomy: the freedom of being able to decide for yourself what you believe
in by using your own reasoning abilities.196 This independent reasoning ability is one of the
essential pillars of developing an enlightened mind.197
5.4 “Intellectual” Roots of “Fetishism”
“Fetishism” as an “academic discipline” has generated a lot of controversy and heated debates in
anthropological scholarship, but the problem actually lies in the origins of the “fetishism
discourse” itself. Which ideology was “fetishism” framed around anyway? How did the “fetishism
discourse” ensue?
During the age of what Europeans chose to call “enlightenment,” its advocates were in search of a
theory that was diametrically opposed to the theories being advanced at the time to promote the
discourse on “enlightenment.” “Reason” and “rationality” during this age (“enlightenment”),
served as the cornerstone for constructing the academic segregation between “enlightenment” and
what is today referred to as “fetishism.” Disciplines falling outside the intellectual range of
“enlightenment” or sub-disciplines of “unfamiliar” origins were to be “intellectually policed” by
adherents of this movement. Progressively, writers operating within the European academic
framework of “enlightenment” fabricated a mock version of a “pristine Africa”, paradoxically, in
hope of dislodging superstitious beliefs and widespread misconceptions about the continent.198
196 Manuel Velasquez. (8th Ed) Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2002,
pp.4-5.
197 See Schmidt, J. (Ed.), (1996). What Is Enlightenment? Eighteenth-Century Answers and Twentieth-Century
Questions. University of California Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt4cgf8z
See also Immanuel Kant. An Answer to the Question: "What is Enlightenment?" Konigsberg. 1784.
198 See Tobias Döring. African Cultures, Visual Arts, and the Museum: Sights/Sites of Creativity and Conflict.
Amsterdam: Brill Rodopi, 2002, p.135.
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“Primitive religion” or African “superstitious beliefs”, they felt, was not “intellectually
stimulating” enough so this theoretical problem had to undergo “intellectual reforms” which
apparently led to the ideological foundations of “fetishism”. Thus, “fetishism” which came to
“represent” African spiritual, artistic and performative practices and the African world view in
general exemplified a world without “enlightenment.”199 Müller et al. (1999:168) provide a deeper
explanation that supports this argument:
The colonial peoples of Africa gained the reputation for being ''stupid'', amoral
fetishists'' who worshipped trees, animals, and stones. Travelers, missionaries, and
colonialists, who at best had only a superficial idea of African cultures, took up
the expression as being meaningless but useful. Fetishism was set alongside
witchcraft and superstition. It was associated with any object which had anything
to do with magic or cult ideas and practices; this might be a sculpture of a
traditional hero or royal insignia, an ancestral statue, or a piece of fortune telling
apparatus. The local people were seen in the same way, so Europeans referred to
fetish huts, fetish services, fetish priests, fetish ceremonies, fetish people,
protective fetishes and so on. The ''history of the fetish'' draws on a
misunderstanding on the part of Western civilization; the use of the term in more
recent ethnological and religious literature. It is considered to be not only old-
fashioned but also offensive.
Addressing the significance of a materialist approach in studying ‘material religion’ and its key
analytical concepts, Meyer (2012) highlights the roots of the discourse of fetishism:
With the rise of the critique of religion in the name of rationalism in the
Enlightenment, the fetishism discourse transformed. Held to represent religion in
its rawest and most primitive [sic] form – ‘as it were, African Catholicism and
Despotism in one’– fetishism was to be destroyed as a prerequisite for
enlightenment and progress. It was held to sustain an irrational attitude which, in
turn, sustained deeply problematic, sticky power structures (not unlike the Ancien
Régime). Here lie the roots of the discourse of fetishism as an irrational attribution
of life, agency and will to a ‘mere’ thing.200
199 See William Pietz. Bosman’s Guinea: The Intercultural Roots of an Enlightenment Discourse. In Comparative
Civilizations Review, 9(9), 1982, p.16.
200See Birgit Meyer. Mediation and the Genesis of Presence: Towards a Material Approach to Religion. Universiteit
Utrecht Faculteit Geesteswetenschappe, 2012, p.16.
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Discussing Bosman's accounts201 and the intercultural roots of the “enlightenment”, Pietz (1982)
provides a closer textual analysis of the anthropological problem surrounding the discourse of
fetishism. It is imperative to refer to Pietz for a rational understanding of the discourse on
“fetishism” and its intellectual developments since his essay remains particularly enlightening for
this analytical discussion. Pietz (1982) broadens our knowledge on the origins of “fetishism” by
stating that:
It was the pidgin word ''fetisso'' that emerged on the coast especially around the
trade fort of Elmina, which most clearly expressed this radically novel cross-
cultural situation. For thirteenth-century Portuguese priests the word ''feitico'',
named the amulets and non-Christian talismans worn by common people for
certain magical effects; ''feitico'' was a synonym for 'witchcraft' but without
necessary attribution of actual traffic with the Devil. Feiticos were understood to
be produced by ignorant, simple people; feiticos might indeed produce effects
through the natural magic of God's created world, but their users might also, either
purposely or unknowingly, draw on demonic powers and might even call forth the
devil himself. In any event, feiticos were in direct competition with the cruxifixes,
rosaries, and little saints proper to the Christian code, and their use was both
heretical and illegal.202
De Brosses is credited as one of the foremost exponents on the discourse of “fetishism”. In 1757,
members of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres were incensed after De Brosses
presented his essay on “fetishism”. De Brosses’ spurious essay was not merely dismissed by the
Academie for being framed around the idea of “fetishism” but also due to its ahistorical claims
and flawed methodology employed in acquiring such “historical” information. This led de Brosses
201 In his travelogues, Bosman refers to the rich body adornments worn by Akans as “fetish”. See Bosman (1712:
119).
202See William Pietz. Bosman's Guinea: The Intercultural Roots of an Enlightenment Discourse. In Comparative
Civilizations Review, 9(9), 1982, p.3.
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to publish his essay anonymously in Geneva in 1760 which he later smuggled into
France.203 According to Pietz:
De Brosses defined “fetishism” as “any religion which has for its cult object
animals or inanimate terrestrial beings. It was thus, as Diderot wrote to de Brosses
in 1757 after reading the manuscript, “la religion première, gènérale et
universelle.” In the late eighteenth century, fetishism [sic] had been widely
accepted as the general form of primitive [sic] religion204
In spite of all these intellectual concerns and on-going debates on the subject of “African
fetishism”, some revisionist anthropologists and ethnographers have still proven to be “resistant”
to historical facts. Other researchers, completely oblivious of the etymological roots of the word
“fetish”, still persist in using this old-fashioned propaganda to denigrate aspects of African religion
and African art in their discussions, in the process, glorifying and validating Eurocentric
approaches in studying non-Western religious art.205 Silva (2017:92) has indicated in her
discussion on the intellectual developments of “fetishism” that:
Since its invention on the Guinea coast in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
the concept of the fetish has been a fantasy of Europeans with hardly any
knowledge of Africa. The concepts of art and cult object were similarly built on
the unsteady foundation of ignorance. The great anthropology and art museums of
Western Europe and North America held staggering numbers of African objects
collected since the nineteenth century, but these objects arrived with little to no
information.206
203De Brosses was never admitted as a member of the French Academy, Voltaire actually opposed De Brosses’ entry
into the elite upper echelons of the French Academy. See Rosalind C. Morris and Daniel H. Leonard. The Returns of
Fetishism: Charles de Brosses and the Afterlives of an Idea. With a New Translation of On the Worship of Fetish
Gods. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017, pp.2-8.
204See William Pietz. Bosman's Guinea: The Intercultural Roots of an Enlightenment Discourse. In Comparative
Civilizations Review, 9(9), 1982.
205 For renewed intellectual discussions and on-going academic debates on the discourse of “fetishism” refer to
Rosalind C. Morris and Daniel H. Leonard. The Returns of Fetishism: Charles de Brosses and the Afterlives of an
Idea. With a New Translation of on the Worship of Fetish Gods. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
206Sónia Silva. Art and Fetish in the Anthropology Museum, Material Religion, 13(1), 2017, pp.77-96.
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Till today, the academic discourse on “fetishism” has been expanded and ascribed to highly
complex non-Western religions, art forms, sacred aesthetics, and spiritual practices. For instance,
Rosenthal's description of Legba is quite inaccurate within the framework of religious aesthetics,
taking into consideration the stately importance of Legba and what they actually represent in Vodu
religious order. Legba essentially serve as guardians of the land in Ewe societies. Legba is
considered by Vodu priests and devotees alike as one of Mawu’s children, who serves as an
intermediary between the Supreme Being (Mawu) and human affairs. Like Du-Legba, Legba are
named. The former protects the whole town, but the latter are family deities; although each Legba
is associated with an individual in the sense of having been "planted" for a particular person, it
guards the whole house, that is, the family members living in one compound. The main work of
these deities is to protect against witches, thieves, and all evil spirits. Some may be used to cure
insanity, some to cure diseases of children. Others may be used for general guidance, for protection
from enemies and from outside forces, for long life, for children, and for prosperity in trading or
fishing207 (Gilbert, 1982:60).
As pointed out by Gilbert, Legba is mostly called upon or invoked to intercede on behalf of
mortals in times of need. This is done through harnessing of spiritual energies, various rites and
other psychic practices. The harnessing of spiritual energies and supernatural forces for the
purposes of healing, protection as well as exorcising malevolent spirits from individuals and at
community level, forms an integral aspect of maintaining social equilibrium and the preservation
of life in Vodu religious order. Likewise, the use of magic, chants, percussion, dance, appellations,
207 See Michelle V. Gilbert. Mystical Protection Among the Anlo Ewe. In African Arts, 15(4), 1982, pp. 60-66+90.
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sacrifice, prayers, meditation, amulets, talisman and protective charms aid in harnessing or
invoking spiritual energies to perform specific tasks.
Figure 5.1 Legba stationed around the vicinity of Kli-Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta
Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Indeed, Shoko Mori, a Ghanaian-based Japanese researcher, gave a remarkable testimony after
Legba extended his benevolence and healing mercies to save her son from a life-threatening illness
suspected to also be a “witchcraft attack”. Mori (2017) drew parallels between Vodu and Shinto
sacrificial practices:
Sacrifice of a goat to block the attack of evil spirits on left and two chickens to
protect my son’s life in the right. Then we moved two bowls of offerings to the
shrine of Legba. I never expected to experience all this process when I learnt about
contemporary religious practice worldwide as well as “magic”, “sorcery” and
“witchcraft”. Neither did I expect to experience these rituals when I studied
anthropology of religion lectured by my supervisors of Tokyo University Foreign
Studies. No culture is savage or barbarous, here in Black Africa too, as well as
other indigenous beliefs, thoughts, practices and philosophies. Sacrifice and
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offerings represent a fruit of each land. In Japan, it would be fish, rice, crops and
sake (local alcohol made with rice).208
Mori (2018) further outlining the similarities between Vodu and Shinto religious practices,
philosophy, and beliefs, asserted that:
Herbs and locally distilled alcohol are essential elements in Vodu ritual practice.
A variety of offerings are served for spirits and gods, such as local crops like yam
and cassava, and animal sacrifices such as goat, chicken and cow. On the contrary
for Shinto priests, sakaki (indigenous evergreen leaves) is an important tool for
ritual practice. As rice is main agricultural product in Japan, rice and sake (local
alcohol made by rice) are significant offerings. [Isejingu 2015] Also, all sorts of
sacrifices are offered to kami (deities) such as rice cake, salt, water, fish, seaweed,
seasonal vegetables and fruit, and bird meat. [Association of Shinto Shrine 2011,
Iwai & Niwa 2007] As people share say, goat soup after Vodu ritual sacrifice,
people in Japan also have communal dining to share those foods to get spiritual
strength from the deities.
A critical comparison of Rosenthal’s description of Legba to the perspectives cited afore produces
quite a contrary representation. According to Rosenthal:
Legba is part clown, a figure of exaggerated phallic proportions lacking in
physical elegance or stately importance, a self-indulgent, Dionysian monster
god (an aggresive imago). Yet Legba thinks, just as the gorovodus think […] His
lack of humanly beauty and his rank as second (one of his roles is that of a
servant, perhaps even a slave) are his personal marks of symbolic castration […]
The other vodus have a Legba fetish or other guardian vodu protecting them […]
Such an outrageously enormous and erect penis, but no separate guardian
fetish!Being itself, selfhood via language, whether human or divine, requires a
lack, a hole, even (especially?) when the phallus is of super fetish like
proportions.209
208Personal communication with Japanese researcher, Mori (May, 2017). In fact, Allman also recounts similar
instances of other Japanese tourists consulting Tongnaab in the remote Tong Hills of Northern Region of Ghana:
“Perched amidst the granite boulders at the summit of the Tong Hills, we felt as though we had chanced upon one of
the most remote and magical places on earth. Surely we must be among only a handful of foreign visitors who had
ever journeyed to this secluded sacred place. As we picked our way down from the cave after our consultation with
the oracle, a man whom we would come to know well, “Assemblyman” John Bawa Zuure, broke the silence. “Ah,
you know, we have been very busy these days. This morning we had visitors from Asante and just yesterday six
tourists came here from Japan to consult with Tongnaab.” See Jean Allman and John Parker. Tongnaab: The History
of a West African God, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2005, p.3.
209 See Judy Rosenthal. Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1998,
p.135. (emphasis by Researcher)
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Figure 5.2 Du-Legba on the way to Atiteti township in Ketu District of the Volta Region
(2017). Photography by Researcher.
Gilbert’s (1982) description of Legba is also captured below:
The roughly modeled images are regarded as the guardians of the Anlo Ewe
towns […] Their eyes are usually defined by cowrie shells, and the bodies are
frequently covered with pieces of cloth or necklaces of palm fronds. […] Most
have stumpy arms and/or out-stretched legs. Sexual organs are usually portrayed,
and very few figures are hermaphroditic […] The amount of modeling on the head
and body varies. Most are very roughly formed, presumably because they
represent spirits; Cudjoe was told infact that du-legba should not be too realistic.210
It does not take the stretch of one’s imagination and critical thinking skills to note that Rosenthal’s
veiled Eurocentric bias and poorly worded “aesthetic judgements” are vulnerable to criticism. The
approach employed in her “critique” and “appraisal” of Legba is deeply troubling as she leads
researchers on with no methodical aesthetic logic and anthropological evidence to undergird some
of her errorneous claims.211 As one of the primary goals of philosophy is to arrive at truth and
210 See Michelle V. Gilbert. Mystical Protection Among the Anlo Ewe. In African Arts, 15(4), 1982, pp. 60-66+90.
211 For instance, Rosenthal notes in her work that “often there were admissions to lack of evidence of the wickedness
of fetishes[sic]; there was simply a “conviction” that they should be banned “for the good of the people”: Although I
have very few facts to produce, I am inclined to the opinion that the Fetish [sic] is a bad and dangerous one…” See
Judy Rosenthal. Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p.92.
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shared beliefs through a series of rational argumentative discussions, the discussion will proceed
accordingly. To begin with, Terkper (2009) has stressed that, criticism requires “brainpower and
critical thinking, not just mere knowledge and application of theories but power of the mind to
pass quality judgement, eliminating all forms of prejudices, fantasies or dreams.”212Silva (2017)
posits that it has become imperative to produce counter-arguments to close the epistemic gap
between false philosophical assumptions and aesthetic logic:
From the vantage point of postmodernity, we may argue that the African arts
curators attempted to disparage the old, problematic concept of the fetish by
introducing the newer, yet equally problematic concepts of art and culture […]
Similar to many anthropology museums prior to the 1980s (prior to the so-called
crisis of representation in anthropology), the Portuguese curators did not include
African voices in their exhibits—voices that could, if not reduce the gaps of
knowledge concerning objects collected in the distant past, at least fill that void
with contemporary perspectives of Africans living in Africa or Europe.
Discussing the evolution of culture, Skinner (1973) acknowledged the undeniable fact that, “each
culture has its own set of goods, and what is good in one culture may not be good in another. To
recognize this is to take the position of ‘cultural relativism’”.213Along similar lines, MacIntyre has
also pointed out that each vital culture contains a continuity of conflict, which allows divergent
behavior. Furthermore, in the age of globalization, cultures are not converging. They seem to be
growing farther apart. MacIntyre is of the view that all cultures are wonderful and they are all
wonderful in their own unique way.214 It must be emphasized here, that, the religious or aesthetic
experience of one cultural group may contradict the religious experience of another and quite often
the religious views we personally hold most dearly in our hearts may influence or dictate how we
212Gordon Terkpeh Sabutey. Aesthetics, Appreciation and Criticism Among Indigenous Asante Kente Weavers:
Implications for Art Education and National Development. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kwame Nkrumah University
of Science and Technology, 2009, p.42.
213 See Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Pelican Books, 1973, p.127.
214 Alasdair MacIntyre cited in David Brooks. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and
Achievement. New York: Random House. 2011. p.263.
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aesthetically assess and appreciate other religious artworks. Even in recent times, racist ideologies,
problematic curatorial practices and derogatory terminologies used in “appraising” African art in
Western academic circles are yet to be thoroughly expunged from art exhibition catalogues and
anthropological scholarship.
Figure 5.3 Observing the creative process of sculpting a Legba.215 Torgodo, Volta Region,
(2017). Photography by Researcher and Research Assistant.
215 While conducting field research at an Adzima Shrine in Torgodo, Volta Region, I had a very rare opportunity to
observe the reconstruction of a new Legba. The sculpture was later imbued with the spiritual life force after the creative
process. I was also granted exclusive rights to film and photograph the creative process of sculpting the Legba.
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5.5 On Aesthetics, Art Criticism and Genuine Appreciation of Vodu Arts (Part 1)
The initial concerns raised against Rosenthal’s claims goes deeper than mere prejudice and
misrepresentation. It is a common notion in applied epistemology that being an expert in a
particular discipline does not necessarily make you an expert in another related field. Critical
perspectives of trained art critics and philosophers of art take a markedly different approach. If a
well-grounded aesthetic scrutiny is to be carried out, to that effect, it will reveal the wobbly
intellectual foundations on which Rosenthal established her emphatic opinion. To properly address
this misnomer, I will first begin by “scanning” Rosenthal’s claim’s through Kieran's Aesthetic
triad below:
Diagram 5.3.1 Kieran's (2006) Aesthetic triad.216
In a similar effort, Bongmba expands Kieran’s aesthetic triad within the context of African art,
aesthetics, which he argues, must be understood as “triadic” in nature— “addressing a ‘feeling’
resulting from the visual dimension of the artistic production, ‘framed’ by power dynamics
associated with the social context of the ‘art,’ and finally as a ‘spiritually’-oriented ‘experience”.217
216 See Matthew Kieran. Introduction: A Conceptual Map of Issues in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. In
Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, Matthew Kieran. (Ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
2006, p.6.
217 Bongmba cited in Anthony B. Pin. Introduction: The Black Labyrinth, Aesthetics, and Black Religion. In Black
Religion and Aesthetics, Religious Thought and Life in Africa and the African Diaspora. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2009, p.10.
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In Kantian theory of aesthetics, art is evaluated in what he defines as “reflective judgment”. Kant
is of the opinion that appreciating a great piece of artwork is an intellectually stimulating activity
in itself, rather than merely making aggressive judgments. According to Kant (1793:25):
To deem something good, I must always know what sort of thing the object is
intended to be, i.e., I must have a concept of it. That is not necessary to enable me
to see beauty in a thing. Flowers, free patterns, lines aimlessly intertwining-
technically termed foliage have no signification, depend upon no definite concept,
and yet please.
From the above theory, one can deduce that it is impractical to have a standardized set of laws for
‘defining beauty’ or evaluating art. The principles of commonality and necessity are creations of
the human mind or “common sense”. Thus, by embedding the delight of artistic creations in the
elevated structures of the human mind, Kant resists the slanted conclusion that art is what is
‘beautiful’ or whatever is immediately aesthetically pleasing. Similarly, the act of perception is a
thick process. It is not just taking in a scene but, almost simultaneously, weighing its meaning,
evaluating it, and generating an emotion about it. In fact, many scientists now believe that
perceptions are akin to aesthetic or sensual perceptions, emanating from many of the same regions
of the brain.218 Evidently, Kant is of the view that the artist is not necessarily a “skilled” craftsman,
per se, but rather an exceptionally sensitive and superior individual who expresses ideas and
emotions through art. Over the years, modified approaches to art appreciation have been fully
integrated into studies in aesthetics. Practically, it is best captured in Ladd’s lamentation of recent
scholarship by writers he refers to as the “new critics”:
Now it is a frequent mistake to art critics (e.g. the “new critics”) to assume that it
is possible to appreciate a work of art without knowing such things as the artist’s
218 See David Brooks. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. New York:
Random House. 2011. p.478.
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intentions. In the case of African art, it has frequently been pointed out that one
cannot really understand a piece of sculpture, without knowing the cultural and
social contact for which it was intended. Indeed, simply the symbolic or
representational aspects of a work require some knowledge of the ideology of the
society in which it was made. It seems obvious to me that it would be impossible
fully to appreciate a medieval painting of the crucifixion without knowing the
story. Why should one expect to appreciate a piece of tribal art without having a
similar kind of knowledge?
In his discussions on the phenomenology of aesthetic experience, Berlean (2000) explains aesthetic
theory as a cognitive discipline:
A genuine aesthetics should offer what is initially a phenomenological account. It
must begin by being primarily descriptive rather than judicial, and develop its
normative standards from an observational base. Rather than starting from a priori
standards of relevance and excellence, an empirical aesthetics should try to
identify such standards through a careful examination of the nature of aesthetic
experience itself. Instead of prejudging aesthetic phenomena by a theory accepted
in advance, the first step for a methodologically sound aesthetics is to identify all
the relevant phenomena. Moreover, the criteria of relevance for the data of art are
not established exclusively by a theory; the standards must come rather from a
close examination of the independent evidence of the experience of art. It is
necessary, then, to acknowledge all the data associated with art and the aesthetic,
and to develop a theoretical explanation inductively from them. Thus, the role of
aesthetic theory is no different from what it is in any other field of inquiry.219
Promoting new reforms and approaches to studying philosophy of art, Van den Braembussche
(2006) encourages the exclusion of what he terms “narrow mindedness” in the philosophy of art
and the realm of art generally. In order to do justice to art, he further notes, “the philosopher should
be accommodating and generous.”220 But on occasional instances, philosophers who propound
unsubstantiated emphatic claims to entrench a false ideology truly deserve a “similar taste” of their
219Arnold Berlean. The Aesthetic Field: A Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience. Cybereditions Corporation:
Christchurch, 2000, pp.20-21.
220 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art Brussels: Springer
Science + Business Media B.V, 2009, p.viii.
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own bigoted views as established in Eaton’s attempt to dismiss the notion of instantaneous
“beauty” as “philosophical folly”.221
In putting forward the argument cited above, Kieran (2006:5) admonishes Eaton’s view to be
apparently at odds with epistemic factors that influence our ability to make aesthetic judgements
based on what is deemed pleasurable. Philosophy of art is a diverse discipline that requires a broad
knowledge of aesthetics from different socio-cultural backgrounds in order to make critical
reflective judgements. Thus, limited knowledge of an artwork and its socio-cultural background
can hinder the process of proper aesthetic evaluation or genuinely appreciating it. This
phenomenon is exemplified in yet another extract from Rosenthal’s work:
It is as if the fetish were a Passage a l’acte (an acting out) that outsiders were loath
to gaze upon, or a glance at the rendu — a brush with the Real that remained
unsymbolized — the knowledge of which produced something like horror or
shame in many Western observers […] The Vodu fetish of the colonial period thus
disturbed many foreign or Christian observers […] The Christian and colonial
administrators often wrote of the repungnance that they felt towards fetishes and
possession. Such “idols” and “hysterics in a stupor” possessed a shock value that
left Western hearts deeply troubled.222
Such racist accounts, widely accepted in the time of European colonization and beyond, writes
Sarah Nuttall, “present the African continent as the metaphor par excellence for physical ugliness
and moral decay”.223 It is fascinating to notice that, the so-called “aesthetics of negativity”
supposedly produced “horror” and “shame” in many Western observers. Yet, in the same breath,
221 See Marcia Muelder Eaton.Beauty and Ugliness In and Out of Context. In Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics
and the Philosophy of Art, Matthew Kieran. (Ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006, p.46.
222As Suzanne Preston Blier comments on the subject of Beninese Fon sacred objects:” Bocio arts… press not only
an aesthetic of negativity, but also what [Julia] Kristen calls frappe or shock” (1995) See also Judy Rosenthal.
Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo, Virginia: University Press of Virginia. 1998. p.91-95.
223 Sarah Nutall cited in Anthony B. Pin. The Black Labyrinth, Aesthetics, and Black Religion in Black Religion and
Aesthetics, Religious Thought and Life in Africa and the African Diaspora. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009,
p.6.
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reflections on Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art by a later generation
of these same stock of “deeply troubled Western hearts” drove Kieran (2006) to make the
following observation:
There is a particular species of the beautiful in which delight is commingled with
terror, horror, or fear. In such cases are the negative feelings merely coincidental
with a pure delight that is the mark of the beautiful or is there some deeper internal
relation? And if so what does that tell us both about this particular kind of beauty
and the nature of beauty in general?224
Prior to Kieran’s aesthetic reflections, Dubuffet (1985) had made similar remarks:
The increasing knowledge of the thinking of so-called primitive peoples, during
the last fifty years, has contributed a great deal to the change [in modern cultures]
– especially the acquaintance with works of art made by these people... It may be
refinement, celebrations, depth of mind, are on their side, not ours. Personally, I
believe very much in values of ‘savagery’; I mean: instinct, passion, mood,
violence, madness.225
In fact, the so-called “savagery”, “primitivism”, “repugnance” or “macabre aesthetics of
negativity” ascribed to African art laid the building blocks of some of the manifestos that
apparently propelled the aesthetic foundations of what later grew in popularity as “shock art” in
the Western art world. A “modern art” movement which incorporates disturbing imagery, dingy
colours, odours, trash, and bizarre sounds in order to create a shocking aesthetic experience to its
audience. Such artworks were dismissed as “cultural pollution” by some leading conservative New
York art critics at the time.226 In recent times, New York art critic Jerry Saltz (2014), is among a
few American art critics questioning the rise of what he terms “crapstraction” or what Robinson
224 See Marcia Muelder Eaton.Beauty and Ugliness In and Out of Context. In Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics
and the Philosophy of Art, Matthew Kieran. (Ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006, p.5.
225 Jean Dubuffet, cited in “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal with the Modern. (Museum of
Modern Art, New York, 1985) See Ben Burt. What is African Art? Support for Teachers. The British Museum,
London.
226 The parallels and neglected symmetries between “Modern Western art” and sacred Vodu art has been discussed at
length in Chapter eight.
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(2014) refers to as “Zombie formalism”.227 Massow, clearly referring to celebrated weird works
by publicity-seeking artists such as Creed, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, also maintained a
similar repugnance to the shock art establishment. He outlined his reasons for resigning as ICA
chairman:
The protesters were there to complain that they're no longer shocked - they're
bored. The irony is, now that shock has become the new establishment, that the
ICA has morphed into a pillar of the shock establishment - cultivated by the Brit
pack. Like me, art lovers have all sat and watched a naked woman fire a peach
from her vagina knowing full well that it won't make the local paper. They've also
smelt endless faeces, been titillated by pornography and scared by a chamber of
horrors paraded as 'art'.228
A few thought-provoking questions are hereby applicable to this particular development: where
did this “cultural pollution” come from and why did it cease to be “fetish” or assume “aesthetic
modernity” under the guise of various “isms” once it crossed over to the Western art world?
Indeed, Norbert Elias (2002) has pointed out that, the very process of civilization demand that you
must acquire new tastes and giving up old ones. What you found disgusting you may learn to love.
This process of personal re-education extends along the entire spectrum of human activity. One
aspect of a genuine revolution in society is that affects will be transformed or restructured on both
227 See Jerry Saltz. Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same? 2014. Retrieved
from: https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/why-new-abstract-paintings-look-the-same.html (Accessed on 17/05/2018).
See also Walter Robinson. Flipping and the Rise of Zombie formalism. 2014. Retrieved from:
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/contributors/see_here/the_rise_of_zombie_formalism-52184 (Accessed on
17/05/2018). Chris Wiley. The Toxic Legacy of Zombie Formalism, Part 1: How an Unhinged Economy Spawned a
New World of ‘Debt Aesthetics’ Retrieved from: https://news.artnet.com/opinion/history-zombie-formalism-1318352
(Accessed on 26/07/2018). Who has the cure for Zombie formalism? https://hyperallergic.com/169198/who-has-the-
cure-for-zombie-formalism/(Accessed on 26/07/2018).
228 Ivan Massow was the chairman of Institute of Contemporary Art (London) from 1999 to 4th February, 2002. See
his reasons for resignation in Ivan Massow. The pillar of shock establishment has proved it can't stand dissent. 2002.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/feb/06/arts.highereducation (Accessed on 27/05/2018)
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the individual and collective levels. New objects of disgust appear, and old ones vanish or are
displaced into ordinariness.229
It is instructive to note that despite all these inconsistencies and misrepresentations of Ewe Vodu
art by some misinformed Western scholars, other critical researchers are providing concrete
theories and counter-arguments to override such old-fashioned descriptions230 and notions about
African art prevailing in academia.
5.6 On Aesthetics, Art Criticism and Genuine Appreciation of Vodu Arts: Part 2 – Towards
Conceptualizing Visual Identity in Vodu Aesthetics
Having dealt with the creative conditions of the artist and the ideological premise of the
“appreciator”, this section proceeds to discuss the first aspect of “nature and identity” to give a
general idea of the spiritual beliefs, philosophies and socio-cultural background in which Ewe
Vodu art is situated. To fully grasp the second stage of the Kieran’s aesthetic triad, it is imperative
to begin by revisiting earlier discussions in order to reexamine phrases and “aesthetic labels” like
these in Rosenthal (1998:135) research:
• Most (Legba) “are very roughly formed;
• “The roughly modeled images are regarded as the guardians of the Anlo Ewe towns;
• “A self-indulgent, Dionysian monster god231 (an aggresive imago);
• “Legba is part clown, a figure of exaggerated phallic proportions lacking in physical
elegance or stately importance;
• “His lack of humanly beauty and his rank as second (one of his roles is that of a servant,
perhaps even a slave);
• outrageously enormous
229 See Rawdon Wilson.The Hydra's Tale: Imagining Disgust. Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 2002, p.28
230 Like the ridiculous terms and descriptions Rosenthal chooses to use in her works.
231 It is a widespread notion in Vodu circles that alcoholic drinks are not offered to Legba so equating Legba to
‘Dionysian monster god’ is a rather bizzare mislabeling.
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• Fetish worship
• “when the phallus is of super fetish like proportions;
• “guardian fetish!”;
• “Legba fetish”;
• “Vodu fetish”;
Some of the above misrepresentations and negative formulations by Rosenthal and other Western
scholars have largely remained critically unexamined from a philosophical standpoint. However,
a few aestheticians have overturned such crude notions of “art appraisal” or “aesthetic criticism”.
For instance, in a critical merger of aesthetics and rationalism, Ani (1994:222) discredits some
mythical notions of “beauty” or “the good” based on Eurocentric aesthetic constructs:
The European philosophical statement of aesthetics acts to support European
cultural imperialism and control of other cultures in a crucial yet dangerously
subtle manner […] Consistent with the dynamics of European culture, this
“scientific” or “philosophical” aesthetics seeks to influence and control the
emotional experience of what Europeans consider beautiful; while, on the other
hand, the philosophic aesthetics takes its shape, its form, and its styles from those
habits of mental organization that are “emotionally” appealing to the European
mind: the utamawazo.232
It is vital to trace the psycho-aesthetic foundations of why some Europeans adopt such intolerant
inclinations or biased posture in ‘appraising’ African artworks. As discussed in the introductory
section of this chapter, Legba is dismissed as “fetish” based on ignorance and phobic prejudice.
An equally critical perspective to this discussion may be posed as follows: if Legba is not supposed
to be a realistic representation of abstract/immaterial spiritual forms, why are they being
appreciated through the ‘distorted lens’ of European “standards” of aesthetic “appeal” (of
“immitationalism”, “idealism”, “beauty” or “art for art's sake”)?—Considering the fact that
Maquet (1979: 47) cautioned European aestheticians against the intellectual risks involved
232 See Marimba Ani. Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. Trenton:
Africa World Press, 1994, p.222.
