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The Akan Diaspora in the Americas
In his groundbreaking study of the Akan diaspora, Konadu demonstrates how this cultural group originating in West Africa both engaged in and went beyond the familiar diasporic themes of maroonage, resistance, and freedom. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Akan never formed a majority among other Africans in the Americas. But their leadership skills in war and political organization, efficacy in medicinal plant use and spiritual practice, and culture archived in the musical traditions, language, and patterns of African diasporic life far outweighed their sheer numbers. Konadu argues that a composite Akan culture calibrated between the Gold Coast and forest fringe made the contributions of the Akan diaspora possible. The book examines the Akan experience in Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, former Danish and Dutch colonies, and North America, and how those early experiences foreground the modern engagement and movement of diasporic Africans and Akan people between Ghana and North America. Locating the Akan variable in the African diasporic equation allows scholars and students of the Americas to better understand how the diasporic quilt came to be and is still evolving.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2010
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September 9, 2021I had read some books by John Thornton and Linda Heywood about Angola and West Central Africa and wanted to learn about some other regions in West Africa in greater detail. Konadu's book on the Akan people, their history on or near the Gold Coast and the diaspora gives some interesting hints about their presence in the Atlantic diaspora. He particularly emphasizes the Akan as an independent and resistant people.
In the first chapter where he covers the ancient history of the Akan within the dense forests of west Africa, he provides a unique perspective by drawing together environmental information on crop cultivation and their developed resistance to malaria. This resistance kept out intrusions from Islam in the north and European Christians from the southern coast beginning in the fifteenth century.
During the slave trade, one interesting fact Konadu brings up is that deportation of slaves was reduced during times of warfare among competing African kingdoms in the region. I had learned that it was the warfare that accelerated the enslavement process and therefore the weakening of West Africa. Perhaps common assumptions need more scrutiny. One book I have read of the time and place was Where the Negros are Masters by Randy Sparks, if you are interested in this book that one would probably also be of interest.
The second half of the book covers the many colonial sites in the New World where Akan people were exported to. Konadu specifically looks at maroon communities. slave resistance and supposed conspiracies against colonial powers, suggesting that the Akan independent nature was particularly strong compared to other African peoples. Konadu makes a lot of connections through naming patterns to identify particular people as Akan compared to other African origins.
Something little different from many other books about the African diaspora is that this book ends its last chapter in the twentieth century, looking at a small but concentrated connection back with Ghana through the black nationalism movement as well as other connections with Akan spirituality in places like New York and Toronto.
In the first chapter where he covers the ancient history of the Akan within the dense forests of west Africa, he provides a unique perspective by drawing together environmental information on crop cultivation and their developed resistance to malaria. This resistance kept out intrusions from Islam in the north and European Christians from the southern coast beginning in the fifteenth century.
During the slave trade, one interesting fact Konadu brings up is that deportation of slaves was reduced during times of warfare among competing African kingdoms in the region. I had learned that it was the warfare that accelerated the enslavement process and therefore the weakening of West Africa. Perhaps common assumptions need more scrutiny. One book I have read of the time and place was Where the Negros are Masters by Randy Sparks, if you are interested in this book that one would probably also be of interest.
The second half of the book covers the many colonial sites in the New World where Akan people were exported to. Konadu specifically looks at maroon communities. slave resistance and supposed conspiracies against colonial powers, suggesting that the Akan independent nature was particularly strong compared to other African peoples. Konadu makes a lot of connections through naming patterns to identify particular people as Akan compared to other African origins.
Something little different from many other books about the African diaspora is that this book ends its last chapter in the twentieth century, looking at a small but concentrated connection back with Ghana through the black nationalism movement as well as other connections with Akan spirituality in places like New York and Toronto.
July 10, 2023
I really enjoyed reading the book
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews