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Globalization and Anlo Ewe
Thomas Ward
Fall 2017...

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Ay s eCe v i k e l 2 0No v e mbe r2 0 1 7 ANTH2 0 1 g Th o ma sWa r d The Unjust Effects of Globalization on the Anlo Ewe People of Ghana

Tribal societies are the present-day counterpart of the “modern” man; unsurprisingly, they often go unnoticed under the governing and overshadowing nature of modernism and consumerism. The locally organized, kin-based, and smallscale lifestyles of tribal societies are quite the contrary of modern ones, allowing the culture and behavior of a plethora of tribes around the world to remain unique and diverse over long periods of time. However, as history progresses, it becomes harder for these tribes to resist the omnipotent power of globalization, and avoid the enforcement of modern ideologies. Located in southeast Ghana, as well as the southern parts of the adjacent Benin and Togo, is a tribe named Anlo Ewe, whose people are “particularly known for their love of education, family life, rich culture, especially through songs, poetry as well as vibrant drumming and dancing routines” (Chinembiri, 2017). The Anlo-Ewe people, with a population of more than 2 million (“Culture: Ewe & Anlo Ewe,” 2015), are presently settled among a political union of district traditional states, known as the republic of Ghana, which was governed by British colonialists during the historic partitioning of Africa by Western Europeans (Djaba-Mensah, 2016). The Anlo-Ewe tribe is the perfect epitome of culturally unique group of people that have undeservingly been exposed to the many negative effects of globalization, such as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, division by European

colonialism, and climate change, inevitably suffering cruel injustices for hundreds of years. Currently, the Anlo Ewe inhabit an area named the Volta Region, and have been there long before when Ghana was known as “The Golden Coast” under British rule, before the state finally achieved self-government on March 6, 1957 (Durbar, 2015). From 1884 to 1885, the Berlin Conference was held, where the heads of the most powerful European countries gathered and came to consensus about a shared occupation and control over the entirety of the African continent. Territories were divided between the British, French, German, Italian, Belgian, Spanish, and Portuguese in the so-called Scramble of Africa, bringing colonial imperialism and hegemony via economic and military dominance (Heinemann, 1985). During the conference, the Belgian King Leopold said to his fellow colonists, “We are here to see how we should divide amongst ourselves this magnificent African cake”, which successfully emphasizes the cruel and grime nature of the entire Scramble of Africa (Pheko, 2017). With the technological advances and that the Industrial Revolution brought to these European powers in the 18th and 19th centuries, the colonialists were able to conquer, divide, and exploit many African tribes by coercing the kings and chiefs, who were subjects of unwanted assimilation, and were unable to resist the military fright implemented by the Europeans through their advanced war strategies and complex firearm weapons (“Colonialism and imperialism,” 2008). Ghana was initially handed over to the Germans before they lost custody of its colonial possessions after their defeat in World War I. Afterwards The British and French powers gained dominion over the Ghanaian Gold Coast, especially the Volta Region, which was an extremely valuable land because of the fact that it was a abundant source of gold, attracting European commerce (Cogneau & Moraldi, 2014).

The division of “Togoland” under the German rule after the First World War between the French and the British subjected the Anlo Ewe, who were inhabiting the precious Volta Region, to the many negative effects of globalization that arrived along with the European colonial officers and Christian missionaries. (Greene, 2012, pg. 20). The Anlo Ewe had a much different cultural and religious understanding of the world than the new coming Europeans, who believed their understandings were superior to that of the Anlo Ewe. The colonists started imposing their ideologies to the Anlo people through Western practices, specifically their schools, churches, and hospitals (Talton). The missionaries had considerable freedom in how they ran their schools, recruited their teachers, and taught religion (Cogneau & Moraldi, 2014). Even though the newly implemented colonial education system aided the Anlo people in progressing in their development, and influenced their love for education, the purpose behind the Christianization of the tribe through decentralized schools was to achieve a “oneness that the mission could then use to delimit the linguistic and territorial limits” of the operations of the colonists. (Greene, 2012, pg. 20). The efforts of European colonists to achieve this oneness by reinforcing unfamiliar ideologies upon the Anlo Ewe people altered the reality of tradition, politics, religion, and culture in the tribe. German colonial officers secularized Noitse, a town located in modern Togo, which was ruled under a priest-king associated with the common regional God of the Ewe: Mawu. The colonial officers and ministers decided that Mawu was to be regarded as a distant God, and was to be replaced with the Supreme God of the Christians, a singular, all-knowing, and all-powerful God of all, disregarding, and disrespecting all of the Anlo’s long-living religious traditions (Greene, 2012, pg. 22). The attempt to unify the Anlo Ewe people under ironically resulted in a widespread division by the uneducated partition of colonial borders created by the

