Visual icons and the Akan concept of proverb authorship

Is it ever possible to trace a proverb's authorship in a predominantly illiterate community?

Even in written traditions where authorship of a literary proverb would seem to present little difficulty, proverb scholars have often expressed skepticism. The likelihood of individual authorship based on collective wisdom is indeed the conventional position assumed in paremiology. This crystallizes in Lord Russell's oft-quoted reference to the proverb as "The wisdom of many, and the wit of one." Archer Taylor states:

J. O. Hertzler reinforces the point by Taylor and Russell as follows:

Similarly, Alexander Krappe states, "Every proverb was coined just once in a given locality at a given time by one mind with some gnomic talent." [3]

Raymond Firth, on the other hand, gives a more dynamic formulation of the process of proverb composition. He posits three processes: 1) concrete formulation by one individual; 2) acceptance by the people at large as being appropriate to a more general situation; 3) possible modification of phraseology or meaning with the passing of time. [4]

In formulating the process of proverb composition, however, it has not been easy specifying authors of proverbs. Archer Taylor, for instance, states that the search for a proverb's inventor in written lore "is often an idle task." [5]

In the scholarship on orally expressed proverbs, uncertainty about proverb composers is even more evident, owing to the evanescence of verbal art. B. J. Whiting in his excellent essay on the origin of proverbs refers to the study of Malagasy proverbs where sayings are noted to have been "fathered upon an individual long dead." [6] In another case, he notes a collector who professes to know the authors of several of the proverbs he cites, "but does not give specific information." [7] Raymond Firth in his account of Maori proverbs also refers to the acknowledgement of proverb authors by the Maori, yet this is not expatiated upon. [8]

The above perceptions of authorship evidently neglect to consider indigenous notions. Among the Akan of Ghana, the handling of context is enshrined in the notion of proverb authorship, as will be seen in the art of the professional proverb custodian. Before this is examined, let's take a brief look at authorship acknowledgement in Africa.

There are three ways in which proverb authors have been known to be acknowledged in Africa: a) the general ascription of proverbs to the realm of ancestry and elderhood by the speaker; b) instances of Wellerism, whereby proverb authorship or utterance is attributed to an animal, plant, or an imaginary human entity. In this case, the message or irony in the proverb is effectively realized only in relation to the entity to which the proverb is ascribed. Examples abound among the Yoruba and the Akan. [9] c) A third type of authorship acknowledgement is where specific individuals are named as authors.

Among the Kassena of Ghana, the phenomenon of naming proverb authors is institutionalized in one tradition of the proverb. This culture has two proverb traditions: a) Sinsera refers to any memorable statement whose utterance is followed by the authorship acknowledgement. Such a statement often belongs to a category of utterances whose authors may long be dead, yet have their names permanently suffixed to the compositions each time they are uttered. b) The second type of proverb among the Kassena is the one known the world over. [10]

Acknowledgement of proverb authors in situations of proverb use is common among the Akan. The discussion of this would partly involve examining the art of the proverb custodian, which would lead to a clearer conception of the notion of proverb authorship.

Acknowledgement of proverb authors

Besides attributing proverbs to indefinite sources, proverb speakers in Akan may use an introductory formula ascribing the proverb's authorship to a specific individual, dead or living, known to the speaker. The formula used is, " ... na obuu ne be se," "It's ... who spoke his proverb that...." In this case, the referent specified in the formula is proclaimed as the exclusive "owner" of the proverb or saying. The case here is different from the instances where a speaker only reports a statement or proverb used by another without assigning authorship. In that case, the possessive pronoun (ne) is dropped.

In the assignment of authorship, the possessive pronoun is emphasized, and the proverb or saying is referred to as authored by the named individual. The truth or otherwise in this claim is often hardly contested on the scene of the use, and the saying itself may or may not have been heard attributed by other speakers to other authors.

Proverb authorship is assigned by the speaker to a third party under the following conditions: a) if the speaker knows nobody else apart from his source to have ever used the proverb; b) if the source is known by the speaker to have exclusively displayed fondness for that proverb or its effective usage; and c) if the source is really known in the community to have composed the proverb or uttered it for the first time.

