Kabacouture: Women As Common Good: Emmanuel Akyeampong

- coastal life and corruption-
kabaCouture:
Women as Common Good
while men in exile in a time of peace and no war
- the comforts of home away from home.
on modernity and self-invention on the war front -
on the lack of community, identity and ritual.
the role of public women
in port cities and industrial towns
on the Atlantic Gold Coast.
highlighting work
written and copyrighted by
Emmanuel Akyeampong
Sexuality and Prostitution
among the Akan of the Gold Coast
c. 1650-1950
The Past and Present Society
bit.ly.kabaCOUTURE
… the young men (mancevos) and the chiefs or elders (caboceroes), two important political constituencies in the Akan oman
(community or polity). The political and economic significance of these public women in such communities …
Written in 1997 by Emmanuel Akyeampong - S exuality and Prostitution among the Akan of the Gold Coast c. 1650-1950
Jean Barbot described etiguafou (prostitutes) as

'distinguished from the others by their fine appearance
and their clothing'.
… Everything she gains in this way she must hand to the Kabasero,
and in return she enjoys the liberty of being allowed to take any food,
whether it stands in someone's house or in the market, for her sustenance,
and nobody may prevent her from doing so, upon a fixed penalty.
An Accurate Description of African Places -
Olfert Dapper - 1668
This essay focuses on the Akan, although references are made to

other southern peoples in the Gold Coast, especially the Ga-Adangme
and the Ewe. The Akan constitute the largest ethnic group in
present-day Ghana.
'fetish women' slaves bought by wealthy men

and women and given as gifts to the public. ... In a sense, the public
woman was the 'wife' of the bachelors of the community.
A. Van der Eb, the General Director of the Dutch West India Company in
the Gold Coast, actually described public women in Ahanta as 'fetish
women' in his 1851 memorandum on the customs of this region. They were
slaves bought by wealthy men and women and given as gifts to the public.
His description of their initiation emphasizes its religious overtones and
parallels with marriage rites. These slaves, as soon as they reached
marriageable age, were initiated by the priests and priestesses. They were
made available to every man for the payment of a small amount in
gold-dust, except for the men who first slept with them after the initiation.
… Everything she gains in this way she must hand to the Kabasero, and in return she enjoys the liberty of being allowed to take any
food, whether it stands in someone's house or in the market, for her sustenance, and nobody may prevent her from doing so, upon a
fixed penalty. - An Accurate Description of African Places - O lfert Dapper - 1668
1
Women had long been aware of the intimate connection

between political patronage and wealth in Akan society. The Baasi
Community presented what was definitely a radically altered version
of the institution of public women for official approval.
In the 1950s, Ataa Baasi joined the commoners' party, the Convention
People's Party, in the nationalist struggle for independence." Maybe
renewed political recognition for institutions such as hers would come with
an independent African government.
In 1943, the District Commissioner for Kumasi forwarded a petition to the

Chief Commissioner for Asante from Ataa Baasi, headwoman of the
'Baasifuo Community', an organized band of prostitutes living in and around
Odum street in Kumasi. The group sought recognition from the colonial
government: After the [restoration of the] Ashanti Confederacy [1935], we
did not hide ourselves.
It certainly fit into the social structure of the old Akan state. The
Asantehene entrusted it to the care of a sub-chief. The irony of the situation
lies in the fact that the Baasifuo Community had turned cultural norms that
recognized male sexual needs and denied the existence of similar needs
among females to the service of female accumulation. It was a subtle play
on female dependence in an era when they were probably anything but
dependent. Women had long been aware of the intimate connection
between political patronage and wealth in Akan society.
The Baasi Community presented what was definitely a radically altered

version of the institution of public women for official approval. In the 1950s,
Ataa Baasi joined the commoners' party, the Convention People's Party, in
the nationalist struggle for independence." Maybe renewed political
2
recognition for institutions such as hers would come with an independent

