5 - Transformations in Beliefs and Practices of Ecological Inviolability: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Mamfe- Akuapem Sacred Forest in Ghana
Corresponding Author(s) : Kwabena Akurang-Parry
Afrika Zamani,
No. 24 (2016): Afrika Zamani: An Annual Journal of African History
Abstract
Sacred forests, also known as ethnoforests or forest groves, in Africa are a part of the construction of the cosmology of Africans and their effort to seek ecological harmony and biodiversity equilibrium. In sum, sacred forests are sites of deities and ancestors; ritual discourse and genealogical affirmations; and superstructures of social formations, ontology and eschatology. Much of what we know about sacred forests in Ghana and their significance comes from botanists, environmentalists, agriculturalists, anthropologists and archeologists. For their part, historians have shied away from studying sacred forests because of the paucity of written sources: colonial reports and Euro-Christian missionary accounts did not have cogent narratives on sacred forests. At best, colonial agents and Christian missionaries marginally framed African sacred forests in pejorative connotations and dismissed them as atavistic monuments of fetishised sites. What is not in doubt, based on oral history and oral tradition, in fact, major historical sources, is that African sacred forests have utilitarian uses as sites of sustained conservation. This article examines the history of transformation in beliefs and practices associated with a 150-year old sacred forest in Mamfe Akuapem, Ghana. The central thesis that informs the study is that African sacred forests, broadly framed as forest conservation, were closely intertwined with deification of land reserved for biodiversity and shaped by ontological beliefs.
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- Amanor, K. S., 2010, ‘Family Values, Land Sales and Agricultural Commodification in South-Eastern Ghana’, Africa, Vol., 80, No. 1, pp. 104–125.
- Anderson, D., and Grove, R., eds, 1987, Conservation in Africa: Peoples, Policies, and Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Barrow, E. G. C., 2010, ‘Falling Between the ""Cracks"" of Conservation and Religion: The Role of Stewardship for Sacred Trees and Groves’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds,, Sacred Natural Sites, pp. 42–52.
- Berkes, F., 2008, Sacred Ecology, e ed., New York: Taylor and Francis.
- Castro, P., 1990, ‘Sacred Groves and Social Change in Kirinyaga, Kenya’, in M.,Chaiken, and A. Fleurer, eds,, Social Change and Applied Anthropology, Colorado: Boulder, pp. 277–289.
- Chouin, G., 2002, ‘Sacred Groves as Historical and Archeological Markers in Southern Ghana’, Ghana Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 177–196.
- Colding, J., and Folke, C., 2001, ‘Social Taboos: Invisible Systems of Local Resource Management and Biological Conservation’, Ecological Applications, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 584–600.
- Dickson, Kwamena B. A Historical Geography of Ghana (Cambridge: The University Press, 1969).
- Dudley, N., et al., 2010, ‘Conservation of Biodiversity in Sacred Natural Sites in Asia and Africa: A Review of the Scientific Literature’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds., Sacred Natural Sites, pp. 19–32.
- Garland, Elizabeth ""The Elephant in the Room: Confronting the Colonial Character of Wildlife Conservation in Africa,"" African Studies Review, 51, 3 (2008), 51-52.
- Giddens, A., 1984, The Constitution of Society: The Outline of a Theory of Structuration, Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Githitho, A. N., 2005, ‘The Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests of Coastal Kenya’, in T. Joffroy, ed., Traditional Conservation Practices in Africa, Rome: ICCROM, pp. 62–63.
- Greene, S. E., 2002, Sacred Sites and Colonial Encounter, Bloomington: Indiana
- Grove, R., 1997, Ecology, Climate and Empire: Colonialism and Global Environmental History, 1400–1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Guha, R., 1989, The Unquiet Woods: The Ecological Basis of Resistance in the Himalaya, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Hill, P., 1963, The Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana, Cambridge: Cambridge Press.
- Hubert, J., 1994, ‘Sacred Beliefs and Beliefs of Sacred Sacredness’, in Carmichael, et al., Sacred Sites: 9-19.
- Hughes, J. D., and Chandran, M. D. S., 1998, ‘Sacred Groves around the Earth: An Overview’, in P. S. Ramakrishnan, K. G. Saxena, and U. M. Chandrashekara, eds,, Conserving the Sacred for Biodiversity Management, New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing.
- Ilegbune, C. U., 1976, ‘Concessions Scramble and Land Alienation in British Southern Ghana, 1885–1915’, African Studies Review, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 17–31.