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in exporting Western aesthetic concepts into the study of non-Western art. Silva (2017:85)
provides a fitting explanation which leads to the notion that fetiche denoted an excessive fixation
on materiality and an erroneous valuation of worthless objects. Based on Pereira’s account, the
Portuguese fetiche was also imbued with aesthetic, sensory, and emotive overtones, being often
described as filthy, hideous, repulsive, and frightening.233
At its most fundamental level, Vodu aesthetics is essentially a projection or a representation of an
artist’s inner psychic being, repressed spiritual memories, emotional state, unconscious
expressions psychically comingled and manifested through the power and influence of the Vodus
themselves. Through mediumship, Vodu spirits apparently dictate the aesthetics that suits their
“tastes”, “desires”, “choice of colours that please them” and the “functional” roles of the arts. That
is, perhaps, one of the many reasons why in certain instances, it is believed that disgruntled spirits
of kuvᴐ᷉ (bad-death) victims dictate to distressed relatives how they prefer their sculptural
receptacles to be fashioned during propitiation rites and rituals. This comes with high aesthetic
specificity from the “herbs”, “drinks”, right down to the “colour scheme”, “type of wood” and the
“specific artists they (the spirits) assign to carve” the receptacles that will serve them as a
temporary place of abode. Through interviews and informal discussions, it was revealed to me that
Vodus have a say in all these aesthetic matters. All this information is elicited through dreams,
reveries, “spiritual visitations”, invocations, or spirit mediumship with the authoritative assistance
of an Amegashie.
I personally experienced a similar situation when I was “summoned” to Adzimashie’s shrine “on
233See Sónia Silva (2017). Art and Fetish in the Anthropology Museum. In Material Religion, 13:1, 77-96.
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the orders of a Vodu deity” to paint a newly “manufactured” Vodu receptacle stationed at the
entrance to Tɔgbui Adzima’s Shrine. Having conducted previous field studies in Mama Vena
shrine which adorns its walls, with a brighter shade of blue, I proceeded to mix similar shade only
to be cautioned by Adzimashie not to apply the shade of blue I mixed for the paint job. I was
surprised to discover that there was a particular shade of “navy blue” Adzimashie insisted on:
Without getting that iconic bisi colour (navy blue) our ancestral deities prefer,
Adzimashie cautioned, “we can’t proceed with the mural on the shrine walls. You
have to continue mixing the blue properly till I see the right “colour” Tɔgbui
Adizma in particular prefers, lest we upset the cluster of all the other ancestral
deities within the shrine premises. The deities will not be too pleased if we should
purposefully ignore their aesthetic values or violate the sacred aesthetic principles
laid down for Vodu artists. They have their own colours they strictly prefer. Any
other colour shade will be a misrepresentation on our part. We need to obey their
wishes.234
Figure 5.4 Hunᴐ Amegashie Abinga, praying to the deities and the ancestors to seek their approval
and get their final blessings before I commence the painting of the shrine walls, pots and sculptures.
Notice the tri-colour scheme of red, white and blue (or sometimes black) in our dress code and the
entrance of the shrine. Torgodo, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
234Personal communication with Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali (November, 2017)
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Figure 5.5 Researcher painting the walls of Tɔgbui Adzima’s Shrine. Torgodo, Volta Region.
(2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
Figure 5.6 Researcher painting a Vodu sculpture in front of Adzima’s Shrine. Hutᴐ Adzimashie
Bali sits close by (in white shorts) to observe and supervise the creative process. Torgodo, Volta
Region (2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
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Figure 5.7 Putting finishing touches to the painted Vodu sculpture. Torgodo, Volta
Region (2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
Concerning what was deemed acceptable by the ancestors and Vodu deities, priests were
apparently not in the position to violate the spiritual laws and principles laid down without their
approval. It is interesting to note that such principles apply in other spiritual realms. For instance,
Egyptian gods in the sacred Temple of Edfu required matching codes of beliefs and diligence on
the part of the High Priest. Not all fabrics could be brought before Egyptian gods in the sacred
Temple of Edfu. Sauneron speaks of rituals that ensue after the god is satisfied with the food it has
been served, which also leaves the altar of the temple. Sauneron (1960) outlines the requirements
of the High Priests who cater for the domestic needs of the gods in the Sacred Temple of Edfu:
The meal finished, the toilet begins: the god is washed, his clothes of the previous
evening are removed, he is dressed in new material, then he is painted. We know
that all material was not acceptable to the gods and the priests: wool, in particular,
could not under any circumstances be brought near the consecrated beings and
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objects. It is the byssus, the fine linen, which alone served to clothe the sacred
personnel; it is this also which furnished the necessary material for the divine
statues. A specialized priest, the stolist, 'the one who enters the sanctuary to dress
the gods with their apparel," had charge of these materials and the monopoly on
their use. The toilet of the god is continued then by the successive offering of four
strips of material of fine linen, first placed in the wood casket in the sanctuary; the
white fabric first, then the blue, the green, and finally the red. In practice, the divine
clothing was not renewed each day; it was only done at the solemn services which
took place once or twice a week. But daily the symbolic offering of the four strips
of material took place.235
Till today, Sauneron’s description of the sacred shelter, personal care, colour preference and
acceptable fabrics to the gods in the Temple of Edfu bears a striking resemblance to the shrines of
some Anlo-Ewe Vodu deities and ancestors. Indeed, most Vodu deities have their own preference
of fabric, colour and the kinds of foods and drinks they strictly prefer. Under no circumstance will
these values be compromised without their approval. In fact, Voncudjovi remarked in an interview
that, there are certain drinks legba strictly abhors. He further noted that, “if you severely want to
punish a wrong-doer or a malevolent spirit, all you have to do is to offer such drinks to Legba and
say Mr X asked me to offer this “drink” to you. He knows you don’t like it but insisted I offer it
to you and added that you’re incapable of doing “anything.” Fully understanding the “coded
language” of the ruse, Legba will in turn visit his wrath on the said “offender”. Legba is a trickster
even in the traditional folklore; as such, you must employ creative strategies like these to enable
him perform efficiently.”236
235 Serge Sauneron (Translated by Am Monissett) The Priests of Ancient Egypt. New York: Grove Press Inc., 1960,
p.85-86.
236Personal Communication with Christopher Voncudjovi, High Priest of Afrikan Magick Temple, Spintex Road,
Accra, (November, 2017).
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Figure 5.8 A back shot of the entrance to Hutɔ Adzimashie’s Shrine. On the left sits Legba swathed
in bisi (navy blue) calico fabric covered in a make-shift shelter draping with strips of red, white
and blue fabric.237 Torgodo, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 5.9 Vodu sculptures representing Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ and Ɖɛɖɛ. Woe, Keta, Volta Region
(2016). Photography by Researcher.
237 (Notice all the details in the colours, fabric strips and subtle similarities in relation to Sauneron’s descriptions of
Edfu’s Temple).
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5.7 Concluding Remarks
This chapter has traced the ideological foundations of “fetishism” and explained how unproductive
some of the ideologies rooted in “fetishism” hampers a genuine appreciation of Vodu art. Counter-
arguments invalidating faulty Western ideologies and false philosophical assumptions have set the
pace for new perspectives of appreciating Vodu through a systematic approach of art appreciation.
This chapter brings to a conclusion, the first and most important aspect of the aesthetic triad which
entails a thorough understanding of the aesthetic conditions involved in creation of Vodu
sculptures. The subsequent chapters will delve deeper to further discuss the second aspect of the
aesthetic triad (the nature and identity of Vodu aesthetics) already initiated in the concluding part
of this chapter. Essential philosophical underpinnings of Ewe socio-cultural and socio-religious
concepts will be discussed to situate Vodu art in a broader context for an exhaustive understanding
of Vodu aesthetics.
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CHAPTER SIX
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 3
6.1 Symbolism and Psychological Properties of Blue in Ewe Vodu Aesthetics
To properly appreciate the spiritual significance of blue in Vodu art, it is important that we briefly
understand its application in design. We also need to time-travel into antiquity to trace its
symbolism and artistic significance in the ancient world. Psychologically, blue is generally
considered as one of the colours most restful to the human eye and emotionally calming to the soul
as well. It has been used over the ages, mostly in spiritual rituals and esoteric healing practices. In
ancient times, blue colarants were available in nature. Plants like the Indogofera Tinctoria, rich in
natural dye had to undergo a series of chemical processes to extract blue dye. According to
Adeyanju et al. (2011),
Many plants have been identified as potentially rich in natural dye content and some of
them have been used for natural dyeing for quite some time. Normally natural dyes are
extracted from roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit of various plants[…]Indigo has
long been regarded as one of the most valuable and imported of all colouring matters.
It was in India and Egypt long before the Christian era. It was introduced into Europe
in the sixteen centuries. The generic name is derived from the Latin word indicum,
indicating that the plants came from India itself. 238
However, scholars have also observed that unlike indigo blue and other colours which were easily
obtained from tree saps, soils, natural bark dyes, animal fat, or leaves, certain shades of blue were
produced artificially in ancient times. Discussing the nanoscience of blue as an ancient pigment,
Salguero et al. (2013) classified the higly priced Egyptian blue as one of the world’s first synthetic
pigments. Blue was considered a special and important colour to use in painting tombs, statues,
238 See Olusola Adeyanju, Emmanuel S. E. and Akomolafe S. F. Extraction of Indigo Dye (Powdered, Form)
from the Leaf of Indigofera Tinctoria in International Journal of Physical Science, 6 (1), 2011.
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gods, jewelry, pots, temples, shrines, burial chambers and other relics in the ancient Mediterranean
world.239 Egyptian Blue was indeed an exceptional and highly revered pigment in spiritual circles
due to its scarcity. To the ancient Egyptians, painting was considered as a praise-worthy act to
honour the gods and pharaohs. It was a purely sacred activity, as such, artists and a group of priestly
class devoted to the spiritual arts, dedicated time to experiment with pigments.240 Egyptian blue
quartz frit or Lapis Lazilu pebbles were among some of the precious stones which were pulverized
into fine powdered pigments or shaped into sculptures, forms or objects.
Figure 6.1 Variations of Egyptian Blue Lapis Lazuli pebbles and stone 241
239 Darrah Johnson-McDaniel, Christopher A. Barrett, Asma Sharafi, Tina T. Salguero. Nanoscience of an Ancient
Pigment. In Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, 135 (5).
240 See Serge Sauneron (Translated by Am Monissett). The Priests of Ancient Egypt. London: Evergreen Books Ltd,
2000.
241Source of images: https://locolapis.com/pages/lapis-history (Accessed on 17/09/2017),
https://almaleonor.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/universo-azul/ (Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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Figure 6.2 Samples of the pulverized pigment Pile of Egyptian blue frit and pebbles.242Blue is the
colour of all-inclusiveness.
Figure 6.3 From left, 1. Pinedjem I Worker 1 Faience, 13.6 cm 21st Dynasty, 1026 Circa Dutch
private collection 2. Henuttawy A Worker 1 Like worker 2 Faience, 11.7 cm 21st Dynasty, 1040
Circa. Dutch private collection 3. Ushebti figure (servant of the defunct Pharaoh Seti I) 1301-1290
BCE, 19th dynasty.243 (Photo credit – VB).
242 Source of images: http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/recipe/egyptblue.html (Left)
https://www.slumpys.com/Fusible-Art-Glass/90-Egyptian-Blue-Opalescent-Frit004 (Right) (Accessed on
17/09/2017)
243 Retrieved from: https://www.ushabtis.com/royal-cache-db320/(Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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Figure 6.4 From Left, 1. Egyptian cobalt blue glaze vessel, Louvre, 2. The sovereign’s sphinx
Amenothep III bidder to the gods, 3. Egyptian blue mummy.244
Figure 6.5 From left, 1. Egyptian Faience Beads, 2. Ancient & Medieval History - Egyptian
Faience Collar Necklace, Late Period, C. 664-332 circa, 3. New Classic Egyptian Lapis Lazuli
Stone Chain Beads Necklace. 245
The seemingly upside-down columns used for support by the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures
were painted red and blue. Ceilings in Egyptian temples were colored blue to give the impression
244 Retrieved from: https://www.veniceclayartists.com/egyptian-pottery/(Accessed on 17/09/2017)
245 Source of images: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/60/82/19/608219d3c3318233286a09536e837d72.jpg
http://www.sandraevertson.com/shop/egyptian-faience-beads (Accessed on 17/09/2017)
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1d/7b/0a/1d7b0a34005c97b5390f522e9a3084ca.jpg (Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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of looking up at the night sky (Mendoza, 2004:2). The Egyptians had a close bond with the color
blue as it not only represented to them the heavenly realm as seen in the sky, it was also one of the
colours used in painting as representative of the goddess Isis, wife of Osiris and one of the most
important deities in ancient Egyptian religion (Birren, 1963). The Egyptian temples are filled with
an abundance of symbolic colours. The Egyptian temple, Mountain of the God of Ur, was
constructed in four phases, representing the dark underworld, the habitable earth, the heavens and
finally the sun. Each phase was represented by paint of a different color, blue being used as the
colour of the heavens. This same connection between blue and the colour of the heavens can be
seen in the ceilings in these temples which were painted a deep blue and then superimposed with
paintings of the constellations to refer to the night sky. Bright reds and blues were often used in
contrast with the black ebony wood used in furniture (Pile, 1997).246
Figure 6.6 Left: Remains of the Knossos palace in Heraklion of Crete. Right: The-Throne-room-
at-Knossos palace in Heraklion of Crete.247
246See Plier cited in Hannah Rose Mendoza. Pale Intrusions into Blue: The Development of a Color. Unpublished
MFA Thesis, The Florida State Univeesity, 2004, p.67.
247 Source of image: http://www.lastampa.it/2016/08/19/societa/viaggi/48-ore/ore-a-heraklion-sullisola-di-creta-
8w8sFvHaiPbgzjtLVKDsXN/pagina.html right https://travelpassionate.com/top-things-to-do-in-heraklion-crete/
(Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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Figure 6.7 Ancient human sacrificial rituals by the ancient Mayans and other Meso-American
regions involved smearing of blue pigments on the people condemned to death (as “offerings” to
the gods). Still shots of Aztec human sacrificial ritual re-enacted in Mel Gibson’s award-winning
movie Apocalypto.
Similarly, Vishnu, the Preserver in the Hindu Trinity, is also depicted with blue skin, but for a
different reason. Vishnu means all-pervasive (Sarvavyapi) and the sky-blue skin is emblematic of
his formless and infinite extent. Their response to all these sets forth an emotional or mental chain
reaction of interconnected network of spiritual associations with the divine. Rama and Krishna are
frequently depicted in blue color because they are Avatars (human manifestations) of Vishnu. 248
Figure 6.8 Left: Lord Ram, as Rama is called in India, surrounded by worshipers Right: A boy
with his face painted blue like the Hindu god Shiva, stands near a sculpture of Ganesh before
immersing it in the River Ganges.249
248 Retrieved from http://historum.com/asian-history/121142-why-indian-gods-blue.html (Accessed on 17/09/2017)
249 Source of images, Left image: http://oddstuffmagazine.com/idols-of-hindu-elephant-headed-god-lord-ganesh-are-
immersed.html/india-hindu-festival-2 Right image: http://amorysabor.com/arrow-of-the-blue-skinned-god-part-1/
(Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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Blue is the color of all-inclusiveness. You will see in the existence, anything that is vast and beyond
your perception generally tends to be blue, whether it is the ocean or the sky. Anything which is
larger than your perception tends to be blue because blue is the basis of all-inclusiveness. It is
based on this that so many gods in India are shown as blue-skinned.250
According to psychologists, the popularity of the blue may take root in our evolutionary
development. In the hunting-and-gathering days, those drawn to positive things—like, say, clear
skies and clean water—were more likely to survive, and, over time, this preference for the color
blue may have become hard-wired.251 This developed over eons through several stages of
evolution and environmental adaptation. Our pre-programmed primal instincts enabled us to relate,
recognize and understand the language of color in nature. The evolution of our sensory perception
has subsequently shaped humanity’s innate ability to navigate the universe, adapt to different
environmental conditions and to ultimately survive. Through different tones, tints, shades or
textures of colour, we are able to recognize poisonous fruits, unwholesome foods, and unsafe
drinking water. Coloured patterns or coloured spots on animals helps us to recognize friendly pets
or distinguish between threatening predators and detect potentially dangerous situations that put
our lives at risk. In navigating the world around us, colour provides us with all these messages and
signals which are sent to our brains through our sensory organs in the form of electrical impulses.
250 Retrieved from http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/yoga-meditation/history-of-yoga/why-is-krishna-blue/ (Accessed on
17/09/2017)
251 Source: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-a-brief-history-of-blue. (Accessed on 17/09/2017)
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Colour also plays a significant role in the development of our sensory awareness. Our very survival
can sometimes depend on how the human sensory organs pick up information that threatens our
lives or send electrical impulses to navigate the environment around us. Even in modern times,
these programmed survival instincts are still deeply buried in our intuitive senses,
but this does not diminish its power as captured by Groenholm:
When light strikes the eye, the different wavelengths do so in different ways; the
eye constantly adjusts and long wave colors require the most adjustment. In the
retina, they are converted to electrical impulses that pass to the hypothalamus, the
part of the brain that governs our hormones and endocrine system. Thus, color sets
up complex physiological reactions, which in turn evoke a psychological response.
Every living creature on earth responds to the messages implicit in the play of light
and color.252
Colour is essentially light, traveling to us in waves from the sun. Spectral hues are among what
forms the basic components of colour. Scientifically, color is the principal cue to composition –
i.e. the initial thing we register when assessing anything. Hence, a powerful communication tool.
Therefore, it is arguably the most critical element of design. When light strikes any colored object,
the object will absorb only the wavelengths that exactly match its own atomic structure and reflect
the rest – which is what we see. Although we are unaware of it, our eyes and our bodies are
constantly adapting to these wavelengths of light.253 Our intuitive response to light and colour is
particularly more evident in art therapy and chromatherapy. Colour affect humans in diverse ways,
as such they play significant roles in shaping the aesthetics and spiritual world view of cultures.254
252 This whitepaper is largely based on work by Angela Wright (psychologist of Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton,
England, and at Carmel, California, USA) who studies both unconscious thought processes and the dynamics of color
harmony in her exploration of color psychology. See Micco Groenholm. Colour Psychology: The Colour Affects
System. p.6 (Publication details unavailable).
253 Ibid. p.6.
254 This phenomenon differs from society to society.
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But specific colours convey connotations and universally appeals to our primal emotions, drives
and instincts due to several generations of neural programming in the evolution of human response
to colour and the natural environment. For instance, even in contemporary times, Blue still remains
one of humanity’s favourite colours. From a communication design background, blue is the most
popular colour for corporate logos and branding in some of the world’s leading companies and
organizations (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Samsung, Linked In, Ford, Philips, Visa, HP, Unilever,
etc.). Thus, it dominates the aesthetics of the corporate branding. Colour symbolism is considered
the esoteric language for the soul in some spiritual circles. Similarly, colour symbolism and the
psychology that drives colour combinations employed in Vodu ritual practices inspires great awe.
However, it is one of the most understudied areas in African aesthetics. An often-neglected area is
the colour symbolism in Vodu worship, spirit mediumship and spirit possession which forms a
major component of Vodu religion. In Vodu colour symbolism, an interplay of aesthetics,
psychotherapy and spirituality is highly accentuated. This interplay produces effective healing
results similar to art therapy, chromatherapy and modern psychoanalytical healing practices. The
seamless integration of psychology, symbolism, aesthetics and spirituality is an understudied area
in Vodu religious studies that researchers must endeavor to deal with.
In Vodu colour symbolism, blue255 appears to be one of the sacred colours that dominates
throughout visual communication and creative expressions. Apart from being used as a form of
shrine branding, aesthetic appeal and purposes of identifying spiritual affiliation or power ranks,
bisi (blue) also represents Vodu deities and ancestral spirits in diverse ways. However, due to the
closely guarded nature of these aesthetic knowledge systems, its real esoteric properties were not
255 Mostly dark shades of blue (midnight blue, navy blue, indigo etc.) and other lighter shades of blues.
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fully revealed during my interviews and discussions. However, there are several examples of
aesthetic principles and colour combinations that give us an idea of the very essence of Vodu
colour symbolism. Blue is associated with healing and spiritually calming properties. It raises
one’s spiritual awareness and also enhances spiritual communication due to its meditative and
psychologically calming properties. Red is the color of blood and has associations with war, death,
mourning, danger, aggression, anger, power, spirituality, eroticism etc. Red can also represent
love, affection and healing. In fact, as noted by Winn (2000) in his discussion on the mental and
the psychological effects of colour in medical practices:
some people who are given placebos even claim to suffer side effects as well as
improvements. And some people, given red, yellow and blue placebos to try as a
headache cure, reported back that only one colour pill worked. The most popularly
effective placebo was the red one!256
Various shades of blue are reflected in the aesthetics of Anlo-Ewe Vodu body adornments, body
art, costumes, pots, designs and sculptures used in Vodu worship. Head priests swathe themselves
in blue calico cloth to distinguish themselves from the crowd. It also signifies their rank in Vodu
spiritual hierarchy and serves as a form of identification to inform people of the particular deity
they serve or the specific shrine they are affiliated to. All this information can be gleaned from the
colour symbolism and esoteric visual codes. Bisi (Blue) appears to be one of the most prominent
and dominant colours in Ewe Vodu aesthetics. In fact, Jenkins (2005) has documented that
everyone that has a ritual role in the Adzima shrines wear the bisi (blue cloth):
The multi-faceted way in which links between the people and deities are
established, creates a kind of community centred upon the deity that extends
256 Denise Winn. The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination. London: The Octagon
Press, 2000, pp.128-129.
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beyond the ‘shrine-owning’ lineage. In this community, people take on a variety
of roles distinguished by their structural relationship to the deity and the ‘shrine-
owning’ lineage. However, in all cases, those with specific ritual roles and
formalised relationships to the deity through initiation are distinguished from
others through the bisi (blue cloth). The bisi is a powerful symbol for those in
formalised ritual roles in the Adzima shrines.257
It must be emphasized that, during my research, the sacred spaces of selected Vodu shrines where
I conducted much of my participant observation and interview had a tranquil aura and emotionally
soothing blue ambience. Information gathered through interviews and extended discussions
revealed that blue (and other sacred colours), in Vodu symbolism is primarily for the purposes of
dzɛshiɖɛɖɛ, which simply means specifically identifying devotees, shrines, deities, and grasping
various psycho-aesthetic concepts. However, in Vodu worldview and cosmic consciousness, it
appears there are compelling associations of blue with spiritual beliefs among the ancients. For
instance, in some of the creation myths they held, which suggested the notion that the Supreme
Being lived in the firmaments, blue was widely revered for its sacred associations with royalty and
the divine. By identifying themselves through the symbolism of blue, Vodu priests, spirit mediums,
performers, artists, high-ranking Vodu officials and ordinary devotees alike are subliminally
forming mystical or psychological associations with the divine through the auxiliary deities and
the ancestors they serve or venerate.
257 Julie A. Jenkins .‘Wives of the Gods’: Debating Fiasidi and the Politics of Meaning. Unpublished PhD, Thesis.
University of Sussex, 2005, p.89.
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6.2 Photographic Documentation of the Aesthetics of Blue in Kli-Adizma, Mama Vena and
other Vodu Religious Rites and Worship.
Figure 6.9 Left: A Vodu Sculpture on top of Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region. Right: A
Vodu Sculpture in fron of Adzima Shrine, Torgodo, Klikor (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.9.1 Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem. YeƲe Shrine, Afiadenyigba, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 6.9.2 Left: Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem represented on the sign board of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku’s
Shrine. Dagbamete, Volta Region (2015). Right: In the 2018 American superhero film titled Black
Panther, costume designer, Ruth Carter incorporated the Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem into the costume
design of the ‘River Tribe Elder’, Isaach de Bankolé.258
Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem is a popular Anlo-Ewe Vodu emblem which can be seen on some shrine
walls and religious artefacts. In Anlo-Ewe Vodu, it is used to represent Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku259, a
powerful deity in Dagbamete, Volta Region. Aƒetɔku literally means “master of death” and the
deity’s main focus is protection against malicious spiritual activities.260 Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku’s
protection and power over malicious spirits is captured in Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo, an emblem that represents
the philosophy of security for Aƒetɔku devotees. According to 'Super', an Aƒetɔku devotee:
The eagle who tries to attack and devour a tortoise can only die of starvation. The
eagle can try, but can do no harm to the tortoise because once the tortoise senses
danger or a threat; it simply recoils into its shell. The eagle, finding nothing to attack
or devour drops the 'worthless' tortoise shell out of exhaustion and frustration. Such
258 Source of edited image: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/black-panther-designer-ruth-carter-reveals-the-african-
symbols-embedded-in-the-costumes (Acessed on 20/05/2018).
259 Apart from Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku, other shrines (eg. YeƲe shrine) in Volta Region use Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo as an emblem to
symbolize the power and security of their deities.
260 http://www.curtisandrews.ca/galleries_ghana.htm (Accessed on 11/04/2015).
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is the fate of anyone or spirit who tries to capture or harm any of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku’s
'children' (devotees).261
This concise philosophy is further explained to Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku’s devotees in a spiritual analogy
that malicious spirits can try to harm or attack Aƒetɔku's devotees but he will promptly recoil them
into his protective shell to dispel any danger or threat. The Ɛhɔmɛƒoa klo emblem is powerful and
so pervasive in Aƒetɔku veneration that it is incorporated into the paraphernalia and visual arts of
Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku devotees.
Figure 6.9.3 Mama Vena Shrine, Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography
by Researcher.
261 Personal communication with 'Super', a member of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku Shrine in Dagbamate, Volta Region, 4th April
2015.
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Figure 6.9.4 Ritual Procession of Fiasidiwo. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
Figure 6.9.5 Left: Tɔgbui Naza Kudese two weeks before he joined the ranks of the Ancestors.262
Alakple. Right: Tɔgbui Kli-nua Atsimeku captured during the Kli-Adzima spiritual festivities in
Ablᴐgame, Klikor, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
262 A relative whom I only met after seeing his picture in Muller et al.’s book. Tɔgbui Naza Kudese happens to be my
grand uncle. I had read about him in Muller’s book so I requested to pay him a visit for an interview. He sadly passed
on to the ancestral realm just a few weeks after I had interviewed him.
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Figure 6.9.6 An Amegashie fully clad in her spiritual regalia. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Headgears, wrist bands and ankle bands are also worn by devotees for aesthetic, functional and
identification purposes. It is worn by Vodu priests to firmly ground and give them stable spiritual
centre of gravity to protect them from evil spirits or spiritual attacks. Head gears are also used to
indicate ranks in Vodu hierarchical power structures. Distinct head gears can also be worn by spirit
mediums, priests or priestesses, to specifically signify the ancestral spirits or deities they are
associated with. In other instances, some priests or priestesses are not obliged to wear head gears.
Primarily, head gears serve as symbols of spiritual power, esoteric wisdom, rank, and in subtler
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ways they also connote sacred aesthetic values and norms.It must be added here that it is extremely
crucial to notice the interconnectedness of the colour symbolism, the aesthetics and how these
minute artistic elements serve as signals, communication cues, symbolic codes and status symbols
in the upper echelons of Vodu leadership and spiritual torch bearers who lead devotees and the
community in the path of spiritual enlightenment.
Figure 6.9.7 A group of Hunuawo in a procession exiting the sacred grove where prayers are
offered through libation and animal sacrifices made to Kli-Adzima for spiritual renewal. Fianugɔ
(in lead), Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi, Tɔgbui Nuwordor Afadi and Tɔgbui Humali (who apparently
does not appear in this particular shot) Kli-Adzima Festival. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Verbal art plays an immense role in divination. Various forms of verbal art which includes
panegyrics, sacred mantras, incantations, chants, appellations, prayers are all employed by Vodu
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priests in the act of invoking the divinities and spirit mediumship. These forms of art and several
others play very vital roles in divination and ancestral veneration. To Vodu devotees, art forms an
integral part of Vodu religion which underscores the notion of how art is inseparable from African
religion in general.
Figure 6.9.8 Tɔgbui Humali saying prayers and interceding on behalf of Kli-Adzima and Mama
Vena devotees at Mama Vena Shrine, Ablᴐgame, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
An equally important area to capture is the aesthetics of spiritual communication with the Supreme
Being, Mawu, through the assistance of the ancestors who serve as intermediaries to intercede on
behalf of the priests and the entire community occurred libations. Accordingly, the performative
act of pouring of libation is heavily laced with profound spiritual aesthetic values and norms.
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Figure 6.9.9 Left: Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the the ancestors and community
deities. Right: Ritual procession after the Tagbayiyi263 spiritual prayers, libation and sacrificial
ritual at the sacred grove during the Kli-Adzima Festival. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Despite the different types of sacrifices, sacred rituals and libations performed during Kli-Adzima
religious practices, each ritual act was employed at designated periods in specific areas for
different purposes, specific reasons, and with unique aesthetics.
263 Tagbayiyi is a combination of two words tagba and yiyi. Tagba simply refers to bush or grove. Yiyi means to be
on the move or the act of going, hence Tagbayiyi can be loosely translated as ‘going to the bush (or grove)’. The
bush/grove in this particular context is a well demarcated area within the Klikor community reserved for shrine
activities and ceremonies dedicated to the Adzima cluster of shrines (usually during annual festivities or on important
occasions). The demarcated area has been walled and well preserved. It is usually swept and well kept to ensure that
the environment for sacred activities is always clean.
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Figure 6.10 Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the ancestors and community deities,
during Tagbayiyi spiritual prayers, libation and sacrificial ritual session at the sacred grove of the
Kli-Adzima cluster of Shrines. Despite the fact that these prayers and libations are collectively
being performed by the three High Priests (and few high-ranking representatives) of all the Adzima
cluster of shrines, Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo publicly presides over all these rituals and activities.
Similarly, all the three High priests follow the lead of Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo during
processions and performance of collective rituals. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
Figure 6.10.1 Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo pouring libation to the the ancestors and community
deities in front of the Kli-Adzima Shrine. Notice the subtle aesthetics, performative gestures and
nuanced differences in the costumes in each libation pouring session. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
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Another often ignored area in Ewe Vodu aesthetics which has not been well-documented is body
art and body adornments. Body art, commonly displayed in Vodu worship and performance,
includes a wide range of artistic elements and symbolism expressed through coiffure,
scarifications, tattoos, incisions and body markings such as smearing of kaolin on specific parts of
the body of the performer, devotee or Vodu priest or priestess. Jewelries and ornaments such as
beads, cowries, shells and special seeds are threaded and worn on various parts of the body of the
Vodu priest and Vodu adherents as charms, talismans and amulets. They are either worn to attract
good luck or to repel evil or bad luck. These forms of body art or body adornments are purposely
done either during the initiation of a Vodu priest to make a permanent bond with his or her divinity
or during divination to repel malevolent spirits.
Figure 6.10.2 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into an Amegashie’s beads.
Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 6.10.3 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into an Amegashie’s beads.
Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.10.4 Komfo Bakai, formerly a Christian, now a Vodu Priestess. After futile attempts to
resist Vodu spirituality, she finally relented and obeyed the demands of the deities who “chose”
her to serve. She now serves Afram and Tigare. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
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Figure 6.10.5 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into coiffure. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.10.6 The aesthetics and symbolism of blue incorporated into bead necklace. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.10.7
Aesthetics of white
and blue incorporated
into body painting of
Goʋu performers in
Mama Vena Shrine,
Ablotsivia, Klikor,
Volta Region, (2016).
Photography by
Researcher.
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Figure 6.11 Sacred aesthetics of blue evident in the body painting by members of Brékété Vodu.
Woe and Dagbamete respectively, Volta Region, (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.11.1 Aesthetics of white and blue incorporated into body painting of Goʋu performers in
Mama Vena Shrine, Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher. Tɔgbui
Agagli indicated (in a personal communication) that during the slave trade era, children were
disguised in slave markets by smearing kaolin and natural pigments on their faces and body parts
so that their parents and other relatives would have difficulty recognizing them.