African government.
It is significant that in the power vacuum between 1896 and 1935 there is
no record of prostitutes seeking such official recognition. When the British
government restored the Asante confederacy in 1935, an obvious shadow
of its former self, the Asantehene sought to extend his jurisdiction through
symbolic acts meaningful to residents of the Gold Coast.
mmarima ni ho a, mmaa basia yi won ho kyere -

- when men are absent, women expose their nudity
Even the interior, predominantly rural, state of Sefwi Wiawso - in the wake
of mechanized mining, road construction and cocoa production - was
transformed into a bustling hive of economic and social activity in the 1920s
and 1930s. Incidence of venereal disease increased phenomenally, and
prostitutes were blamed for this development. Penelope Roberts has
summed up the situation: The introduction of cocoa had provoked new
conflicts between spouses leading to 'wife-stealing' and desertion by wives.
The crisis in the rural economy coincided with an upsurge of opportunities
for trade for some women. The association between trade and prostitution
and the spread of venereal disease were seen as results of these conflicts."
Crucial in this gender crisis in Sefwi Wiawso was, again, the struggle to
control female labour through the institution of marriage, which had little
material return for wives. The colonial economy generated different types of
economic opportunities for men and women, which fed into the existing
division of labour by sex and the separate property interests of spouses.
Female accumulation strengthened female sexual autonomy, enabling
women to prune the male-dominated institution of marriage. Not
coincidentally, female accumulation, female sexual autonomy, prostitution,
venereal disease and witchcraft were seen to be connected. Successful
3
female traders were often accused of witchcraft and the epithet 'UAC' came
to embrace not only prostitutes involved in accumulation, but also traders
suspected of witchcraft. The early twentieth century with its rapid
socio-economic change, and the concomitant gender 'crisis', supported the
numerous anti-witchcraft cults that proliferated in the Gold Coast.
From the standard charge of 2s.,

prostitutes in Ghana earned the epithet
of 'two-two' women.
Perhaps more revealing of popular perceptions of this new mode of

accumulation were the names that people in Sekondi-Takoradi assigned to
prostitutes. The older group of prostitutes, constituted mostly of Krus and
Ibos, were called 'UAC' after the United African Company, an old expatriate
company that dominated the commercial life of the Gold Coast. The new
and younger group of prostitutes were named 'Leventis' after the expatriate
company A. G. Leventis. It is significant that these companies controlled
the commercial life of Sekondi-Takoradi.
The UAC were led by a Cape Coast woman called Akwele and the Leventis
by the Nzima woman, Lamle. Notwithstanding these definite changes in the
nature of urban prostitution in the colonial Gold Coast, there were also
interesting continuities from the pre-colonial era in the spatial location of
prostitutes, the use of ritual and the perceived need for spiritual protection,
and the desire of prostitutes for official affiliation or recognition. From the
descriptions of public women in the pre-colonial Gold Coast, it appears that
they often lived on the outskirts of villages and towns. They occupied
distinct, separate spaces from the local inhabitants of a community.
Prostitutes in the colonial Gold Coast, likewise, lived on the boundaries of
towns. Elderly informants have confirmed this for Sekondi.
4
Mensah's account confirmed that most prostitutes were outsiders, but also
that they were beginning to attract indigenous women through their
independence and their glamourous lifestyle. Even more importantly, in
male-dominated, working-class centres like Sekondi-Takoradi, prostitutes
were considered eligible marriage partners. The absence of social barriers
between 'prostitutes' and 'respectable women' in working-class leisure
activities in Sekondi-Takoradi facilitated the exchange of beliefs and
mannerisms.
Social life in Takoradi in the 1930s and 1940s revolved around spots like
Columbia Hotel, famous for its dances. The 'Liberian Bar', owned by a
Liberian in Takoradi, was another active social spot in the 1930s and
1940s. Krus were excellent drummers and guitar players, and they had a
first-rate brass band in Takoradi, the 'Taboo Brass Band'. As prostitutes
and non- prostitutes patronized these places, mannerisms were
exchanged. The ability to chew gum and make it snap was introduced into
Sekondi-Takoradi by Kru women, but it expanded to become the badge of
female nonchalance. With their social drinking at popular bars and their
fashionable clothing, Kru and Nigerian women became the pace-setters
where female autonomy was concerned. Central to the alluring image of
prostitution in urban Gold Coast was the fact that these women were
accumulating wealth for themselves.
In 1925, Kadri English, headman of the Hausa community in Ussher Town,