The relevant proverb may be completely new to the acknowledging speaker, or it may be an interesting embellishment of a known proverb. The use of the exclusive authorship formula often demonstrates the humility of the speaker, indicating the source from which the proverb has been passed on to him.

The acknowledgement of authors of oral lore is not peculiar to the proverb tradition. In folktale performances, repetitive performances by a specific teller may lead to a complete identification of the tale with the performer, and regular audiences may refer to the tale as his own. In this case, besides a performer's fondness for the tale, he may also be its best performer.

In all the instances of proverb acknowledgement mentioned so far, the supposed authors themselves do not necessarily confirm the claim. In the case of the proverb, the alleged authors are often not present on the scene when their creative skills are announced by others.

This is not to say Akan composers of proverbs or epigrams never acknowledge or celebrate their ingenuity. When a speaker, on the spur of the moment, has composed "his" proverb, uttered or refurbished an effective statement of general truth in significant moments, he may register this with a proverb custodian if there is one in his locality.

The self-proclaimed proverb author creates a visual icon of his proverb or interesting saying in the form of an appropriate artifact, handy object, or design, and takes it to the proverb custodian. The latter adds the proverb icon to his collection, all staked serially on a string.

The iconic mode of representing a proverb readily brings to mind the more institutionalized visual proverbs: in textiles, on royal staves, umbrellas, etc. Unlike the latter, however, visual icons used by proverb composers are not integrated into utilitarian artifacts.

Further, while the institutionalized icons are made of durable material and have public meanings, the improvised proverb icons are less durable and not as self explanatory, partly due to their relative novelty and open-endedness.

The proverb objects are often lightweight, and depict the key image in the proverb composed. They range from a string of beads, carved spoon, snail shell, to cowries.

The following are examples of the objects and what they denote. Some of the proverbs represented are relatively long.

After the proverb author has presented his proverb icon, he pays a fee and is put through an interview in which he provides his social data: name, hometown, profession, and more importantly, the circumstances under which the proverb was triggered.

The author's personal data as well as the situation in which he used the proverb enable the custodian to give a full situational account of the proverb in his subsequent public accounts. The custodian makes a public performance out of the proverb icons, in which he educates the public about lessons to be drawn from the proverbs.

Here is an example of a verse from a custodian's narration:

The link between the self claim to authorship and the situational context that triggered the proverb needs some elaboration owing to its theoretical implications. First, there is a suggestion that all the proverbs in the custodian's corpus may have been formulated in the context of ongoing discourse interaction. Secondly, and more important, self pride in proverb authorship is linked with the emotional significance of the situation that triggered the proverb. To the proverb author, the depth of the crisis that triggered the proverb is as important as the novelty of the proverb composed; the two are inseparable.

Indeed, almost all the proverbs in the custodian's corpus were evidently triggered under conditions of stress and adversity— family feuds, litigation, marriage conflicts, envy, womb infertility, divorce, spouse neglect, bewitching, etc. Proverbs that were formulated in situations of harmony or self satisfaction are rare in the corpus of the proverb custodian. Even though proverbs may be skillfully used or composed in situations of concord, self pride in authorship claims is not as great, since there was no prior threat to social stability. The close link between stressful context and proverb creativity is further objectified in the origins of the art of keeping track of new proverbs.

Origins

It is hard to trace the genesis of the art of keeping track of new proverbs. Equally indeterminate is the current extent of the practice in other parts of Africa and the world. Yet there has been evidence that this has been known for over a century in Ghana and other parts of West Africa.

A late 19th-century account of a British explorer of West Africa, Mary Kingsley, refers to a parallel phenomenon in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Cameroon, and Ghana (Accra). Referring to the custodians as minstrels, Kingsley states:

There is no doubt that it is the public performance of the proverb custodian that is depicted by Mary Kingsley here.

In Ghana, this practice currently prevails in Ashanti, Eastern region and Brong-Ahafo regions, and parts of the Central region, all of which are Akan speaking areas. Some of the proverb custodians also work in Accra, the nation's capital. Among them the best known is Onyansafo Kwaku Agyei, whose skillful performances earned him the title, Onyansafo, the Sage.

