Nzema people

Nzema people
Nzema
Total population
~500,000
Regions with significant populations
Western Region of Ghana, Ivory Coast
Languages

Nzema, Twi/Fante
Religion

Christianity, African Traditional Religion, Islam
Related ethnic groups

Akan

The Nzema are an Akan people numbering about 328,700 people of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire.In Ghana the Nzema area is divided into two electoral districts of Nzema East District and Nzema West which is also referred to as Jomoro District of Ghana. Their language is also known as Nzima (in Ghana) or Appolo (in the Ivory Coast).

The Nzema are mostly farmers. According to their traditional calendar, days are ordered in cycles of seven, and these in turn follow each other in a three-week cycle. A religious kundum festival is held annually all over the Ahanta-Nzema area, starting in the easternmost part of Ahanta and advancing southwestward. Among other things, this festival is the main occasion on which the satirical avudewene songs are performed by young men. Lineage among the Nzema is matrilineal.

The Area was part of the Empire of Denkyira and later Ashanti.

The pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah was an Nzema. The European trained philosopher of the eighteenth century, Anton Wilhelm Amo, was of the Nzema people.

See also

  • Aby lagoon
  • Assongu, a spirit force worshipped by the peoples of this area, represented in terracotta figurines to which offerings are presented.

References

  • Burmeister, Jonathan L. 1976. "A comparison of variable nouns in Anyi-Sanvi and Nzema."
  • Egya-Blay. 1987. "Changing patterns of authority over children among the Western Nzema."
  • Grottanelli, Vinigi L. (1988) The python killer: stories of Nzema life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Rowson, Hilary M. 1987. "Health and the gods in contemporary Nzema thought."
  • Valsecchi, Pierluigi (1999) "Calendar and the annual festival in Nzema: notes on time and history", Africa (Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), 54, 4, 489-513.
  • Valsecchi, Pierluigi (2001) "The 'true Nzema': a layered identity", Africa (International Africa Institute), 71, 3, 391-425.

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