in the centre of the colonial capital of Accra, wrote to the District
Commissioner of Accra concerning his uneasiness about the increase in
prostitution among Hausa women. It was an important opportunity for him
to express his definition of Hausa social identity: As you are aware Sir,
chastity is essential in Mohammadanism especially among women;
5
prostitution is a thing outside our creed - good Hausa women who were
living good lives in Northern Nigeria change for the worse on arrival on the
Gold Coast colony in which evil influences are somewhat paramount. He
wisely linked his petition to colonial concerns about health and finances:
Venereal disease is too common among my people and unless a law is
enacted by you or the authorities enforcing the repatriation of all Hausa
women without husbands to their homes, immorality will be on the
ascendant and indubitably defy the praise-worthy endeavours of the Health
Officers.
As colonialism, the proliferation of towns and the extension of the market

economy changed power relations, demography and the economy of the
Gold Coast, women found more spaces within the emerging social order to
assert their autonomy, to accumulate wealth on their own, and to define
marriage and what they expected of it. Prostitution was one of several
options available to migrant women in towns. Urban prostitutes in the
colonial Gold Coast definitely differed from the abrakree or abelcre of the
south-west Akan, but striking parallels in their modus operandi suggest that
we need to look for continuities in the cultural norms that underpinned
gender relations and examine the role of the state as a mediator.
Pieter de Marees (1602) believed coastal Akan women to be prone to

'whoredom', and especially promiscuous where Dutchmen were concerned.
Jean Barbot described etiguafou (prostitutes) as 'distinguished from the
others by their fine appearance and their clothing'." Bosman also
mentioned Elmina, Fetu, Asebu and Fantyn (Fante?) women who
dispensed sexual favours for a negotiated price.
6
How these economic and legal opportunities in the colonial Gold Coast
intersected with changing notions of sexuality - especially through
prostitution and leisure activities among migrants in towns - to reshape
female expectations in marriage is a promising line of inquiry. The interwar
period was, in particular, an era of active social exchange between urban
and rural areas. The exploitation of female labour was crucial in the
economic transformation that underpinned the rise of the Gold Coast as the
world's leading producer of cocoa by 1918. In their various capacities as
pawns - as wives, daughters and nieces - women provided unpaid
agricultural labour on cocoa farms and served as porters in carrying cocoa
bags from interior farms to coastal merchants." From being exploited,
unpaid labour, women - even in the rural areas where indirect rule had
re-empowered male elders - gradually found openings in the colonial
economy and asserted their autonomy through establishing their own
cocoa and food farms. Rural women increasingly withdrew their labour from
exploitative husbands and uncles. Sexuality, marital obligations and the
concept of family in matrilineal Akan societies, became fiercely contested.
Whether rural-urban contacts and the sexual autonomy of migrant women
in towns, including prostitutes, contributed to the radicalization of rural
women (for example, through their trips to coastal towns as porters) in their
relations with men has not been explored.
In the Obubra Division of the Cross River Basin in Nigeria, young women
from the village of Efut fled 'into prostitution when they were asked to
engage in palm production'. For rural Atu women on the Kenyan coast,
prostitution and marriage existed in a dialectical relationship. The relative
proximity of the town of Mombasa, and a tradition of Atu prostitution in
Mombasa, enabled some women to reject unsatisfactory marital situations.
But this female empowerment had an adverse effect on marriage, for it
made the institution fragile.
7