European colonists who disregarded the circumstances of the Anlo Ewe, “cutting through homogeneous geographic, cultural, and ethnic entities” (Cogneau & Moraldi, 2014). These decentralized zones of influence became more prominent after the German Togoland was reconfigured by a novel British-French frontier, completely dividing the Anlo people into two groups that followed two entirely separate models of governing (Venkatachalam, 2015, pg. 35). This intervened with education, religion, labor and marriage patterns with two different governing policies: the French and Biritish powers. The scattered nature of the Ewe-speaking areas did not only separate the community of the Anlo Ewe that had relatively been able to stay close throughout history, but also initiated social and military conflicts between local tribes over trade resources implemented by the colonialists. The Akan tribe, a similar group of people that also inhabited the Gold Coast, “launched a series of successful imperial wards against the numerous Ewe-Speaking communities that lay in an effort to control the trade routes that funneled goods” along, between and interior of the coast, which resulted in the decline of the Anlo economy (Greene, 2012, pg. 16). Moreover, these trade networks and labor markets implemented by the colonialists were made possible solely from the labor enforcement placed on the African tribes, and heavy exploitation of natural resources all around the continent. “The economy of the Gold Coast depended on the inflow of labor migrants”, with cocoa farms and gold mines attracting large numbers of unskilled workers from many different tribes in and around Ghana (Venkatachalam, 2015, pg. 35). Africa, and her people became subjects in the transformation of the continent to a trade center; imperial power reformed and limited the rich and culturally diverse African communities to European businesses (“Colonialism and imperialism,” 2008). Before the European arrived with their colonizing and globalizing mindsets, the Anlo Ewe, much like the other tribes in Western Africa, led an independent life as they hunted

and gathered their own resources, and were not enforced to become part of a grander, and global economy. The European strategy of unification under one common religion and an unified origin not only distorted lives of the Anlo Ewe that were dictated through years of tradition and culture, but also inevitably introduced them to the globalized society and economy that rules the modern world. Captivatingly, a further look into the long history and traditions of the Anlo Ewe people uncover that they have not always occupied their current settlement in Ghana. As told by oral narratives of ancient migration stories, known as xotutu in the Ewe language (Merolla), that date back to the 15th century, the Anlo Ewe many times before settling in the Volta Region, starting from Egypt, to Sudan, to Ethiopia, and so on (Dotse, 2011). One of the many, and more recent homes of Anlo Ewe was Tado, a village in southeast Togo, where they were living in inhospitable circumstances, living under the threats of eviction by the King of Tado. Wenya, a skilled hunter who was the leader of the Anlo Ewe people, arranged a marriage between his sister and the King of Tado to achieve reconciliation, and improved relations between the King and the Anlo Ewe. Wenya’s sister gave birth to the King’s son, Kponoe, who was a wellrespected and ambitious young man, which pleased both the Anlo Ewe people and inhabitants of Tado. The King designated Kponoe as the heir to the throne of Tado; however, he suddenly passed away, declaring Kponoe as the new King of Tado (Dotse, 2011). As a reaction, the people of Tado protested against the succession of Kponoe because of the fact that he was a ‘half-blood’, and his mother was from the Anlo Ewe tribe, and did not belong to the Tado kin. As the relations between the people of Tado and Anlo Ewe worsened, and the unwelcoming threats of eviction reheard, the Anlo Ewe were forced to migrate, fleeing to Noitse (Ankrah 2016). When they arrived to Noitse, Wenya declared Kponoe the new leader of the Anlo Ewe. The King of Noitse, named Agokoli I, was convivial towards the Anlo