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Figure 6.11.2 Close up shot of a young Goʋu performer during Kli-Adzima festivities in Mama
Vena Shrine, Ablotsivia, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Avenorgbor (2008) has noted the therapeutic benefits of blue in chromatherapy. He further
indicated that a common treatment for premature babies born with potentially fatal jaundice is to
bathe them in blue light, which for reasons not fully understood, eliminates the need to transfuse
their blood. Blue surroundings also significantly lower a person’s blood pressure, pulse, and
respiration rate.264 Yurdakök (2015) reveals the prophylactic properties of blue in his contribution
to new medical developments of phototherapy in newborn babies. In the proceedings of the 11th
International Workshop on Neonatology, Yurdakök (2015) presented scientific findings about the
264 See Stephen Kofi Avenorgbo. Aesthetic Impact of Ghanaian Socio-Cultural Practices on the Environment and its
Protection in Ghana. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2008, p.163-
164.
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efficacy and safety of prophylactic phototherapy in preventing jaundice in preterm infants:
Blue light, particularly in the wavelength range of 405-470 nm, exhibits a broad-
spectrum of antimicrobial effect against bacteria (either gram- positive and gram-
negative bacteria). Moreover, blue light therapy is a clinically accepted approach
for P. acnes infections. Clinical trials have also been conducted to study the use of
blue light which was delivered from a diode laser via a exible optical ber passed
through the biopsy channel of the endoscope for H. pylori stomach infections and
have shown promising results. Studies on blue light inactivation of important
pathogenic bacteria, including St. aureus and P. aeruginosa have also been
reported. The mechanism of blue light inactivation of bacteria is proved to be the
photo-excitation of intracellular porphyrins and the subsequent production of
cytotoxic reactive oxygen species. Certainly, further studies are required to
optimize the optical parameters (e.g., wavelength, radiant exposure) and to ensure
effective and safe blue light therapies for infectious disease.265
Due to the powerful psychological properties of colour and its therapeutic effects in chromatherapy
and mental conditioning, specific amounts of measured of light waves emitted by colours must be
taken into consideration. If blue, for instance, is to be used in combination with other colours for
therapeutic purposes, there needs to be specific measurement (or balanced distribution) of the
colours to achieve desired psychological or medical results. For instance, in his research in mental
manipulation, brainwashing, conditioning, and indoctrination, Winn (2000) has observed that:
involuntary body processes could be successfully conditioned to such a degree
that people who were trained to react physiologically in one way to a series of
blue lights and in another way, physiologically, to a series of red lights shown in
a certain order, were actually physically sick and developed severe headaches
when shown the lights in a jumbled order.266
Apart from a few notable scholars, contemporary researchers in Ewe Vodu religion mostly ignore
the overarching significance of sacred Vodu aesthetic values and practices. Chromatherapy,
branding and the colour psychology behind the prophylactic aspects of Vodu aesthetics is a whole
265See Yurdakök M. Phototherapy in the Newborn: What’s New? In J Pediatr Neonat Individual Med. 2015; 4(2):
e040255. doi: 10.7363/040255
266 Denise Winn. The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination. London: The Octagon
Press, 2000, p.79-80.
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field fit for an entirely new research.267 Other essential related aspects to these areas will briefly
be explored in Chapter 8 accordingly.
6.3 Ewe Vodu Tri-Colour Aesthetics in the Context of African Spirituality
A critical analysis of the issues briefly discussed in the previous chapter merely demonstrates how
philosophical beliefs, identity/race politics, misconstrued socio-political constructs and cultural
“standards” also shape the experience and meaning of aesthetics from culture to culture, society to
society. African aesthetic canons are grounded in spiritual underpinnings or belief. The criteria
for the physical appearance and beauty of an object are determined by indigenous knowledge and
the spiritual philosophies of the people.268
In Ewe Vodu shrine iconography and sacred aesthetics, three dominant colours permeate most
sacred spaces and visual expressivity. For instance, black cloth, avɔ yibɔ, white cloth, avɔ yi, and
red cloth, avɔ dzie269 drape the doorways or entrances into Vodu shrines and cubicles respectively.
The Vodus, priests and devotees alike can also be found swathed in these principal colours or a
267 I actually met Angelantonio Grossi, a PhD candidate from Utrecht University conducting his doctoral research on
how some Vodu priests brand themselves on digital media platforms. Grossi’s forthcoming research delves into the
adoption of digital technologies among indigenous religious adherents in Ghana as a way to both promote a
stigmatized religion and commune with spirits. Personal communication with Angelantonio Grossi (August, 2019).
268 Jacqueline Chanda. African art and Culture (Art and Culture Series). Ohio: Davis Publishers, 1994, p.53.
269 In most parts of Southern Ghana especially among the Ewes and Akans, red and black represent the principal
colours used as funerary cloths for mourning the dead. For instance, agumevor [low-low-low-high] (“death-cloth”) or
yormevor [low-low-high] (“grave-cloth”) references the cloth used in burying the deceased—the cloth in which
somebody dies or one of the deceased person’s most favorite cloth, while kutefevor [high-low-mid-mid] “death-place-
cloth” stands for cloths often used for funerals because of their black or red color symbolisms, proverbial motives,
and specific cloth names. See George W. K. Dor. Exploring Indigenous Interpretive Frameworks in African Music
Scholarship: Conceptual Metaphors and Indigenous Ewe Knowledge in the Life and Work of Hesino Vinorkor
Akpalu. In Black Music Research Journal, 35(2), 2015, p.23.
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combination of them. In instances where black is absent, a darker shade of navy blue (indigo) is
commonly seen as a substitute.
Figure 6.11.3 Right: Entrance to Brékété shrine in Ashaiman, Greater Accra Region.Left: Entrance
to a Vodu cubicle. Klikor, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.11.4 Researcher (in red) with Tɔgbui Hutɔ Adzimashie Bali (in white cloth) and Tɔgbui
Hunɔ Abinga (in navy blue cloth) saying prayers before pouring libation to seek approval from the
Vodus and ancestors. It was very necessary for me to be present in this ceremonial prayer before
my research commences in the premises of Adzima Shrine, Torgodo, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Research Assistant.
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Figure 6.11.5 White kaolin and the aesthetics of red, white and blue incorporated into the sacred
costumes and physical make-up of Brékété adherents of Brékété Vodu in Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s
Brékété Shrine. Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.11.6 Left: A common sight to behold on the walls of most Adzima Shrines is an
intersecting palette of red and white splashes on a large expanse of black or indigo colour fields.
A shot of the Researcher posing in front of Kli-Adzima Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region. Photography
by Research Assistant. Right: Indigenous drums, Dagbamete, Volta Region (2016). Photography
by Researcher.
It is believed that the red and white splashes on the black colour fields (on the shrine walls), signify
the act of “sacrificial propitiation”, “slaughtering”, “spilling of enemy blood” in physical/spiritual
warfare and the general carnage of malevolent spirits or military opponents. Hagan’s
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documentation of comparable colour schemes and symbolism among the Akans may suffice here
to justify my observations:
Kobene is full of ambiguities. Akans generally point to blood as the paradigm of
this colour cluster and much of the ambiguity in the symbolic meaning of the
colour derives from the mixed associations of blood. Blood stands for life and
vitality, and the word mogya (blood) means the fire (gya) of creation (bo). Akans
believe that blood is the means by which a Kra might be given human form, but
as blood stands for life, so does any blood which does not give life, or is spilled
wastefully, stand for death.270
In Vodu colour symbolism, white has connotations of spiritual purity, it also symbolizes renewal,
death and victory over military opponents or malevolent spirits. The large expanse of the black
background is a manifestation of Vodu power, military stealth, invincibility, spiritual security or
limitless protective spiritual shield against malevolent forces. It also represents the inner workings
of the dark gloomy battle field of the spiritual world which is concealed from mere mortals.
Symbolically speaking, the repetitive rhythm of the intersecting splashes is a psycho-spiritual
reassurance to Vodu adherents, of the endless military victories the trᴐwo (deities) have amassed
over the ages.
Largeness of scale in these forms of visual representations also flaunts or advertises the infinite
limits of their spiritual powers and military prowess to Vodu adherents. It is believed to be the
ultimate manifestation of the militaristic attributes and formidable powers of the war gods in the
most flamboyant manner. This symbolism in turn, subconsciously assures adherents of spiritual
security. In short, it psychologically assuages the fear of death or spiritual attack on Vodu
adherents on a very subliminal level. In fact, not many Vodu adherents or the artists were willing
270 See G.P. Hagan. A Note on Akan Colour Symbolism. In The African e-journals, 8-14, 1970, p.8.
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to reveal some of these closely guarded esoteric aspects and deeper values of the shrine paintings.
When asked, one respondent simply replied:
You don’t have to be told, you just feel it in the air by the spiritual aura the Vodu
and trᴐwo emanate. That is how they sometimes communicate with their
‘children’. Their way of telling us to keep calm, they are in “control” of our
spiritual affairs. Just as there is unemployment in our own physical world, some
of these formidable war gods are merely waiting for you to just come and employ
them to render spiritual military services. Once you employ them, you will truly
understand what I actually mean.271
Osei-Agyemang has documented in a related observation that seems to affirm that, in Africa,
prevention of evil or the security, survival and continuity of the race are thought to be impossible
without harmony between the visible and invisible worlds. For this reason, the people employ
wood carvings in magico-religious rites to establish rapport with the benevolent spirits who are
believed to be capable of protecting the people from all manner of evil. Therefore, by the aid of
wood sculptures, Black Africans wish to gain control over evil forces and the hazards of nature.
When this situation is achieved, the people tackle their socio-economic duties without fear, but
with hope, confidence and courage.272 Religion is thus part of a survival strategy and serves
practical ends, immediate or remote, social or individual.273 Hence, by identifying themselves
through the symbolism of red, white and black (or blue), priests, spirit mediums, performers,
artists, high-ranking Vodu officials and ordinary devotees alike are subliminally forming
271 Somé offers comparable beliefs among the Dagaara people in Burkina Faso. See Somé, Sobonfu. The Spirit of
Intimacy: Ancient Teaching in the Ways of Relationships. Albany, CA: Berkeley Hills Books, 1997.
272See Opamshen, Osei-Agyeman. The Importance of Wood Carvings in Black African Cultures (Publication details
unavailable).
273 David Millar and Bertus Haverkort. African Knowledges and Sciences: Exploring the Ways of Knowing of Sub-
Saharan Africa. In African Knowledge and Sciences: Understanding and Supporting the ways of Knowing in Sub-
Saharan Africa, 2006, p.24.
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psychological associations with the divine through the auxiliary deities and the ancestral spirits
they venerate.
Figure 6.11.7 Left: Kli-Adzima devotee seeking spiritual assistance casually leans against a pillar
supporting Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Klikor. Right: A group of traders (also Kli-Adzima devotees)
sit in a pensive mood while awaiting the arrival of the Adzima priests from the tagbayiyi ceremony
in the sacred grove. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 6.11.8 Notice the colours of the beads that adorn the neck of the Kli-Adzima devotees
during the 2016 Kli-Adzima religious Festival. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
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The inner psychology formulated around aspects of sacred Ewe aesthetics, colour categorizations
is quite hazy, but Gavua (2000:112) provides a rather generic colour categorization system:
A wide array of colours are used by the Northern Ewes, however, only three major
types, black, nu yibɔ, white, nu fufui, and red, nu dzie or nu babia, are named
locally and recognized traditionally. Each type is characterized by range of colours
that have no conventional names in the local language but otherwise named
differently in English. For example, Black refers to all darkish colours such as
brown, deep blue and deep green. White comprises light colours like gray, ash,
and cream, while red, pink, maroon, and violet are in the domain of red. Green
yellow, orange and gold are recognized and described in relation to the colour of
naturalistic features. Green, for example, is likened to the colour of a fresh leaf,
amakpa mumui, after the colour of a ripe fruit mumɔe ɖiɖi or a withering leaf,
amakpa ɖiɖi.
Figure 6.11.9 Tri-colour aesthetics and symbolism: red, white and black (and blue) incorporated
into bead necklace. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Documenting the religious aesthetics among people of African descent in the diaspora, Farris
Thompson (1983:222) reveals that:
In Haiti a man procures from a ritual expert, when necessary, a special shirt made
of strips of red, white and blue to break up the power of the evil eye. Nelly Bragg
an old black woman of Warrensville heights, Ohio, was asked ''why one red sock
and white sock was worn deliberately mismatched?'' to which she replied, ''To
keep spirits away''.274
274 Robert Farris-Thompson. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy, New York:
Random House, Inc, 1983, p. 222.
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Farris-Thompson further indicates in another section of his aesthetic reflections and
representations of the followers of Shango, the Yoruba Thunder deity:
She wears the characteristic red and white beads of the thunder god that refer to,
among other images, a line of the praise-poem, “water by the side of fire at the
centre of the sky.” The two colours also suggest the friendship of fiery “red”
Shango and Obatala, deity of creativity, whose honorific colour is white.275
Hagan (1970), in his general analysis of Akan colour symbolism, provides a related tri-colour
scheme among the Akans276 which remains particularly relevant to this discussion. Thus, the
aesthetics of red, black (blue) and white in sacred Anlo-Ewe colour symbolism is noticeably shared
by both the Anlo-Ewes, the Akans and other ethnic groups in Ghana.
Figure 6.12 Performers in a ‘frozen’ pose during a funerary procession at Tɔgbui Kporku’s
Funeral. Alakple, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
275Ibid. p.87.
276 See G.P. Hagan. A Note on Akan Colour Symbolism. In The African e-journals, 8-14, 1970, p.8.
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6.4 Vodu as Combat Science: Healing, Psychic Warfare and the Psycho-Spiritual Dimensions
of the Arts.
The belief in spirits, ghosts and demons, spooks and apparitions, visions, dreams and omens
continues to hold undisputed sway in the face of the centuries-old teachings of Christianity, which
seems quite powerless to dislodge these ancient and deep-rooted attitudes.277 War deities are
essentially militaristic in nature but they also double as “specialists” in the general well-being of
their “children” (devotees), most especially children who are vulnerable to physical and spiritual
attacks. In that regard, when they are not busy fighting spiritual battles on behalf of their “children”
(devotees) they heal the sick, especially children with common or chronic diseases. and also help
ward off evil spirits or protect vulnerable children from witchcraft attacks. You can also send other
personal problems to most war deities for spiritual guidance or solutions. Having cured you of an
illness or saved you from and impeding disaster or spiritual attack, these deities must be propitiated
in return for the healing or spiritual services rendered. An example is Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ, who can be
rewarded through a variety of ways, but it is primarily through animal sacrifice, prayers and
spiritual devotion. It is believed that his most preferred “sacrificial meals” include goats, fowls,
pigeons, cola nuts and locally distilled gin.
Usually, war gods are called upon in times of distress. In the spiritual world, it is believed most of
the Vodu deities “operate in stealth mode" to make their detection very difficult. They are not
supposed to been seen, felt or heard when approaching enemy spirits. It is believed that being
swathed in bisi or avᴐyibᴐ symbolically reinforces their invincibility which also grants them the
277 See Kwame Nkrumah. Mind and Thought in Primitive Society: A Study in Ethnophilosophy, With Special
Reference to the Akan Peoples of the Gold Coast, West Africa. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 1944, p.211.
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ability to efficiently perform assigned duties with speed, precision and finality. Acting as a kind
of “military uniform,” the dark-coloured fabric serves as spiritual camouflage to cover up their
tracks or conceal their impending designs from malevolent spirits. Ɖɛɖɛ is a Vodu that neutralizes
recurring deaths, (e.g. dzikui-dzikui - infant mortality) and potentially fatal spiritual curses. It also
symbolically absorbs problems or the negative energies around you and spiritually “consumes” it
on your behalf for good. Affected victims are symbolically “cleansed” with a fresh white egg. The
egg is then “offered” to Ɖɛɖɛ. As the egg rots away, so do your problems, ill-health or negative
energies “rot” away.
Figure 6.12.1 From left to right: Vodu sculptures representing Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ, Ɖɛɖɛ and Adzahɔlu.
Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
As most of his Vodus are made up of war deities, there are over 21 Vodu sculptures installed in
the premises of Tɔgbui Dzokpoto’s Brékété shrine. Some of the deities in the shrine, incIude
Sakpata, Sakrazɛ, Ɖɛɖɛzɛ, Adzahɔlũ, Ɛtɔmĩgbó, Bãngéni-Kètètsi, Bãngéni-Bagãna, Brodza, Vodu-
Añyigbatɔ, Vodu-Doũdoũndoũ Asɛñ, Ɖɛɖɛ, Tsikpotóka, Tɔgbui Salɛkɔ, Nana Adziwónɔ, Nana
Mossi, Sacrabode, Atingari, Nana Ablewa, Tɔgbui Kundé etc.
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Most of the shrines I visited also had multitudes of Vodu sculptures and spiritual installations
intended to serve specific purposes. Probing the significance of having a multitude of divinities
and ancestral spirits as most of them perform similar functions, Tɔgbui Dzokpoto simply explained
that:
It’s a whole army, you need a multitude of them to function as an efficient army
unit. They all have specific tasks they perform. Usually, every priest thinks s/he
has a complete and invincible Vodu cluster until they hear of a very efficient Vodu
that so and so has acquired somewhere in his/her shrine. Usually these newly
acquired Vodus perform similar functions as the original Vodus in the Brékété
pantheon but they have additional “functions” (other Vodus fall short of) which
make them perform exceptionally well than the other ones. The new Vodus I
acquired over the years, he explained, essentially serve as ''back up'' just in case
the other Vodus need ''reinforcement'' in “spiritual warfare” when the need arises.
Sometimes some of these malicious spirits are too powerful to be dealt with by
just one Vodu. Besides malicious spirits and sorcerers are constantly “inventing
new spiritual attack schemes” and modifying their modus operandi, why stand
still? Why not “upgrade” your spiritual defenses too?
One of my research assistants explained that, Vodu deities work like the mechanisms of a clock.
Different parts endowed with specific powers and different functions converge to make all the
Vodus tick and animate in unison. All the arduous tasks and complex mechanisms are cleverly
shielded from mere mortals. One only sees their manifestations in the form of blessings, security,
prosperity, jurisprudence, retribution, justice, social equilibrium, sustenance of life and most
importantly the constant quelling of malicious spirits. Vodu is life and life, Vodu. ''Vodu is not
just a religion, it is a way of life, an entire science on its own; to fully grasp the philosophy of
Vodu religion, you must first understand the science of Vodu.278 Claudine (2002) provides a fitting
explanation here:
Like member of other persuasions, those who participate in Vodu life and rituals,
believe in creating harmony, in keeping a balance, in cultivating virtues such as
justice, beneficence, benevolence, patience, forgiveness, and cooperation, in
278 Personal communication with a Brékété Priest.
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respecting elders, and instilling desirable values in children. Vodu is not a system
imposed from above; it is a democratic and functioning religion, embedded in the
vicissitudes of its followers' daily existence, and in their struggle for survival. In
Vodu, as in African and other non-Western traditions, there is a complete unity of
religion and life.
In this regard, Gyekye proposes improved approaches to developing a modern technology. He
advocates a new paradigm shift on the part of African people regarding this attitude of cautiously
guarding gnosis, qua scientific knowledge and esoteric practices. Gyekye (2013: 554-55) proposes
that:
The acquisition of scientific and technological outlook will in turn require a new
mental orientation on the part of the African people, a new and sustained interest
in science to provide a firm base for technology, a new intellectual attitude to the
external world uncluttered by superstition, mysticism, and other forms of
irrationality; the alleged spirituality of the African world, which was allowed in
many ways to impede sustained inquiries into the world of nature, will have to
come to terms with the physical world of science. Knowledge of medicinal plants,
for instance, qua scientific knowledge, must be rescued from the quagmire of
mysticism and brought into the glare of publicity, and its language made exoteric
and accessible to many others.
Quite on the contrary, an interview with Mama Adzorhlor III,279 the Queen Mother of Dagbamete,
revealed that, cautiously guarding Vodu secrets, indigenous rituals and other esoteric practices is
very necessary because knowledge of Vodu spiritual practices is very dangerous to the ill-trained
or the uninitiated. She also expressed her worry and the fear of a proliferation of centuries-old
esoteric practices in the public domain, which have for generations been preserved and limited to
certain priestly class, families, lineages, clans, nobility and royalty. Mama Adzorhlor III notes that:
In the past Vodu spiritual practices permeated all areas of life and our very
livelihoods. Vodu oracles were consulted before waging wars. Vodu was also
employed as a means of protection during the frenzy battles of conquest,
domination and subjugation. Powerful Vodus were employed in devising
strategies to vanquish enemy forces during war. We simply didn't find the need to
279 Personal interraction with Mama Adzorhlor III (Interview: Saturday, 29th, October, 2016, Dagbamete, Ghana)
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let such valuable secrets enter the public domain let alone exchange such
knowledge with our neighbours or enemies. We're afraid they will use it against
us, should such delicate information reach them.
Slogar also speaks of the secrecy behind esoteric meanings of the nsibidi script. He notes that:
The history of nsibidi remains subject to speculation, however, in part, because of
the secrecy maintained by its most prominent custodian, the men’s Leopard
Society, whose members are forbidden to discuss the full meanings of nsibidi with
outsiders […] while some aspects of nsibidi are public knowledge and widely
recognized, its deeper, more esoteric meanings are often kept secret by the various
local societies that employ it.280
Guarding Vodu secrets from the public is applicable to the shielded mystical practices of Jewish
Kabbalah and other mystical customs. The practice is everywhere and there is a rationale behind
the secrecy of these centuries-old traditions, artforms and practices. Anlo-Ewe Vodu is certainly
not an exclusion. As in the case of Haiti, Vodu practice, art and aesthetics have been transported
across the Atlantic and have been firmly established in Afro-Caribbean, West Indian and Latin
American culture as survivals of African religion, particularly the Candomble Nago in Brazil,
(with close affinity to the Yoruba Orisa). Candomble (a Portuguese term for Afro-Brazilian
religion) denotes the large body of ritual practices brought to Brazil by enslaved Africans and in
current usage “includes the ideological corpus of the group—its myths, belief system, worldview,
cosmology, values, rituals, and ethics” (Omari, 1994:135-39).281
An equally vital dimension to the discussions surrounding Vodu secrecy, is also the issue of
intellectual property or sacred information reaching the ‘wrong hands’ or untrained minds
280 See Christopher Lawrence Slogar. Iconography and Continuity. In West Africa: Calabar Terracottas and the Arts
of The Cross-River Region of Nigeria/Cameroon. Unpublished PhD, Thesis. University of Maryland, 2005, pp.4-7.
281The paradox here is that, whereas these religious practices of African origin have recovered extensive scholarly
attention, Anlo-Ewe Vodu—in all its manifestations and expressions has quite not received detailed attention and
documentation.
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(concerning Gyekye's recommendation). Landry (2013) has outlined some repurcussions and
concerns raised during his field studies for his PhD thesis on Vodu tourism in Benin:
Local fears that “white people” will improve on Vodún, or that “white people” may
take Vodún’s secrets and turn them against the progenitors of the religion, are felt
by many Béninois I encountered. Indeed, many of my informants spoke of Vodún
as their “last real weapon” that they could use to fight off a “foreign invasion.”
Sadly, many local people imagine foreign visitors to be smarter, richer, and more
focused on the future. 282
Despite these concerns, tourists and researchers who venture into Vodu to tap esoteric wisdom
hold divergent views which leads to the impression that access to Vodu powers should be “given
to anyone who seeks it.” Infact, Landy (2013) has affirmed that tourists are trooping to Benin in
their ever-increasing numbers to pay as much as $10,000 USD to get “intiated” into various Vodu
orders. Quite on the contrary though, some Vodu priests have affirmed that most of these tourists
are yet to see the inner sanctum of a real “Vodu initiation chamber”. In an informal interview on
this particular issue with renowned Ghanaian Art Professor Ablade Glover, he stated that:
If you want people to make esoteric knowledge free and open to the public,
intellectual property negotiations must first be made with the custodians of the
esoteric knowledge system in question. They should be immeasurably
compensated financially for the value of the information they agree to let into the
public domain because it is their intellectual property which has been passed down
from generation to generation.283
The metaphysical properties and transformative power of amma (herbs), especially in the
cornucopia of Vodu psychic chemistry cannot be over-emphasized. Natural chemical compounds
282 For discussions on Vodu and secrecy see. Timothy R Landry. When Secrecy Goes Global: Vodún, Tourism, and
the Politics of Knowing in Bénin, West Africa. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Illinois, 2013, p.116.
283Personal communication with Prof. Ablade Glover at Artist Alliance Gallery, Labadi, Accra (November, 2016)
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and the secrets of harnessing psychic energies for the purposes of elevating the human soul and
spiritual enlightenment was exclusively reserved for the priestly class, kings, queens, royals,
warriors and important social dignitaries. In a similar discussion about adherents of the powerful
anti-witchcraft/warrior god, Koku, Muller et al. (1999) notes that:
The ethnic variety of the inhabitants of Ewe settlements ensures that Koku’s
characteristics are made up of traditions and ideas of the most varied origin. Like
all “medicine cults” he draws his special power from a combination of active
substances, which are collected at quite specific places, frequently in cemeteries.
Which of the substances used in which combination for what purpose remains a
secret of the cult.284
Jenkins (2015) in her research on the cluster of Adzima war deities in Klikor, also
indicated in her findings that:
symbolic elements associated with the procession to the tagba are also linked to
“war”, particularly through an understanding of the deity being powerful in
relation to danger. As I indicated previously, this is the only time of year that the
priest is allowed to wear a shirt, which has been described to me as a shirt of
“spiritual protection” (dagbawo). One elder explained it in these terms: “[it is] the
god’s shirt...if you wear that shirt, and they fired a gun, it would not touch you.
The bullets would pass another way. If they raise a cutlass at you, no. It is not an
ordinary shirt, it is power”.285
284 See Klaus E. Müller and Ute Ritz Müller. Soul of Africa: Magical Rites and Traditions. Maveville: Imprimerie
Jean Lamour, 1999, p.154.
285 Julie A. Jenkins .‘Wives of the Gods’: Debating Fiasidi and the Politics of Meaning. Unpublished PhD.Thesis,
University of Sussex, 2005, p.108.
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Figure 6.12.2 Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi (left) and Fianugɔ Womegbeamewo (Right), both Vodu
Priests of Kli-Adzima Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Remnants of powerful war oracles can still be found in Kete Krachi and other parts of the Volta
Region till date. Kete Krachi was home to the famous shrine and its oracle, known as the Dente
Bosomfo, regarded as a successful war oracle in the sub-region. Threatened by the Bosomfo’s
influence, the Germans captured and executed him in 1894, destroying his shrine and exiling most
of his entourage. 286Relly Beard (1863) speaks of how priests were instantly hanged for trying to
defend innocent women against French brutality in Haiti.287 This subversive religious terrorism
has “progressed” into present-day Haiti as Hurbon (1995) has captured:
The Catholic Church, strongly aided by the government and the bourgeoisie, threw
itself into a vast national crusade called “Anti-Superstitious Campaign” or the
286 Meera Venkatachalam (2012). Between the Devil and The Cross: Religion, Slavery, and The Making of Anlo-
Ewe. In Journal of African History, (53), Cambridge, Cambridge Press, pp.56-57.
287 James Relly Beard. Toussaint L'overture: Biography and Autobiography. Boston: James Redpath Publisher, 1863,
p.52.
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“Campaign of Rejections” which aimed to force every Voduist to reject, by oath,
each belief and practice of Vodu. The campaign took on the trappings of a veritable
inquisition, and enabled the sacking of Vodu temples, the destruction by fire of
cult objects, arrest of Vodu priests and initiates, and public denunciations.288
In the Volta Region, although the British monitored religious groups closely, they allowed the
Krachi people to resurrect Dente worship, believing that suppressed religious groups
surreptitiously worked to the detriment of colonial authority.289 However, the British adopted a
rather “suspicious” attitude towards religious groups in Igboland under British colonial rule.
Harneit-Sievers (2006:73) captured an episode here:
The district commissioner saw the Ogbunorie as a security threat dangerous
enough to necessitate its destruction by a military “escort” that was “visiting”
towns in the area, and to arrest twelve of its priests and “heralds.” […] From time
to time, reports about “jujus” continued to concern the British administration even
after the First World War. The Haaba A[w]gulu (also called “Abala,” “Agbala,”
or “Raba Juju” in the colonial files) in the Obe quarter of Agulu (south of Awka),
originally destroyed in 1906, was proscribed and destroyed for a second time in
1921, after it had begun to exercise judicial powers and act as an “appeal”
institution overriding native court decisions. 290
The Haitians were also known to invoke Vodus and oracles in times of war. Historically, at Bois
Caïman, Vodu inspired Haitians to rebel against the French for their freedom, and more recently
Vodu priests and priestesses have served as healers, counselors, and mediators between rival
families.291 Indeed, the Vodus played a very instrumental role in the Haitian revolution. They were
ever faithful to the Haitians and when they resorted to them (Vodu war oracles) during the Haitian
revolution. After Toussaint’s imprisonment in France, Dessalines led his fellow war generals and
288See Laennec Hurbon. American Fantasy and Haitian Vodou in Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Donald J. Cosentino
(Ed.), Chai Wan: South Sea International Press Ltd, 1995, p.190.
289 Meera Venkatachalam. Between The Devil and The Cross: Religion, Slavery, and The Making of Anlo-Ewe. In
Journal of African History, 53(1), Cambridge, Cambridge Press, 2012, p.57.
290See Axel Harneit-Sievers. Constructions of Belonging Igbo Communities and the Nigerian State in The Twentieth
Century. University of Rochester Press: Rochester, 2006, p.73.
291 See Felix Germain. The Earthquake, the Missionaries, and the Future of Vodou. In Journal of Black Studies, 42(2),
The Earthquake of 2010: The Politics of a Natural Disaster, pp. 247-263.
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together with a vengeful army, unleashed a devastating war against French colonial rule with one
goal in mind—white extermination. Accounts of the Bois Caiman is captured in Haiti’s national
history where Boukman Dutty, Cécile Fatima, a Vodu priestess and freedom fighters made the
sacred pact with a Vodu deity (Erzuile Dantor) during a ceremony, in hopes of vanquishing the
French army. The ceremony remains a seminal event in the minds of many Haitians.292To this day,
the decisiveness of battle and the devastating defeat of the French has left many Western writers
dumbfounded, subsequently spreading ugly rumours suggesting the notion that the Haitian
freedom fighters had “signed a pact with the Devil”. Such bizarre propositions reverberate in recent
discussions as captured in the text below:
It is a matter of well-documented historical fact that the nation of Haiti was
dedicated to Satan 200 years ago. On August 14, 1791, a group of houngans
(voodoo priests), led by a former slave houngan named Boukman, made a pact
with the Devil at a place called Bois-Caiman. All present vowed to exterminate all
of the white Frenchmen on the island. They sacrificed a black pig in a voodoo
ritual at which hundreds of slaves drank the pig’s blood. In this ritual, Boukman
asked Satan for his help in liberating Haiti from the French. In exchange, the
voodoo priests offered to give the country to Satan for 200 years and swore to
serve him. On January 1, 1804, the nation of Haiti was born and thus began a new
demonic tyranny.293
Such harsh pronouncements are inconsistent with the ideological roots and historical sensitivities
of sacred Vodu practices. In short, the fear of Vodu religion is deeply rooted in some of these
childish tales merely meant to create a negative perception of a very respectable religion. Such is
the case in the Volta Region and Ghana at large, mainly due to the influence of Christianity as well
as brainwashing by colonial/neo-colonial education.
292 See Paul C. Mocombe (2016): The Anti-dialectical Signification of Erzulie Danthor and Bois Caiman of the
Haitian Revolution, African Identities, DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2016.1143803
293 See https://redtory.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/haiti’s-“devil-pact”-explained/ (Accessed on 25/08/2017)
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6.5 Concluding Remarks
This chapter concludes with an emphasis on the distinctiveness of Ewe Vodu aesthetics with
parallels drawn from distant religious traditions from the ancient world and from proximate Akan
culture. Divergent views and insights were extracted from science, medicine, art therapy and
evolutionary psychology to generate a deeper understanding of the colour symbolism in Vodu
aesthetics and the spiritual psychology that influences it. Another important area captured in this
chapter is the significance of how Vodu aesthetics is extensively incorporated into healing
practices and how Vodu therapeutic aesthetics contributes to the general emotional and
psychological well-being of Vodu devotees in the realms of spiritual warfare. High resolution
photographs based on field studies and extended participant observation complemented the
analysis of the findings provided in this chapter. All the photographs and deeper insights
highlighted in this chapter give us a clearer picture of how nothing about the spiritual aesthetics of
Ewe Vodu is left to chance or some contrived principles or aesthetic “standards” formulated by a
single individual or “intellectual authority”. Vodu aesthetics is a communal one each and every
member of the community shares primarily with the guidance of the deities and ancestors. The
most significant aspect of this chapter is how Vodu aesthetics has been discussed and situated in
the context of Ewe sociology as well as the tangible and intangible aspects of Ewe cultural
practices.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 4
Towards Redefining Ewe Vodu Aesthetics
7.1 Introduction
This chapter concludes the discussion on appraising Vodu art through the aesthetic triad and paves
way for deeper discussions and understanding of African aesthetic constructs. The discussions also
address how appreciating African art through the lens of Eurocentric Western aesthetic constructs
hampers the genuine aesthetic experience. The analysis has been broken down into the most basic
philosophical dialogues with various view points from both Western and African academic courts.