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8
In addition, Jones perceptively highlighted the parallels

between the rites initiating the public women and puberty rites and
the installation of chiefs. …
As Eugenia Herbert has emphasized, 'sexuality is too powerful a force,

socially and cosmologically, to leave unregulated'. The Twi words for
promiscuity are revealing: nea edi afra or afuntumfra (that which is jumbled
or huddled together)." Promiscuity was perceived as something out of
place; it was an anomaly. Similarly, the Twi proverb, mmarima ni ho a,
mmaa basia yi won ho kyere (when men are absent, women expose their
nudity), expresses the Akan conviction that female sexuality must always
be controlled, obviously by male and female elders. The proper context for
the fulfilment of sexual desires was marriage, and monogamy and fidelity
were stressed for women. While the state of being single, asigyafo or
ahokwafo, applies to both adult men and women, Akan thought associates
this status with men. Men may defer marriage for financial reasons, but
adult women are expected to marry. Indeed, for women marriage defines
adulthood. Unmarried women were referred to through euphemisms - for
example, Nyame ayewa (God's little wife).
It is a reflection of the creativity of the Akan chiefdom or state, that the

sexual politics that pervaded the relations of elders and juniors could be
resolved through an institution of public women, an institution legitimated
and rendered unassailable through its parallels with the practices of
priesthood.
9
These men were obliged to pay a larger sum which was used for the
purchase of new girls for the profession. Of this fee, part was given to the
male or female owners. … In a sense, the public woman was the 'wife' of
the bachelors of the community.
These elements indicate strongly that the "whore" was far from
being close to her European analogue of a demi-mondaine. It is true
that she had no free will in choosing her job and her status was
probably very low.
These contradictions and tensions were resolved through the rituals that
surrounded the initiation of public women. The danger of their promiscuity
was spiritually neutralized. A woman's spirit (kra) has great influence on her
sexuality and procreation Indeed, Jones examined the etymology of the
label abrakree or abel(e)cre assigned to public women, and commented on
the possible combination of aba'a, abea (woman) and akyere (a person to
be sacrificed) - in Nzima akyere is akele - making the public women
religious sacrifices.
This helps to explain the need for the religious rituals that surrounded the
institution of public women. Pointing to the obvious ritual significance of -
inter alia - the blood sacrifice, the marking with hyire (white clay), the white
towel, and the initiate's position on a straw mat (in Dapper's account),
Jones concluded: These elements indicate strongly that the "whore" was
far from being close to her European analogue of a demi-mondaine. It is
true that she had no free will in choosing her job and her status was
10
probably very low. Nonetheless, the "foolish and ridiculous ceremonies"

did not have the purpose of humiliating her or treating her as an outcast.
Rather they served to integrate her and to give her a recognized position or
new status within the community. For that reason she had to be ritually
purified and subsequently displayed in public and celebrated.
The spiritual and social contradictions inherent in the functions of

public women were thus resolved through their initiation ceremonies.
The various accounts of public women also differ in important
respects. They could be purchased by chiefs, European governors,
wealthy men and women, or bachelors. They lived near
their masters' dwellings or on the outskirts of towns.

dispensed sexual favours for a negotiated price. Bowdich commented on
early nineteenth-century Asante practices: Prostitutes are numerous and
countenanced. No Ashantee forces his daughter to become the wife of the
man he wishes, but he instantly disclaims her support and protection on her
refusal, and would persecute the mother if she afforded it; thus abandoned,
they would have no resource but prostitution. We lack information on such
women to compare them with public women. But they were not slaves; they
were insiders with kinship ties who had been forced into prostitution
because they asserted their autonomy.
11
An Akan woman who refused to marry rejected the social ordering of the
Akan world, which, obviously, was very male-orientated. In the late 1920s
and 1930s, chiefs of villages in Sefwi Wiawso and Asante rounded up
spinsters, detained them, and insisted that they marry in the shortest
possible time.These contradictions and tensions were resolved through the
rituals that surrounded the initiation of public women. The danger of their
promiscuity was spiritually neutralized. A woman's spirit (kra) has great
influence on her sexuality and procreation Indeed, Jones examined the
etymology of the label abrakree or abel(e)cre assigned to public women,
and commented on the possible combination of aba'a, abea (woman) and
akyere (a person to be sacrificed) - in Nzima akyere is akele - making the
public women religious sacrifices.
probably very low. Nonetheless, the "foolish and ridiculous ceremonies" did
not have the purpose of humiliating her or treating her as an outcast.
new status within the community.
… it represented a public service. However, these public women