newcomers, protecting them from possible attacks by the people of Tado. However, Agokoli suddenly died, and was replaced by his son Agokoli II, who hated and constantly mistreated the Anlo Ewe (Ankrah 2016). As the xotutu of the Anlo recounts, Agokoli II murdered Kponoe’s son, who then was brought back to life by experienced Anlo Ewe healers, which angered him even more. Agokoli II forced the Anlo Ewe build a city wall made of a mixture of mud, rock, thorns, and glass. (Merolla) The thick and trapping wall made it easier for Agokoli II persecute the helpless tribe. The Anlo were suffering a terribly unjust life; if any of them did not obey Agokoli II, he would punish them mercilessly. In order to escape, the Anlo women, during times of washing, started to secretively wet a part of the wall by throwing warm water at it, softening its solid girth (Amenumey, 1985). Subsequently, at one revolutionizing night in 1474, the Anlo men managed to cut a hole through it with their weapons, allowing the tribe to finally escape the cruel tyranny of Agokoli II, after the elder used his mystical powers to bring the wall down (Dotse, 2011). The ancient migration narratives also describe that after all of the Anlo women, children, and elders had ran away through the hole, the young Anlo men and drummers followed, walking backwards, so that Agokoli II could not trace their footprints. (Merolla). Moreover, there are other oral accounts and some evidence also suggest that the Anlo Ewe exodus could have been influenced by the progressive expansion of the neighboring Yoruba population in modern day Nigeria (Merolla). There are resemblances between the cultural characteristics of the Yoruba people, another tribe in the Western coast of Africa, and the Anlo Ewe, which can be seen in their dancing traditions, ancestral and religious worship of deities, and their political structure governed by priest-kings (“Anlo Ewe culture”). Nevertheless, the xotutu, oral stories of the dramatic Anlo Ewe migration eastward to their current and forever home, date back to the 11th century, and carry

extremely valuable Anlo history, knowledge and tradition, eternalizing their identity and culture through years of migration, different settlements, and interactions with other tribes. In order to continuously commemorate their rich cultural identity, the dramatic exodus from the wrath of Agokoli, and the resettlement to their home, the Anlo Ewe people celebrate an annual festival named the Hogbetsotso Za, re-enacting the journey of migration from Noitse to Ghana in 1474 (“Hogbetsotso festival in Anlo land”). Once the word Hogbetsotso is deconstructed to its syllables ‘Ho’ meaning ‘uproot’, ‘Gbe’ meaning ‘day’, and ‘Tsotso’ meaning ‘crossing over’, one can understand that the word itself means leaving the ancestral homeland on the day that the Anlo people rose up and crossed over. The Hogbetsotso Za is celebrated annually on the first week of November (Kumassah, 2011). Not only it is an extremely important day of long-living cultural pride and commemoration of ancestral heroes for the Anlo Ewe, but it also is the day to reconcile disagreements, and forgive one another, which strengthens relationships within the community to ensure a safe environment and the continuation of the tribe. During the colorful festival, all of the chiefs and elders of Anlo-land gather to celebrate the bravery and mystical powers of the Anlo Ewe tribe and reenact the arduous path to freedom that lead to a new life for the tribe. The highlight of the festival is the traditional dances and drumming performances, along with the historic folk songs and vibrant clothing associated with the Anlo Ewe (Kumassah, 2011). Dance drumming is a long-lasting tradition and shared responsibility within the community, and “non-participation amounts to self excommunication from the society” and the denial to be buried under the name of tribe after death (Ladzekpo). A hierarchy of performers consists of all the social classes within the tribe, dictating the drumming process; both male elders, vumegavo, and female elders, vudadawo, lead the performance, representing as chiefs and authority of the community. The second

