Lady Wisdom and the Akan Queen Mother: Models for the Akan Christian Woman

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Nyansa (“wisdom”) among the Akan people of Ghana is a virtue that one is expected to possess for the good of the family and community. Akan proverbs or sayings do not personify nyansa, but the effects of its presence or absence are evident.

The Akan community functions along matrilineal lines attesting to the implied power of women, even though leadership roles are dominated by males. The highest office is that of the king (ↄhene), but he rules largely under the auspices of women, from his right to the throne, his nomination to it, and his presentation to the community. The wisdom of women has a large stake in determining who becomes king and therefore has implications for the peace and harmony of the community.

How may an Akan respond to the feminine personification of nyansa in the book of Proverbs?  This essay attempts an Akan reading of the personification of wisdom in Proverbs, first using selected positive indigenous proverbs, followed by the role and function of the Akan queen mother.

Proverbs, Wisdom, and the Queen (Mother) in Akan Traditional Thought

The Akan language, Twi, is widely spoken in Ghana, even among non-ethnic Akan. It is one of the first to have a grammar book through the labours of Christian missionary activities and, consequently, the earliest to have a Bible translation. Traditional Akan institutions and practices are conspicuous components of Ghanaian culture, predominantly within the Asante tribe.¹  The Akan culture is rich in proverbs and in symbols such as the Adinkra and Kente textile weave patterns. The Akan proverbs used in this article are primarily in Asante Twi.  

Akan proverbs are reflective of life experiences. Social stratification among communities means that proverbs are not devoid of biases. However, when concisely captured as reflective of a shared experience of reality, a proverb is accepted by all. Proverbs are usually attributed to the elders of a society, who are largely men, and represent the “accumulated wisdom and experiences of past generations.”² Among the Akan, for example, stating a  proverb is usually prefixed with the phrase, “the ancestors/elders say” (nananom/mpanyinfo se). Sometimes a proverb is attributed to an author.³ Some are attributed to animals (“The fowl says, ‘If it had not gotten dark, would I not have eaten my fill?’” [Akoko se, “Ade ansa a, anka memee”]).⁴ The source or author notwithstanding, proverbs are usually linked to the elders or ancestors, rarely female.

The Akan word for “proverb” is ɛbɛ, which the Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye found from his field research to be linked to the word for the palm (tree), abɛ. Gyekye deduced that all the useful products from the palm, such as oil, wine, and soap, “lie deep in the palm tree” and require a distillation process. This is similar to the meaning of a proverb which may not be immediately obvious but needs to be distilled.⁵

If proverbs are wisdom distilled, what is wisdom? Among the Akan, nyansa is practical application of “knowledge” (nimdeɛ). The proverb “wisdom is not gold for you to bundle up [to store]” (nyansa nyɛ sika na wɔakyekyere asie),⁶ points to the desirability of the application of wisdom. The traditional Akan sense of nyansa is not merely abstract but leads to practical results. Indeed, it is from these results that nyansa is discerned. A person is deemed wise more because of their actions rather than their words. Nyansa is a shared reality for members of the community—men, women, and children. As for the source of nyansa, it is assumed to be part of the creation of God (Nyame, Onyame). Hence the axiom: “All wisdom is from God” (nsɛm nyinaa ne Nyame).⁷

Proverbial wisdom operates within the traditional Akan family. The family (abusua) is of vital importance. The traditional community is one big family comprising a network of families connected through matrilineal blood relations. A person derives his or her blood from the mother,⁸ and it is believed that “blood is what matters” (bogya [mogya] ne asɛm).⁹ An Akan traces their bloodline through the mother and her maternal ancestry. The family has obligation to a common ancestor, a nana,¹⁰ who could be either a female or a male. Usually, especially at the wider community level, a nana is a male figure. The word nana, according to J. B. Danquah, “appears to have derived from e-na, mother [e-na na (mother of mother = grandmother)],” and the family head or elder (opanyin) who becomes a nana “derives his [or her] blood by right of female descent.”¹¹

This brings us to the topic of the highest female office—that of the queen mother (ↄbaahema or ↄhemmaa).¹² The queen mother is not the widow or mother of the king as is usually understood. Typically, the natural mother of an Akan king is of royal lineage but may not necessarily be the queen mother. A ruling king nominates a (new) queen mother from a royal family and this person is essentially the “queen” of the state or nation.

