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Paper short abstract:

The kundum/abisa is the traditional festival in the Ahanta and Nzema areas of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The celebration asserts a common ancestral unity ecompassing the region, providing at the same time a ‘palimpsest’ upon which relations between groups and the territory are constantly rewritten.

Paper long abstract:

The kundum or abisa festival is presently the most important 'traditional' annual recurrence in the Ahanta and Nzema speaking areas of southwest Ghana and south-east Côte d’Ivoire. This itinerant celebration follows an east-west route, involving all the Paramountcies between Sekondi, in Ghana, and Grand Bassam, in Côte d’Ivoire. The festival cycle is a constant assertion of a common ancestral unity ecompassing the region, providing at the same time a ‘palimpsest’ upon which actual relations between groups and between groups and the territory are constantly rewritten. On both sides of the International border, the festival is a highly visible political stage, where power games are vividly acted out by local and national leaders, through their active involvement, mere presence or emphatic absence. It is also the occasion in which existing divisions in local society and conflicts between groups and individuals inevitably come to the foreground. Indeed, during the celebration expressions of discontent and harsh criticism towards established powers are customarily expected and strongly encouraged. An exquisite domain of Chieftaincy, kundum/abisa provides a unique perspective that helps us to understand current and long-term local and transborder dynamics, including the recent, macroscopic revival (or reification) of ‘traditional authorities’ in the Nzema speaking areas of Côte d’Ivoire.