Book
Funeral dirges of the Akan people
Negro Universities Press • New York • Published In 1969 • Pages:
By: Nketia, J. H. Kwabena.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This study is a comprehensive account of Akan dirges collected in the field from informants and recorded during funerals. The author, Nketia classifies dirges into four basic forms and analyses the structure of each, giving examples in both English and Twi. Dirges emerge out of women's wailing, following the news of a death, and mark the beginning of public mourning. They continue to be sung throughout the funeral in honor of the deceased. The singer mourns her relation with the deceased and the hardships that loss will entail. Dirges employ a range of metaphors for names and events. Nketia gives numerous examples of each. The appendix includes the complete record of dirges collected by the author in English and Twi.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Language
- Music
- Burial practices and funerals
- 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
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Sociologist
- 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
- 1952-1954
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1952-1954
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ghana
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] J. H. Nketia
- 'Originally published in 1955'
- 'Texts of dirges in English, Twi, Fante'
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-296)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 73098728
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Akan (African people)