Traditionally, the queen mother is the model whom women emulate.¹³ Eva Meyerowitz, from her field findings a century ago, explains that in her sacredness the queen mother was “regarded as the daughter of the Moon (the mother aspect of Nyame, the Supreme Being), [who] is desired by her people to be as calm and peaceful as the moon, and her body, as well as those of all women, as delicate and beautiful as the moon.” Her colour is silver “representing moonlight.”¹⁴ Meyerowitz takes the position that the queen mother is the “owner of the [Akan] state” who gives her son [ↄhene or ↄmanhene], the king, to rule the state and take care of related affairs including war. Meanwhile, her primary duty is to care for the women, their welfare, and “everything connected with birth, marriage and family life.”

In contemporary Asante society, for example, the Asantehemaa (Asante queen mother) nominates a male from the royal clan as king, subject to the approval of the Gyaase (the Kumasi Traditional Council) and the Asanteman Traditional Council. The approved candidate is presented to the Pampasohemaa (Pampaso queen mother) who is his “foster mother.” She eventually “delivers him over to Asanteman to be their king” and it is the Asantehemaa who “officially receives the king-elect in state” during his enstoolment.¹⁵ 

With this as background we put into conversation the queen mother—especially in her role as the ideal Akan woman—with Lady Wisdom from the book of Proverbs.

Lady Wisdom, the Queen Mother, and the Akan Ideal Woman

Wisdom (Hebrew hokmah) is personified as a female figure in the book of Proverbs, especially in the first nine chapters. The Hebrew word hokmah is grammatically feminine. In the book of Proverbs, hokmah is the application of knowledge which stems from the fear of the LORD (1:7, 29). With wisdom by his side, the LORD established the earth and the heavens (8:22–31). Accordingly, to function as one should in God’s creation one needs wisdom (4:7).

In what follows, I highlight the connections an Akan Christian can make between selections from the book of Proverbs and Akan proverbs on the commendable attributes of a woman. While Akan proverbs on nyansa (“wisdom”) may inform the reading of Lady Wisdom, or even vice versa, all such readings would be made through the interpretive lens of the teaching(s) of Jesus Christ and what he means to the Akan Christian.

The Righteous, Just, and Faithful Woman

A reward for seeking—that is, “making your ear attentive to”—Lady Wisdom is that one “will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God” (2:5 NIV). Possessing the wisdom that the LORD gives is a guarantee for understanding “righteousness and justice” (2:9). These are virtues to be secured through wisdom in the heart of a person (2:10–15). In such a state, there is deliverance from the man of perverted speech (2:12) and the adulterous woman (2:16). In the context of the covenant relationship with the LORD, any disobedience is a breach of trust or fidelity. Being led astray by a perverted man or an adulterous woman are metaphors for forsaking the LORD. It is wisdom that keeps one from breaking the sacred trust with the LORD and hence the close association of wisdom with faithfulness (3:3).

The Akan queen mother has multiple functions that showcase her as righteous, just, and faithful to time-honoured custom.

First, as a key community leader, the queen mother has judicial responsibilities. People can appeal to her with their petitions. Typically, under her jurisdiction are marital, family, and general women’s issues within the community or state.¹⁶ The queen mother’s court proceedings and rulings are pursued within “the boundaries of custom.”¹⁷ She is assisted by both female and male leaders, sub chiefs, and court linguists (akyeame). However, as the final authority of the court, she is expected to be righteous, just, and faithful to custom in her final judgements. This makes her an example to follow, especially for women.¹⁸

Second, and uniquely, the queen mother has the right to rebuke the king and his close officials in public, that is, in open court. The queen mother is a counsellor or legal advisor to the king, usually in private but possibly also in public.¹⁹ Such a constitutional duty was and is paramount, and failure in this counselling work has had its repercussions.²⁰ The queen mother is able to do this as an indirect political leader, through her considerable knowledge as a custodian of tradition and history. Her commitment to custom also implies her keeping of the history of her predecessors or departed female elders (nananom), who are symbolically associated with their respective stools or thrones. She performs scheduled rites for their remembrance. Agnes K. Aidoo well sums up the function of this high office from her study of some nineteenth century Asante queen mothers as “very dynamic women who skilfully blended a sense of history, politics, and responsibility towards the preservation of their society.”²¹

