Book
Fighting with art: appliquéd flags of the Fante Asafo
UCLA Museum of Cultural History • 1 (5) • Published In 1979 • Pages: 24
By: Ross, Doran, H..
Abstract
This is a museum catalog for an exhibition of Fante military company flags held at the UCLA Museum of Cultural History. The flags were made in the period between 1935 and 1978. The earliest record of the use of company flags in Ghana is around 1600. Ghana companies (ASAFO) are democratic and patrilineal, and provide a counterweight to the matrilineal and elitist elements of Fante society. The asafo are extremely competitive amongst themselves and their flags are meant to be provocative, ‘in-your-face,’ declarations of a company's courage and prowess. Most flags refer to well-known proverbs. An example is a flag bearing the image of a mouse and a cat that recalls the proverb: ‘It is foolish mouse that reaches into the bag of a cat.’ Another is of a child picking peppers from a bush, which alludes to the proverb: 'If a child wants to pick pepper, let him do it; when it gets into his eyes he will stop by himself.'
- HRAF PubDate
- 2000
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Western Africa
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Educator
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 1999
- Field Date
- 1974-1978
- Coverage Date
- 1841-1978
- Coverage Place
- Ghana
- Notes
- by Doran H. Ross
- 'Exhibited at the UCLA Museum of Cultural History, Spring, 1979'--Cover
- Caption title
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 24)
- LCSH
- Akan (African people)