level of the hierarchy consists of the composer, or the head drummer, who ensures the coordination of the performance, with the rest of the hierarchy made up of other performers who sing, dance, rattle, and clap, according to the drumming patterns, which creates a vibrant and energetic ensemble of various sonic and visual elements (Ladzekpo). The glamorous day is further embellished by traditional Anlo Ewe clothing; the women wear the tegayi dress with beads, coloring a myriad of sybols on their skins with clay, as the men wear jumpa tops made of a festive cloth named kente, a fabric traditionally weaved by the Anlo people ever since Ghana was the Gold Coast, worn on special, and important occasions (Aklorbortu, 2015). The Hogbetsotso Za festival and the dance-drumming community unearths, and represents the importance the Anlo Ewe places on traditions and rituals. These rituals, as well as dance-drumming, can especially be seen in the religious and spiritual culture of the Anlo Ewe people; their religious culture “embodies the knowledge about divinities, their devotional activities, the nature of the living environment, and the principles of divine and moral state of living” (Ladzekpo). The tribe sees life in a spiritual sense; everything in the universe, both living and un-living, have varying levels of dynamic forces that interact and influence each other. It becomes necessary for the tribe members to acquire the knowledge to use and control these natural forces that sometimes are believed to have negative impacts (Ladzekpo). Other than these various dynamic natural forces, there exists a hierarchy of divinities in the Anlo Ewe religion, and on the top is an omnipotent and omniscient creator, Mawu, who is the “great and overall God, the great craft-person who creates hands and feet” (Agbezorlie, 2014). Before the European colonists arrived, Mawu was the only supreme God; however, after the Westernization of the tribe, the Christian God became common throughout the worship of its members. Nevertheless, The Anlo Ewe traditional religion believes that Mawu is everywhere – therefore, he does not

require to have a shrine, or any devotional activities; instead, they practice religion through the lower-level divinities on the hierarchy, for which the Anlo Ewe are required gain membership to worship (Ladzekpo). Devotional artwork, or ‘godobjects’, carry symbolic significance, and can be seen in Anlo Ewe art through clay collage-sculptures glazed with the blood of sacrificial animals, or wooden bocio figures of guardian deities for worship; these striking items served as an indication of the priest-king’s wealth (“Ewe and Fon”). Ceremonies, such as Vodu and Tro, which are always dedicated to the divinities, consists of rows of drummers, dancers, and healers in ceremonial attire, are times of collective and individual expression of identity and power within the tribe, and have an overall feel of exhilaration, ecstasy, and awe (“Ewe and Fon”). During the dazzling aesthetic ensemble dedicated to different divinities, it is possible to see dancers going intro trance, and/or spirits possessing tribe members to send messages to the community, or heal the sick (O’Sullivan). An important instance of these dazzling and high-energy ceremonies is the Anlo Ewe funeral; dedicated to celebrating the life of the deceased, mourners dance and sing throughout several nights in succession (“Anlo Ewe”). Unlike the Westernized funeral experience, the ceremony is the contrary of a short and somber event; over the traditional processes behind the funeral cover the span of a month: preservation of the body with special herbs before burial, time for wake-keeping for the mourners after burial, performance of the ritual with dancedrumming, honorary donations and receptions of gifts to the family that will cover the costs of the funeral, and the gathering and calculation of the funeral costs (Kat, 2010). The detail and complexity behind these month-long processes uncover the importance the Anlo Ewe put on human life; in the culture of the tribe, “sanctity of human life is the most cherished moral value”, and “taking human life is taboo” (Ladzekpo). This

perhaps is because of the loss of life that the Anlo Ewe endured throughout most of their history being governed by tyrants, and worse, being exported for slave trade, becoming a part of one of the biggest genocides known to mankind.

Ghana was a very vulnerable spot during the last phases of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 15th and early 16th century; it was a strategic hub for European and American slave traders, whose domestic economies depended highly on slave trade and labor (“Ewe and Fon”). The slave traders were easily able to navigate their ships and raid the region to acquire their human cargos.; they also built fortresses where they would keep the slaves in small dungeons – which still can be found on the coast of Ghana – where millions of slaves died, or were sent to die including the Anlo Ewe people (“Slave routes”). The slave trade is the reason why Africa is currently a third world country; as the young men and women of many tribes among the coast were snatched away from their homes the New World, a life of nightmare as a subject to the slave traders, the country’s agriculture and crafts industries were left undeveloped, as the country became economically dependent on Europe, whose continually progressed economically (Bailey, 1998). During the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, thousands of Anlo Ewe people died on a daily basis, adding to the total casualty number of estimated to be more than 10 million people (Patrick). The memories of these cruel deaths have been “deeply imprinted in the Anlo Ewe consciousness through the holdings of oral tradition, such as folklore, myths, and songs.” (“Anlo Ewe People”) The earlier settlements of the Anlo Ewe on the coastal shore of the Atlantic exposed them to being raided, and endangered them of being taken from their homes, and being sold as cargo; therefore the tribe mass migrated, again, inland to the Keta Lagoon that was located northward, which was a location central to the early evolution of the current Anlo Ewe state in

Ghana. The shallow waters of the lagoon we...