Third, historically, since Akan women usually did not partake in war, the queen mother took responsibility of the community whenever the king led his army to war.²² There is a story in recent Asante history of Yaa Asantewaa, a queen mother of Edweso, one of the Asante confederate states. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, she mobilised and encouraged the men in the absence of the paramount chief to protect the Golden Stool from British colonial forces.²³ Another way the queen mother acted in protection of the community was to attend to the welfare of the state deities through the necessary rituals—usually the responsibility of the king. She also organized the rites of wailing and of prayers to augment the war effort.²⁴

Fourth, with traditional Akan leadership in priesthood being open to both men and women, the queen mother serves as a priestess in leading the rites and rituals for communal wellbeing. The services of a priestess (ↄkↄmfo), apart from serving as an intermediary between a deity and the community, include the provision of herbal medicine, counselling, and midwifery.²⁵ The queen mother, in her execution of such responsibilities, is expected to be fair, just, and right with respect to ancestral tradition.

The Fruitful or Productive Woman

Unlike biblical Hebrew, the Akan language is devoid of grammatical gender. The Hebrew feminine hokmah (“wisdom”) in Prov 3:13–19 does not enjoy the same gender association as nyansa (“wisdom”) in the New Revised Asante Twi translation. For the Akan reader, this leaves nyansa impersonal. Nevertheless, if nyansa is thought of as “profitable,” with “long life . . . in her right hand,” and figured as a “tree of life to those who take hold of her,” she parallels the ideal Akan woman, whose fruitfulness is likened to the plantain tree which keeps sprouting (BMB91).

The resourcefulness of Lady Wisdom is not only expressed in the imagery of a princess or a queen preparing a banquet of “good things” with her servant girls at the service of her guests (9:1–12) but also in the ideal wife who fears the LORD (31:10–31). Lady Folly, on the other hand, whose primary goal is to lure people away from the fear of the LORD, is loud, arrogant, knows nothing, and in her treachery gives false promises that leads to death (9:13–18). A wise woman fosters life through her industry and innovation and is therefore admired by her husband and children (31:10–28). In effect she is a queen in her household.

As the mother of the community or nation, the queen mother is concerned with the “welfare of her women, their status, their protection in marriage, and the protection of their property.” She oversees the beragoro rite of passage for “young girls who have reached the age of puberty,” meant to usher them into readiness for marriage and motherhood.²⁶ The training or education of children, especially of young girls and princesses, as well as the oversight of royal women and wives are the jurisdiction of the queen mother.²⁷

The queen mother affirms the importance of the role of the mother. Children are encouraged to honour mothers: “Even if your mother is not good, she remains your mother” (wo na nye a, na wo na ara nen, CN2069). Another saying is: “You cannot substitute your mother for another mother because of her poverty” (wo na di hia a, wunnyae no nkofa obi nye na, CN2063). Underlying the importance of the mother is the understanding that “The death of your mother ‘disconnects’ you from the matrilineal kinship” (wo na awu a, wo abusua asa, CN2068). In the same way, the sure way to enter or join an Akan family is by courtesy of a woman: “If all efforts fail, marry one of their women” (wopɛ abusua bi abↄ na woannya a, na woware mu yere, CN2654). In sum, it is wise to treat a woman well among the Akan, starting with one’s mother.

With respect to motherhood, proverbial wisdom reminds that “it is a woman that gives birth to a man” (ↄbaa na ↄwo ↄbarima).²⁸  Motherhood, especially in a matrilineal society, is valuable. Thus, marriage comes with the expectation of childbearing. Beyond giving birth, mothers are instrumental in the nurturing of children, especially in their formative periods. A mother’s empathetic love for her children is acknowledged thus: “When it comes, it affects your mother” (ɛba a, ɛka oni, CN1). A woman who neglects her children, for whatever reason, is not celebrated. Thus, “It is the hardworking woman who, when her child is carried on her back, [still] carries things [on her head]” (ↄbaa mmↄdemmↄfoↄ / ↄbaa sima na ne ba hyɛ n’akyiri a, ↄsoa nnoↄma).²⁹ The imagery of this proverb is that of female farmer or trader who in her industry combines work with caring for her child. It is thought that “when a hardworking/industrious woman goes into marriage, she brings good things home [to the family]” (ↄbaa brɛfoↄ kↄ awareɛ a, ↄde ade pa ba fie).³⁰

Outside of nurturing children, Akan women have traditionally been active players in the economic activities of the community. The queen mother as “patron of agriculture” leads “prayers to Nyame (God)” in a “rain making” ritual in times of drought.³¹  Such efforts ensure the production of food for her community. There are also stories of how innovations and introduction of kitchen utensils and other household utilities have been made by queen mothers.³² The Akan queen mother traditionally leads in the beautification and decency of women in her community. Accordingly, “If a new thing is not beautiful, would the queen mother wear beads?” (adeɛ-foforo nyɛ fɛ a, ankara ohemmea bo abia? CN795). Beadmaking, pottery, the making of soap, and other crafts are usually under the auspices of queen mothers.³³

In all these ways, both within the home and outside it, the queen mother models the ideal fruitful/productive Akan woman.