Even though Agyei began his art in the Eastern region, he has travelled extensively, and is now based in Accra. He took over the art from his aging grandfather in 1949, and has performed for over forty years. His own nephew, who understudied him, has also matured and works independently.

The crisis and context-oriented nature of proverb authorship is evident in the way the practice began in Agyei's neighborhood in his youthful days. In a small community up the Kwahu mountains plagued with family and lineage feuds, verbal exchanges between litigants found a safe conduit in a proverbial wit. Since the issues often contested were emotionally significant to the litigants, a practice was cultivated whereby proverbs newly composed or effectively formulated during conflicting interactions were quickly represented in visual form, and tied to a string stretched across the backyard. That way, according to Agyei, the author's moments of stress and despair and the creative expressions that were utilized to contain them were made permanent.

At sunset, Agyei's grandfather would then go to the backyard, take each proverb object and recount its history and situational context, in the hope that the original target on whom the proverb was inflicted, if he was present, would be constantly reminded of his folly and, hopefully, mend his ways. This didactic ideal was often not realized, though.

The custodian recounts countless instances where the secondary performance worsened tensions. In his own performances, for example, there have been instances where the original target of the proverb on hearing the public performance has confronted the custodian, and threatened him or demanded a withdrawal of the proverb icon, since the revelation of social and situational contexts during the public performance unduly advertised private and domestic affairs.

Besides this, not all the proverbs were spoken in the spirit of correction. Some were spoken in moments of self-reflection, while others were uttered with a view to sharpening existing hostilities or letting off steam.

Structure and Content

The custodian's public performances follow a pattern. An individual in the audience makes a request, pointing to an object on the string that arouses his curiosity. For this he pays a fee. The custodian then holds up the relevant icon, and rapidly declaims in the following structural sequence:

1. Proverb author's identity

2. Proverb

3. Original context of usage/explanation

4. Proverb repeated in conclusion.

Each narration then constitutes a well structured stanza that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The author mentioned may or may not be alive. Where his death is known, the custodian refers to it. The author's name is sometimes followed by his profession or trade; then follows his town of origin or place of work. The proverb is then cited followed by the original context of use, or its explanation. At the end of the stanza, the proverb is repeated to round off that particular performance.

Marital conflict has provided a fitting context for many of the proverbs in the custodian's corpus. Consider the following, represented by a sponge:

In this situation, the proverb is authored by a woman when her son suffers disappointment in a succession of marriages. The woman then comments proverbially on her son's desperate return to his first wife. The woman's proverb throws light on the event through a metaphorical comparison with a tendency in life whereby the absence of alternatives compels one to settle for an odd find.

In another situation where a man returns to a woman he has thrice divorced, the woman, A.H., composes a proverb that portrays marriage as an enigma. The proverb is represented by a bone. Part of the account runs as follows:

Hostilities between kinsmen and even chiefs have triggered proverb compositions. In the following example, represented by a palm kernel, a woman chides her brother as a coward who avoids quarrelling with his male peers, but always picks on the weaker sex.

In the above, the specific issue that led to the court action is not addressed. The proverb author digresses and draws attention instead to the gender disparity between them, which she accuses the co-litigant of having exploited to advantage.

Child mortality and womb infertility have also led to proverb use or composition. The following, represented by a padlock, is an example:

Some of the contexts surrounding proverbs are intrinsically humorous and erotic, and the custodian often takes advantage and moves the audience to hilarious laughter. In the following account, represented by a palm branch (standing for hammock), the custodian adds his own words of advice, to create good humor:

Problems of Novelty

How authentic is the alleged novelty of the proverbs in the custodian's corpus? Were the proverbs first composed by the self-proclaimed authors? If so how widespread are they? These issues are, of course, of major concern to the scholar testing the diagnostic criteria of traditionality and creativity. These concerns are significant, even if problematic.

They raise first the question of the proverbiality of new proverbs and their traditionality. But the juxtaposition of these two issues poses a basic paradox, particularly if we consider the ideal of the proverb scholar that a "witty saying does not become a proverb until it has been accepted by popular tradition."

The paradox of this is that while a completely new "proverb" cannot be called a proverb because it may not have sunk into popular tradition, a proverb that has been widely acclaimed can no longer be considered new. Besides this, how general must a proverb's acceptance be? In any case, the issue of proverbiality is basically culture-specific, and boils down to the question, "Do members of the culture recognize the new form as a proverb?"