Other related issues include the relationships between neo-colonial Western ideologies and Ewe
Vodu socio-linguistics. How does this relationship obscure the rich and diverse esoteric
etymologies of Vodu nomenclature which serve as an entry point in grasping the basic concepts
of Vodu philosophy?
7.2 On Western Aesthetic “Standards” and Critical Perspectives of Ewe Vodu Aesthetics
All the aesthetic considerations and contributions to the discussion in the previous chapters give
researchers an idea of how the “tastes” and “aesthetic standards” of early Western
“anthropologists” and contemporary “researchers” on religious studies still undermine all these
understudied aspects of Vodu aesthetics. The foundations of such “tastes” were shaped by early
European writers who mainly focused on the “exotic” forms or what they deemed as “fetish” in
Vodu religion. Another reason was the incessant need to “critique” or “appraise” African artworks
from biased aesthetic standards and anachronistic European theoretical notions of art (such as
“beauty”, “order”, “balance”, “imitationalism”, “perfection”, “symmetry” etc.) In instances where
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the aesthetics of African art did not conform to such European “standards”, it was merely
disregarded as “impure art”. In their “analysis” of “beauty” with the aim of “delineating” “aesthetic
standards”, analytic theorists like Henry Home, Lord Kames, William Hogarth, and Edmund
Burke set forth to condense beauty into a series of attributes and formal properties. Discussing
aesthetic considerations, philosopher Denis Dutton identified seven universal signatures in human
aesthetics:
(1) Expertise or virtuosity - Technical artistic skills are cultivated, recognized, and
admired; (2) Nonutilitarian pleasure - People enjoy art for art's sake, and do not
demand that it keep them warm or put food on the table; (3) Style - Artistic objects
and performances satisfy rules of composition that place them in a recognizable
style; (4) Criticism - People make a point of judging, appreciating, and interpreting
works of art. (5) Imitation - With a few important exceptions like music and
abstract painting, works of art simulate experiences of the world; (6) Special focus
- Art is set aside from ordinary life and made a dramatic focus of experience; (7)
Imagination - Artists and their audiences entertain hypothetical worlds in the
theater of the imagination.294
Dutton’s “Seven Universal Aesthetics Ideals” builds upon ideas formulated in a medieval treatise
on painting and neo-classical aesthetics written by Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti. All these
aesthetic “ideals” and “standards” can subsequently be remotely traced to antiquated Greek
philosophy and is most especially deeply rooted in the Aristotelian conception of “beauty”:
In his Metaphysics, Aristotle claims, the chief forms of beauty are order and
symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate to a
special degree. (Aristotle 1928: 8, book 13, ch. 3, section 1078b). In Plato’s
Philebus, for example, Socrates assures Protarchus, “measure and
commensurability emerge always as what constitute finest and excellence” (Plato
1997:46e, p.454).295
294 See Dennis Dutton, in Eugene Goodheart. Darwinian Misadventures in the Humanities, London: Transaction
Publishers. 2009, p.14.
295 See David Feeney. Toward an Aesthetics of Blindness: An Interdisciplinary Response to Synge, Yeats, and Friel
(New Studies in Aesthetics), Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 2007, p.213.
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It has already been established in the preceding chapters, that Europeans who first encountered
African art treated it as the “other”, a “subsidiary”, an “adopted child of European art” and not a
self-consistent creation. They looked at it solely against a backdrop of European aesthetic theory,
not against the spiritual setting from which it had sprung. European painters, sculptors, and critics
in the first two decades of the 20th century were constantly on the lookout for examples of
primitive [sic] art that did not conform to naturalistic convention which had dominated the art of
their continent for more than two thousand years.296 Thus, in comparison to Western art, especially
ancient Greek sculpture, much “African sculpture was considered ugly, the antithesis of beautiful
by early observers”. Such an initial reaction to African sculpture is still felt today by many
Westerners who find the art forms to be stiff and lifeless, with oversized body parts and features
that are treated in a stylized way and with compact, unnaturalistic proportions. These first
impressions, should be “tempered with some tolerance until the aesthetics and the meanings
become more familiar” 297
Figure 7.1 Michaelangelo’s David marble statue juxtaposed by Andrew Loomis’ illustration of the
head length theory. These proportions apparently form the widely accepted “standards” for the
296 See Paul Radin. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books Inc, 1952, p.324
297 Seiber and Wlaker (1987:11-14) cited in Judith Perani and Fred T. Smith. The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power
and Life Cycle in Africa, Pearson Publishers. Prentice Hall. 1998 p.7.
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constructive human anatomy in figure drawing and sculpture. The scale assumes that the child will
grow to be an ideal adult of eight head units.298
Figure 7.2 ɛtᴐrmigbo (sculpture) juxtaposed by Loomis’ illustration of head length theory. Woe,
Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography of sculpture by Researcher
Such established perceptions and Western aesthetic frameworks still influenced how African art is
still being “documented”, “criticized” and “appreciated” by Europeans. The “new critics” still
deem African art as “pre-modern”, “fetish” or “inferior representations” of the human form due to
aesthetic ignorance and lack of cultural awareness:
The idea that African art is primitive [sic] builds on the idea that realism in art is
superior to nonrealism or abstraction and that fine arts is superior to applied art.
[…] The non-realism of medieval painting was perceived as a lack; these artists
had not yet learnt the art of perspective or the effects of light. They painted as they
did because they did not know any better. When this criterion for value judgment
was applied to African art at the first moment of the European colonisation in late
298See Andrew Loomis. Figure Drawing for all its Worth: A Book of Fundamentals for an Artistic Career, p.29.
(Year and publisher’s information unvailable) Source of David’s Statue:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo) (Accessed on 23/07/2017)
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eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, it suffered the same fate: it was
considered primitive [sic], with connotations of childishness.299
Such misinformed views were deeply influenced by what philosophers of art refer to as the
“imitation theory”. Kandinsky (2008:22) addresses this particular issue at length in his art
manifesto on spiritual art:
Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our
emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which
can never be repeated. Efforts to revive the art-principles of the past will at best
produce an art that is still-born. It is impossible for us to live and feel, as did the
ancient Greeks. In the same way those who strive to follow the Greek methods in
sculpture achieve only a similarity of form, the work remaining soulless for all
time. Such imitation is mere aping.300
Twentieth century philosopher, Morris Weitz, similarly advocated the abandonment of art
definitions and proposed that philosophers pay attention to the roles and specific ideas artworks
actually represent.301 Thus, the assessment of art comes down to what Braembussche (2009) terms
“significant form”. All other criteria are irrelevant. Only significant form can explain the very
peculiar nature of the aesthetic experience. It embodies the autonomy of the artwork. From the
principal idea, it follows, firstly, that, from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, imitation is irrelevant.
The similarity between the visual artwork and “reality” is entirely unimportant.302 Braembussche
(2009:75) further stresses the essence of how the “significant form” aides in achieving an aesthetic
experience by highlighting this aesthetic paradox:
299 See Petersen, Kirsten Holst, Art, Power and Aesthetics: A discussion of Ablade Glover’s township paintings,
Kunapipi, 34(2), 2012, p.71.
300 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press, 2008, p.22.
301 See Morris Weitz, “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics,”. In The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XV,
1956, 27-35.
302 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art. Brussels: Springer
Science + Business Media B.V. 2009, pp.70-71.
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How could a twentieth century West European be aesthetically enraptured by
African sculpture if not through the experience of significant form? The fact, Bell
argued that we know nothing about the social, religious or magical backgrounds of
these sculptures and yet are moved aesthetically by them, only goes to prove that
the essence of art is “significant form”.
Having outlined all these general assumptions and disparities, it is important to also refer to the
aesthetic reflections of other Greek philosophers on classical Greek art. Some Greek philosophers
actually denounced the “frivolousness” of “realism”, “perfection”, “representation”, “mimicry”
and the “imitative arts”. For instance, Plato had very little admiration for idealism, illusionism and
mimicry in painting. He found such aesthetic “ideals” rather irritating, because he felt it was
untruthful and aimed at deceitful appearance, based on proportions that may have appeared to be
beautiful but which in fact were not. 303 The imitation theory, according to Braembussche (2009),
is often associated with the concept of “mimesis”, a Greek word that originally meant “imitation”,
“representation” or “copy”, specifically of nature.304 Quite often, “skill deficiency” has been
pointed as a primary “indicator” of “artistic flaw” in the African creative spirit. This is perhaps
what Holst cites in his discussion as “connotations of childishness”. This is equally a misnomer
and does not necessarily imply that the African artist, and by extension the Vodu artist, is “inept”
or has completely “failed” in his execution of “capturing” the human or natural form
“proportionately”. Rather, aesthetic emphasis is directed towards certain prominent features. For
instance, the head is seen as the seat of wisdom. The practice of giving figures large heads as is
common in Ewe Vodu art forms (sculptures, figurines etc.), is often attributed to the fact that the
African regarded the head as the seat not only of intellect but also of the emotions. The sculptor
303 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art:An Introduction to Philosophy of Art. Brussels: Springer Science
+ Business Media B.V., 2009, pp.19 -20.
304Ibid. p.16.
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stressed its importance by exaggerating its size (Dogbe, 1989 :14). Analyzing African sculptures,
Underwood equally observed that:
The head, regarded as the seat of all human wisdom, is a symbol the meaning of
which, in Europe, belongs to the heart. There are a few exceptions to this general
rule where the proportions of the heads to the bodies are in the ratio of 1:5 for
example in the Female Figure, and even 1:12 as in the Staff, Mbuun,305
Relatedly, Fernandez (1966:56), further expands our understanding of African aesthetic canons
and principles in relation to carved human figures when he noted that the Fang recognize well
enough that the proportions of these statues are not the proportions of living men—that what the
statue represents is not necessarily the truth, physically speaking, of a human body but a vital truth
about human beings, that they keep opposites in balance.306 Discussing the case of highly
representational Benin and Ife bronze works, Abraham (1992) observed that:
[…] when they do depict a full figure, the body tends to be truncated and the head
made disproportionately large. Severed heads and stunted torsos would indeed be
grotesque if intended to be decorative. A clue to their real purpose should instead
be sought in the fact that many African societies, and certainly the Kwa-speaking,
which include Benin, do associate a spiritual factor with the human head […] 307
Similarly, Kandinsky drew the following conclusion:
There are, of course, many people who deny that Primitive Art [sic] had an inner
meaning or, rather, that what is called "archaic expression" was dictated by
anything but ignorance of representative methods and defective materials. Such
people are numbered among the bitterest opponents of Post-Impressionism, and
indeed it is difficult to see how they could be otherwise.308 […] All this does not
305 Leon Underwood cited by Buckner Komlar Dogbe in The Influence of African Sculpture on British Art, 1910-
1930. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of St. Andrews,1989, p.14.
306 See James W. Fernandez. Principles of Opposition and Vitality in Fang Aesthetics. In Journal of Aesthetics and
Art Criticism 25 (1), 1966, pp. 53-64.
307See William E. Abraham. Sources of African Identities. In Person and Community: Ghanaian Philosophical
Studies, Vol. 1, Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye. (Eds.), Washington D.C., Cardinal Station, 1992, p.50.
308 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press, 2008, p.8-11.
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presume to say that the "symbolist" school of art is necessarily nobler than the
"naturalist." I am making no comparison, only a distinction. When the difference
in aim is fully realized, the Primitives [sic] can no longer be condemned as
incompetent, nor the moderns as lunatics, for such a condemnation is made from
a wrong point of view. Judgement must be passed, not on the failure to achieve
"naturalism" but on the failure to express the inner meaning.
It must be emphasized here that, abstract aesthetic concepts embedded in African art does not fully
exemplify the rich diversity of the varied aesthetic canons employed in creating artworks. In fact,
the abstract human proportions employed in sculpting Legba is not entirely representative of all
African sculptures which attempt to capture the human form. African artists had a thorough
understanding of accurate anatomical proportions and employed sophisticated bronze-casting
techniques in capturing the anatomically proportionate human form. The Europeans who first
encountered realistic life-sized Benin bronze sculptures attributed such remarkable artistic
achievements to “Portuguese influences”. The “natives” were deemed as “savages,” and their
creative productions hitherto had held no interest for Europe which perceived African artworks as
visible evidence of their “barbarism”. To quote from Radin (1952):
When the bronzes from Benin appeared, of which Luschan wrote, “Celline himself
could not have made better casts, nor anyone else before or since to present day,”
an explanation had to be found. It could not suppose that unenlightened savages
[sic] had produced such remarkable examples of bronze-casting without aid.
Finally, the representation of certain figures in Portuguese garb on some of the
plaques suggested that the method of bronze-casting had been imported by the
Portuguese on their first visit to the capital, in the fiftheenth century. To bear out
the theory, one English researcher managed to discover a tradition, allegedly local,
to the effect that one Ahammangiwa, a member of the first party of white men to
set foot in Benin, in the reign of Oba Esigie, introduced bronze-casting. This
theory, however, has now been generally abandoned. There is no evidence that the
Portuguese had any such skill to communicate. And in the light of a better
knowledge of African history, an analysis of the stylistic features of Benin art
shows it to be fundamentally negroid:309
309 See Paul Radin. African Folktales and Sculpture. New York: Pantheon Books Inc, 1952, pp.330-331.
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Figure 7.2.1 Legba sculpture (left) paired with Benin Bronze sculptures (right). 310
Reflecting on the general ideas and philosophical perspectives presented so far, only leads us to
deduce that equating abstraction in African art to skill deficiency or lack of aesthetic appeal is
merely a “ludicrous enterprise”. Apart from artists, trained art critics and aestheticians, some
discerning scholars, curators and art collectors have developed renewed approaches to appreciating
African art. In his contribution to the discourse on African art, Henry Moore outlines his inspiration
from exhibits in the British Museum (now known as Museum of Mankind) as follows:
I was particularly interested in the African and Pacific sculptures and felt that
“primitive” was a misleading description of them, suggesting crudeness and
incompetence. It was obvious to me that these artists were not trying—and
failing—to represent the human form naturalistically, but that they had definite
traditions of their own (British Museum Publications, 1981, p.11)311
310 From left to right: Mark Walker, grandson of Capt. Herbert Walker, posees with a life size bronze statue outside
the palace of the Oba (king) of Benin, now in Edo State, Nigeria. In 2014 he returned Benin Kingdom bronzes looted
during the 1897 Benin Punitive Expedition. The stolen Benin bronze works Britain returned to Nigeria. For source of
images, refer to: https://emotan.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/old-benin-kingdom-stolen-brass-statues-returned-after-
over-a-century/. (Accessed 30/08/2018). See also https://urbanintellectuals.com/britain-returns-stolen-treasures-
nigeria-117-years/ (Accessed 30/08/2018).
311 See Ben Burt. What is African Art? Support for Teachers. The British Museum, London. (publication details
unavailable ).
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At this point, I go back to Rosenthal's work which, paradoxically, has gradually assumed
“intellectual authority” and quite often serves as an ‘entry point’ for some Western researchers
into the realms of Gorovodu. Her misleading notions and pronouncements have led a few other
Western scholars to follow suit as captured in Earle Strange’s monograph below:
I have to profess near total ignorance of the main subject of the this [sic] paper,
the cult of Tɔgbui Nyigbla, before I began my research, and I have to confess near
total ignorance as of this moment. Because of an excellent book by Judy
Rosenthal called, Possession, Ecstasy and Law in Ewe Voodoo,312 I was not
nearly as ignorant about the subject of the second portion of this paper, Gorodovu,
but still only had any knowledge of it through the lens of another American
anthropologist.313
As an “authoritative documentation” on Gorovodu spirituality, Rosenthal’s work remains
critically unchallenged. Europeans wrote a lot of lies and propaganda in their voyage texts and
accounts about African culture; admittedly some Europeans, might be probably more
“knowledgeable” than others in some African religions and indigenous practices.314 And for that
matter, contemporary anthropological publications by Europeans might seem “reliable” to other
researchers today. But, using Rosenthal’s work as a kind of “authoritative entry point” into the
realms of Gorovodu, to document it or thoroughly understand Vodu matters, is indeed problematic.
It is not surprising that Earle Strange’s monograph is littered with the same ambiguous terms
(“fetish”, “god-object”) from Rosenthal’s work. A classic case of confirmation bias. Simply
because a “charismatic” figure wrote it, and it “proved” to be “right” on several occasions, it was
312 In this same book, Rosenthal actually stresses “how difficult it is to make a synthesis of material, because the
culture is not unified. The south is a nightmare for an ethnographer”. See Judy Rosenthal. Possession, Ecstasy, and
Law in Ewe Voodoo, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p.46.
313 See Stuart Earle Strange. The Strangers From the North and Grandfather From the East: Mimesis, Alterity and
Divinity in Afife Ewe Life, p. ii. (Year, publishers and place of publication unavailable).
314See http://accradotaltradio.com/2017/02/click-bait-journalism-in-ghana-and-the-problem-of-cultural-erasure/
(Accessed on 08/10/2017)
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not subjected to critical academic scrutiny.
There are several instances where “researchers” have ignorantly mistranslated indigenous
practices and terms into English by coining ridiculous labels when unable to find an appropriate
linguistic equivalent. Some non-Western practices are better understood through their indigenous
names. Thus, a whole new generation of Western anthropologists are following in the academic
path of regurgitating colonial theories of African art, thereby furthering a new wave of Eurocentric
anthropological scholarship. Eurocentric bias has been normalized and institutionalized in
anthropological scholarship of non-European societies, or what they prefer to call “primitive
societies”. Presenting renewed concepts in contrarian analysis and the art of critical decision
making, Roberto provides the following perspectives:
We should engage in contrarian analysis, we need to actually assign people to
make counter arguments to poke holes in our hypothesis, to poke holes in our pre-
existing beliefs, to expose where our pre-existing assumptions may not be valid.
And finally, they say we need to be careful about our reliance on the experts in our
organizations. Often, we defer rather blindly to the experts. We trust their
judgments, we put a great deal of faith in their judgments but we shouldn’t take
their word for it. They may be too wordy to their existing beliefs so we need to
probe their decision process and the logic of those experts, not simply relying on
their expertise because they happen to have a lot of experience on the matter,
because they happen to have been right on many occasions in the past.315
Further compounding the delicate politics at the heart of the controversial subject matter is how
some of these Western researchers overgeneralize issues they claim to “observe” and “document”
in the field. For instance, Dietrich, a researcher implores her readers to engage in a series of
imaginative exercises to visualize the “kind of place her research was conducted”:
Imagine a place where dirt cakes the daily-swept floors and everything must be
315 See Michael A. Roberto Art of Critical Decision Making. In the Great Courses: European Thought and Culture in
the 20th Century. (Audio Lecture) See also http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/art-of-critical-decision-
making.html Accessed on (13/09/2017)
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hand washed; and where families without running water must carry heavy jugs
from parasite-infested lagoons or communal water spigots, sometimes for
distances up to a mile, causing arthritis and back aches for mothers and their
young. Imagine a place where the goat you see chewing on the trash may become
your afternoon meal; where food is cooked over hot kilns, outdoor pots, or
campfire stoves; and where malaria and tuberculosis are prevalent, motorcycle
accidents are increasing, and early deaths are more commonly becoming a way of
life. 316
In this photographic age, Dietrich further extends this “imaginative exercise” and despite all these
‘vivid’ descriptions, she failed to produce valid statistics and photographic evidence to support
some of these instances she purports to have “observed in the field”. Indeed, Dietrich might have
“observed” instances of some of the episodes she reports in her thesis but it is by no way
representative of the entire region where she conducted her studies. Such distortions within the
courts of the Euro-Western academies should give African scholars a cue to pause and critically
reflect. Some of these spurious ‘academic’ formulations and problematic approaches in the
preceding discussions to modern approaches to anthropological scholarship led scholars like
Gbolonyo to question how many Western researchers bring back their theses for the village folks
to read? He further notes:
It is worth noting that a few non-African scholars try to engage with scholarly
works of African scholars and thereby not only augment their research findings
but also give voice to the indigenes and let Africans speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, many other Euro-American researchers and scholars (for reasons I
cannot explain) blatantly ignore scholarly works by African scholars as Prof Akin
Euba (one of the prominent scholars of African culture) rightly pointed out in a
speech he delivered at SEM in Atlanta, GA (see also Euba 2008). They rather
prefer and often cite works of non-Africans and thereby continue to perpetuate the
very subjectivity and misrepresentation that underlies those works. How far and
how long can some researchers go to deny Africans of what they think their
concepts and beliefs are?317
316 Christina M. Dietrich. Spirit Messengers, Divine Encounters: Practitioner Inhabitants of the Anlo-Ewe Spirit
World. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of California, 2012, p.8.
317 See Justice Stephen Kofi Gbolonyo. Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Values in Ewe Musical Practice: Their
Traditional Roles and Place in Modern Society. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Pittsburg, 2009, p.218.
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Admittedly, this problem is also prevalent within the Africana academic circles. We must first
direct this criticism to some African scholars who are equally guilty of ignoring essential works
by their African colleagues in their publications. As researchers, reporters, investigators, critics
and analysts, it is important that African scholars recognize the privilege and the power relations
it affords, when they write about subjects and communities with marginalized knowledge systems.
For in the end, what is written ends up becoming history more than what is spoken.318In a similar
effort, Meyer (2002) advocates fresh perspectives, anthropological paradigm shifts, practical
approaches and methodologies for trans-disciplinary research on religion. She stresses that:
The point is to grasp the specific dynamics of power that constitute and
‘normalize’ the academic study of religion within historically and socially specific
formations, showing how ways of studying religion reflect ways of perceiving the
world at large. We need to spotlight biases, blind spots and inadequacies in these
established and perhaps all-too-familiar ways, enabling us to imagine new,
alternative directions for our work. In my present environment in the humanities
and with my own background in the anthropology of religion I feel well positioned
to contribute to making this happen. 319
Based on all these critical perspectives, it is quite difficult to validate the ‘logic’ with which some
Western researchers designate significant aspects of vodu as “fetish”. A common case would be
the labeling of Vodu shrine as “fetish house”, when indeed the indigenous names are boldy written
in Ewe on the shrine walls, sign posts and entrances to most these shrines. As such, Rosenthal's
usage of derogatory terms like ''fetish house”, “fetish child”, “fetish shrine”, “fetish priest”, and
other ambiguous terms like “god-object” are highly disconcerting on scholarly grounds. Apart
from the earlier cited “descriptions”, Rosenthal (1999) makes further scandalous claims:
• ‘Vodu and tro …mean deity, spirit, or god-object, as does fetish, from fetico
(made thing), the fifteenth-century Portuguese designation, which has been co-
318See http://accradotaltradio.com/2017/02/click-bait-journalism-in-ghana-and-the-problem-of-cultural-
erasure/(Accessed on 08/10/2017)
319See Birgit Meyer. Mediation and the Genesis of Presence: Towards a Material Approach to Religion. Universiteit
Utrecht Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen, 2012, p.10 -13.
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opted by Vodu worshippers and holds no pejorative connotation for them.
(1999:1)
• fetish (fétiche in Togo) —the word that was used by the first European explorers
who saw and described the god-objects and the word of preference among colonial
administrators—has been fully recuperated by Vodu people. Tro, vodu, and
fetish refer to the spirit and host during possession ceremonies as well as god-
objects. They can mean deity, nature spirit, divinized ancestor or slave spirit, or
guardian divinities of kinds, and each term includes the god-object that is never
entirely separable from the spirits themselves, the ''made thing'' without which the
spirits are not divinized. (1999:60)
Indeed, Rosenthal's uncritical propositions did not escape the intellect of Gbolonyo, who exposed
some of her distorted claims. For instance, Gbolonyo (2009: 211) draws the attention to the
inconsistencies in Rosenthal’s work:
Judy Rosenthal, in her chapter “Religious Traditions of the Togo and Benin Ewe,”
wrote: While there are vodou orders or worshippers who at times refer to high god,
and for some that would be the same as the Christian and/or Muslim God, others
admit to no almighty or all-powerful creator. For many, God is ‘the whole thing,’
xexenu (nature, or the world). The high god, including the God of the Bible, is
usually called Mawu these days, for that is the word that the missionary translators
of the Bible chose, although Mawu was a vodou in times past.
Following Gbolonyo's invalidation of areas in Rosenthal's research, which undervalue and
misrepresent the existence of a Supreme Being in Ewe cosmology, I will further proceed to analyse
aspects of Ewe religious vocabulary she erroneously labels as ''fetish''. Rosenthal presents very
distorted notions about certain aspects of Vodu, which must be properly examined. Her claims
may sound “plausible” from her perspective, but her explanation does not quite sum up the
etymology of “fetishism” and the real issues surrounding its problematic intellectual
developments. The logic used in supporting her claims and explanations are dubious rather than
informative. To begin with, ‘fetish' has not been co-opted in anyway by Vodu devotees and the
adherents even show strong disapproval if their deities are referred to as 'fetish'.
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Figure 7.3 Du-Legba Shrine, Alakple (2017). Photography by Researcher.
The evidence is everywhere in the villages, yet most of these “researchers” completely ignore
them, fabricate tall tales and yet constantly fail to produce photographic evidence to support some
of their preposterous claims they purport to “observe” in the field. It must be emphasized that,
Vodu devotees still refer to their Deities, Priests and various Vodu art, orders and elements by their
indigenous names and not 'fetish'. For instance, “made thing” or “god object''— Vodu; “fetish
priest''— bokᴐ or hunᴐ; ''fetish taslisman''—dzosasa/dzoka; “fetishist” – Mawu subᴐla; “fetish
chants”—gbesasa; “fetish body adornments”—dzonu; “fetish market” —Vodushime, etc.
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Figure 7.4 Entrance to Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima Shrine. Torgodo, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 7.5 Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 7.6 Shrine Painting on the wall of Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima Shrine. Torgodo,
Volta Region (2017). Paintings by “Prof” ‘Sampayo-Togo’. Photography by Researcher.
Figure 7.7 Sign-post leading to Hunᴐ Amegashie Abinga and Tɔgbui Hutᴐ Adzimashie’s Adzima
Shrine (2017). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 7.8 AFƆKPA. AWU. KUKU. KPLE. TAKU. MEVAA KPƆME O. The caption literally
translates as, “shoes, clothes, caps/hats, and scarfs cannot enter the shrine. In the shot is the
researcher posing with Xanukplᴐ, a modernist Vodu artist at Mama Vena Shrine in Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photography by Research Assistant
Figure 7.9 A Sign-post to Tsabashi Dorkenu Shrine, Afiadenyigba Junction, Volta Region (2017).
Photography by Researcher.
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Note that there is no mention of “fetish”, neither is there a caption of anything insinuating the
notion of “fetishism” in any of the shrine art or sign-posts leading to the shrines. “Fetish” is
virtually not part of their descriptions of Vodu art or paraphanelia.
Most importantly, almost every single Vodu or priest has a unique name derived through an array
of creative socio-lingustic classifications or metaphysical characteristics. This makes it extremely
important to understand Vodu terms in the original language. As Gbolonyo has accurately
observed, research has shown that the Ewe do not just name people, things, concepts, or places
only for the sake of naming them. Socio-linguistics of Ewe names proves that they conjure a high
degree of linguistic complexity and semantico-cultural significance within the society. For
instance, he notes that the word Hunᴐ in Ewe literally translates as – Hu (Spirit) and Nᴐ (Mother)
hence - ‘Mother of the spirit’. Hunᴐ (lit. the mother of hu spirit divinity) and Bokᴐnᴐ (lit. mother
of bo spirit power) are some of the titles for priest and spiritual leaders irrespective of their sex.320
In his studies on the Ewe people, Spieth notes that:
The greatest among all these deities is Agbasia, namely, “Nobody puts a hot bowl
on the roof; the house would burn down.” His nick-names are: 1. Agbogbo,
“something very powerful” or also “productive”. 2. Agbasia masia ɖe xɔta
(meaning see above). 3. Gedidi, god of the broad open plain. 4. Getrᴐ᷉ sia me àde
dzo Agbasia mea? Do you want to set fire to Agabsia this afternoon? that is do
you want to excite him or spur him on?321
320 Critiquing Greene’s faulty conception of Mawu, Gbolonyo presents a more detailed linguistic analysis of some
names of Ewe Deities in his PhD Thesis See Justice Stephen Kofi Gbolonyo. Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural
Values in Ewe Musical Practice: Their Traditional Roles and Place in Modern Society. Unpublished PhD Thesis,
University of Pittsburg, 2009, pp. 82, 213-214.
321 See Jacob Spieth. The Ewe People: A Study of the Ewe People in German Togo (translated by Emmanuel Tsaku,
Marcellinus Edorh, Raphael Avornyo, Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu, edited by Komla Amoaku). Accra: Sub-Saharan
Publishers, 2011, p.477.
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Pietz (1982) also raises similar concerns about such approaches in the criticism and revisionist
discourse of “fetishism”. He provides a closer textual analysis of the anthropological “Problem of
Fetish”. Pietz (1985), further interrogating this recurring ‘problem’ in anthropological scholarship,
reconsiders Rattray’s (1927) position of maintaining African terminologies as a justified
methodology for reclaiming racist colonial-era text by translating terms like “fetish” back into
African languages. Pietz dismisses “fetish” and other stigmatized terminologies in colonial/neo-
colonial texts that obscure the real meaning of the spiritual practices and artworks of diverse non-
Western societies.322
It is interesting to note that, in other religions, say the Christian tradition, in Catholicism for
example, specific names are designated to all their deities, religious artworks and iconography but
when it comes to Vodu religion, every significant feature of the faith is boxed into one category
and tagged “fetish” when, in fact, the devotees have specific names for each deity, orders and
artworks grounded in very complex metaphysical socio-linguistics. So, in Christian Catholicism,
we have, say, the rosary, the chalice, crucifix, communion, statue of Christ or “Virgin” Mary,
incense, stained glass etc.—every single object or artwork has a specific name. Why is spiritual
reverence not accorded to sacred Vodu artworks? For instance, in Western thought, the blood-
stained religious artworks of the Ewes, Fons and the nail-studded Nkisi sculpture works are
regarded as “primitive” and “fetish”, yet the bloody iconography of the battered Jesus Christ was
not regarded by the early Christian missionaries as “fetish”? It is also worth bringing to our
attention that the statue of Jesus Christ as a sculptural piece is also studded with nails—even bigger
322 By following this same line of reasoning, my intellectual stance would coincide with views of other analytic
philosophers advocating similar views regarding the arguments being raised here. See William Pietz. The Problem
of Fetish. In Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 9,1985, pp. 5-17.
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nails, yet it is “revered” and held in ‘high esteem’ and “holier” than African religious sculptures.
It is critical to draw the connection between Christian sculptures and the notion of “idolatry”
deceitfully ascribed to Vodu sculpture.
Figure 7.9.1 A set of three rusty crucifixion nails. Photography by Matt Reier, Intellectual Reserve,
Inc. 323
Figure 7.9.2 From left to right: A Jesus sculpture324 juxtaposed by a Nkisi nail sculpture.325
323 Source of image: https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/volume-14-number-1-2013/crucifixion-reclamation-cross
(Accessed on saturday 27/05/2017)
324 Source of image: http://padrejosemedina.blogspot.com/2014/04/catequesis-del-papa-esta-semana-nos.html
(Accessed on 27/05/2017)
325 Source of image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/437482551298799860/ (Accessed on 27/05/2017)
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Despite the lack of discourse on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and its surviving antiquities in
modern times, Strathearn has conducted research to examine the historical significance and
scriptural teachings about the crucifixion. He reviews some of the details of crucifixion in
antiquity, including what pagans thought about the fact that Christians worshipped a god and how
Paul counters such arguments.326 On a very basic level, Christian crucifixion sculptures and sacred
sculptures used in African religion are functionally identical. In fact, Blavatsky identifies the often-
overlooked spiritual link between Judaism and Vodu in her seminal work Occult Theocracy. With
perspectives from theosophy, Blavatsky (2012:75) supports the viewpoints advanced in this
discussion by arguing that:
Judaism would be best described as a rite or compendium of rites, for, if one lends
belief to the existence of the Jewish Lawgiver, Moses, one must bear in mind that
he first studied among the high initiates of Egypt, and later, became the pupil and
son-in-law of black Jethro, the Ethiopian magician whom one might call the Father
of Voodooism, name given to the magic practices and rites performed by the
negroes.
