Paper short abstract:

By tracing the events of the 1930 asafo riot in Apam, a fishing town in the Gold Coast Colony, this paper will explore the interaction between historical memory and violence in reshaping the urban landscape.

Paper long abstract:

On the 26th of September, 1930, at least forty five men, women, and children were killed during a riot in the fishing town of Apam in the South-West of the Gold Coast Colony. This traumatic event was instigated by the two asafo companies of the town, semi-voluntary associations of men, fulfilling social, religious, and once military functions. The fire which raged during the civil disturbance destroyed 64 houses, trapping many of the inhabitants inside and disrupting the borders marking asafo territory. Subsequent resettlement by one asafo company expanded the confines of Apam town. This riot is typical of the turmoil caused by asafo companies within Fante speaking communities under British colonial rule. Such events are often depicted in the existing literature as the activities of delinquent youth in the first instance, and proto-nationalist resistance in the second. Yet once situated within its cultural context, this episode of violence can be seen to draw upon ritual aspects of an imagined past, in order to renegotiate the urban landscape inhabited by the asafo companies of Apam. The presence of ancestral spirits and military gods within inter-company riots emphasizes the symbiotic interaction between historical memory and violence. That this violence took place at the invisible borders between asafo quarters, containing shrines and company posts, speaks to the contested nature of space within the coastal town. Moving beyond established understanding of asafo activity, this paper will therefore demonstrate the power of both ritual and physical violence in reimagining and reformulating local processes of urbanization.