- Kwamena-Poh, M. A., 1973, Government and Politics in the Akuapem State 1730–1850, London: Longman.
- Kwamena-Poh, M.A., n.d., ‘The Basel Mission Period 1828–1918: The Planting of the Presbyterian Church in Mamfe Akuapem, 1858–1993’, in Dedication of Emmanuel Presbyterian Chapel, Accra: Akan Printing Press, pp. 11–22.
- Law, R., ed., 1995, From Slave Trade to Legitimate Trade Commerce, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Lentz, C., 2000, ‘Of Hunters, Goats and Earth Shrines: Settlement Histories and the Politics of Oral Tradition in Northern Ghana’, History in Africa, Vol. 27, pp. 191–214.
- McCaan, J. C., 1999, Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa, Portsmouth: Heinemann.
- McCaskie, T. C., 1990, ‘Nananom Mpow of Mankessim: An Essay in Fante History’, in David Henige, and T. C. MacCaskie, eds, West African Economic and Social History, Madison: University of Wisconsin.
- Carmichael, D. L., Hubert, J., Reeves, B., and Schanche, A., eds,, 1994, Sacred Sites, Sacred Places, London: Routledge.
- O’Neal-Campbell, M., 2005,. ‘Sacred Groves for Forest Conservation in Ghana’s Coastal Savannas: Assessing Ecological and Social Dimensions’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 151–169.
- Ormsby, A., and Edleman, C., 2010, ‘Community-based Ecotourism at Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary, A Sacred Natural Site in Ghana’, in Bas Vershuuren, et al., eds, Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture, London: Earthscan, p. 233.
- Pandey. H. N., 2009, Sacred Forests: Their Ecology and Diversity, Delhi: Regency Publications.
- Rajan, R., 2006, Modernizing Nature: Forestry and Imperial Eco-development, 1800– 1950, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Sheridan, M. J., 2008, ‘The Dynamics of African Sacred Groves: Ecological, Social & Symbolic Processes’, in Michael J. Sheridan, and Celia Nyamweru, eds,, African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change, Athens: Ohio University Press.
- Sheridan, M. J., 2009, ‘The Environmental and Social History of African Sacred Groves: A Tanzanian Case Study’, African Studies Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 73–74.
- Smith, N., 1966, The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 1835–1960, Accra: Ghana University Press.
- Vershuuren, B., Wild, R.,, Neely, J. A, and Oviedo, G.., 2010, ‘Introduction: Sacred Natural Sites the Foundations of Conservation’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds, Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature & Culture, New York: Earthscan, pp. 1–15.
- Von Hellermann, P., and Usuanlele, U., 2009, ‘The Owner of the Land: The Benin Obas and Colonial Forest Reservation in the Benin Division of Southern Nigeria’, Journal of African History, Vol. 50, pp. 223–246.
- Wright, S. J., 2010, ‘The Future of Tropical Forests’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, p. 1195.
References
Amanor, K. S., 2010, ‘Family Values, Land Sales and Agricultural Commodification in South-Eastern Ghana’, Africa, Vol., 80, No. 1, pp. 104–125.
Anderson, D., and Grove, R., eds, 1987, Conservation in Africa: Peoples, Policies, and Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barrow, E. G. C., 2010, ‘Falling Between the ""Cracks"" of Conservation and Religion: The Role of Stewardship for Sacred Trees and Groves’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds,, Sacred Natural Sites, pp. 42–52.
Berkes, F., 2008, Sacred Ecology, e ed., New York: Taylor and Francis.
Castro, P., 1990, ‘Sacred Groves and Social Change in Kirinyaga, Kenya’, in M.,Chaiken, and A. Fleurer, eds,, Social Change and Applied Anthropology, Colorado: Boulder, pp. 277–289.
Chouin, G., 2002, ‘Sacred Groves as Historical and Archeological Markers in Southern Ghana’, Ghana Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 177–196.
Colding, J., and Folke, C., 2001, ‘Social Taboos: Invisible Systems of Local Resource Management and Biological Conservation’, Ecological Applications, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 584–600.
Dickson, Kwamena B. A Historical Geography of Ghana (Cambridge: The University Press, 1969).
Dudley, N., et al., 2010, ‘Conservation of Biodiversity in Sacred Natural Sites in Asia and Africa: A Review of the Scientific Literature’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds., Sacred Natural Sites, pp. 19–32.
