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Land, lineage and clan in early Anlo1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Sandra E. Greene
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Extract

According to G. K. Nukunya, the contemporary social organization of the Aŋlɔ Eve—a people located in the southeastern corner of the Republic of Ghana—is ‘based on a [segmentary] lineage system … generalized at a higher level in clanship.’ (Nukunya 1969:20). The clan or hlɔ is the largest social unit in the Aŋlɔ social system and is defined as a group of males and females who observe the same totems and taboos, worship the gods of the particular clans to which they belong, and who claim to be the descendants, through approximately eight to ten generations, of a common putative male ancestor. Fifteen clans, dispersed throughout the towns, villages and hamlets of Aŋlɔ are recognized by the traditional political authorities as part of the hlɔ system. They include the Lafe, Amlade, Adzovia, Bate, Like, Bame, Klevi, Tovi, Tsiame, Agave, Ame, Dzevi, Vifeme, Detsofe and Blu.

Resumé

Terres et clans chez les Aŋlɔ

Cet article a trait aux origines historiques du système de clans Aŋlɔ-Ewé. Si l'on en croit un ensemble de traditions Aŋlɔ relatives aux origines du clan, cette unité sociale se serait développée à la suite d'un accroissement naturel du nombre des lignages segmentaires patrilinéaires rattachés à un ancêtre donné. Il apparaît cependant que cette perspective n'est guère satisfaisante et Ton examine une autre explication mentionnée dans les traditions. La seconde version, analysée à la lumière d'une documentation européenne, indique que la formation de clans a eu lieu vers la fin du 17ème siècle et le début du 18ème. L'auteur utilise ces indications comme point de départ afin d'analyser les évènements qui auraient déclenché le processus de formation de clans chez les Aŋlɔ-Ewé au cours de cette période. On montre qu'à la fin du 17ème siècle et au début du 18ème, un nombre indéterminé de réfugiés pénétra dans la zone, grossissant ainsi la population de l'époque en pays Aŋlɔ. Les techniques culturales alors en usage ne permirent pas cependant de réaliser une intensification ou une expansion correspondante de la production agricole. Devant la menace possible d'une pécnurie de terres arables, le système de clans fut élaboré, prévalant alors sur l'organisation sociale déjà en place et règlementant l'accés à toutes les terres cultivables de la zone Aŋlɔ de l'époque. L'organisation sociale dans son ensemble ne subit que quelques transformations mineures et lorsque les Aŋlɔ prolongèrent leur expansion de l'autre côté de la lagune de Keta (cette vaste étendue d'eau au nord de la cotê Aŋlɔ) entre 1730 et 1742, les clans (localisés à l'origine) se dispersérent: on aboutit ainsi à la situation présente où l'on trouve des membres de clans dans les villes, les villages et les hameaux du pays Aŋlɔ actuel.

Type
Comparative studies of the Ewe
Information
Africa , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 451 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1981

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