Items in the repertoire of the proverb custodian depict self-contained utterances, ranging from abstract statements, first person reflective statements, to complex impersonal metaphors generally following the pattern of Akan proverbs. Owing to their attribution to specific authors, they are known as asesesem be, "proverbial sayings of others," as against ebe, proverb. The emphasis in the expression is on the attributive quality of the sayings, the fact that they are not of anonymous authorship.

Some of the sayings are less known, and had not been heard by the present writer. Others are very well known, and have been heard used by other speakers. It must be admitted, though, that at least two of the proverbs are noted in Rattray's book of Akan proverbs, published in 1914, [13] which are in turn translations of J. G. Christaller's proverb compilations published in 1879. [14]

Significant though this fact is, its converse is equally important. An overwhelming majority of proverbs in the custodian's corpus are not listed in the compilations, which were published long before the custodian started his art in 1949. The relative novelty of a major part of the custodian's corpus can therefore not be ruled out.

Whether the alleged composers knew the proverbs prior to uttering them is hard to tell. Equally difficult is the researcher's access to the alleged composers. Attempts by me to trace two of the alleged authors failed, since there is often a good number of individuals in the same ward bearing the same name as the alleged author.

In one case, the alleged author had, in fact, used his new proverb in a popular song, then registered it with the custodian. None of the experienced informants to whom I spoke had heard the proverb before the singer used it. The singer himself later confirmed to me that he composed the proverb himself and registered it.

Two of the proverbs in the corpus are the custodian's own. He said he had not heard them before. Some of the proverbs may have been complete novelties at the time of registration, and sunk into popular tradition through constant public enactment by the custodian. This is most likely since the proverbs narrated by the custodian are not cited in isolation, but are often given their full contextual complement, which should facilitate future use by others. Others may have been patterned after known proverbs. A few possibly may have been heard by the alleged authors before their claim. The relevant factor in the authorship claim is the relative novelty of the crisis that triggered its use.

Here, we have a situation where the analytical projection of the relationship between context and proverb creativity is objectified. To this extent, the proverb scholar need not dig into a people's history or literary records in search of a proverb's author. Proverb authors among the Akan and other cultures of Africa are not necessarily elderly sages with rare compository skills. They are the farmer, pedestrian, litigant, driver, auto mechanic, and all creative users of language, who instinctively respond to crises by reinforcing, embellishing, transforming, creating, and recreating the nuances of traditional speech.

Proverb authorship is not an isolated phenomenon; from the ethnic viewpoint, it is definitionally anchored in the context of usage. Even though perceived as the product of one man's wit, proverb authorship among the Akan straddles between a single man's wit, and the wit of many.

1. Archer Taylor, "Problems in the Study of the Proverb," Journal of American Folklore 47 (1934), 10.

2. J. O. Hertzler, "Social Wisdom of the Primitives, with Special Reference to their Proverbs," Social Forces XI (1933), 316.

3. Alexander Krappe, The Science of Folklore. (London: Metheun & Co., 1930), 143.

4. Raymond Firth, "Proverbs in the Native Life with Particular Reference to those of the Maori," Folklore 37 (1926), 263.

5. Taylor, op. cit., 10.

6. B. J. Whiting, "The Origin of the Proverb," Harvard Studies and Notes XIII (1931), 70.

7. Ibid.

8. Firth, op. cit., 258.

9. See Alan Dundes, "Yoruba Wellerisms, Dialogue Proverbs and Tongue Twisters," Folklore 75 (1964), 113-120.

10. Information about the Kassena was obtained from Albert Awedoba of the University of Ghana.

11. Full names of the proverb authors have been left out to protect their full identities, since the contexts in which the sayings are anchored reveal private domestic affairs.

12. Mary Kingsley, West African Studies. (London: Frank Cass Co. Ltd., 1964) First published by Macmillan Co. Ltd., 1899, 126.

13. R. S. Rattray, Akan-Ashanti Proverbs. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916).

14. J. G. Christaller, Tshi Proverbs. (Basel: Evangelical Missionary Society, 1879).

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