Discussing the 'infallibility of religion', Blavatsky further questions the Church's authority on
spirituality and outlines some of its heinous historic crimes. She notes that:
Christian legends and dogmas, they say do somewhat resemble the heathen, it is
true; but see, while the one teaches us the existence, powers, and attributes of an
all-wise, all-good Father-God, Brahmanism gives us a multitude of minor gods,
and Buddhism none whatsoever; one is fetishism and polytheism, the other bald
atheism [...] And so, to gain over new converts, and keep the few already won by
centuries of cunning, the Christians give the ''heathen'' dogmas more absurd than
their own, and cheat them by adopting the habit of their native priests, and
practicing the very ''idolatry and fetishism'' which they so disparage in the
''heathens'' (2012: 531).
326See Gaye Strathearn. Christ's Crucifixion: Reclamation of the Cross. In Religious Educator, 14(1), 2013, 45–57.
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Figure 7.9.3 This image visually sums up Blavatsky’s observation in a certain wry cynical
manner.327
Based on earlier discussions, if we are to follow the logic of Meyer’s and Blavatsky’s arguments,
then the sculptural representation of the battered Jesus or the Crucifixion iconography stands on
the same level with “idolatry” and, in essence, “fetish” by all intellectual standards. Blavatsky’s
observation is undeniably true that this has been a never-ending cycle and indeed some ‘educated’
Africans despise their own religion to the extent that, they would rather choose to display a portrait
of the battered dead European “Jesus Christ” in their living rooms than an African mask.328
327Source of image: http://www.nairaland.com/4326181/ (Accessed on 13/04/2018)
328 An example is my own mum who based on her slanted Christian teachings at church, was completely appalled
and horrified to see that I keep a modest collection of African masks and sculptures in my room. She would not step
into my room for over a year because I was very adamant to remove the masks from my wall. When I later
transferred the artworks from room to a newly-built art studio, she insisted on inviting a ''pastor'' over to sprinkle
''anointing oil'' and ''pray'' over my entire antique collection and my paintings to ''exorcise'' all the ''demons'' and
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The term ''fetish'' has indeed found its way into national discourse and lexicon. However, it is
widely used by some Christianized Africans to denigrate African religion, and not the Vodu
worshippers as Rosenthal claims. In my best guess, Rosenthal is referring to the Christians and not
the Vodu worshippers themselves as captured below by one reporter named Dagyena in one of
Ghana's most widely read weekend newspapers, The Mirror:
During the search, a preacher came to the scene, preaching that the people of
Akwadum should repent from their ''evil ways'', alleging that ''sin'' had engulfed
the community, hence the calamity. Just then, a rastaman by name Nana Afrifa
Brambram, who claimed to be a fetish priest, also came around to help retrieve the
body of the boy through his fetish antics.329
In a pamphlet in which African religious practices are analyzed through the prism of Christianity,
Achampong-Baifi (1989) stresses that:
A fetish Priest pouring Libation to the fetish gods (demons), the stool gods
(demons) and the ancestral spirits (demons) at a State Function in Ghana...choose
for yourself this day whom you will serve either the True and Living God through-
Jesus Christ or Satan. For religious syncretism (mixed worship) is worse than
apostasy. 330
Another episode surrounding a similar reportage inspired me to publish an educative online article
titled: “Click Bait Journalism in Ghana and the Problem of Cultural Erasure.”331 This article was
a response to the manner in which the spiritual performances staged at the burial ceremony of the
''spiritual principalities'' out of them. I also encounter similar episodes during my art exhibitions. In one example, a
collector ridiculously enquired from me: ''I want to collect some of your artworks, so how does this work? When I
purchase them do I have to ''pray'' over them before I hang them my room? Because I don't want any spirits lurking
in my home you know''.
329 McAnthony Dagyena. Boy Drowns in River Densu over GHC120 Gamble. The Mirror, 2016, p3.
330 See Kwaku Achampong-Baifie. The Sacrifices of God: The Pouring of Libation, Accra-North: Pinamano Press
Limited, 1992.
331 See Sela Adjei. Click Bait Journalism in Ghana and the Problem of Cultural Erasure:
http://accradotaltradio.com/2017/02/click-bait-journalism-in-ghana-and-the-problem-of-cultural-erasure/8 (Accessed
on 12/09/2017)
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late Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampeem II, Asantehemaa (Asante Queen Mother), was reported by
Ghanaian media. Accounts from most of the Ghanaian news organizations repeatedly used terms
like ‘fetish priest’, ‘chief fetish priest’, ‘Aflao God’ (from the Aflao settlement in the Volta Region
of Ghana) and other ridiculous labels to describe aspects of indigenous performance and spiritual
practices. Several media reports were ahistorical, with poorly-worded descriptions of mystical
guardian spirits of people from parts of the Volta Region of Ghana.
Figure 7.9.4 News clipping depicting derogatory terms used in describing African religions. (Daily
Graphic, 17th March, 2017 edition).
In their zeal to condemn aspects of African religious beliefs, such reporters sometimes even make
it sound like an 'educated' and 'elitist' thing to do by labeling African religious practices as “fetish”.
To further emphasize the gravity of this disturbing trend it would be apt to chip in one of Soyinka's
pithy rhetorical questions: ''are we thinking clearly?'' It is interesting to note that, behind the
scenes, some of these same “Pastors”, “Bishops”, “Evangelists”, “Prophets” and so-called “Men
of God” apparently busily dabble in ebo, adze, dzoka, gbesasa and other “unorthodox rituals” for
nefarious purposes. Lovell (2002:113) captures a comparable account of a Togolese “Pastor” who
was arrested by the Togolese police for dabbling in unorthodox spiritual practices:
Police in Togo [...] had found a hunchback’s hump, vulture eggs, hyena paws and
a panther’s pelt when they raided the church of a pastor accused of using satanic
practices to woo worshippers. […] ‘These so-called pastors say they have their
own God, but if they still need to use us secretly, despite denigrating us on
television and radio […]
Quite erroneously though, occult activities and witchcraft-related rituals have for so long been
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equated or misconstrued as “Vodu” in the misinformed public eye. Such generalizations and
mislabeling are based on the fact that some of these practices have the root word “Vodu” in their
designations as suffixes. So, adze (witchcraft) is labelled as adze-Vodu332 (anti-witchcraft Vodu),
ebo (malevolent power) becomes bo-Vodu and so on.
Figure 7.9.5 Adzevodu, Afiadenyigba (2004). Image Courtesy: Meera Venkatachalam.
Similarly, the Asantes (like several other Ghanaian ethnic groups) maintain a clear distinction
between okomfo (diviner/priest) and bayifuo (Witch), bosom (deity) and bayie (witchcraft) and so
forth. In contrasting between Vodu as a faith-based religious construct and ebo, Lovell (2002:113)
clarifies that:
The issue of the relationship between vodhun, witchcraft and ‘modernity’ needs to
be examined more closely. Vodhun are, as we have seen, mostly defined as
divinities, cosmological beings whose presence on earth is necessary for the well-
332 Adzevodu is an anti-witchcraft deity. It's a bit like 'Koku' in a sense that it protects individuals from impending
physical harm. It's rituals and modus operandi are similar to other anti-witchcraft societies like Goruvodu etc. Personal
communication with Meera Venkatachalam, (August, 2019)
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being and perpetuation of humankind. By contrast, witchcraft (ebo) is most
accurately described as a malevolent action requiring human intervention and, as
in many other parts of Africa, can become embedded in certain descent groups
where it is inherited among family members.333
Just as in other religious faiths, there are nonconformists, ideological sects, extremists and other
reactionary elements who seek to corrode the essence of authentic spiritual values for the
advancement of personal gratification and ulterior motives, so it is in certain aspects of Vodu-
related practices. So, in effect, Vodu, Voncujovi explains, acts as a “knife” which causes either
good or harm, depending on the character that wields this “knife” or what he or she chooses to use
it for. It is not the Vodu itself that actually renders the act of evil or misfortune but, rather the
fallible human medium who summons the Vodu to abuse or distort the use of its power becomes
the agent of evil. Bear in mind, there are quite a number of ways to come into contact with Vodu,
harness it or channel its psychic energies. Vodu can “mount” or possess an individual to serve it,
it can be acquired (or found), it can also be “manufactured”, inherited or transferred. Meyer (1999)
writes about dzo that could be transformed by worshippers into new Trᴐwo and then be known as
dzozutrᴐ (dzo that became Trᴐ).334 Similarly, Nukpe (2007) has hinted that, the single shrine in the
bedroom is believed to be more powerful than the nine in front of the house. 335 Venkatachalam
(2015:55) has noted that, ‘an individual could ‘marry’ a Trᴐ or Vodu for a number of reasons: on
account of his or her amedzotᴐ, or for protection against witchcraft.’ Vodu can also be channeled
by harnessing psychic energies through the esoteric use of amma (powerful herbs), animal
sacrifices, hard liquor, sacred invocations (libation, spells, chants, mantra, music), swearing of
333 See Nadia Lovell. Cord of Blood: Possession and the Making of Voodoo. London: Pluto Press, 2002, p.113.
334 Meyer 1999: 67, cited in Meera Venkatachalam. Slavery, Memory, and Religion in Southeastern Ghana, c. 1850-
Present.
335 See Nukpe, L.Y.F.L The Indigenous Ewe Shrine as a Spiritual Storehouse for Healing, in Ghana. In Journal of
Science and Technology, 27(1), 2007. p.134.
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oaths and sheer will-power. Nukpe (2007) has documented some significant procedures of
harnessing Vodu psychic energies and the establishment of new spiritual shrine houses:
Late at midnight, as the ritual progresses, the recipient of the spiritual power is
made to strip naked whiles the linguist performs another round of libation pra
yers to invoke the gods for their presence and blessings for the ceremony. Strong
alcoholic drinks such as schnapps and the locally brewed Akpeteshie are used for
the libation prayer. Still under the cover of darkness, various powerful herbs that
have been identified as efficacious are laid into the hole that was dug earlier on. A
chicken is then killed through strangling till its head is severed from the body. The
resultant blood is sprinkled on the herbs in the ground. The medicine man does all
these amidst murmurings of some inaudible words of incarnations and finally, the
carcass of the chicken is laid on the herbs in the hole, the head of the chicken is
made to project out of the hole. This placement is believed to symbolise victory
over evil and therefore success in their ritual activities. 336
At the centre of all these practical modes of Vodu acquisition and the establishment of new shrines
is the fallible human agent, susceptible to corrupt morals or unethical social values. It must,
however, be pointed out that, due to these moral concerns and ethical spiritual standards, certain
charms, malicious rituals, and other Vodu practices have been outlawed within Vodu spiritual
circles and from Anlo-Ewe society in general. Members or practitioners who are caught violating
such moral values and ethical standards are strictly punished or excommunicated. An example is
“sibisaba” which acts as a very powerful hypnotic charm for several underhanded purposes, the
most common being sexually attracting women or keeping an individual spiritually bound under a
spell for ulterior reasons. In some areas where this research was conducted, Vodu priests actually
require license for spiritual authorities to legally practice as certified psychic healers, herbalists,
or spirit mediums.
336 Ibid. pp.135-136.
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7.3 Concluding Remarks
Philosophy of African art and the aesthetic concerns addressed in this chapter dismantles the faulty
premise preconceived by some Eurocentric writers that “Africa had no arts or any sense of
aesthetics”. The critical perspectives advanced in this chapter also bring into focus some of the
neglected details on Vodu aesthetics. Several argumentative discussions provided new
perspectives to discredit “fetishism” as a false philosophical construct in representing Vodu
religion. Equally important in this discussion is how counter-arguments from diverse academic
disciplines were used to challenge some misconstrued and fallacious claims about Vodu aesthetics.
Intellectually constrained assumptions about Vodu aesthetics have marred African art scholarship,
as such further critical insights are still very much needed in Vodu scholarship. Misrepresentations
by Rosenthal and other scholars goes to prove how some Westerners still fail to understand that
African art is an epitome of modern art in the broadest sense. It is a creative expression, which can
appropriately be appreciated only through the perspective of its socio-cultural background. African
art is not necessarily reduced to “imitationalism”, ''representational,'' “art for art’s sake”, or merely
photocopying what is perceived in nature or our surroundings. Exactitude is not truth, as such,
artistic “standards” must not necessarily conform to the tyranny of representation to be considered
worthy of aesthetic contemplation.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS: PART 5
8.1 Introduction
Ever since the West “discovered” African art, various African art forms have spawned several art
movements, theoretical studies and art historical research. Dogbe discusses the influences of
African Sculpture on Western art in his doctoral thesis. In his research, he outlines how African
art and its association with British art and artists in the process of modernization has not been
properly studied. This phenomenon, according to Dogbe (1989), has been related to the French
and German artists in Paris, Munich and Dresden. He further laments that, of the several
publications on African art, only few included materials on the relation of it to modern art.337
In the last few decades, much research has accordingly been conducted by quite a number of
distinguished scholars including Abiodun, Odita, Okediji, Onobrakpeya, Enwezor, Drewal, Vogel,
Picton, Jegede, Visonà, Pieprzak, Ogbechie and others. In fact, Ogbechie himself spearheaded the
advocacy for African art scholars to take a keen interest in and venture into this particular under-
researched area in the discipline. Several weeks before a Triennial conference of the Arts Council
of African Studies Association in 2007, Ogbechie contacted a group of colleagues in the USA and
South Africa and assigned everyone a task – that of preparing a presentation on a specific approach
in which authors develop into a book chapter on modern African art. The collection of the articles
ended up as book chapters dedicated to a compendium on African modernism.338
337 See Buckner Komlar Dogbe. The Influence of African Sculpture on British Art, 1910-1930. Unpublished PhD
Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1989, p.4.
338 See Gitti Salami and Monica Blackburn Visona (Eds.). A Companion to Modern African Art. West Sussex: John
Wiley and Sons, 2013, p. xx.
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This chapter does not necessarily focus on how African sculpture influenced British art alone, but
rather discusses the influences of African art (especially aspects of Vodu aesthetics) on Euro-
American “modernism”. This chapter builds on Ogbechie’s research advocacy and Dogbe’s
lamentations on the inadequate research into how African art may help realize what we have come
to know as “modernism” on the global art stage. Coupled with visual ethnography, this chapter
contributes to the on-going discussion by filling in some of the “missing links” in bridging the
gap between “modern art” and “traditional art”. It is my hope that, the art historical perspectives
and aesthetic reflections supported with ethnographic data and high-resolution photographs
presented in this chapter will shed more light on the critical issues discussed in the several
publications and efforts initiated by some of the early exponents of the discipline.
8.2 ‘Tradition’ versus ‘Modernity’ in Art: Myth, Reality or Mirage?
The application of ‘Modern art’ has always been in use, in reference to style, in the Euro-American
context, and has a specific art-historical connotation of a period style. Such ‘Modern art’
movements as Futurism, Expressionism and Dadaism diverged from the realistic representation of
form. It must be emphasized that the tendencies of these movements are unique products of Euro-
American artistic experience and cannot therefore be used to distinguish ‘Contemporary African
art’ with the same clear meaning and reference. However, to certain kinds of African critics and
scholars, the choice of “Modern African art” over “Contemporary African art” still means more
than life itself. In the minds of those Africans who are also eager to achieve foreign Euro-American
status, consciously or unconsciously, the use of the term “Modern African art” counts for more
than African ideas and ideals.339 Clearly, such ‘labels’ needs revision and an all-inclusive
339 See Okechukwu Odita Vitu, Soyan, Sankofa, and Ijinla. Foundations of Contemporary African Art (Year and
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approach. The exponents (Bendix, Gusfield, Lloyd and Rudolph) of ‘modernization revisionism’
have argued that, in the first place,
the concepts of modernity and tradition were inadequately defined and never
elaborated sufficiently to allow comparisons between societies; secondly, lack of
precise conceptual definitions generated unwarranted generalizations and neglect
of variation within the orbits of modernity as well as tradition. The degree of
variation with any so-called ‘traditional society’ was more substantial than
differences between modern and traditional societies, and the suggested
dichotomy was meaningless, as was the tendency of modernization theorists to
adopt a kind of zero-sum view of the relationship between modernity and
tradition.340
Likewise, Gusfield has emphasized the notion that the pitting of tradition against modernity or
innovation are overly abstract, unreal and very unnecessary. Gusfield (1967:361) particularly
demystifies these delusions of the “traditional”/“modern” schism when he wrote that:
The all too common practice of pitting tradition and modernity against each other
as paired opposites tends to overlook the mixtures and blends which reality
displays. Above all, it becomes an ideology of anti-traditionalism, denying the
necessary and usable ways in which the past serves as support especially in the
sphere of values and political legitimization, to the present and the future. We need
a perspective toward change which does not deny the specific and contextual
character of events.341
As revisionist scholars embarked on broadening the understanding of African aesthetics with
sound critique of 'primitive' and 'tribal', 'traditional' has become the more ‘acceptable’ term to
describe African art. For instance, Hackett (1994) notes that:
if 'traditional' is not taken to mean static, but as drawing on inherited cultural
place of publication not available)
340 See Randall and Theobald (1998:45), cited by Per Hernae. The ‘Traditional’ and the ‘Modern’ in West Africa In
Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi
Anyidoho. (Eds.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012, p.644.
341 See M.D. Litonjua. Creative Fractures: Sociology and Theology. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2011, p.26.
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patterns and responding gradually to change, then it is acceptable to many scholars
(Vogel 1991:32f.). In this respect, there is no moment when 'traditional' art ends
and 'neo-' or 'post-traditional' begins. Valentin Mudimbe argues that, despite the
continuities, new 'artistic thresholds' have emerged as contemporary African artists
have responded to the rupture of the colonial and post-colonial world (Mudimbe
1991:276f.). In this vein, Mudimbe distinguishes between three trends in current
African art: tradition-inspired, modernist, and popular.342
Such revisionist approaches to ethnographic and anthropological scholarship sought to eschew the
West’s notion of “Fetishism” or “Primitivism” in African Art. Other emerging art historians and
aestheticians challenged the widespread hoax propagated in Euro-Western art academies that
Manet, Monet, Duchamp, Metzger, Picasso, Pollock, Frankenthaler, Rothko among others were
the “inventors” of “Modern art.” The ensuing discussions in this chapter re-examine and further
expose such misrepresentations and falsehoods surrounding the artificial distinction of “modern
art” and “traditional art” by Western scholars in their academic discussions. Relying on revised
aesthetic theories, all these issues will be discussed through psychoanalytic perspectives of
spiritual art.
8.3 Modern Art and Sacred Vodu Aesthetics: Neglected Symmetries
Based on earlier philosophical reflections and the research findings, the underlining premise
outlined in this Chapter only leads us to further reject the Western notion of “modernism” until its
precepts and inclusivity have been properly revised in academic circles and on the global art stage.
This artificially fabricated categorization simply ignores, scorns, or undervalues the significant
contributions of the real custodians of modernism, a lot of whom still remain unrecognized or are
342 See Rosalind I. J. Hackett. Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections. In Journal of Religion
in Africa, 24(4), 1994, pp. 294-308.
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yet to be properly documented. It is also very difficult to validate that "modern art" is a Euro-
Western designation of “civilized art” while African Art is condescendingly tagged as “primitive”,
“fetish”, “tribal”, “untamed”, “exotic”, “pre-modern” etc. It must be clearly emphasized that
African Art has always embodied the essential features of “modernism” centuries before its
theories and numerous manifestos were formulated. The fact that it was not formulated in
“theories” and “rousing manifestos” does not necessarily mean modernist art schools were never
present in African creative expressivity. For instance, Ellis (1890:81) describing an Ewe Shrine
reports that:
‘the images of the gods are placed inside, usually on a raised rectangular platform
of clay; and before them are the earthen pots and vessels, smeared with the blood,
eggs, and palm-oil of countless offerings. Many of these images have long since,
owing to exposure to the weather, become mere heaps of rubbish, but no one
would dare to remove the sacred dust.
Figure 8.0 Dankoli Vodu Art Installation (Photo by Catherina Unger)343
Between November 1959 and 10th March, 1960 (well over 70 years later after Ellis’ observation)
Gustav Metzger would be hailed by the European art world for “inventing” a kind of “modernist
343 Source of Images: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/benin,ritual (Accessed on 12/02/2018)
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art” style called “auto-deconstructive art”. The so-called artistic invention is apparently what A.B
Ellis had earlier described and labeled as “mere heaps of rubbish” or “sacred dust”. Well
informed art historians would acknowledge the fact that this type of abstract art installation had
been in existence within the ritual space and sacred sites of shrines among Vodu practitioners
several centuries ago. Modern imagery of sacred Vodu aesthetics and religious iconography can
verify such claims.
Figure 8.1 Left: A Sacred Vodu (Legba) installation at the entrance to Tɔgbui Adzima’s shrine in
Torgodo, Volta Region (2016). Photography by researcher. Right: Gustav Metzger collected a
pile of rubbish, put it in a brown paper bag and declared it as “art” which was subsequently
exhibited at the Tate Modern Gallery in London (2004).344
The bag filled with discarded paper and cardboard was part of a work by Gustav Metzger, said to
demonstrate the “finite existence” of art. It was accidentally thrown away by a cleaner345 at the
London Gallery, which subsequently retrieved the damaged bag. The bag of rubbish was part of
344 Source of image: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm (Accessed on 05/02/2018)
345Quite a number of these artists apparently get publicity with some of these art scams. Ivan Massow (past
Chairman of ICA) was summarily arraigned before a board council blowing the whistle on the peddling of some of
these artworks and ridiculed most conceptual art as what he described as "pretentious, self-indulgent craftless tat that
I wouldn't accept even as a gift". Ivan Massow resigned as the chairman of Institute of Contemporary Art (London)
from 1999 to 4th February, 2002. Mr Massow's resignation from the ICA was undoubtedly sparked by his daring
critiques of the “conceptual art” establishments. See Massow’s article in The New Statesman in which he criticised
conceptual art - typified by Martin Creed's Turner Prize winning room in which a light flickers on and off.
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Metzger's Recreation of the “First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art”346 Such
pretentious “elitism” and elusive “neo-liberal trash art” is what Metzger “theorized” as “Auto-
Deconstructive Art” which still dominates the so-called “Modern Art” world in the West.
Figure 8.2 Left: Dankoli Vodu Installation (Photo by Catherina Unger).347 Right: Alexander
Duncan’s installation titled “Cove’348 (2007-2017). Duncan’s art installation brings together
sculpture, new media and print, to question what is real and what is constructed. The artist explores
the materiality of objects, the physicality of their being, and their semantic language.
Figure 8.3 Dankoli Vodu installations, Benin. Image Courtesy: Catherina Unger.349
346 It is worth mentioning that a cleaner at the Tate Gallery “mistook” Gustav's “Auto deconstructivist art” for
exactly what it was - pure rubbish that is. He almost lost his job for throwing it into the bin. Visit the BBC webpage
for more details on this particular incident: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm These incidents
happen all the time and in many cases most of them go unreported. Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3604278.stm (Accessed on 05/02/2018)
347 Source of images: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/benin,ritual (Accessed on 05/02/2018)
348 Source of image: http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.com/2017/04/art-is- not-always-what-it-seems.html
(Accessed on 05/01/2018)
349Source of images: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/benin,ritual (Accessed on 05/02/2018)
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Figure 8.4 "My bed", a messy installation, surrounded by used condoms and dirty knickers. British
Artist Tracey Emin, has insisted she is actually 'very neat' as she unveiled her £2.54 million unmade
bed - complete with discarded condoms - on its return to its 'home' at the Tate. My Bed became
notorious when it was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and displayed at Tate Britain in 1999.350
Figure 8.5 Left: Pia Männikkö’s Still Live, 2010. Unfired clay, 260 x 290cm. In the Glasgow
School of Art Degree Show, the floor of the room, (Mackintosh building) was covered with 400
kilos of clay. While the clay was still fresh and soft, Männikkö made toe prints on it. Following
installation, the clay had a life of its own – it started to dry, shrink, crack and change colour to
lighter gray. The process continued through the exhibition. Right: Erik Kessels photo flood-
printed image uploaded to Flickr in 24hr period.351
350Source of image: http://saziz2.workflow.arts.ac.uk/informative-file-3. See also
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3018285/I-make-bed-day-Tracey-Emin-insists-s-actually-neat-messy-
installation-surrounded-used-condoms-dirty-knickers-returns-Tate.html (Accessed on 04/03/2018)
351 Source of image: https://piamannikko.com/works/still-live-2010/ (Accessed on 30/ 01/2018)
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Figure 8.6 Olafur Eliasson-Riverbed (2014). Olafur Eliasson's take on Louisiana is radical,
fascinating and unique. The central work in the first solo exhibition at the museum by the
DanishIcelandic artist is a huge, sitespecific project that reverses the relation between nature and
art.352
The so-called “modern artworks” also labelled as “conceptual art”, 353 as demonstrated, can be
remotely traced to several generations of conceptual Vodu art installations already in existence
before it was theorized under the “modern art”, “conceptual art” or “auto deconstructive art” labels
and several “isms” of the Western “modern art” academy. The grand philosophical ideas
surrounding conceptual art is most often “credited” to Marcel Duchamp. A typical example of
such ideas can be gleaned from Kosuths glorification of Duchamp as the “pioneer of conceptual
art”:
With his first ready-made, Duchamp redefined the essence of art. The avant-garde
movements before him, up to and including cubism, were preoccupied with form.
Although they tried out new things, they nevertheless all spoke the same language. Thanks
352Source of image: https://en.louisiana.dk/exhibition/olafur-eliasson (Accessed on 12/02/2018)
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to Duchamp, the language of art was thoroughly changed: no longer was it the form, but
the content, the “what”, that took front stage. This change from “appearance” to
“conception” marked the beginning of true “modern” art. It also heralded conceptual art.
After Duchamp, all art became essentially conceptual. 354
This formulation may sound “plausible” but lack historical credibility and consistent logical
progression. Which makes it rather difficult for critical art historians to accept these claims, and
indeed, Essel and Acquah (2016) have invalidated such Eurocentric views and also outlined the
creative foundations about the true origins of conceptual art:
Conceptual art is one of the twentieth century art movements that has gained
popular attention in the contemporary art world. It has received much scholarly
prominence in the Western world, and perceived as an emergent art of European
origin[...]It concludes that the adoration and idolization of Marcel Duchamp as the
father of conceptual art is contestable since the art was many centuries old in
Africa before the twentieth century artists began to practice it in the West.355
Indeed, Kandinsky has acknowledged the genuine roots of modernism in art and made his stance
on this matter rather clear:
Just as art is looking for help from the primitives [sic], so these men are turning to
half-forgotten times in order to get help from their half-forgotten methods.
However, these very methods are still alive and in use among nations whom we,
from the height of our knowledge, have been accustomed to regard with pity and
scorn.356
354 See Kosuths cited in Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art:An Introduction to Philosophy of Art.
Brussels: Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009, p. 53.
355 See Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Ebenezer Kwabena Acquah. Conceptual Art: The Untold Story of African Art. In
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, October 2016,(10), 1203-1220.
356 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press, 2008. p.43
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Figure 8.7 Vodu shrine sculpture Installation – Brékété Shrine, Dansoman, Accra (2017).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.8 Dzawuwu (as in thanksgiving or first-harvest offering to the ancestors and divinities).
Entrance to the shrine of Dumega Koku Nyonator. Atiteti, Volta Region (2017). Photography by
Researcher.
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Nkrumah in his PhD thesis also alludes to how the “unusual”, the “sublime” and primordial rubrics
of aesthetics are already deeply embedded in African art. According to him, “the African has been
acclaimed a masterful technician in some phases of modern artistic expression. To him beauty
does not necessarily mean an exact expression; there is beauty even in ugliness” (Nkrumah, 1944:
197). Nkrumah’s theory validates the fact that aesthetic faculties and sensory awareness of the
African artist is heightened and broad enough to accommodate what is worthy (or “unworthy”) of
sustained aesthetic contemplation. In general sense, aesthetics is not merely limited to the
“beautiful” or “pleasurable experience”. Even in contemporary scholarship, most aestheticians and
art critics repeatedly restrict aesthetics to the superficial notions of “beauty”. A typical example
can be gleaned from Sarpong’s (1971:37-38) misperception about the reasons for blackening Akan
stools:
The stools, they argue, are destined to receive sacrifices and be smeared all over
with blood and certain other mixtures […] White wood, treated in this way would
be too ugly to look at. But when the wood is made black, the nauseating effect it
would otherwise produce when it comes into contact with blood is avoided.
Sarpong further outlines quite a number of reasons for blackening Akan ancestral stools, the most
doubtful being that, “the stools are blackened in order that they may not appear too nasty”.
In his reflections on anthropological scholarship, Van Damme (1991) expressed dissatisfaction
with this flawed approach to understanding the rubrics of aesthetics or the aesthetic experience:
This restriction to the beautiful is also found in Mveng's definition: 'aesthetics is
both science and art. It has as its object the norms of the Beautiful as they are
revealed throughout works of art. Thus, its domain embraces the whole of artistic
and literary expression' (1975: 68). When one bears in mind, on the one hand, that
Mveng's definition restricts itself to the beautiful, and realizes, on the other, that
both in the West, and in, for example, Sub-Saharan Africa, certain art forms are
purposely created to convey ugliness (see Van Damme 1987: 53-66), it becomes
clear that Mveng's conclusion, namely that aesthetics, as defined as such, refers to
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the whole of artistic and literary expressions, cannot be justified in practice. 357
African art and aesthetic practices are not merely limited to “beautiful” aesthetic constructs as
many are led to believe. There is also the sacred, the spiritual, the sublime, and the mundane. In
fact, certain art forms purposely employ mundane aesthetic practices to express the concept of
intentional “ugliness”. Thompson (1971b: chs. 3 and 4) is considered as one of the earliest
researchers to draw attention of scholars to the notion of “intentional ugliness” or what he terms
as “anti-aesthetics” in purposefully “ugly” Yoruba Masks or what Biebuyck (1976: 346) refers to
as the “aesthetics of the ugly” in African sculpture among the Lega in Congo. In the ever-
expanding field of aesthetics, Van-Damme further cautions researchers against the exclusion of
“intentional ugliness” in the study of aesthetics and the diverse aesthetic categories in the
discipline.358 Vandenhoute (1961) similarly hinted that the exclusion of intentional ugliness from
the study of aesthetics is generally avoided:
As long as the aesthetic experience of a work of art is conceived as equivalent to
the perception of the beautiful, it will be difficult or even impossible for us to use
the word "aesthetic" in an ethnological study, as well as in a sociology of art in
general' (1961: 375). Indeed, as Vandenhoute adds, were we to equate the aesthetic
with the beautiful, a great part of artistic production would be excluded from
ethno-artistic study. He proposes to remain we to aesthesis=, in the sense of
perception, and to leave room for the perceptive experience not only of beauty, but
also of ugliness.359
As an academic inquiry, it is crucial to trace and highlight the art historical trajectory of the
influences of African art on European art and global “modernism”. Dogbe has already pointed out
357 See Wilfried Van Damme. Some Notes on Defining Aesthetics. In The Anthropological Literature, JASO 22(2),
1991, pp. 168-169.
358 Ibid. p.167-81
359 Vandenhoute (1961) cited in Wilfried Van Damme. Some Notes on Defining Aesthetics. In The Anthropological
Literature, JASO 22(2), 1991, 168-169.
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in his doctoral thesis that Western art historians mainly focused on how African art was influenced
by colonialism and European contact and kept rather silent on how African art influenced European
artists.
Figure 8.9 Apart from mainly focusing on the “tribal”, “functional” and “exotic” aspects of African
art, early Western writers also focused their attention on how colonialism and Christian missionary
activities influenced African art.
