The Economic Implications of Transformations in Akan Funeral Rites

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Periodical article

Title:	The Economic Implications of Transformations in Akan Funeral Rites
Author:	Arhin, Kwame
Year:	1994
Periodical:	Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:	64
Issue:	3
Pages:	307-322
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	Akan death rites Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160783
Abstract:	This article discusses two related questions: 1) the persistence and increase in scale of funeral rites among the Akan, more particularly the Asante, in Ghana, both in the colonial and the postcolonial period; and 2) the relationship of the increasing expenditure on funeral rites to today's economy. The author describes the essentials of Akan funeral rites and the transformations that have taken place since the first phase of colonial rule (1896-1930). He suggests that Akan funeral rites have been transformed into an institution of economic and social rather than religious significance in response to changes in the economy, society and material culture of the Akan over the last century. Far from being economically wasteful, they fuel economic activities that are on balance beneficial. It is the combination of economic and social utility that sustains, and even enhances, the scale of the performance of the rites. App., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.