The Precious, Priceless Woman

Lady Wisdom calls out, from various vantage points, to all who will hear and welcome her as she proclaims instructions for a worthy life (Prov 8:1–7). It is in her character to reciprocate any goodness done to her: “Embrace her, and she will honour you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown” (4:8–9 NIV). This resonates with the Akan proverb cited earlier, “The beauty of a wife largely depends on the treatment she receives from her husband” (ↄbaa ho yɛ fɛ a, efi ne kunu, CN19). Lady Wisdom does good to the one who finds her and treats her well.

The wellbeing and status of the queen mother reflects the condition and treatment of women in the community. The king ensures that his “mother” is well taken care of. A nineteenth-century observer noted how the queen mother was regarded “as one of the greatest persons of the kingdom . . . has her own court and is surrounded by the greatest luxury imaginable . . . [possessing] precious jewelry, rich clothes, silver vessels,” and “everything the king possesses she has in abundance.”³⁴ A responsible Akan man is, therefore, expected to honour his mother and wife and, by extension, treat women with respect.

This is because, as in Prov 31:10, “A good wife is worth more than money” (ↄye[re]-pa sen sika, CN3645). In fact, she is a treasure: “a good wife is personal health” to her husband and family (ↄye[re]-pa yɛ ahode, CN3646). That is why, “When you pay [a bride price] for a young woman, pay a big amount, for there is a town in her stomach [womb]” (wotɔ ɔbaabasia a, tɔ no aboɔden, na kuro da ne yam’, CN3290).³⁵ She is innovative, especially in her cooking, and even ants enjoy her tasty food (BMB79).³⁶ A wife is not a commodity to be traded: “A wife is not meat for you to be sharing with others” (ↄyere nyɛ nam na wↄakyekyɛ amana, CN3653). In the end, when women are treated well, men and children in the family, community, and nation gain from their priceless value.

On the part of the woman, the matrilineal social structure means that a woman’s loyalty to the matriclan is key. It is wise for the woman, therefore, to subject important, usually marital, decisions to her maternal abusua (“family”): “A wise woman says: ‘I look forward to what my matriclan [family] will say’” (ↄbaa nyansafoↄ na ↄse: “Mehwɛ deɛ abusua bɛka”, BMB75). To put family interest above personal sentiment is prudent in the communal sense. Yet, a wife should balance her fidelity to the husband with her loyalty to the family, for it is also said that “a good woman [wife] listens to her husband’s word” (ↄbaa pa ne deɛ ↄtie ne kunu asɛm, BMB80). The ideal Akan woman endeavours to keep her marriage secure. Multiple divorces are undesirable: “No matter who a woman is, when you divorce severally, your face does not glow [you lose your glory]” (ↄbaa biara te sɛ deɛbɛn’ ara, na wugyae aware gyae aware a, wo anim mma onyam, CN18).

Contrary to the proverbs that extol the worth of the woman, there are some thought to “describe women as subservient to men” or  as being “unproductive and parasitic.”³⁷ An example is: “If a woman is beautiful, it is from her husband” (ↄbaa ho yɛ fɛ a, efi ne kunu, CN19). But, since—as indicated earlier—the hardworking woman is celebrated, proverbs that relativize the role of women should be seen as demanding that the husband fulfils his socially assigned responsibilities. On the whole, the sentiment is that the Akan husband should consider his wife precious. Her care and protection should be his delight.

Given the high view of wives expressed above, polygamy has its challenges for the Akan male. It is said that if you want “talk-talk” (quarrels) then you can have many wives (CN2657). The integrity of the man with many wives is at stake: “If your wives are five, your tongue is five” (wo yerenom anum a, wo tɛkrɛma anum, CN3650). Because of the growing demands of multiple wives, “Having many wives is nothing but poverty” (ayere-dodow yɛ ohia na ɛnyɛ hwee, CN3655). Worse, “A sick husband of many wives dies of hunger” (mmaa-dodow kunu yare a, okom na ekum no, CN26). Proverbial wisdom suggests that one good wife is enough for a man. To pursue extra women does not necessarily result in the good of the man. It is not that women are a problem to men, but the responsibility of living with even one woman should not be taken lightly.