According to Bortolot (2003), non-utilitarian items such as jewelry, beads, mechanical toys and
curiosities, and alcohol also met a receptive audience. Catholic countries such as Portugal were, in
theory at least, forbidden by papal injunction from selling items with potential military uses to
non-Christians, although it is unclear how closely this order was followed in practice. In exchange
for their wares, Europeans returned with textiles, carvings, spices, ivory, gun, and African
slaves.360
Like, Dogbe, other African art Historians have established the fact that critical aspects of African
aesthetic practices and absraction have influenced and shaped what is now known as “modern art”
or “conceptual” aesthetic practices. The influence of African art on Picasso’s cubist paintings has
been widely documented. According to Ehrenzweig (1967:117):
''The greatest modern painter, Picasso, did attack conscious sensibilities in an
outright deliberate manner. His systematic fragmentation of pictorial space at the
360 See Alexander Ives Bortolot (2003) Trade Relations among European and African Nations
Retrieved from: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aftr/hd_aftr.htm (Accessed on 24/03/2018)
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height of his cubist experiments comes perilously near to schizophrenic
fragmentation and its self-destructive attacks on the ego. The schizophrenic
literally attacks his own language function and capacity for image making. He
twist, contorts words in the same weird way in which he draws and paints his
images.
Picasso himself responded with intense emotion to a magical force he sensed in the “tribal art”
objects he encountered in the Trocadero Museum. He regretted that the Western tradition lost touch
with the primordial sense of image-making as a magic operation. Tribal [sic] art led him back to
such origins.361 Picasso clearly indicated here that there is a magical/spiritual component in
African art that European art lacked, yet Picasso publicly denied ever having heard of African art.
When he was asked. He replied: ''L'art nègre''? Connais pas ("African art? Never heard of it").362
Some early European “art historians” and the so-called ''experts'' of art claim that the figures in
Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'avignon was inspired by the shape of ''a Leaf''' and has ''got absolutely
nothing'' to do with African masks. This claim is based on ''rough sketches'' found in Picasso's
sketchbooks. Ingo Walther supports such claims in his Picasso Monogram, for Taschen which
erroneously projects the notion that Picasso discovered the figurative design ''for himself'', ''by
himself.'' Brooks (2011:270) has stressed on the fact that, Picasso inherited the traditions of
Western art, but he also responded to the masks of African art. The merging of these two idea
spaces created Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Picasso’s fantastic burst of creativity.
361 Qouted from “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal with the Modern. (Museum of Modern
Art, New York, 1985), p. 17 as cited in Ben Burt. What is African Art? Support for Teachers. The British Museum,
London.
362 Linda Goddard. Cubism and Silence. In Harry Cooper (Ed.), The Cubism Seminars, CASVA / Yale University
Press, 2017, p.78
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Figure 8.9.1 Picasso in his studio in the Bateau-Lavoir, Paris. Photographed for Gelett Burgess
(1908)363
It is not surprising that a few years after its “invention”, “cubism” eventually waned as an art
movement because it was “invented” by a group of unoriginal artists mimicking abstract artistic
ideas already being practiced by African artists. It was not an European “invention”. Kandinsky
has accurately observed that:
The search for constructive form has produced Cubism, in which natural form is
often forcibly subjected to geometrical construction, a process which tends to
hamper the abstract by the concrete and spoil the concrete by the abstract. The
harmony of the new art demands a more subtle construction than this, something
that appeals less to the eye and more to the soul. This "concealed construction"
may arise from an apparently fortuitous selection of forms on the canvas. Their
external lack of cohesion is their internal harmony. This haphazard arrangement
of forms may be the future of artistic harmony. Their fundamental relationship will
finally be able to be expressed in mathematical form, but in terms irregular rather
than regular". 364
363See Hugh Honour and John Flemming. A World History of Art. 7th Edition, London: Laurence King Publishing
364 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press, 2008, p.108.
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The following paintings by Picasso, who is touted by the West as “the greatest modernist painter”,
have been juxtaposed by African masks and sculpture works to present a clearer idea for a better
understanding of the issues being discussed here:
Figure 8.9.2 A close up of Les Demoiselles D'avignon juxtaposed by an Mbuya Mask, Pende
peoples – The Mask can be found in Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA, Tervuren,
Belgium. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). - Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907 – Painting can be found
in The Museum of Modern Art or MOMA, New York365
As indicated by Nkrumah earlier, African Art (Vodu art particularly) laid the very foundations of
surrealism and the expressionist art movements. As an artistic movement, expressionism
emphasized on the expressive and particularly, the spiritual aspects of art. This is a fact well
acknowledged in Kandinsky’s well-known treatise on spiritual art. In his treatise, Kandinsky tries
to explain the inner resemblance between European artists and the “primitives”. Kandinsky
repeatedly emphasizes the pure artist’s obligation and desire to give form and image to his or her
inner spiritual world. This notion still remains one of the predominant foundations of “Modern
365Source of image: http://www.antiqueafricanart.com/picassos-works-bear-striking-resemblances-to-these-notable-
african-pieces-of-art/ (Accessed on 19/03/2018)
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art”. However, the West has “hijacked” the notion and practice of “modern art” as their reserve
when, in fact, there is ample evidence to show the Wests’ indebtedness to African spiritusl art and
have indeed been influenced by them.
Figure 8.9.3 Left: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Horse, “Parade” (Cocteau, Diaghilev, 1917) paired
with a Baulé Mask on the right, Ivory Coast. Former Lévy Collection.366
Figure 8.9.4 Left: Details from Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) compared with the head reminiscent
of the Baule mask on the right.367
366 Source of image: http://www.antiqueafricanart.com/picassos-works-bear-striking-resemblances-to-these-notable-
african-pieces-of-art/ (Accessed on 19/03/2018)
367Source: http://brunoclaessens.com/tag/baule/#.WmOO_hO0Pxo (Accessed on 19/03/2018)
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Below are other European painters whose works are juxtaposed with African sculptures:
Figure 8.9.5 Henri Matisse, Portrait of Madame Matisse (1913) and a Shira Punu Mask from
Gabon placed side by side, in a “Primitivism” Catalog368
Figure 8.9.6 A “modern” painting by Paul Klee 369 juxtaposed with an Akan Akuaba doll.370
368Penney, David W. Rev. of “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and Modern, by William
Rubin. African Arts. 1985, p.91.
369 Source of image: http://www.randafricanart.com/Asante_akuaba_doll_3.html (Accessed on 12/02/2018)
370 Source of image: http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2012/02/paul-klee-1879-1940-swiss-
expressionist.html (Accessed on 12/02/2018)
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Figure 8.9.7 Vodu Shrine sculpture Installation – Brékété Shrine, Dansoman, Accra (2017).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.9.8 Gloria O’keefe popularly regarded as the “mother of Modernism” standing by her
work.
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Figure 8.10 Vodu shrine Mural at Kli-Adzima Shrine in Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography
by Researcher.
Figure 8.10.1 Abstract painting by Cy Twombly. According to widewalls website, one of the most
“intelligent,”“erudite,” “sophisticated” and “emotionally eloquent” artists of our age, Cy
Twombly is a figure of “great authority in modern art.”371
371 Source: https://www.widewalls.ch/cy-twombly-paintings/ (Accessed on 10/02/2018)
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Also, take note of the two paintings below, one a Vodu shrine mural and the other, an Euro-
Western modernist work.
Figure 8.10.2 Researcher painting on the wall of an Adzima Shrine in Torgodo, Volta Region
(2017). Photography by Research Assistant.
Figure 8.10.3 Jackson Pollock Painting in his studio (1950). Jackson Pollock was also touted by
New York times as the “Greatest Modern artist.”372
372 Source: http://www.fronterad.com/?q=14513&page=&pagina=2 (Accessed on 10/02/2018)
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In summary, the juxtapositions which were self-evident, have become necessary in order to
dismantle the claims of Western scholars and art historians as originators and practioners of
“modern art”. African art, by extension Ewe Vodu art, predates these Western artforms.
8.4 Modernism, Abstraction, and the Sublime in Art: A case for Ewe Vodu Aesthetics.
The art movement that ushered in the postwar triumph of American art, Abstract Expressionism—
is most closely associated with an artist named Jackson Pollock (1912-1956). 373 Jackson Pollock,
who was also influenced by Picasso, is well known and credited for shaping abstract expressionist
painting style known as action art which involves dripping and splashing paint onto a substrate, a
painting technique he observed in Siqueros’ workshop in 1936, which involved the use of
industrial paints. This process of using industrial paints in Siqueros’ workshop was described by
Axel Horn: “we poured it, dripped it, splattered it, hurled it at the picture surface. It dried quickly,
almost instantly and could be removed at will even though thoroughly dry and hard. What emerged
was an endless variety of accidental effects. Siqueros soon constructed a theory and system of
accidental effects.”374 Abstraction in art has a long history in the complex evolution of modern
Homo sapiens. Nearly all ancient artworks reveal some level of abstraction, and indeed Simblet
(2009) has also acknowledged that:
abstraction is not easy to define, and it has been with us. It was not invented in the
20th century, only rediscovered. From one point of view, all pictorial
representations are abstractions of reality. From another view point, many non-
373 See Early 20th Century Avant-Garde “High Modernism”:The Avant-Garde in the Early 20th Century.
p.7.(Publication details unavailable)
374 See Pere Karmel (Ed.). Jackson Pollock: Interviews, Articles, and Reviews. New York: The Museum of Modern
Art, 1998. p.108.
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Western cultures have highly sophisticated abstractions at the core of their art, and
have been making abstract drawings for centuries–Japanese calligraphy, for
example, Indian Mandalas, and Aboriginal art. Perhaps in Western art we bred this
intuitive freedom out of ourselves in our insistence upon complex figuration.375
Yet, Simblet (2009) clearly glosses over the contributions of African artists376 in the historical
trajectory of the real origins of abstraction. It has accordingly been captured by Nkrumah (1963)
and discussed at length by Essel and Acquah in their research on the African origins of conceptual
art:
The scanty written records on Africa’s art, led to the Westerners description of
African art as “distortion to forms” (Nkrumah, 1964a, p. 65). They were not privy
to Africa’s conceptual and contextual hybridity of aesthetics that celebrate ideas
expressed in her artworks. With no hindsight of this forethought imbed in African
art, some of the Westerners who began to write on African art, took interest in
studying European influence on African art and kept silent on how the art of Africa
brought renewed interest in the twentieth century art. They also dwelled solely on
its symbolic nature, functionality, religio-magical and socio-political dimensions
to make it appear inferior to Western art in a way to maintain the apparatus of
colonial power.377
What Western scholars fail to acknowledge is that, a similar style of painting has been in existence
and been practiced for several generations in Ghana and several African regions. There has been
very little documentation of this style of painting which is very prevalent in Ghana, most especially
in the south and the three Northern regions. It is necessary to further dwell on the pre-eminence of
African aesthetics and how it has (and still continues) to influence modern art globally.
375 Sarah Simblet. The Drawing Book: An Innovative, Practical Approach to Drawing the World Around You, London:
DK Publishing 2009, p. 219
376 Even though the Aborigines of Australia can be traced back to Africa, there is no mention, trace or linkage to
prehistoric Africa as the source of all prehistoric artworks.
377 See Nkrumah (1963, 1964a) cited in Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Ebenezer Kwabena Acquah. Conceptual Art: The
Untold Story of African Art. In Journal of Literature and Art Studies, October 2016, 6(10), 1203-1220.
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As demonstrated through the various photographs in the forthcoming pages, most of the artists
who created the modernist shrine murals apparently have no “artistic training” in Western art
academies. In the rural areas where most of the arts is produced by the local artists who had
minimal contact with either post-colonial aesthetics, little or no regard for Western influence is
expressed in the field of art and creativity. But beyond the Western/African aesthetic contrast,
African aesthetics always prevails over Western aesthetics in rural African communities. The
religious and social functions of African art make it essential to incorporate indigenous aesthetics
in the creative process of art.
In re-examining the cultural, symbolic and aesthetic aspects of indigenous art, Appau Asante and
Opoku–Asare (2011) discuss the cultural identity in the murals of Sirigu women and their role in
art education and social sustainability in the introductory summary of their findings:
Although mural art, unlike pottery, is not widely practiced by African women, the
predominantly female art known as ‘Bambolse’ in the indigenous language of
Sirigu, in the Upper East Region of Ghana, performs a number of important social
functions, from adornment and communication to the assertion of cultural identity
and the preservation of traditional values. The murals employ traditional motifs
and symbols, and are either representational, geometric or a combination of the
two. Despite Bambolse’s significance in the local culture, however, there has been
very little formal chronicling of its aesthetics and iconography.378
But the reality is that pre-colonial African art attached no interest to the Western artistic canons—
perspectival details, accurate proportions and representationalism. Instead, it created conceptual
art that put the ideas expressed at its heart rather than the materials used. This objective truth about
Africa’s art was not articulated. Conceptual art had lived with Africa for centuries though it was
378 SeeAsante, Eric Appau; Opoku–Asare, Nana Afia. Cultural identity in the murals of Sirigu women and their role
in art education and social sustainability. In International Journal of Education Through Art, 7(2), 2011, pp. 187-202
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not named as such. This story in African art is untold, making some scholars to claim that
conceptual art was Western invention, and labeling it as emergent art. 379
This lack of recognition has accentuated interest in African art for many African art scholars who
are still researching to uncover some of the apparently “unrecognized” or “suppressed” modern art
schools in Africa. The lack of proper documentation of African art by African scholars prior to the
evolution of the discipline granted Western scholars the “autonomy” of taking credit for anything
“modernist” in art. Hence, so “artfully” have such “conceptual” guises and the so-called "high
modernist” Western artworks insinuated their way into the ''modern art” world as the “pace setters”
of the “highest” epitome of “civilized art”. Inherited colonial art curriculum creates further
confusion in this particular matter. One observes that, some “art historians” usually cite the
beginning of painting in Ghana at the time when colonial educational training of the arts was
reformed in Achimota from the 1900s. As a result, many are errorneously led to believe that
Western mode of canvas painting is all there is to painting in Ghanaian culture. However, several
ethnicities are known to indigenously practice one form of painting or another. Some of these
early Ghanaian art scholars (e.g. Antubam) who propagated the erroneous notion that painting is
not an indigenous form of Ghanaian art were merely misinformed. Other fairly recent claims in
academic circles also insinuate the notion that “modern art” was introduced into the Ghanaian art
curriculum by colonial educators in various forms (such as “stretched canvas on easel painting”,
“abstract painting”, “installation art”, etc.) — a rather bizarre proposition at best, taking into
consideration the rich modernist painting customs and installation artforms that pre-existed all over
379 See Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Ebenezer Kwabena Acquah. Conceptual Art: The Untold Story of African Art. In
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, October 2016, 6(10), 1203-1220.
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Ghana380 prior to the introduction of the colonial art curriculum. In an abstract to a seminar
presentation at the Institute of African Studies (Legon), Larbi (2017) claimed that:
The introduction of Western art offered Ghanaian painters the opportunity to
depart from traditional art and its conventions to a new medium, and determine
aspects of their heritage to paint. This paper discusses the trajectory of how
Ghanaian modern painters negotiated between classical traditional art and Western
techniques and medium through the selection of subjects and subject matter to
portray a Ghanaian identity. The painters also became sensitive to changes in
Ghana's modernization while they drew inspiration from these changes,
reorganized Ghanaian traditions and aesthetics in the new trend and underlying
principles to depict their culture and identity.381
Larbi’s misinformed view is indeed regrettable. The truth couldn’t be further away from such
mistaken views as demonstrated by Kudowor’s (1981) reflections in the informative extract from
his thesis:
The early painters were basically objective realists with strong expressionistic
undertones despite the long tradition of abstraction in our decorative arts. There is
no doubt therefore that this approach was very much inspired by Western academic
training which was characterized by the “hand to eye” training. This required the
student to observe and represent objectively and the introduction of figurative
composition into painting. The works of Antubam, Sam Ntiforo and Amonoo
suggest an attempt at realistic rendering of the genre of traditional life. With the
exposure of these painters to the various styles of modern Western movements and
the concepts of Neo-colonialism and Africanization propounded by Kwame
Nkrumah, they were encouraged to help retrieve the lost culture and develop the
African image.382
380 Southern, central and the three northern regions of Ghana share a long history of indigenous paintings styles and
techniques. It follows that other regions beyond Ghana equally share unique indigenous painting styles and techniques.
See Emmanuel Antwi. Paint and Painting in Traditional Ghanaian Art: Evolution, Application and Meaning.
Unpuublished doctoral Thesis. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2015.
381Refer to Amoah Larbi’spresentation at the Instititue of African Studies thursday seminar on 16th March, 2017, 9am.
The paper is entitled ''The Creation of a Ghanaian Identity Through Half a Century of Modernist Paintings (ca 1950's-
1990's), Kwabena Nketiah Hall, University of Ghana, Legon.
382See Wiz Edinam Kudowor. Some Trends in Contemporary Ghanaian Painting. Unpuublished undergraduate Thesis.
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 1981, p.8-9.
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Kudowor’s reflections can be gleaned from Nkrumah’s speech advocating the motion for
independence in 1953. Interestingly, the idea expressed in the oratory by Nkrumah can be
philosophically traced to an Adinkra symbol which aptly and accurately captures Nkrumah’s
philosophical proclamation. His declaration about knowing our history to understand the present
and future is vividly and graphically captured in “Sankofa”, an adinkra symbol which conveys a
maxim that going back to recover the past is not abhorred or frowned upon. In philosophical
language, this can be paralleled to Nkrumah’s declaration because it illustrates the fundamental
idea and concept of visiting one’s past and knowing one’s history and traditions in order to build
a magnificent future. In a related discussion, Atta Kwami provides a matching ideology to suit this
particular debate. Particularly in his essay, Kofi Antubam, 1922–1964: A Modern Ghanaian Artist,
Educator, and Writer, Atta Kwami (2013) presents a biographical study that examines Antubam’s
critical relationship with Nkrumah’s philosophy of the “African Personality,” and the artist’s
stance on “Sankofa” – a return to the aesthetic principles and artistic values of the past – as his
“strategy for understanding modernist expression.” In Atta Kwami’s view:
Sankofa was widely discussed during the period surrounding independence and is
what ultimately allowed Antubam to create his own “natural synthesis,” that is, to
bring his misconceptions and contradictions to a resolution. Sankofa occurs in
Asante art as a bird looking back towards its tail, with the implication that there is
nothing wrong with learning from the past; it is also the name of a stylized pattern
and adinkra symbol. 383
Situating the issue in a historical context, Sei’dou et al. (2015) present a chronology of colonial
educational structures leading to the creation of the Achimota Art Department which later evolved
into what is now known as College of Arts and Sciences in KNUST:
383See Atta Kwame’s Chapter on Antubam in Gitti Salami and Monica Blackmun Visonà (Eds.), A Companion to
Modern African Art. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2013, p.232.
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KNUST was established in 1961, succeeding the colonial Kumasi College of
Technology (KCT) which was set up in 1952. However, the College of Art has a
longer history than KNUST itself. It began in colonial Gold Coast as a small art
department in Achimota (Prince of Wales) College in Accra in the period between
the two World Wars where Kwame Nkrumah, who was later to become the first
President of Ghana, was among the students of the first art master, G. A. Stevens
Before Stevens, there was the vocation list curriculum called Hand and Eye Work
(a.k.a. Manual training for boys) which was introduced c. 1909. Hand and Eye was
an outgrowth of Scandinavian Slöjd, the German Gewerbeschule and the drawing
by rote Somerset House-South Kensington system of the Victorian Era.384
Sei’dou et al. (2015) go on to explain how such colonial art curricula in the West African region
led to creative revolts like the Natural Synthesis of the Zaria Art Society led by Uche Okeke and
his collaborators. This and several other opposing creative practices by artists undergoing such
colonial art training was a critical response to the ostensible Eurocentrism prevailing in African
art colleges and institutions at the time. Silva (2017: xv) provides a broader explanation of some
of these misconceptions from a curatorial perspective. Silva follows up by stating:
We realized very quickly that there was a fault line in terms of knowledge and
practice, whether artistic or curatorial, and there was an urgent need to address
gaps in art education as with other countries across Africa, Nigeria inherited a
British colonial educational system. Whilst independence ushered in a new era in
which self-determination was the cornerstone, the colonial educational system
remained intact and its legacies remain discernible today—barely changed and
largely unchallenged.385
“Politiczed” meanings of “traditional” and the needless compulsion of categorizing several critical
African art schools under the “traditional art” label has inadvertently obscured some of the rich
modernist African art schools. This sort of loaded marginalization has denied some major African
modernists of visibility and sustenance, obliterating the overall significance some of Africa’s
384 See kąrî'kạchä Seid’ou et al. Silent Ruptures: Emergent Art of the Kumasi College of Art. In International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 5(10), 2015. pp.131-132
385 See Bisi Silva. Asiko: On the Future of Artistic and Curatorial Pedagogies in Africa. Lagos: Centre for
Contemporary Art,. 2017. p.iv
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greatest modernist art schools, most of them located in remote villages (usually limited to the
sacred). Such developments further emphasize the necessity for aestheticians, art historians and
art critics to adjust themselves academically to fully embrace the whole scope of modern art which
is most often devoid of the important achievements and contributions by "traditional" African
artists, especially elderly women. In his research works, Appau Asante, has documented
significant roles of some Ghanaian women in selected indigenous Ghanaian visual arts for national
and socio-economic development of art and visual artists respectively.386 The immense creative
contributions of African women to national development and the rise of and global “Modernism”
or what is popularly known today in the art world as “contemporary” or “conceptual art” cannot
be overemphasized here.
Figure 8.10.4 Left: Mama Vena Shrine Xanukplᴐ. Right: Noble Kunyegbe, two of the principal
artists in the Kli-Adzima cluster of shrines. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
386See Eric Asante Appau. A Study of Selected Indigenous Ghanaian Women in Some Indigenous Visual Arts.
Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2009.
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Figure 8.10.5 Left: Afanyehu Nuwordu Right: Rose AƲadada. Both body painters, Mama Vena
Shrine. Klikor, Volta Region (2019). Photography by Researcher.
It is equally important to highlight Ogbechie’s (2010) critique of Enwezor’s curatorial approach
of framing “contemporary African art” as a context of essentially Western replications of
“modernism”. Ogbechie’s presentation sufficiently addresses Enwezor’s ‘problematic’ curatorial
practice which is merely geared towards “feeding” the nauseating appetite of the capitalist White
art market at the detriment of the unsung custodians of modernism located in African villages and
rural communities on the continent:
It is obvious that Enwezor’s valorization of a contemporary African art largely
defined through the work of artists of African Diaspora artists has had the
paradoxical result of validating a form of contemporary African art that negates
critical engagement with the history and development of modern and
contemporary art in Africa itself, or with indigenous forms of African art whose
contemporaneity remains to be theorized. His curatorial work thus produces
ahistorical interpretations of contemporary African art in general and advances a
self-referential narrative of contemporary practice using limited number of artists
recycled in closed-loop exhibitions.387
387 Retrieved from: http://aachronym.blogspot.com/2010/06/curator-as-culture-broker-critique-of.html (Accessed on
20/05/2018)
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To further strengthen Ogbechie’s case, it is crucial to add here that, while most of the 20th century
“high modernists” and “conceptual artists” were in search for “new” mediums and “modernist’
approaches for creative expression in the mechanical age, African artists had long traversed such
artistic impediments. Sacred Vodu aesthetics still remains a true manifestation of mystical creative
expression, which simply reflects the heights of metaphysically-charged art. Vodu artists serve as
creative messengers for the whole community by giving form and image to the unknown spiritual
forces surrounding them—a creative expression connecting the Vodu artist’s inner soul to the
Divine and the metaphysical realm. Abraham (1992) has noted that the African artist assumes a
priest-like role who serves as a medium tasked to invoke spiritual energies, concretize unseen
forces, channel spiritual messages and communicate with deities and ancestors. The African artist
in essence becomes a vital link to bridge the gap between the unknown spirit world and the physical
world. 388 These esoteric practices, spiritual communication and mystical connections can
appropriately be appreciated through the perspective of Anlo-Ewe spiritual beliefs and socio-
cultural background. Stressing on the significance of expressing spiritual essence or what he terms
as ‘inner meaning’ in art, Kandinsky made the following observation:
All this does not presume to say that the "symbolist" school of art is necessarily
nobler than the "naturalist." I am making no comparison, only a distinction. When
the difference in aim is fully realized, the Primitives[sic] can no longer be
condemned as incompetent, nor the moderns as lunatics, for such a condemnation
is made from a wrong point of view. Judgement must be passed, not on the failure
to achieve "naturalism" but on the failure to express the inner meaning.389
388 See William E. Abraham. Sources of African Identities. In Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye. (Eds). Person and
Community: Ghanaian Philosophical Studies, Vol. 1, (Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series II),
Washington D.C.: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.1992, p.50.
389 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press, 2008, p.11.
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All these perspectives are not merely meant to gloss over the rich diversity of shrine art in Ewe
Vodu religion which explores various artistic elements and creative expressions. In fact, it is very
common to see folk narratives and legendary accounts of Vodu Deities and their mystical powers
captured in elaborate paintings, sculptures and murals on shrine walls. Notwithstanding, these
artforms are not representative of a religion whose art is predominantly characterized by
abstraction.
Below is a photographic presentation of the creative and spiritual process of creating the shrine
murals during the Kli-Adzima Spiritual Renewal Festival. A creative process deeply rooted in
generations of modernist artistic practices.
Figure 8.10.6 Ngᴐgbeda Sodolo Tekpe leading Mama Vena (Ablᴐgame) fiasidiwo to trek in single
file procession from the shrine to a sacred site to collect kaolin (The sacred site is less than 2
kilometers from the shrine and is within the Klikor community). Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
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The kaolin is mixed with holy water to form a sticky paste used in plastering the wall. The next
stage of the creative process is exclusive to a single artist (known as the Xanukplᴐ) for each of the
satellite Kli-Adzima Shrines. The Xanukplᴐ engages her creative faculties by employing dripping,
splattering, soak-staining and splashing techniques to grace the plastered shrine walls. Prayers,
chants, and other supplications are made during the creative process of plastering the shrine walls.
The devotees engage in meditative prayers and make her final supplications on the finished
masterpiece mural before leaving the shrine. This ritual performance and creative process is strictly
limited to the women devoted to Kli-Adizma and Mama Vena.
Figure 8.10.7 Kli-Adzima devotees pulverizing sacred kaolin (mixed with sacred water) into a fine
paste while waiting for their turns to plaster the shrine walls. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 8.10.8 Kli-Adzima devotees in the process of ‘balili’ (plastering the shrine walls with
sacred Kaolin). Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.10.9 Kli-Adzima devotees in the process of ‘balili’ (plastering the shrine walls with
sacred Kaolin). Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 8.11 Mama Vena Shrine Xanukplᴐ, engaged in the dripping, splashing and sprinkling
process of making abstract expressions on the plastered shrine wall. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.11.1 Ablᴐgame Xanukplᴐ engaged in the dripping, splashing and sprinkling process of
making abstract expressions on the plastered shrine wall. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 8.11.2 A finished modernist ‘balili’ mural on Kli-Adzima Shrine wall. The spontaneous
splashing, soak-staining, dripping and sprinkling of edza (millet-based solution) produces
interesting accidental effects and highly sophisticated artistic results. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.11.3 Kli-Adzima devotees pose in front of the freshly painted ‘balili’ mural on Kli-
Adzima shrine walls. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 8.11.4 Vodu devotee in a contemplative pose making her final supplications on the finished
‘balili’ masterpiece mural. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.11.5 Close-up shot of ‘balili’ mural on Mama Vena Shrine wall. Ablᴐgame, Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photograph by Researcher.
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Apart from creating these impressive murals, women render many other acts of service in honour
of the deities. Women are generally in charge of cooking, cleaning, sweeping, running other
domestic errands as well as ensuring hygienic and sanitary conditions within the confines and
environs of the shrine.390 Some of these modern art schools date back several centuries. Hence,
the fact that these art schools have been passed down from generation to generation through
indigenous pedagogies does not necessarily constrain all their essential aspects within the confines
of “traditional art.” African religious aesthetics is mostly employed in the ritual context or sacred
space. It is also deeply grounded in the moral and the sacred. In his PhD studies on Environmental
Aesthetics, Avenorgbor (2008:94) makes the observation that:
In Ghanaian indigenous or cultural context, aesthetic principles are mostly related
to moral and religious values, and there is usually strong emphasis on the formal
aesthetic aspects of the objects (including the natural environment) and the moral
and religious ideas they express.391
African aesthetics emphasizes the tenet that different cultures have unique aesthetic values in
different places in the world. African art is not necessarily reduced to “imitationalism”, “art for
art’s sake”, or photocopying what is perceived in nature or our surroundings. Fosu (2004:84) also
presents his perspective on pre-colonial indigenous Ghanaian aesthetics:
The creative works produced by Ghanaian traditional artists were not controlled by
strict duplication of the exactness of the subject. Rather it was the idea embodied in
the subject perceived which determined the visual meaning and function of the
works. Thus, a piece of art work, expressed in the abstract or in the realistic with
polished or rough finish and embellished in simple or intricate decorative designs,
was appraised on the basis of the communicative symbolism unified within its
physical type-form. Both the functional and the esthetical [sic] values of the art
390 Men also perform selected domestic roles in the shrines.
391 See Stephen Kofi Avenorgbo Aesthetic Impact of Ghanaian Socio-Cultural Practices on the Environment and its
Protection in Ghana. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2008,
p.94.
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were critical to its appreciation. This was the convention for the evaluation of
Ghanaian classical art traditions before colonialism.
Primarily, modern art is created through an array of subliminal creative processes, operating below
the level of consciousness. It evokes in us, primal instincts, deep emotions or leads us to vividly
perceive things in the spiritual world that we otherwise can't perceive in the physical world without
the impressions or expressions of a modern artist. Similarly, appreciating modern art is a highly
intellectual and spiritualized activity that arrests the human soul, engages our psyche or evokes
our extra-sensory organs to experience the divine and other profound spiritual dimensions. Other
experiences may manifest in the form of ephemeral shock, grief, ecstasy, pain, love, anger,
aggression, liberation, security, lust, passion, sexual arousal, or even a mystical union with the
artwork itself etc. In the contemplative process of being engaged in a full aesthetic experience,
Vodu devotees say prayers and make spiritual supplications to the Deities for their divine favour,
blessings, good health, prosperity, security, long life, and generally paying homage and respect to
them. Apart from chants, mantras and esoteric rituals, Vodu devotees use aesthetic meditation as
a route to enter the vortex of Vodu psychic energy to experience the sublime, the sacred or forge
a mystical union with the divine.
Early European writers on African art mainly focused on its functional aspects merely to obscure
the powerful essence and rich aesthetic qualities embedded in African creative expressions.
Knowledge systems, spiritual dimensions and deeper philosophical aspects of African art were lost
to false assumptions and misrepresentation on the part of Europeans. Silva (2017:85) captures this
phenomenon by underscoring recent attempts of Western Museums and Galleries to “undo” the
notion of “Fetish” by reconsidering renewed curatorial approaches in labelling and presenting
African art. Through this approach, African art garnered a powerful refreshing aura with its long
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overdue importance and dignity it has been denied by Westners. They were no more to classed as
“inferior objects” or “primitive fetishes”. In Silva’s (2017:82) own words:
Curators never researched in any depth the existing connections between
materiality and transcendence in African religious life, as one might perhaps
expect in an anthropology museum. Instead, they chose to undo the concept of the
fetish by displacing the African religious objects to the European domain of
modernist art. Mounted on pedestals and bathed in light, the African religious
objects ascended to the realm of universal art. These objects were no longer
‘primitive fetishes’; they were cult objects surrounded by an aura of religious and
aesthetic spirituality.392
Figure 8.11.6 Researcher posing by a variation of Modernist soak-stained mural on the mud walls
of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine in Torgodo, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Research Assistant.
In recent times, urban Ghana modern artists re-emphasize Ghana’s culture through their creative
works. First of all, there are those who have successfully repositioned Ghana’s own cultural
symbols as successful artistic tools, explored them and given them personal and new modernist
392See Sónia Silva (2017). Art and Fetish in the Anthropology Museum. In Material Religion, 13(1), 77-96.
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twists in diverse styles. Some of the major early generation of “formally trained” Ghanaian modern
artists include: Ablade Glover, El Anatsui, Grace Atta, Kofi Antubam, Kwami among others.
