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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Extensions of extended families: a case study from Avatime, Ghana
| Panel |
29. Extended families in time. Creating alliances and power networks in Western Africa societies and history
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| Paper ID | 711 |
| Author(s) |
Brydon, Lynne
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The major focus of this paper is the ways in which kin relationships deriving from the mid to late nineteenth century are still relevant among a group (and by extension, other groups) from Ghana's Volta Region. The relationships derive from the period after an Asante invasion of the central Volta Region when many captives were taken and sold into domestic slavery in Anlo and around Accra, or manumitted by Basel missionaries in Maiera and elsewhere. After the abolition of the status of slave by the British in 1874, some of the freed slaves returned to their home areas, but retained relationships with those away. Others, perhaps women married to men in their new homes, or men who were working for the mission or in the commercial sector, could not return home, but in the years since, they have traced and retraced the connections of their forebears. Periodically, at funerals for example, the ties are re-affirmed as branches of the extended family from elsewhere show their support by attending funerals and donating to Avatime families. On occasions, too, those descendants who are 'away' play host to visiting family members or can play a more significant part in their lives.
The paper primarily shows the existence of these ties and questions their relevance in the twenty-first century, but in its working out also contains ideas about the relevance of matrilineal and matrilateral ties in a patrilineal society.
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