Asafo companies originated several centuries ago among the Akan peoples of southern Ghana as military organizations. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century accounts by Muller (1662-1699, in Jones 1983), de Marees (1602), Ogilby (1987 [1670]), Bosman (1967 [1705]), and Barbot (1732; see also Hair, Jones & Law 1992) are replete with references to well-organized warrior groups established on the Gold Coast whose members were sometimes hired by Europeans as auxiliary soldiers. (1) Today, however, asafo vary in membership, organization, and function especially among the Fante, an Akan people who live along the coast. Fante asafo have become sociopolitical entities involved in the enstoolment and destoolment of chiefs, the celebration of festivals, and other community activities.
Membership is patrilineal: each Fante child joins his or her father's asafo. (2) These agnatic groups are often the basis of town wards, as a company's members tend to reside in a particular area, which they regard as an exclusive zone. (3) Depending on historical exigencies, a town may have several asafo companies, each with its own ward. In that situation, intratown asafo rivalry complicates the usual competition with asafo from other towns.
The History and Use of Flags
Asafo adopted certain European military practices such as marching in formation, identifying companies by name and number, and carrying and saluting flags. Of the various artworks and regalia used in Fante asafo performances, the most important are the flags, which are made in applique or painted or drawn on cloth, and measure approximately three to six feet wide and four to eight feet or more in length. They are the company's soul and embodiment and are included in all its activities. Members swear to defend their flags, which represent and document the asafo's specific culture and history.
These emblematic works were inspired by European examples. In the seventeenth century, Fante asafo used flags both in ceremony and in war. For example, Adam Jones notes that between 1602 and 1669, the people of the Fante town of Fetu would carry the flag of their king and overlord to a festival (Jones 1983:168). In 1679 warriors near Fort Fredericksburgh performed a dance for John Barbot, a Dutch agent at Cape Coast, using a Danish flag (Barbot 1992:565). The Dutch Director-General Nuyts of Elimina reports on fighting men on the coast going on a military expedition in more than eighty canoes flying flags and banners (Ross 1979:14). Barbot mentions the Fante's martial use of European flags: "Those who lived under the protection of the whites always carry into battle a flag of the nation which defends them" (Barbot 1732:295). During the 1803 conflict with British traders, Cape Coast people hoisted "flags of defiance" (in Porter 1970:56). By the beginning of the nineteenth century, then, asafo flags had developed imagery whose meaning could be interpreted. By 1850 they had become a major source of conflict among the Fante companies (Cruickshank 1853).
Flags were also used, however, to establish friendships and cement relationships. Their presentation as gifts to Fante chiefs was a tradition that continued until the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1919 the colonial government ordered flags to be given out to head chiefs who had taken part in the celebration and promotion of peace on the Gold Coast. (4)
Today's flags are commissioned for several reasons. For his installation a safohin (head of an asafo subgroup) must order a flag whose theme usually reflects his ability to make a contribution to the collective heritage of the company; it may also be meant to replace an old flag. It may incorporate images of both past and current asafo leaders. When a leader dies, the flags that they used or commissioned or that bear their image become memorial objects and a means of soliciting the deceased's assistance in the company's activities. (5) The asafo as a group may also order new flags to commemorate special occasions, and individual supporters may commission one as a gift to a company. The content must adhere to the themes established by the asafo.
Typically the person who sews flags learned everyday tailoring skills as an apprentice, but he would not have worked on flags unless his master had received a commission that required his assistance. When a tailor is commissioned, he draws on his imaginative powers, his ability to represent images in his environment, and his knowledge of the values and meanings attached to them. In other cases he may copy an example provided by the asafo or follow the company's explanation or description.
The flag (frankaa) is danced by a frankaakitanyi (pl. frankaakitafo) in an athletic performance that involves somersaulting, spinning around, leaping in the air, and twirling the flag (Fig. 1). The display is well-choreographed, often simulating past battles and confrontations. The assikamba, the corps of people who guard the dancer, explain the content of the flag--shouting it to bystanders and drawing their attention to the flag. At the same time they act as crowd controllers. The asafo, with its …