These artists and several others, recreated Ghana’s entire culture by appropriating old forms and
reinventing them into refreshing cultural expressions. They are engaged in constant communion
with both the past and the present environment. According to Kudowor (2003:1), one of the leading
Ghanaian modernists of our times:
I am continually redefining my perspectives on life in general, my personal
experiences in particular and my interaction with various elements of my
environment […] I explore elements of my cultural background using visual
language inspired by African symbolic imagery, and mythology dating back to
Egypt. I sometimes dwell on some of the inherent aesthetics of my immediate
environment and pipe my very personal and intimate experiences into rectangles,
squares, circles and colours on canvas.
Schooled through an Europeanized art curriculum at the then Kumasi College of Art (now
KNUST), El Anatsui also had this to say about his own Sankofa paradigm shift:
Sankofa syndrome was a reaction to a conscious and forcible attempt to denigrate
a people’s culture and replace it with an extraneous one [...] I had taken the habit
of working with adinkra symbols, and the funerary cloth and symbols were
intriguing [....] I studied them for about five years, right from when I left [Kumasi].
I set out to practice engraving the symbols that they print on the cloth, engraving
them on trays used in the market to display tomatoes fish—anything .
I would go there with chalk and spend the day drawing shapes, at times different
forms from the regular round ones they normally produce [...] I did this for about
four to five years and got conversant with the forms and their structures. I tried my
own variations of them and begun to create my own signs after.393
Like Wiz, Anatsui, (and other prominent precursors), several African artists are going through the
Sankofa phase to realize their own personal Natural Synthesis. They are digging into the past
archives, the esoteric vaults. They are drinking from the well of life.
393See Susan Mullin Vogel. El Anatsui: Art and Life. London. Prestel, 2012, p.26-27
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Figure 8.11.7 A young child poses in front of Tɔgbui Adzima Shrine wall. Pay attention to the
Vodu mural. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Mural by Noble Kunyegbe. Photography by Researcher.
Indeed, as a professional artist myself, I’m still undergoing this spiritual phase where I apparently
no longer make any conscious effort to integrate Anlo-Ewe symbols and sacred Vodu aesthetics
in my art exhibitions. It just emerges in my creative expressions. I have become one with the inner
creative spirits. Like one of the shrine artists explained to me in an informal interview; ‘You must
have been very lucky to be among the ‘chosen few’. If the ‘deities themselves’ have ‘chosen you’
as a vehicle to manifest their creative power, your creative expressions will gradually assume
a‘potent’ spiritual aura’. Indeed, ever since I begun to experience this “spiritual paradigm shift”
as an artist, I most often feel the urge of the creative spirit flowing through the inner depths of my
very soul. This enlightening research has broadened my creative vision and exposed me to an
endless supply of creative essence and spiritual expressions I could tap and explore and create my
own unique aesthetic values in future art exhibitions.
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Figure 8.11.8 A group of German academics appreciating my artwork during an art exhibition in
Accra. Title of artwork – Shaka’s Military Reforms (130cm x 175cm) (2017). Photography by
Researcher.
Figure 8.11.9 Incorporating symbols and aspects of modernist Vodu body art into the installation
performance for my Purple Harmattan Exhibition opening at Alliance Francaise in Accra. The
Performer being decorated is Ghanaian Choreographer, Sena Atsugah (2017). Photography by
Research Assistant.
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Figure 8.12 Kli-Adzima devotee being decorated by Afanyehu Nuwordu ahead of performances
at Mama Vena Shrine. Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.12.1 Repetitive circles incorporated into body art of a Vodu performer during the 2016
Kli-Adzima Festival. Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by
Researcher.
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Figure 8.12.2 Young Ewe performance artists. Alakple and Klikor respectively (2017).
Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.12.3 Young Ewe performance artists. Avenɔƒeme, Volta Region (2018). Photography by
Researcher.
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Figure 8.12.4 Tɔgbui Afadi on his way to join Tɔgbui Agagli Asipodi and Fianugɔ
Womegbeamewo for spiritual renewal ceremonies in honour of Kli-Adzima and Mama Vena,
Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.12.5 Researcher and a Brékété adherent in a pose with a spot-painted sacred sculpture of
Nana Adziwonor (a protective occupational deity). Woe, Keta, Volta Region (2016). Photography
by Research Assistant.
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Figure 8.12.6 An Amegashie sitting in front of her spot-painted shrine (Tsabashi Dorkenu Shrine),
Afiadenyigba, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Diagram 8.12.6.1 Left: Sim’bi Right: Sim’bi Africain. Circles incorporated into Veve symbols in
sacred Vodu symbolism among people of African descent in Haiti.394
394See Milo Rigaud. Secrets of Voodoo. New York: City Lights Books, 1969, pp.393-400.
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According to Rigauld (1992:67), Veve ritual diagrams are, as a matter of fact, condensers of
astral forces and ritual attractors of planetary powers to which they are mysteriously bound by a
geometrical occult chain, from which writing and language, architecture and cybernetics were
born.395 The circle is a very powerful symbol in Vodu symbolism and ritual practices. It
symbolizes the totality of life, spiritual power, sanctity, security, mystical protective cover and
sacred purity. It is also deemed aesthetically pleasing and most often associated with the divine
and feminine attributes. Spherical shapes, mandalas, cylindrical forms, curvilinear designs and
spirals are age-old intuitive symbols that abound in nature and still remains one of humanity’s
most preferred symbols throughout the ages. These primordial shapes, forms and designs had a
great influence on the evolution of spiritual symbolism and still permeates several ancient
religions, ritual dances, magical symbols and mystical arts. Since Vodu is a religion closely linked
with natural forces and universal energies, Ewe-Vodu mythology draws on its linkage with nature
to break down certain complex aspects of Ewe Vodu cosmological beliefs. Take for instance, the
creation myth of the Fons of Dahomey as noted by Michel and Bellegarde-Smith (2006: 43):
Dahomeans also believe that the calabash which constitutes the cosmic sphere is
surrounded by a large calabash welded in the same manner as the small one. Beyond
the larger calabash is the abode of the deities. The calabashes are separated by a
large body of rain water. Since the small calabash is mobile, it is said that the “little
calabash floats in the larger one”. The small calabash contains the visible world
with its elements: earth, water, fire, and air. According to Dahomean mythology,
when Mawu Lisa arranged the universe from pre-existing materials, she traveled
throughout the universe and stopped at the “four quarters of space,” which
correspond to the four cardinal points of the earth. At each halt, she gathered
materials with which she formed each half of the calabash, solidifying the dirt from
which the earth is composed and determining the location of the waters. 396
395 Ibid. p.67
396 Refer to (Mercier, 1954:220) cited in Michel, C., Bellegarde-Smith, P. (Eds.) Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture:
Invisible Powers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, p.43.
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Diagram 8.12.7 Visual representation of the Fon creation myth. Diagram by Researcher.397
All these cosmological ideas and aesthetic concepts cannot be merely dismissed as myths,
generalizations or wild speculations because the universe actually operates in circles, spherical
forms, spirals and elliptical motions. Spirals and elliptical motions form the basic building blocks
of life and the cosmological principles that shape the universe. Indeed, the spiral vortex, as found
in whirlpools in water and in the double helix structure of the DNA molecule — just two of myriad
examples — is nature’s favoured form for the transmission of its energy, both economically and
efficaciously, radiating out and drawing in simultaneously, infinitely and eternally. The archetypal
image of the spiral came to render itself in the idea of a path that could be climbed in stages to reach
God, a notion fundamental to the Kabbalah and several ancient religions and mystical practices.398
397 Similar cosmological worldviews can be observed in other cultures like the Akan. Refer to to the Bono (Akan)
Spiritual-Temporal Worldview in Kwasi Konadu. Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society. New York:
Routledge, 2007.
398 Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@geoffjward/the-spiral-the-eternal-sign-of-the-creative-and-organising-
principle-at-work-in-the-universe-8889ba092300 (Accessed on 18/09/2019).
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In a profound way, the Anlo-Ewe people are not only connecting to their deities and ancestors
through their creative expressions but they are also in harmony with the natural laws of the
universe. Anlo-Ewe Vodu aesthetic concepts are essentially operating in tune with the natural
forces and universal energies the Priests harness into spiritual entities. As such, circles, dots,
spheres, round and cylindrical shapes are among the most popular shapes, forms and symbols that
permeate Vodu iconography. For instance, in Adzima, or say, Brékété worship, libation is poured
through a semi-spherical calabash, body art of devotees consists on body markings in the form of
dots, spot and circles. The Shrine is constructed in a cylindrical form, some of the Vodu deities,
the shrine walls are decorated with circles, dotted blotches or spot painting. The ritual symbols,
performances and spiritual regalia of the priests also have circular elements and designs
incorporated into them (such as beads, staffs, headgears, sacred symbols, spiral dance moves,
curvilinear performance formations etc.)
Similar beliefs and aesthetic concepts about circles, semi-circular forms or curvilinear shapes
abound in studies on African symbolism. Excerpts of similar beliefs and spiritual philosophies can
be gleaned in the annual Swazi ceremonial of Incwala in which first harvest and the eating of first
fruit is enacted. The Incwala ritual is meant to maintain, renew and increase the King’s vigour.
His mystical powers align with the forces of nature. He becomes a symbol or an ‘embodiment’ of
nature itself, upon whom depends, rainfall, fertility of the soil, success of harvest and the increment
in his personal power is linked to the nation’s advancement and social equilibrium.399
The time for holding the Incwala is fixed by reference to both sun and moon. It
must begin when the moon is “dark” so that as the moon waxes the king may wax
with it in strength […] when he is resting in his hut and is about to leap out to start
399 See Edwin W. Smith. African Symbolism. In The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain
and Ireland, 82 (1), 1952, pp. 13-37.
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his journey anew: “The King races with the sun”. The gathering of the people, all
dressed in their finery, demonstrates and cements the unity of the tribe [sic]. The
dancers first assume the shape of a crescent and then that of a circle. This is not
pure symbol: they represent the wing moon; and their vigorous dancing imparts
such vigour to the king that he too may wax in fullness of power. 400
Thus, the circle is considered to be an essential and elementary geometric shape, form or symbol
in aiding spiritual communication and mystical union with the divine. Umeh (1977:22-25)
provides interesting perspectives in a related study among the Igbos in South Eastern Nigeria:
Traditional circular dances are known to exist in Africa, Europe, Asia and
elsewhere. Again, the explicit/implicit theory that circular, spiral, curvilinear,
rectangular, triangular, linear and other motifs used in isolation, is not tenable in
Igboland (or the rest of Africa for that matter). […] The theory held by some that
some motifs are creative while others are not, is not necessarily correct. For
example, Dr. Livingstone's theory that the circle is evidence of barbaric lack of
inventiveness in Africans cannot be shared by even his fellow Europeans who in
fact see the invention of the wheel-the-circle-as the soul of their industrial and
technological revolution and inventiveness.401
Clearly, ficticious binaries have also been drawn in the manner in Livingstone’s “aesthetic
judgements” which only resonates with condescending connotations of “barbarism”. Yet in the
same breath, if a similar artwork is created by, say, an European artist, is “hailed” by “modern art”
critics or curators as “ingenuity”, “pure artistry” or “creative brilliance”. For instance, in 2014,
Damien Hirst created a group of resin pill multiples as an evolution of his “successful
Pharmaceutical Series”. Damien Hirst observes, “Pills are a brilliant little form, better than any
minimalist art. They’re all designed to make you buy them... they come out of flowers, plants,
400Ibid. pp. 13-37.
401See John Anenechukwu Umeh. After God Is Dibia: Igbo Cosmology, Divination, Sacred, Science in Nigeria.
London: Kamak House, 1977, pp.22-25.
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things from the ground, and they make you feel good, you know, to just have a pill, to feel
beauty.”402
Figure 8.12.8 The Qatar Museums Authority’s Al Riwaq exhibition space in Doha is decorated as
a giant Damien Hirst spot painting.403
Figure 8.12.9 Damien Hirst’s “Pharmaceutical Series”404
402Source: http://www.josephklevenefineartltd.com/artists/damien-hirst/damien-hirst.html (Accessed on 24/12/2017)
403Source of image: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/arts/design/damien-hirsts-spot-paintings-at-gagosian-in-
eight-cities.html (Accessed on 24/12/2017)
404 http://www.josephklevenefineartltd.com/artists/damien-hirst/damien-hirst.html (Accessed on 24/12/2017)
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Figure 8.13 Close-up shot of an Amegashie sitting in front of her spot-painted shrine (Tsabashi
Dorkenu Shrine), Afiadenyigba, Volta Region (2017). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.13.1 Damien Hirst’s spot paintings — some with dots about the size of pinholes, others
60 inches across — have long been celebrated, and disdained, for a certain anonymous,
machinelike industrial uniformity.405
405Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/arts/design/damien-hirsts-spot-paintings-the-field-guide.html
(Accessed on 19/11/2017)
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Figure 8.13.2 Left: Ife Mask paired with “Golden heads (Female)” by Damien Hirst406
Damien Hirst has in recent times grown increasingly unpopular amidst critical reviews for his
highly controversial and seemingly plagiarized works. Victor Ehikhamenor, a renowned Nigerian
artist, expressed his disapproval of Hirst’s “cultural appropriation” of Ife mask during the 2017
Venice Biennale. Ehikhamenor was also a participant at the same Biennale together with a few
other Nigerian artists. According to him:
The British are back for more from 1897 to 2017. The Oni of Ife must hear this.
“Golden heads (Female)” by Damien Hirst currently part of his Venice show
“Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” at Palazzo Grassi. For thousands
of viewers seeing this for the first time, they won’t think Ife, they won’t think
Nigeria. Their young ones will grow to know this work as Damien Hirst’s. As time
passes it will pass for a Damien Hirst regardless of his small print caption. The
narrative will shift and the young Ife or Nigerian contemporary artist will someday
be told by a long nose critic “Your work reminds me of Damien Hirst’s Golden
head”. We need more biographers for our forgotten.407
406See Phoebe Parke. Damien Hirst Accused of Copying African Art at Vernice Biennale. Retrieved from
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/10/africa/damien-hirst-appropriation-venice-biennale/index.html (Accessed on
19/11/2017)
407 Retrieved from: https://artstrings.africa/modern-art-hirsts-appropriation-victor-ehikhamenors-call-biographers-
forgotten/ (Accessed on 05/02/2018)
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Figure 8.13.3 Left: Damien Hirst’s “Prodigal Son” exhibitionism paired with “latsotso” (Vodu
sacrifice) during the Kli-Adzima Festival in Mama Vena Shrine, Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
Similarly, a critical re-examination of the geometrical abstraction embedded in artworks from De
Stijl art movement clearly reveals influences of African modernism. The goal in these visual
presentations is not merely a comparative visual analysis of Western Art and African art per se.
Rather, it is meant to draw the attention to the ever-growing hypocrisy and double academic
standards of key players in the Western art establishments and institutions respectively, who are
so quick to relegate African art to “Fetishism” and “Primitivism” while the arts from Euro-Western
societies are hailed as “high modernism” or “civilized art”. As discussed in Chapter 4, in visual
ethnographic methods, photographs serve as a ‘simple truth-revealing mechanism’408 geared
towards shaping minds and gaining a thorough understanding of a subject matter to influence a
fundamental paradigm shift in the minds of readers. The powerful potential of visual ethnography
in the study of cultures cannot be overemphasized as captured by Bateson and Mead (1942):
408 Elizabeth Edwards. Anthropology and Photography 1860-1920. New Haven: Yale University Press in association
with the Royal Anthropological Institute, London. 1994.
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we are attempting a new method of stating the intangible relationship among
different types of culturally standardized behavior by placing side by side mutually
relevant photographs[...] By the use of photographs, the wholeness of each piece of
behavior can be preserved, while the special cross referencing desired can be
obtained by placing the series of photographs on the same page.409
To cite further instances, works by Piet Mondrian almost at once draws our attention to the
homomorphism (similarity of forms) in Ndebele art and indigenous African settlements rooted in
abstract designs and architecture of accretion. The similarity of concrete abstract visual forms in
De Stijl as compared to Ndebele geometric abstraction is surely no coincidence. Ironically, Piet
Mondrian410 is widely believed (by Euro-Western scholars) to be one of the “founding fathers” of
“modern abstraction”.
With Mondrian’s accompanying conviction that artworks should be restricted to
primary colors, white, and black—and clean vertical and horizontal lines […]In
1927, as he continued to develop his painting style, Mondrian also laid out an
interior design philosophy, calling for homes to be a series of “colored and
colorless planes, combined with furniture and equipment, which must be nothing
in themselves but constituent elements of a whole.” He even suggested turning any
representational paintings to face the wall, such that they would become plain
rectangles in step with the lines of an architectural space.411
But how could this have been possible when Piet was born in 1872 and abstraction had been
thriving in Africa for thousands of years? For instance, the painting style (De Stijl) he and his
cohorts claimed to have “invented” is merely a “clever” reconceptualization of the modernist
abstract wall painting traditions of the Ndebele people of Southern Africa region. The use of basic
geometric shapes outlined in bold black lines filled with vibrant primary colours on white
409 See Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead. (1942). Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis. New York:
New York Academic of Sciences. 1942. See also Douglas Harper. An Argument for Visual Sociology. In Imaged-
Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Jon Prosser (Ed.), London: Falmer Press,1998.
410 Piet Mondrian, the “inventor” of “De Stijl” is a Dutch painter from Amersfoort, Netherlands.
411 Retrieved from: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mondrian-turned-studios-giant-abstract-
paintings.(Accessed on 13/11/2017)
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backgrounds has been a modernist style of mural painting among the Ndebeles long before
Mondrian and his associates “invented” “De Stijl”. Ndebele art thrived and flourished as a coded
visual communication language to stage protests and insurrections against the harsh brutalities of
the Boers around the mid-18th century. Even in present times the Ndebele modernist style of
painting still form part of their everyday life. The art form is represented in their fashion, body
adornments, huts, and even their cars.
Figure 8.13.4 Two Ndebele women sitting in front of their colourful house412
412 Source: of image: https://www.pinterest.se/pin/298363544036070032/ (Accessed on 22/06/2017)
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Figure 8.13.5 Shot of an Ndebele artist painting a modernist mural on her wall. 413
Figure 8.13.6 Esther Mahlangu. Image courtesy of 34FineArt.414
413 Source of image:http://images.inmagine.com/400nwm/iris/photononstop105/ptg02180250.jpg
414For more information on Esther’s artistic works Visit: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-esther-
mahlangu-is-keeping-africa-s-ndebele-painting-alive .(Accessed 22/06/2017)
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Figure 8.13.7 A Photomontage of Piet Mondrian and three of his paintings.415
Mondrian thought art and life should be the same and imagined a future where Art would be
undetached from life. Mondrian’s daydreams of envisioning the “future of art” are nothing but
“futuristic fantasies”, which have already been imagined and lived by Africans for eons well before
he conceived such ideas. Relatedly, Eglash (1999:8) has noted that there is striking evidence that
some of the sources of mathematical inspiration for European fractals were of African origin.416
Figure 8.13.8 Rectangular fractal models and developed from an Aerial view of the city from a
chief's palace in Longone-Birni, Cameroon.417
415 Source of image: http://blocs.xtec.cat/artsandcrafts2016/2016/11/18/a-pierre-mondrian-lesson-primary-colours/
416 See Ron Eglash. African Fractals: Modern Computers and Indigenous Design. London: Rutgers University
Press1999, p.8.
417Source of images: https://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/764371/disenos-biologicos-una-arquitectura-en-
armonia-con-el-ser-humano-y-su-entorno-natural/55116993e58eceb2700003e1 (Accessed on 15/08/2019)
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Figure 8.13.9 Aerial view of the city Logone-Birni, built by the Kotoko people of Cameroon. The
buildings, made of clay, are examples of architecture by accretion. New enclosures were built
around older, often sharing walls with the older rooms. 418
The decisive impact of African geometric designs and its influence on modern European art and
minimalist architecture cannot be over emphasized here. Western artists drew immense inspiration
from African art spawning several imitations, yet some scholars still tag African art as “primitive”
and question the inherence of aesthetic faculties in African art.
In modern times some Western aestheticians still hold African art in the utmost disdain and only
appreciate them with contempt or a sense of poorly veiled false modesty. Most Western museums
still refuse to acquire or exhibit contemporary African work because it does not ‘measure up’ to
stereotyped standards of African art. Even after some Western museums changed their collection
and acquisition strategies, making room for contemporary African or other Third-World art, the
policy became: 'only as long as the contemporary art of a region bears some relation to the
418 Source of images:
https://users.math.yale.edu/public_html/People/frame/Fractals/Panorama/Architecture/AfricanArch/Kotoko.html
(Accessed on 15/08/2019)
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"traditional" art'.'419The works of many contemporary artists from Africa and other parts of the
non-Western World are still dismissed by many museums, galleries, and art experts in Europe and
the United States as second-rate. Wolfgang Bender420 quotes a European museum official as saying
of contemporary non-Western art:
It seems like third-rate artwork to us because the art presented here emulates the
Western tradition - this is a criterion for selection - and because it is always lagging
behind, regardless of how commendable the efforts might be basically. Every
comparison with the present international art scene is therefore not in its favour. It
cannot escape the critical eye of the Western art world; thus it is superfluous - if I
might put it so bluntly... It is . . .an open secret that museums have always refused
to take over such displays and always managed to find a new excuse and friendly
reasons to dismiss them courteously and painlessly.421
Quite appropriately, Nkrumah (1944: 196) in his PhD dissertation paints a picture that makes the
West's disdain for African art derisible. He asserts:
The discovery of the new value of African art coincided with the new philosophy
of art with which the youth of Europe were busily experimenting: Cubism,
Expressionism, Dadaism, Futurism and Surrealism. These found the basis for
artistic revolution. They opposed all that stood for the reproduction of reality. The
geniuses destined to lead this movement were Pablo Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani,
Lipschuz and Sontinee. The inspiration which gave it its impetus was African art.
Fosu (1975:35) sheds more light on Nkrumah's premise by stating that, “[The]… art of Africa was
a factor that helped to save modern European artists from artistic decay and boredom. When
Cubism and expressionist art were introduced to Europe for the first time, after centuries of their
existence in Africa, it brought new vitality to European museums and galleries and also brought
underserved economic gains to some European collectors and connoisseurs.” A fitting extract from
419Olu Oguibe, & Okwui Enwezor, (Ed.). Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace,
MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass, 1999, p.216.
420 Ibid. p.216.
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Ehrenzweig’s psychoanalytic discourse on modern art further strengthens the validity of both
Nkrumah and Fosu’s thesis. According to Ehrenzweig (1967:70-77):
Before the advent of our modern art innovations could be accepted as an
enrichment of existing tradition, not as self-conscious outright attacks on
conscious order and reason. Even sixteenth-century Mannerism did not purposely
destroy renaissance conventions. The manneristic painters despaired of emulating
the great of the past and rather tamely set out to twist sensibilities in order to get
highly sophisticated effects. They certainly lacked the destructiveness of our
modern art and its avowed ''primitivism.'' With rousing manifestoes our modern
art tried to sweep aside all pre-existing art as no longer meaningful for modern
times. [...] It is perhaps due to the fact that our own modern art is often content to
work from low irrational levels of the mind alone, that our civilization has become
so receptive to the art of other civilizations, prehistoric, historic, primitive[sic] and
exotic.
Universally, art in its most basic form is a reflection of an artist's inner spirit not necessarily an
external replication of reality. Folk aesthetics in Miller’s (2001:248) assessment, is what ordinary
people find immediately beautiful; elite aesthetics concerns the objects of art that highly educated,
rich elites learn are considered worthy of comment by their peers:
With folk aesthetics, the focus is on the art-object as a display of the creator's craft.
With elite aesthetics, the focus is on the viewer's response as a social display. In
response to a landscape painting, folks might say "Well, it's a pretty good picture
of a cow, but it's a little smudgy," while elites might say, "How lovely to see
Constable's ardent brushwork challenging the anodyne banality of the pastoral
genre." The first response seems a natural expression of typical human aesthetic
tastes concerning other people's artistic displays, and the second seems more of a
verbal display in its own right.
Miller (2001) further infers that:
Where ordinary folks prefer bright cheerful colors, elites may prefer
monochromes, subtle pastels, and elusive off-whites. Where folks prefer good
technique and manifest skill, elites may prefer expressiveness, randomness,
psychoticism, or a childlike rejection of skill. Where folks prefer realism, elites
prefer abstraction. With these preferences, elites can display their intelligence,
learning ability, and sensitivity to emerging cultural norms. But to an evolutionary
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psychologist, the beauty that ordinary people find in ordinary ornamental and
representational art says far more about art's origins.422
Kramer hinted in a lecture that,' the purpose of art was to reach a reality that cannot be defined or
represented by logic'.423 In his treatise on the Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche espoused parallel ideas
suggesting the notion that, art transcends the logical and the rational. Articulated within the
context of modern abstraction, Nkrumah, an adherent of Nietzsche, notes in his PhD thesis that
“there is no logical thinking in the production of a work of art; in fact, artistic expressions do not
travel on logical lines, otherwise there would be a perfection in art. Thus, the ideal of modern art
is to express values and not to imitate.”424 Works of art arouse an extremely emotional, nearly
religious experience. Art transports us to a world of aesthetic exaltation that transcends daily life.
Art refers to the unnameable and unspeakable that shines behind the world of appearances. It brings
us into contact with a metaphysical or supernatural reality, which awes us into reverential silence.
425 Art gives us a deeper understanding of religious practices. Artists take the sentiments that are
buried in inchoate form across many minds and bring them to the surface for all to see. They
422 See Miller, Geoffrey. The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. New York:
Anchor Books, 2001, p.284.
423See Lloyd Kramer. The Great Courses: European Thought and Culture in the 20th Century. Retrieved from:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/european-thought-and-culture-in-the-20th-century.html (Accessed on
26/10/2016)
424 See Kwame Nkrumah. Mind and Thought in Primitive Society: A Study in Ethnophilosophy: With Special
Reference to The Akan Peoples of The Gold Coast, West Africa. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania.
425 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art: An Introduction to Philosophy of Art. Brussels: Springer
Science + Business Media B.V., 2009, p.70
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express the collective emotional wisdom of the race. They keep alive and transmit states of mind
from one generation to the next.426
Ehrenzweig in his studies on the psychology of artistic imagination also stresses that ''it has been
said that the spirit of Surrealism begot new movement in modern art. This is another way of saying
(as we always did) that modern art aimed at disrupting or twisting one's normal sensibilities as a
matter of principle.”427 Contributing to the discussion, Kandinsky provides a broader explanation
in his treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art:
Naturally this does not mean that the artist is to instill forcibly into his work some
deliberate meaning. As has been said the generation of a work of art is a mystery.
So long as artistry exists there is no need of theory or logic to direct the painter's
action. The inner voice of the soul tells him what form he needs, whether inside or
outside nature. Every artist knows, who works with feeling, how suddenly the right
form flashes upon him. Bocklin said that a true work of art must be like an
inspiration; that actual painting, composition, etc., are not the steps by which the
artist reaches self-expression.428
Such philosophical perspectives are also shared by Van den Braembussche (2009). Noting the
inherent value and intrinsic ideological qualities of art, he stresses that:
The highest beauty is not to be found in physical or spiritual beauty, but in the pure
Form or Idea. Only the pure Idea of beauty is true beauty. All other forms of beauty
are merely beautiful to the extent that they resemble – or are an imitation of – this
pure Idea of beauty. Only the Idea of beauty is eternal and true.429
426 See David Brooks. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. New York:
Random House, 2011, p.590.
427 See Anton Ehrenzweig. The Hidden Order of Art: A Study in the Psychology of Artistic Imagination. Carlifornia:
University of Carlifornia Press, 1971, pp. 69-75.
428 See Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Auckland: The Floating Press. 2008. p.134-135.
429 See Antoon Van den Braembussche. Thinking Art:An Introduction to Philosophy of Art Brussels: Springer Science
+ Business Media B.V, 2009, p.19
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Solso has also observed through psychological research in modern art that “a characteristic of
abstract art is that it is an arty Rorschach test in which everyone can give his or her personal
interpretation of an object, even if that interpretation is totally irrational. No rule says that art or
its interpretation must be sensible.”430 Several other scholars have propounded enlightening
theories in that regard. One of the most penetrating being Barthe’s Death of the Author theory
which essentially argues that the personal views, political stance, intended “meanings” and
interpretations of creative work must not be explained lest it become tainted by the artists personal
bias. Even as an insider anthropologist, I particularly experienced much difficulty in trying to (but
with very little success) elicit some secret and hidden meanings of Vodu art usually accompanied
by pithy phrases like: wo mɛdɛ’a Vodu gɔmɛ fia amɛ o and hutɔr mɛƑoa ɛnu tso Vodu ntsi fuu
o; which translates as “We don’t reveal all the “hidden meanings” of vodu art” and “Vodu priests
don’t ‘speak too much’ about vodu art”. Such positions were markedly different from other
instances (in my queries about Ewe aesthetics) in which I was introduced to the notion of
“atsyɔkoe”. For instance, a Vodu devotee spotted in an elaborate yibotsi or atsiƒwiƒwi hairstyle
will simply respond “de ko me koe wɔ atysɔkoe”- “this is merely meant for heightening my overall
aesthetic effect, that’s all.” In that sense, “atysɔkoe” can loosely be translated as “aesthetics for
aesthetics sake”.
430 See Robert L. Solso. The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain. Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 2003, pp.12-13.
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Figure 8.14 A Kli-Adzima devotee adorned with yibotsi hairstyle. Klikor, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
This, for me, was a significant dimension to Ewe aesthetics considering the widely held notion
that African aesthetics is merely restricted to functionality. It also validates Gyekye’s observation
in Akan art appreciation, based on an equivalent notion of the pure aesthetic qualities in a work of
art. According to Gyekye (1996:126):
[…] there are objects that have no functional use, but that, nevertheless are enjoyed
because of their purely aesthetic qualities. In Akan such objects are called “items
of beauty” (“afɛɛfɛde”). Thus, after seeing a particular dance performance, an
Akan may say, “this dance is beautiful”, elegant: “Asa yi yɛ fɛ. That person’s
appreciation of the dance performance will be a purely aesthetic appreciation,
unrelated to his consideration of functionality of the art form.431
Considering all these discussions on ''modern art'' in comparison to African art and aesthetics, a
few critical questions may suffice here. Are the aesthetic canons and characteristics of ''modern
431See Kwame Gyekye. African Cultural Values. Accra: Sankofa Publishing Company, 1996, p.126.
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art'' in academic discussion not embodied in African art centuries before all these theories were
even formulated? So why reduce African art to ''primitive art'', ''third-rate art,'' ''impure art,'' or
“fetish” when it has essentially embodied modernist concepts in its approach, expression, quality
and function, since its inception. African art has deep philosophical dimensions. African aesthetics
emphasizes and proves beyond all the findings in this research, the tenet which implies that,
different cultures have unique aesthetic values in different places in the world. Chanda (1994:53)
affirms this point by noting, “African aesthetics canons are grounded in spiritual underpinnings or
belief. The criteria for the physical appearance and beauty of an object are dictated not by
individual caprice and imagination, but by spiritual philosophies of the people”.
Judgements of taste, aesthetic preference or what is deemed aesthetically “pleasing” are essentially
based on emotional gratification or contentment and not beauty per se. Okafor (2000) further
entrenches this aesthetic notion by explaining that:
Masks worn by masquerades are artistically designed to induce certain emotion in
the beholders during the performances of certain rituals or other traditional
ceremonies. The success of the masquerade in achieving this objective is the basis
for the qualifying it as beautiful. This concept of beauty may be safely referred to
as ontological beauty or in simple expression, functional beauty. This is so because
it is beauty derived from the inner meaning and being as well as the function of
the object.432
The parallels and commonality espoused by scholars cited so far, reflect the intrinsic value and
inherent aesthetic qualities embedded in the works of the African creative spirit. Thus, by
embedding the delight of artistic creations in the elevated structures of the psyche and human mind,
both scholars withdraw from limiting the African aesthetic experience to the slanted conclusion
432 See Fidelis U. Okafor, “African Aesthetic Values: An Ethno-Philosophy Perspective”. In Frontiers of
Transculturality in Contemporary Aesthetics. Nsukka: University of Nigeria, 2000, p.154.