Conclusion: The Akan Christian Woman

So far, we have highlighted selected virtues of Lady Wisdom in comparison to the role of the queen mother, both of whom model the ideal woman. How could the typical Akan Christian woman engage with these written and oral prescriptions?

As noted earlier, the absence of grammatical gender in the Akan language makes the word nyansa (“wisdom”) gender-neutral. The reader of the biblical text will, therefore, most likely miss the personification of wisdom as a woman. Furthermore, there is no evidence from the Akan proverbs surveyed that nyansa is figured as a woman. The average Akan Christian woman reading the texts on Lady Wisdom in the book of Proverbs (in her mother tongue) connects more with the functions of wisdom than with its personification. To read nyansa portrayed as a woman may be new, but she would readily correlate the functions of Lady Wisdom to the expectations of the ideal Akan woman as exemplified by the queen mother. Furthermore, fresh insights from reading Lady Wisdom as such can help the reader review traditional Akan views on women.

A Christian reading of the selected Akan proverbs on the ideal woman would rely on the Bible as the authority for (re)interpretation. More specifically, an Akan Christian woman would typically interpret Akan proverbs through her experience and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Such, for example, was the experience of a noteworthy Akan Christian woman, Madam Afua Kuma. She insightfully employed Akan ancestral oral praise poetry to express her reflections on Jesus Christ. She also lived in her community as a respected and wise woman elder. A community sub-chief and a local Catholic priest occasionally consulted her on legal and pastoral cases.³⁸ In these consultations, she would draw from her rich knowledge of Akan proverbs, employing them from a Christian, biblical perspective.

Whether married or not, the Akan Christian woman can find her identity in the bigger family of God in Christ,³⁹ and this identity could inform her role and function in the family and community in keeping with the values of her ancestors. In so doing she remains a wise woman—reflecting the idealized virtues of both Lady Wisdom and the queen mother.

