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| Title: | The king, his soul and the pastor: three views of a conflict in Akropong 1906-7 |
| Authors: | Gilbert, Michelle Jenkins, Paul |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
| Volume: | 38 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Pages: | 359-415 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | culture conflict missions Church and State Akwapim polity traditional rulers traders 1900-1909 |
| About persons: | Kwasi Akuffo (1863-1927) Kwasi Fianko (c. 1847-?) |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.1163/157006608X375516 |
| Abstract: | In 1906-1907, in Akwapim, a small kingdom in southern Ghana (then the Gold Coast), a bitter conflict occurred between the king, Nana Kwasi Akuffo, and Kwasi Fianko, a wealthy trader who had been appointed as the king's 'soul' ('okra') but who later decided to resign his position and rejoin the Christian community. Two detailed accounts addressed to the Basel Mission were written, one in English by an indigenous pastor (Theophilus Opoku) in 1906, the other in German by his superior, a long-serving missionary (Wilhelm Rottmann), in 1909. They recount the conflict, the negotiations that ensued, and the complex relations between the king and the Basel Mission community. These reports depict the ambitions and the everyday conduct of a poor king and a wealthy commoner, the one a non-Christian and the other a Christian, in the early years of the twentieth century. They also describe the position of the 'soul' in an Akan court, and the central importance of money in a kingdom lacking important natural resources. The English text of both reports is included in this paper. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