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that art appreciation or aesthetic contemplation is merely characterized by what is “beautiful” or
whatever is aesthetically “pleasing”. Building on some of these aesthetic arguments, it is
reasonable to deduce that “beauty” is not the property of a “beautiful artwork”. On a neurological
level, when we judge something to be “beautiful”, it is not because we perceive the property of
what we deem “beauty” in the object. The spiritual energy an artwork radiates, drives our interest
and sense of awareness, which evokes in us, powerful thoughts, associations, experiences and
emotions that subsequently leads to various sensations. Yet beauty does not yield pleasure in some
direct, physical way: it is not, at least on the face of it, a physical property (such as emitting certain
electromagnetic waves) that could affect us without being aware of it. So, beauty is a source of
pleasure only when we are aware of it. But now suspicion may arise that the source of our pleasure
is not beauty itself but a mental state involved in our awareness of it.433
In a nutshell, aesthetic appeal or aesthetic judgments are basically a state of awareness driven by
primal feelings based on the subjective grounds of how we appreciate a work of art. Art
appreciation is also largely influenced by shared beliefs or personal experiences. All these
conditions create a unique aesthetic experience for each individual hence the popular notion that
aesthetic appeal differs from one individual to another and one culture to another. Again, “beauty”
is not necessarily situated in an artwork itself or an object worthy of aesthetic contemplation. It is
purely a spiritual sensation we become aware of through our extra-sensory perception faculties.
433Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes (Ed). The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics. New York: Routledge, 2001, p.304.
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Figure 8.14.1 Beads trader posing with Ewe beads during the Kli-Adzima festivities. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.14.2 Kli-Adzima muralist, posing before a finished sacred mural in Mama Vena Shrine.
Klikor, Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
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Figure 8.14.3 Notice the different expressions and aesthetic responses to shrine art, Kli-Adzima
creative ritual processes and general social experience within the sacred space. Klikor, Volta
Region (2016). Photography by Researcher.
Figure 8.14.4 Notice the facial expression and tactile aesthetic response of the Kli-Adzima devotee
being decorated by Afanyehu Nuwordu artist ahead of performances at Mama Vena Shrine. Klikor,
Volta Region (2016). Photography by Researcher
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8.5 Concluding Remarks
The various arguments and aesthetic deliberations advanced in this Chapter dismantle the faulty
premise and fictitious binaries of the “modern” and “primitive” or “traditional” in the art world.
These fictitious binaries which essentially “glorify” Western art over any other art form was
weakened through visual presenatations of high-resolution photographs from the field.
Subsequently, discussions of the research findings discredit uninformed notions of “creative
inferiority” associated with African art to be a “clever hoax”. Based on these aesthetic
deliberations, one can deduce that it is impractical to have a “standardized set of laws” for defining
aesthetics or evaluating art. Kudowor (1981:68) also provides thoughtful remarks in that regard:
Generally, Western art has reached a sort of blind alley where the artist no longer
knows what he expresses. The artist’s work therefore is expressing the waning
culture of the West. Unlike in Western art where the abstract experiments have
moved the artists away from his audience, Ghanaian paintings still maintain a link
with the artist’s world along with its aesthetics of colour and form, which the
Western artists have eschewed. 434
In consonance with Kudowor’s observations, Bonham-Carter and Hodge (2013:6) have noted that,
“today, by contrast, new art is no longer dominated by avant-garde movements asserting their
militancy at every turn. Strident collective manifestoes are rarely published now, and “isms” have
become hard to discern.”435 Till now, the “New art” movement remains a major phase in the
“modern art” world which has left many Western artists in an endless time-consuming goose chase
in hopes of producing the “bold”, “provocative”, “sublime” and “shock-laden” artworks.
434See Wiz Edinam Kudowor. Some Trends in Contemporary Ghanaian Painting. Unpublished undergraduate Thesis,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science nd Technology, 1981, p.68.
435 See Charlotte Bonham-Carter and David Hodge. Contemporary Art: The Essential Guide to 200 Groundbreaking
Artists. London: Carlton Publishing Group, 2013, p.6.
See Miller, Geoffrey. The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature. New York:
Anchor Books, 2001, p. 262.
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Figure 8.14.5 “Vomit Artist” Millie Brown creating one of her infamous “Vomit Paintings”436
Based on all these argumentative aesthetic critiques and renewed discussions of African art, it
stands to reason to conclude that Picasso, Metzger, Manet, Breton, Dali, Monet, Mondrian, Braque,
Pollock, Duchamp and other Western artists did not “invent” “Modern Art” and all the “isms” of
art ascribed to them. This is a well-documented fact, which has been the intellectual stance of
many well-read scholars in several academic publications, conferences and art education forums.
Modern art as facts have proven, predates 20th century “modernism”. Essel and Acquah (2016)
have also fittingly captured a parallel theory in that regard:
The early conceptual artists including Duchamp did not just borrow; they adapted
the practice hook, line and sinker and named it conceptual art. Boden’s (2011)
argument that Duchamp’s attempt was so much challenging the notion of art is
436Source of image:http://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/millie-brown-vomit-artist/ (Accessed on 24/12/2017)
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highly contestable since that art practice was already in existence in Africa. That
may be tantamount to reinventing the wheel.437
Sections of this Chapter also covered visual presentations of Vodu iconography, sacred aesthetics
and the inherent qualities of modern abstraction in African art. This discussion will be misjudged
by some Western art critics as a squabbling “debate” of what is modern art or what does not
constitute modern art. Rather, it must be understood as a rational inquiry of “who” has the
monopoly or sole authorship of defining modern art or “standardizing the rules” of aesthetics.
Recent attempts by Western aestheticians, art historians and curators to “extol” African art in
online blogs, exhibition catalogues, magazine articles and mainstream art disciplines is nothing
but a slapstick farce to critical African art historians. Western “art historians” and “aestheticians”
over the ages have propounded faulty premises to discredit the attempts of other art historians
(usually of African descent) who dare to reposition African art in its rightful place—at the very
apex of ‘civilized art’ itself.
437 See Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, Ebenezer Kwabena Acquah. Conceptual Art: The Untold Story of African Art. In
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 6 (10), 2016, pp.1203-1220.
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CHAPTER NINE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 Conclusion
The major findings in this study has exposed the fictitious binaries of European constructs of
“Modern art” and “Primitive art” or “traditional” African art. Presentation of these major findings
have been explored through comparative photographic analysis to highlight the neglected
symmetries between modern art and sacred Vodu aesthetics. Supporting ethnographic data from
interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation generated from extended field
studies complement the analysis of the findings provided in this research. Divergent views and
insights were extracted from science, medicine, art therapy, art history and evolutionary
psychology to generate a deeper understanding of the philosophy behind Ewe Vodu aesthetics.
Another important aspect captured in this research is the significance of how Vodu aesthetics is
extensively incorporated into healing practices, psychic warfare and the psycho-Spiritual
dimensions of the Arts. Other essential areas captured in the findings includes how Vodu
therapeutic aesthetics contributes to the general emotional and psychological well-being of Vodu
devotees in the realms of spiritual warfare.
The historical trajectory of academic hegemony and Eurocentric bias in ‘documenting’ African art
and the intellectual developments surrounding some of the prevailing dogma was clearly
established in this research. The history of African art and anthropology has been ‘littered’ with
racist ideas and theories which have been invalidated and demolished, thanks to the compelling
arguments and empirical findings based on fieldwork. As a new generation of scholars, our best
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guess is that the future of anthropological scholarship and philosophical inquiry into African art
holds similar intellectual prospects. The future of African studies in general, will see African
scholars gaining a firm analytical grip on revisionist anthropology and African philosophical
studies to shape the destiny of a very powerful race. Gyekye (1997) has emphasized that,
philosophical concepts, ideas, and propositions can be found embedded in African proverbs,
linguistic expressions, myths, folktales, religious beliefs and rituals, customs and traditions of the
people.438
Building on Gyekye’s observation, it must be stressed that, African philosophy needs to form a
core part of African educational curriculum right from kindergatten level. In 2009, an entire
conference held in Mauritius was dedicated to advance the teaching of philosophy to pre-school
and primary school children.439 Similarly, in Philosophy: A School of Freedom 440, UNESCO
published some groundbreaking surveys and findings on related discussions on the essence of
teaching philosophy to children. The theoretical basis of teaching philosophy to children along
with the pedagogical benefit African philosophical teachings weild needs to be carefully explored
in African educational structures. Reinforcing and integrating vital aspects of African
philosophical systems into pre-schools and primary level education should be of primary concern
to educational policy makers. Policy makers must also ensure that African art and aesthetics forms
438 Gyekye, K. Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1997.
439 On 7th and 8th September, 2009 in Port Louis, the Republic of Mauritius hosted the High-Level Regional Meeting
on the Teaching of Philosophy in Anglophone African countries, co-organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture
and Human Resources of the Republic of Mauritius, the Mauritius Institute of Education, the Mauritius National
Commission for UNESCO and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). See
UNESCO. Teaching Philosophy in Africa Anglophone Countries. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, 2009, p.10
440 Refer to Chapter one of Philosophy: A School of Freedom.Teaching Philosophy and Learning to Philosophize:
Status and Prospects. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2007.
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an integral part of pre-school and tertiarry education programs to foster a healthly psycho-social
attitude toward African art and culture. The main hope of African sociocultural advancement and
holistic mental development lies in the proper education of the younger generation.
9.2 The Need for Further Investigations and Research into African Art: With Special
Reference to the Performing Arts
One aspect of this research that I was not fully able to cover and properly document is the aesthetics
of Ewe religious performances. This is an area which lacks serious theoretical documentation and
archival preservation. Indeed, several scholars and researchers have expressed their concern about
the general lack of information, analysis and documentation in the field of performing arts in
Africa. However, recent researchers have been able to decipher the languages, art, esoteric
knowledge, and messages communicated in performances. Even though performing arts have
gained prominence within the academic community, little is still known of their aesthetics, social
and philosophical context. Another reason is the fact that the performers are constantly in motion
that an investigator caught up in the moment can barely distinguish between the artform and the
performer. Performing arts research (which is persistently being studied from a Western
epistemology viewpoint) is inundated with studies in dance, music, oratory, and drama to the
detriment of the aesthetics and visual culture of indigenous African performance practices. Drewal
(1990:40-42) contextualizes the problem of documentation and analysis of performing traditions
in Africa by stating that:
The documentation, analysis, and interpretation of masqueraders pose unique
problems. For one thing, they don't stand still. The Igbo say, ''you do not stand in
one place to watch a masquerade'' (Cole and Aniakor 1984, xii), that is, one needs
multiple perspectives to comprehend such an artistic happening. Masked
performers are multimedia experiences involving many arts occurring
simultaneously. To study such phenomena requires an all-embracing approach.
We have read and then they danced for too long [...] To date, studies of art in
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performance contexts, have proliferated, but there, are very few studies of
performed art. I am making the distinction here between performance as context
background and performance as an ever-emerging text which art objects are an
integral.
Similarly, Avorgbedor also expresses concern about the inadequate research and information on
the visual arts in Anlo-Ewe performing arts tradition. He states:
There has not been any significant progress, especially in the area of iconology
and the visual arts. It is mostly scholars in the disciplines of African art history,
folklore, comparative literature, and cultural anthropology—including subfields of
aesthetic and symbolic anthropology who are visibly interested in the performing
arts in which the visual occupies a significant performative space. It is, therefore,
very important—especially in this crucial stage of research and scholarship in
African music—that scholars who truly wish to commit to a fuller understanding
of performance conventions and their sociocultural universe must devote time and
resources to the visual, kinesics, and the total synesthetic environment. It is easy
to overlook cultures such as the Anlo-Ewe in which there are no active traditions
of wood carving comparable to, say, the Yoruba but records of appropriation,
articulations, and modes of appreciation in regard to the visual arts in performance
and ritual contexts strongly suggest a strong awareness of the rhetorical, aesthetic,
and supra-ritual functions of the visual.441
Performing arts serve as an endless supply of raw data on African art and aesthetics. A cross-
cultural analysis of performing arts in Africa reveal that, it is usually displayed during initiation
rites, rites of passage, festivals, military campaigns, fertility rites, agricultural rites, mediumship
(communicating with spirits, dead relatives or ancestors), funerary rites, divinity rites, exorcism
and healing rituals. As such, the social functions of art in performing arts becomes more evident
when there is a seamless appreciation of the performance itself and the artworks being used for the
performance. Each type of artwork exhibited in African performance traditions represents a range
of meanings associated with the ethnic group's religion, metaphysics, history, mythology and
441 Daniel Avorgbedor. The Place of the Visual in Constructing and Extending Affect and Meaning in Ewe
Performance Traditions, With Attention to Duƒozi: Some Theoretical and Methodological Implications.
[Unpublished Paper Submitted to: “African Music in the 21st Century – An Iconic Turn? An International
Symposium Celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the African Music Archives Mainz]
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world view. Artworks mainly exhibited in indigenous performances include beads, masks,
sculpture, headdresses, ritual symbolism, helmets, jewelry, fabric, shields, insignia, flags and
others. Body art and modification such as scarification, tattoos, lip plates, piercings, body painting,
earplugs are also exhibited during indigenous performances. Even though some of these creative
artworks displayed during Vodu performance were captured in this research, they were not
thoroughly analyzed like other areas.
In performing arts, the artworks, just like the performance itself, convey socio-religious,
philosophical, cryptic and double-entendre meanings. For instance, McCarthy Brown442 (2006:12)
notes that, the “rattle, which is the emblem of the Vodu priesthood, is not used to make music but
to signal key changes in the drum rhythms in a Vodu service, as well as to summon and send away
the lwa”. Similarly, colours and numbers also have religious meanings in many African religions.
In short, there is such a vast storehouse of information to document that even upon all this research
and documentation, I have merely initiated the dialogue. As such, one of my main
recommendations seeks to encourage future researchers to concentrate on the arts and aesthetics
employed and exhibited in Ewe Vodu performances. In an effort to revise research methods in
order to fully deconstruct complex religious societies like the Anlo-Ewe society, I must stress the
importance of learning basic Ewegbe for future researchers which will enable them build working
rapport in order to collect the exact information they need from their respondents.
On the basis of this scholarship, the conclusion to be drawn is that, in spite of much research and
theorizing by the various scholars, there is still much grounds to be covered. Researchers into
442 See McCarthy Brown's article: 'Afro-Caribbean Spirituality: A Haitian Case Study' in Claudine Michel And
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith. Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture Invisible Powers. 2006. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan. p.12.
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African religions seriously need to extend their expertise to unite religious studies with visual
culture, religious aesthetics and performance traditions. Research into these areas need to even
push further beyond the frontiers of the visual and delve more into the domain of the sacred,
spiritual, hermeneutics, transformative powers of psychic arts, therapeutic properties of art,
embodiology, neurotheology, neuroaesthetics, kinesthetic aesthetics, haptic aesthetics, histrionics,
tactile aesthetic experience and haptic feedback in Vodu art and spiritual performances.
Figure 9.0 Left: Hutᴐ Adzimashie Bali in a performance with a Kokushi. Right: Powder being
sprinkled on a Vodu Performer. Dagbamete and Dzogadze respectively, Volta Region (2016).
Photography by Researcher.
9.3 The Need for Further Philosophical Inquiry and Multicultural Research in African
Studies.
A key area I wish to highlight in my recommendation is the need for further philosophical studies,
interdisciplinary research and multicultural approach to African scholarship. Future researchers
must also adopt African-centered educational approach in conducting studies into African-related
issues. In education, centricity refers to a perspective that involves locating students within the
context of their own cultural references so that they can relate socially and psychologically to their
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cultural perspectives. Centricity is a concept that can be applied to any culture. The centrist
paradigm is supported by research showing that the most productive method of teaching any
student is to place his or her group within the centre of the context of knowledge. (Kete-Asante,
2000)443. Speaking in an interview on some of the new questions being raised in African
philosophy today, Gyekye (2013: 69) stresses that:
I think African philosophers should pursue analytic investigations into traditional
beliefs and assumptions. And the other relates to philosophers' analyses of
contemporary African experience. I think modern African philosophy will have to
be constituted by studies or research on contemporary African issues, postcolonial,
if you like, post-colonial African problems. But we should not do this to the neglect
of the examination of traditional African philosophical thought.
Similarly, Hountondji contributes to Gyekye's viewpoint by emphasizing the need for internal
debate within indigenous African cultures in order to develop new alternatives. In examining a
given tradition, writes Hountondji, two temptations should be resisted: The temptation of contempt
and rejection, and the temptation to justify and idealise.444
Articulating the necessity and significance of philosophy in academia, Nkrumah has rightly
pointed out that law, medicine and the arts are the arms and legs of learning but philosophy is the
brain.445 Nkrumah later declared in his ‘African Genius Speech’ that African Studies, in the form
in which they have been developed in the universities and centres of learning in the West, have
443See James A. Montmarquet and William H. Hardy. Reflections: An Anthology of African American Philosophy.
Belmont: Von Hoffman Press. 2000. pp. 105-106.
444 See Paulin Hountondji. Tempting Traditions: Internal Debate Needed in Indigenous Cultures. In Compas
Magazine., 2001, p.12.
445See Kwame Nkrumah. The Autobiography Kwame Nkrumah. Panaf Books Limited. London.1957. p.26.
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been largely influenced by the concepts of old style “colonial studies,” and still, to some extent,
remain under the shadow of colonial ideologies and mentality.446
In a symposium on ''Black and African Cultures and Challenges of Globalization,'' organized under
the auspices of centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization of Nigeria, the well-known
Nigerian historian, J.F. Ade Ajayi, in his remarks as chairman of the occasion, asserted that
''globalization is about competition and struggle for dominance, which encourages, more than
anything else, the continuation and expansion of Western imperialism in the new millennium.''447
In a discussion that followed, participants of the symposium noted:
[...]''That globalization fosters increasing disruption and marginalization of the arts
and cultures of Black and African peoples;'
''That globalization imposes alien cultural values on African societies, thereby
distorting the African value system and identity;''
''That globalization is a fresh phase in re-colonization of African societies which
attempts to continue the promotion of Western linguistic heritage and literary and
aesthetic canons at the expense of African indigenous languages and literature.''448
In response to these findings, Gyekye dismisses the observations Ajayi and his fellow scholars
made about globalization. Gyekye (2013:123) notes that:
The observations made by the participants of the symposium are to my mind, a
tissue of errors and perhaps groundless suspicions. They betray a sense of
inadequacy, of passivity and inactivity, and of the inability to respond adequately
to situations in defense or in pursuit of one's interests.
446This speech was delivered by Kwame Nkrumah as the first president of the Republic of Ghana at the opening of the
Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon on October 25th. SeeKwame Nkrumah. The African Genius.
In Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities Through African Perspectives, Vol. 1, Helen Lauer and Kofi
Anyidoho. (Eds.), Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers. 2012. pp.910-911
447 See Kwame Gyekye. Philosophy, Culture and Vision: African Perspectives. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013,
p.121.
448Ibid. p.121.
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Gyekye deems such genuine concerns as 'groundless suspicions' but the recent 'soft imperialist'
developments on the continent proves otherwise, which makes Ajayi's conclusions even more
valid now than they were first formulated.
For instance, Vogel’s (2012) observation is in agreement with Nkrumah’s and Ajayi’s stance on
‘Europeanization of African Studies' when she stressed that 'the greatest shortcoming of the
Kumasi (now KNUST, my emphasis) program was its art history course, which focused entirely
on European art.449 Vogel's opinion is not too farfetched. In my undergraduate program
(Communication Design) in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, books
written by scholars and artists of African descent were hardly ever put on the essential reading list.
Evidently, the early colonial art curriculum was structured in a 'certain way' to ensure that our
'naive young minds' were constantly being fed with the pompous notion that European artists like
Da Vinci, Dali, Rembrandt, Matisse, Monet, Michaelangelo, Picasso and the likes were the
''grandmasters'' of art. Yet, the same university has produced quite a number of distinguished artists
and academics like Ablade Glover, El Anatsui, Grace Salome Kwami, Nana Afia Opoku-Asare,
Lee Nupke, Ato Delaquis and others who have contributed significantly to the study of African art
and art in general. The situation at the library was not any better as it was disproportionately
stocked (at the detriment of African art) with books about European, Oceanic and Meso-American
art.450
449See Susan Mullin Vogel. El Anatsui: Art and Life. London: Prestel, 2012, p.26.
450I even had a colleague who was only skilled in drawing Europeans because the figure drawing books in the library
were filled with illustrations and images of Europeans. My colleague was highly skilled in illustration but anytime he
tried to draw Africans they would end up looking like 'Europeanized Africans.' He occasionally brought his
illustrations and comics to me to add 'essential features' to make them look more African.
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It appears this situation has prevailed for quite a number of decades because El Anatsui before me
confronted a similar problem. Discussing the concept of what he refers to as ''indigenize'', Anatsui,
who was quite uncomfortable with the Europeanized tertiary art curriculum in KNUST, revealed
in an interview with Vogel that, when he left art school, his idea was to kind of try to indigenize—
to get a bit of indigenous material into his psyche. Anatsui recalls how he and his fellow university
students began to see there was something missing in their program and went searching to find it
elsewhere. He recalls how he later began what would prove to be a lifelong research into African
arts and culture, with a special focus on graphic symbols.451 It is in the same vein that I decided to
embark on this challenging intellectual quest into African art and culture to dig deeper and deeper
to 'find that something' in order to 'indigenize' not only my art but also my cultural identity as a
true African.
In an interview ahead of his exhibition in 2014, one of Ghana's most prolific painters, Wiz
Kudowor, revealed that all things influence his work, including local history, spirituality and
symbols. He asserts, “I’m not ashamed to use Adinkra elements in what I do. They are ours. They
are powerful. I believe that we should not let them go.”452Gavua (200:112) equally shares
corresponding aesthetic values:
In general, colour, various kinds of gesture, visual arts, body decorations, and
costume items are the major channels of self-expression. With the spread of
Christianity and other forms of Western European cultural practices, travel and
commercial activity, traditional symbolic behaviour is becoming limited.
Traditional costume items, for example, are becoming too expensive for the local
people to possess and the meanings assigned to traditional symbols are becoming
blurred. Many symbols are therefore only interpreted and explained by only a few
451See Susan Mullin Vogel. El Anatsui: Art and Life. London: Prestel, 2012, p.26
452See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/Artists-Alliance-to-host-Wiz-Kudowor-325702
(Accessed on 07/12/2016)
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knowledgeable persons including followers of the indigenous religion who are the
main custodians of the traditional values of the people.453
Anastui's lifelong research into African graphic symbols and Kudowor's insistence on retaining
them goes beyond doubt to prove the significance and inclusion of indigenous elements and
symbolism into a nation's cultural psyche. In his studies, Man and his Symbols, Jung (1964:81)
implores that:
The further we delve into the origins of a "collective image" (or, to express it in
ecclesiastical language, of a dogma), the more we uncover a seemingly unending
web of archetypal patterns that, before modern times, were never the object of
conscious reflection. Thus, paradoxically enough, we know more about
mythological symbolism than did any generation before our own. The fact is that
in former times men did not reflect upon their symbols; they lived them and were
unconsciously animated by their meaning.
To further compound the issue, all these multifaceted problems recur in an age where neglecting
our arts or tagging African visual culture as “backward” seem to be the 'elite' thing to do. We still
live in a nation (Ghana) where the educational curriculum has been structured in a very biased way
where students with very poor grades are admitted to the visual art departments while students
with excellent grades are sent to the sciences neglecting the fact that it is art that drives modern
science and technology. In connection, Gyekye (2013:122) is of the view that:
If individual Africans endowed with artistic or aesthetic talents continue to
exercise those talents to develop the arts to high degrees of excellence such as will
appeal to the aesthetic sense of many others outside Africa, as in the past and,
indeed, today, globalization will not - cannot - subvert the exercise of artistic
talents, nor is there a reason why African artists will have to totally abandon their
own indigenous artistic expressions in favor of, say, the European or the Chinese,
or to abandon the cultivation of the music and dance forms of Africa.
From the ensuing discussions it can be deduced that Gyekye’s (2013) recommendation needs slight
revision. As a researcher, I must acknowledge the fact that, Nigerian intellectuals are making very
453See Kodzo Gavua (ed.). A Handbook of Eweland: Volume II the Northern Ewes in Ghana. 2000. Accra: Woeli
Publishing Services. p.112.
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great strides in the intellectual arena and it is imperative that other African intellectuals constantly
liaise with one another to draw vital lessons from shared intellectual deliberations. The participants
of the symposium have every reason to draw the earlier cited conclusions on the effects of
Globalization on the African continent. Speaking as a professional artist, it would be quite an
idealistic goal to wait for 'individual Africans' endowed with 'artistic or aesthetic talents' to develop
the arts to 'high degrees of excellence' to counteract the effects of Globalization as Gyekye puts it.
What is missing in Gyekye's recommendation is merely collective/collaborative efforts, not
individualism. Collaborative efforts in the form of dialogue, joint research, partnered art projects,
educational art exhibitions, cross-cultural analysis of the creative arts and so forth. Put that way,
we can see common problems and address them collectively as artists, philosophers, cultural
critics, psychologists, visual anthropologists, social anthropologists, media practitioners,
researchers and policy makers. “Talents” and “individualism” alone cannot in anyway solve the
multi-faceted problems globalization presents to Africans. Quite noticeably, our efforts require a
much more pragmactic approach and governments must enact new cultural policies and enforce
already existing ones to preserve Africa’s rich heritage. Educational policies must also be
reconsidered and embedded with deep cultural values and practical measures to safeguard the
interests of African art and African-centered scholarship. The concerns being raised here have
been clearly spelt out in Ghana’s cultural policy (refer to sections 8, 9 and 10 of Ghana’s Cultural
Policy, pp.34-42).
The critical question here is, why are all these policies not being properly enforced?
Evidently, it is only through government and national support that we can take charge of
our own historical narratives and cultural preservation. Ghanaian President, Nana Akuffo
Addo (2017), in one of his “Ghana Beyond Aid” public speeches, stressed that:
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It is time to build our economies that are not dependent on charity and handouts.
We understand the aid fatigue phenomenon. We have learnt from long and bitter
experience that, no matter how generous the charity, we would, and, indeed, we
have remained poor […] What we need to do in this 21st century is to move Africa
away from being cup in hand and begging for aid, for charity, for handouts […] We
need to have a mindset that says we can do it, others have done it, we can also do
it. And once we have that mindset, we will see this as a liberating factor for
ourselves.454
Indeed, this ideology must certainly be extended to our educational policies. It must also be echoed
in our tertiary institution seminars to support young emerging researchers in the African academic
community, who are compelled to depend on Western “grants”, “aids”, and “funds” to conduct
basic research in and about Africa. This ‘development’, according to Zeleza (2003:157) , has led
to “the transformation of African intellectuals into ‘paid native informants’ for foreign donors”.455
Prominent Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani (2011) has argued that the market-driven model
of African universities has resulted in a “pervasive consultancy culture” and an “NGO-ization of
the university.456 As a result, new generation of scholars and future researchers must promote and
encourage bold, innovative and self-reliant initiatives to fund African scholarship without
necessarily depending on Western “Charity”, “hand-outs” and “support” structures.
9.4 Vodu and Community Development
454 Retrieved from: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Africa-beyond-aid-possible-Akufo-
Addo-602699 See also: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Africa-must-stop-depending-
on-foreign-aid-Akufo-Addo-606111 (Accessed on 28/11/2017)
455 Zeleza, P. T. (2003). Academic Freedom in the Neo-liberal Order: Governments, Globalization, Governance and
Gender. In Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 1(1), 149–194.
456 See Wendy Willems. Provincializing Hegemonic Histories of Media and Communication Studies: Toward a
Genealogy of Epistemic Resistance in Africa. In Communication Theory, 24(4), 2014, pp. 415–434.
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I wish to conclude my recommendations by listing some of the commendable developments Vodu
has bestowed on the people of Dagbamete (one of the many locations I conducted my field studies).
Dagbemete is a village located in the Akatsi District of the Volta Region. The rural setting, dirt
roads, and still common thatch-roof huts give the settlement a distinct village feel. Most of
residents are related to the founder, Tɔgbui Zatekpa, who settled in the area in the late 18th century.
The village has developed a national and international reputation for its Vodu shrine, for its
festivals, and for its summer music school. Hundreds of visitors from America, Europe and
elsewhere visit the village each year.457 After observing and understanding certain aspects of the
Aƒetɔku-Gbodzi religious activities and the amount of development it has bestowed on
Dagbamete, I concluded that Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku is worthy of respect like any other deity in other
religions. Despite the punitive expeditions, missionary demonisation and destruction of most Ewe
religious deities, Dagbamete still upholds the rich cultural values and religious practices of the
Anlo-Ewe ethnic group. Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku-Gbodzi is a powerful force to be reckoned with because
it has survived and dominates the lives of some Anlo-Ewe devotees even in the middle of
modernity.
In Dagbamete, the Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku (Vodu deity) exists to serve the community’s needs, more than
any entity. All income generated from the existence of the Vodu belongs not to one person, but to
the community, and the organizational structure that was put in place decades ago oversees the
utilization of these funds for the development of the community.458“Traditional Religion and
457 http://www.dagbamete.org/ (Accessed on 11/04/2015).
458 It must be noted that, none of the above are related to the shrine itself or serve the shrine’s needs. They benefit
the community and visitors to the community. Compared to other shrines operating in the area (and perhaps the
whole country), this is unique and remarkable. Interview with Curtis “Fo Kordzo” Andrews. January, 2018.
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Development” is a common theme that runs through the activities of the shrine and many
remarkable achievements have been undertaken by the shrine via the economic and spiritual
blessings of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku. These include:
• Electrification of the village (Dagbamete)
• Construction of accommodation for patients
• Construction of teachers and headmaster's accommodations
• Construction of accommodation for visiting members
• Construction of a medical clinic and accommodation for staff
Below are pictures of some recent developmental projects to serve the people of Dagbamete
community:
Figure 9.1 Left: Lorry park under construction in Dagbamete Community. Right: Accommodation
for shrine members during festivals. Image Courtesy: Curtis Andrews (2017).
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Figure 9.2 Left: View of the clinic that will serve Dagbamate Community. Right: Old
accommodation in Dagbamete community. Image Courtesy: Curtis Andrews (2017).
Figure 9.3 Left: A shot of the new community hostel in Dagbamete. Image Courtesy: Curtis
Andrews. Right: Tɔgbui Sri poses with his entourage, the Chief of Dagbamete and high-ranking
members of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku Shrine and the Dumegawo of Dagbamete (2017). Photography by
Researcher.
I was present during the 2017 Dagbamete Aƒetɔku-Gbodzi festivities to witness and photograph
the inauguration of a newly-built hostel for the community as well as the sod-cutting ceremony for
the construction of a new palace for Dagbamete.
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Figure 9.4 Tɔgbui Sri III in a sodcutting pose flanked by his entourage, the Chief of Dagbamete
and high-ranking members of Tɔgbui Aƒetɔku Shrine and the Dumegawo of Dagbamete
community (2017). Photography by researcher
I wish to use this opportunity to entreat everyone to exercise restraint in passing hasty judgements
for or against Vodu practices without a proper understanding of Vodu religion. Neither should we
be too quick to condemn or dismiss Vodu practices as “ungodly” or “backward” based on warped
religious sermons, prejudice, ignorance or neo-colonial educational mind-frame. It takes
extraordinary patience and effort to study, analyze and to genuinely grasp the basic concepts of
Vodu religion and the arts associated with it. To fully understand Vodu, one must first try to
understand Ewe culture and sociology. I have personally enjoyed this challenging intellectual
journey. Most importantly, my spiritual life, to a large extent, has been greatly expanded into an
enlightened state of socio-cultural awareness.
I pass on the challenge to African scholars to completely wrest African art research and
anthropological scholarship from the stranglehold of Euro-Western academy. Such academic
endeavours can be fostered through more critical thinking, analytical studies, proper archival
documentation, constant people-oriented research, constructive criticism and a careful re-
examination of Euro-Western publications about Africa and Africans. Western scholarship
concerning Africa and Africans must be subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny by African
academics and concerned scholars alike irrespective of race. It will equally be ruinous to maintain
a position that only Western publications must be critically perused.
Despite all the information collected, analysed and documented, I have merely scratched the
surface of mountains of data that is yet to be gathered, analyzed and properly documented. I must
declare that I have not in any way thoroughly exhausted all the comprehensive studies that needs
to be done in this emerging field. With the areas I have been able to document, it is my hope that,
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this research will pave the way for other future researchers in Ewe-Vodu aesthetics. I hereby
conclude this thesis by encouraging future scholars to delve deeper into Ewe religious aesthetics
to contribute broader insights into this emerging discipline to foster a genuine appreciation of Vodu
Art.
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