Garland, Elizabeth ""The Elephant in the Room: Confronting the Colonial Character of Wildlife Conservation in Africa,"" African Studies Review, 51, 3 (2008), 51-52.
Giddens, A., 1984, The Constitution of Society: The Outline of a Theory of Structuration, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Githitho, A. N., 2005, ‘The Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests of Coastal Kenya’, in T. Joffroy, ed., Traditional Conservation Practices in Africa, Rome: ICCROM, pp. 62–63.
Greene, S. E., 2002, Sacred Sites and Colonial Encounter, Bloomington: Indiana
Grove, R., 1997, Ecology, Climate and Empire: Colonialism and Global Environmental History, 1400–1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guha, R., 1989, The Unquiet Woods: The Ecological Basis of Resistance in the Himalaya, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hill, P., 1963, The Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana, Cambridge: Cambridge Press.
Hubert, J., 1994, ‘Sacred Beliefs and Beliefs of Sacred Sacredness’, in Carmichael, et al., Sacred Sites: 9-19.
Hughes, J. D., and Chandran, M. D. S., 1998, ‘Sacred Groves around the Earth: An Overview’, in P. S. Ramakrishnan, K. G. Saxena, and U. M. Chandrashekara, eds,, Conserving the Sacred for Biodiversity Management, New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing.
Ilegbune, C. U., 1976, ‘Concessions Scramble and Land Alienation in British Southern Ghana, 1885–1915’, African Studies Review, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 17–31.
Kwamena-Poh, M. A., 1973, Government and Politics in the Akuapem State 1730–1850, London: Longman.
Kwamena-Poh, M.A., n.d., ‘The Basel Mission Period 1828–1918: The Planting of the Presbyterian Church in Mamfe Akuapem, 1858–1993’, in Dedication of Emmanuel Presbyterian Chapel, Accra: Akan Printing Press, pp. 11–22.
Law, R., ed., 1995, From Slave Trade to Legitimate Trade Commerce, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lentz, C., 2000, ‘Of Hunters, Goats and Earth Shrines: Settlement Histories and the Politics of Oral Tradition in Northern Ghana’, History in Africa, Vol. 27, pp. 191–214.
McCaan, J. C., 1999, Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa, Portsmouth: Heinemann.
McCaskie, T. C., 1990, ‘Nananom Mpow of Mankessim: An Essay in Fante History’, in David Henige, and T. C. MacCaskie, eds, West African Economic and Social History, Madison: University of Wisconsin.
Carmichael, D. L., Hubert, J., Reeves, B., and Schanche, A., eds,, 1994, Sacred Sites, Sacred Places, London: Routledge.
O’Neal-Campbell, M., 2005,. ‘Sacred Groves for Forest Conservation in Ghana’s Coastal Savannas: Assessing Ecological and Social Dimensions’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 151–169.
Ormsby, A., and Edleman, C., 2010, ‘Community-based Ecotourism at Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary, A Sacred Natural Site in Ghana’, in Bas Vershuuren, et al., eds, Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture, London: Earthscan, p. 233.
Pandey. H. N., 2009, Sacred Forests: Their Ecology and Diversity, Delhi: Regency Publications.
Rajan, R., 2006, Modernizing Nature: Forestry and Imperial Eco-development, 1800– 1950, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sheridan, M. J., 2008, ‘The Dynamics of African Sacred Groves: Ecological, Social & Symbolic Processes’, in Michael J. Sheridan, and Celia Nyamweru, eds,, African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change, Athens: Ohio University Press.
Sheridan, M. J., 2009, ‘The Environmental and Social History of African Sacred Groves: A Tanzanian Case Study’, African Studies Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 73–74.
Smith, N., 1966, The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 1835–1960, Accra: Ghana University Press.
Vershuuren, B., Wild, R.,, Neely, J. A, and Oviedo, G.., 2010, ‘Introduction: Sacred Natural Sites the Foundations of Conservation’, in Vershuuren, et al., eds, Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature & Culture, New York: Earthscan, pp. 1–15.
Von Hellermann, P., and Usuanlele, U., 2009, ‘The Owner of the Land: The Benin Obas and Colonial Forest Reservation in the Benin Division of Southern Nigeria’, Journal of African History, Vol. 50, pp. 223–246.
Wright, S. J., 2010, ‘The Future of Tropical Forests’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, p. 1195.