enjoyed the freedom to take goods or food from homes or the market-place
without fear of punishment. Bosman's description of public women in Axim,
almost four decades later, confirmed Dapper's earlier account, despite
some differences in detail: When the Mancevos find they want a common
whore, they go and petition the Caboceroes that they will please graciously
to buy one for the publick: upon which they buy a beautiful
12
female slave, or else the Mancevos buy one themselves.
The pre-colonial and colonial periods -

Gender relations and the changing political context.
Public women were often female slaves acquired by the political elite of
Akan villages and towns, and compelled to provide sexual services for the
local bachelors. Their institutionalized role - indeed, their very existence -
sheds important light on how perceptions of sexuality informed gender
relations.
It is noteworthy that even the nominal remuneration of the abrakree went to

the chief. The institution did not promote the accumulation of wealth
through the sale of sex; it represented a public service. However, these
public women enjoyed the freedom to take goods or food from homes or
the market-place without fear of punishment. Bosman's description of
public women in Axim, almost four decades later, confirmed Dapper's
earlier account, despite some differences in detail: When the Mancevos
find they want a common whore, they go and petition the Caboceroes that
they will please graciously to buy one for the publick: upon which they buy
a beautiful female slave, or else the Mancevos buy one themselves. The
woman no matter by whom she was bought, is brought to the publick
market-place, accompanied by another already experienced in that trade,
in order to instruct her how she should deport herself for the future: which
being perfectly accomplished, the Novice is smeared all over with earth,
and several offerings offered in order that she may be happy in her future
station and earn much Money. This over, a little Boy, yet immature for love
affairs, makes a feint or representation of lying with her before all the
people both young and old; by which 'tis hinted to her that from this time
forwards, she is obliged to receive all persons indistinguishable who offer
themselves to her, not excepting little boys. Then a little out of the way, a
hut is built for her; in which she is obliged to confine herself for eight or ten
days, and lye with every man who comes thither: After which, she obtains
the Honourable name of Abelcre or Abelecre, signifying a common or
13
public whore; and she has a dwelling place assigned her near one of her
Masters, or in a separated part of the Village, she being for the remainder
of her life obliged to refuse no man the use of her Body; though he offers
never so small a sum."
Godot, writing after a visit in 1701, offered a third significant description of

the institutionalized role of public women in Assini, to the west of Axim
(present-day Ivory Coast). According to him, the king of Assini maintained
six young women in every village and town who gave themselves to
bachelors. In addition to these six, the French Governor was also obliged,
according to his means, to maintain one or two more. These women went
through the towns and villages of Assini and did not risk turning anyone
away for fear of severe punishment. In order to be distinguished from
other women, they wore a piece of white linen around their heads. They
lived on the outskirts of the towns and villages, where they welcomed all
bachelors. Married men who were caught patronizing them were heavily
fined. It was forbidden for these women to demand anything from their
male visitors, although they could accept gifts when offered.
These three descriptions have differences, but they share important

themes. All emphasize that these women (abrakree or abelcre) were
purchased slaves, outsiders who had no choice in their assigned
occupation.'" Their acquisition and prescribed roles were closely defined by
the political establishment, and their services were reserved for the
bachelors - a vocal political constituency. Elaborate public ceremonies
marked their initiation into their public roles as abrakree or abelcre. And
even their token honoraria were beyond their control. Indeed, Godot further
mentioned that when they were too old to work, the king of Assini increased
their pensions and they were allowed to live the rest of their lives in peace.
It is apparent that they were conscripted public servants.
Thus, the institution of public women among the south-west Akan served
as an important stabilizing force; however, it also presented two problems:
14
it could devalue marriage as a social institution; and spiritual and social

crises could result from the sanctioned promiscuity of public women due to
the perceived spiritual (and thus volatile) power of sex, menstruation and
procreation.