Notes 

1. Asante culture has been able to preserve traditions that predates the ascendancy the Asante as a prominent Akan group. Kofi Darkwah, “Antecedents of Asante Culture.” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, New Series 3 (1999), 57–79.
2. Kofi A. Opoku, Hearing and Keeping: Akan Proverbs (Asempa, 1997), xviii.
3. Kwesi Yankah, The Proverb in the Context of Akan Rhetoric (Diasporic African Press, 2012), 234–35.
4. Robert S. Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs (The Primitive Ethics of a Savage People), Translated from the Original with Grammatical and Anthropological Notes (Oxford University Press, 1916), 79 n.203.
5. Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme, rev. ed. (Temple University Press, 1995), 16–17.
6. CN2554; Proverbs from the collection of Johannes G. Christaller which were later arranged with translations by Lange are referenced as CN (Christaller Number) followed by the number in the collection. Johann Gottlieb Christaller, Three Thousand Six Hundred Ghanaian Proverbs (From the Asante and Fante Language) with English translations, trans. Kofi Ron Lange, African Studies 17 (Mellen, 2000). Proverbs from this collection will be referenced by this number.
7. C. A. Akrofi, Twi Mmbusɛm: Twi Proverbs with English Translations and Comments (Macmillan, 1958), 169.
8. The other constituents of the human being are the ɔkra (usually “soul”) [from Onyame], sunsum (“spirit”), ntorɔ (“fatherhood-deity”) [from the father], nipadua [honam] (“body”), honhom (“breath of life”). The ɔkra and sunsum are variously paired with the rest of the constituents by commentators. J. B. Danquah, “The Culture of Akan,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 22/4 (Oct, 1952): 360–66 (363); Ernestina Afriyie, A Comparative Study of Akan and Biblical Concepts of a Human Being: A Study to Illustrate a Method of Cross-Cultural Evangelism (MTh diss., University of Natal, June 2000), 15–16.
9. CN594.
10. J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion, 2nd ed. (Frank Cass, 1968, xxviii.
11. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God, 51.
12. Christaller defines the term in its broader usage as “a woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom, a female monarch; the consort of a king, wife of a chief . . . a princess whose son will succeed to the throne; – a rich woman.” Christaller, Dictionary, 170.
13. For further information on the identity and role of the ɔhemmaa, see Michelle Gilbert, “The Cimmerian Darkness of Intrigue:  Queen Mothers, Christianity and Truth in Akuapem History,” Journal of Religion in Africa 23/1 (1993), 2–42.
14. Eva Lewin-Richter Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan (Faber & Faber, 1951), 37.
15. Enstoolment is the cultural equivalent of enthronement; in Asante and Fante culture in Ghana, chiefs and kings have elaborately carved stools that represent their authority. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 37–38. George P. Hagan, “The Ascent to the Golden Stool: Women Make the King,” in The King Returns: Enstoolment of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Eyikɛseɛ (Great Funeral) of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, ed. Irene K. Odotei and George P. Hagan (University of Ghana – Institute of African Studies, 2003), 33–42.
16. Samuel Obeng and Beverly J. Stoeltje, “Women’s Voices in Akan Juridical Discourse,” Africa Today 49/1 (Spring, 2002): 21–41.
17. Beverly J. Stoeltje, “At the Queen Mother’s Court: Ethnography in Kumasi, Ghana,” Counterpoints 354 (2013), 370–87 (384).
18. Stoeltje, for example, notes that, despite some modern day concerns about the relevance of the queen mother’s court, such “courts provide a site at which an individual, including an ordinary woman, can tell her story, whatever it may be, and receive a hearing,” adding that they “provide the authority that maintains the boundaries and defines the categories of correct behavior for those who believe in the social system known as custom, and they provide the opportunity for individuals to resolve disputes that are inevitable in any society.” Stoeltje, “At the Queen Mother’s Court,” 385.
19. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, Indigenous Knowledge and Christian Missions: Perspectives of Akan Leadership Formation on Christian Leadership Development (SonLife, 2012), 40–41.
20. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, “Asante Queen Mothers in Government and Politics in the Nineteenth Century,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 9/1 (1977): 1–13 (2).
21. Aidoo, “Asante Queen Mothers in Government and Politics in the Nineteenth Century,” 5.
22. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 42.
23. Emmanuel Akyeampong and Pashington Obeng, “Spirituality, Gender, and Power in Asante History,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 28/3 (1995): 481–508 (504–6).
24. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 42–43.
25. John D. K. Ekem, Priesthood in Context: A Study of Priesthood in Some Christian and Primal Communities of Ghana and its Relevance for Mother-Tongue Biblical Interpretation (SonLife, 2009), 52–56.
26. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 44–45.
27. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 45. Opuni-Frimpong, Indigenous Knowledge and Christian Missions, 193–95.
28. BMB67. Proverbs from the collection Peggy Appiah, Kwame A. Appiah, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Bu Me Bɛ – Proverbs of the Akans (Banbury: Ayebia Clarke, 2007), are designated BMB with the proverb number.
29. BMB77.
30. BMB44.
31. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 44–45.
32. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 48–49.
33. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 49–51.
34. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan, 52–53.
35. The proverb is not merely about “selling” the woman as if money could buy all the investment a family put into the nurturing of the young woman. Moreover, the woman is invaluable in a matrilineal society. The proverb points to the high value a man places on the woman he intends to marry.
36. “She can make a tasty soup with fish while a bad (bɔne) woman fails even with mutton,” (ɔbaa pa de apaterɛ bɛtem yɛ nkwan ma ɛyɛ dɛ, nanso ɔbaa bɔne de dwannam bɛyɛ nkwan a, ɛrenyɛ dɛ, BMB78).
37. Charles Gyan, Eunice Abbey, Michael Baffoe, “Proverbs and Patriarchy: Analysis of Linguistic Prejudice and Representation of Women in Traditional Akan Communities of Ghana,” Social Sciences 9/22 (2020): 1–10 (4).
38. See Sara J.  Fretheim, “‘Jesus! Say It Once and the Matter is Settled’: The Life and Legacy of Oral Theologian Madam Afua Kuma of Ghana (1908–1987),” Journal of African Christian Biography 5/3 (July 2020): 18–38; Afua Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest: Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma, trans. Jon P. Kirby (Asempa, 1981); Afua Kuma, The Surprising African Jesus: The Lost Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma, trans. Jon P. Kirby, transcribed by Joseph Kwakye (Wipf and Stock, 2022).
39. Which certainly will mean the church being deliberate in building to “heal, strengthen, nourish, and treat with dignity all of its members.” Mercy Amba Oduyoye, “The African Experience of God through the Eyes of an Akan Woman,” CrossCurrents 47/4 (Winter 1997/1998): 493–504 (503).