article

Asante praise poems: the ideology of patrimonialism

PaideumaPublished In 1986 • Pages: 163-197

By: Arhin, Kwame.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Asante praise poems (APAEE) were recited in public by executioners during the Adae and Odwira festivals. The poems recount the heroic deeds of past kings to impress upon his subjects the king's supreme status. The Odwira festival includes the reenactment of the founding mythology of the dynasty and the parading of skulls of vanquished generals and rulers. In the poem the king embodies the highest of martial virtues and is identified with the entire nation. The article includes both a Twi transcription and English translation of a 418-line praise poem.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Verbal arts
Status, role, and prestige
Texts in the speaker's language
Texts translated into english
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Akan
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Africa
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Western Africa
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Social Scientist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ;1999
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
Not Specified
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1600-1900
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Ashanti; Ghana
NotesAdditional notes
Kwame Arhin
Includes bibliographical references (p. 197)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
sn 86010931
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Akan (African people)