be controlled, obviously by male and female elders.
The proper context for the fulfilment of sexual desires was marriage, and
monogamy and fidelity were stressed for women. While the state of being
single, asigyafo or ahokwafo, applies to both adult men and women, Akan
thought associates this status with men. Men may defer marriage for
financial reasons, but adult women are expected to marry. Indeed, for
women marriage defines adulthood. Unmarried women were referred to
through euphemisms - for example, Nyame ayewa (God's little wife). An
Akan woman who refused to marry rejected the social ordering of the Akan
world, which, obviously, was very male-orientated. In the late 1920s and
1930s, chiefs of villages in Sefwi Wiawso and Asante rounded up spinsters,
detained them, and insisted that they marry in the shortest possible time.
sexuality and procreation Indeed, Jones examined the etymology of the
15

new status within the community.
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16

kabaCouture:
Obi mfi bea akyi ntu ne tam.

- No one can pull the loin-cloth off a woman without her knowledge.
Mmea se, 'wo ho ye fe' a, ene ka.

- when the women say (to you) 'you are a handsome fellow', that
means you are going into debt).
This essay focuses on the Akan, although references are made to

other southern peoples in the Gold Coast, especially the Ga-Adangme
and the Ewe. The Akan constitute the largest ethnic group in
present-day Ghana.
The Ga inhabit Accra (the current capital of Ghana) and its environs. The
Adangme live to the north and east of the Ga. The Ewe are located further
east of the Adangme. Unlike the matrilineal Akan, the Ga-Adangme and
Ewe are patrilineal. The Akan also possessed a more elaborate political
culture, and Akanland was the site of active state formation between 1650
17
and 1750. These societies, however, share important commonalities in

their cultures and histories that promote an analysis of southern Gold Coast
societies as if they were part of a single world.
Gifts' and 'rewards' are prominent features in gender relations in the

southern Gold Coast. Even among the matrilineal Akan, women speak
figuratively of their children, as if they belong to the fathers, and of
childbirth as a service that women provide for men. In songs that were
sung during nubility rites (bragoro) in Asante, domesticity and reward were
linked, and men were even expected to reward women after sexual
intercourse:
Peter Sarpong,
Girls' Nubility Rites in Ashanti - 1977, 24-5.
Prostitution in Africa has been presented as a capitalist, often urban,

phenomenon. It portrays the labour opportunities (or lack thereof) that
women face in towns, their struggle for individual autonomy and
accumulation of wealth, and the significant roles that they play in the social
reproduction of male wage labour. Existing studies assume that
urbanization promotes the anonymity considered necessary for
prostitution, and that urbanization and rapid social change were themselves
products of colonialism. Urbanization, industrialization and
proletarianization thus provide the socio-economic setting for prostitution.
An article that explores prostitution and the politics of sex in the Gold Coast
from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries within the broader
framework of gender and power relations presents a picture that contrasts
with those of available studies. It underscores the salient fact that
urbanization and urbanism pre-dated colonial rule in the Gold Coast. The
historical record also points to the occurrence of 'prostitution' in rural,
face-to-face communities in the Gold Coast, thus revealing intriguing links
between sexuality, political and moral economy. These issues are
18
examined in this article within the broader framework of gender and power
relations. It is striking that early accounts of prostitution in the Gold Coast
emphasize its presence among the south-western Akan of the Gold and
Ivory Coasts. Although the arguments presented here have wider
implications for the southern Gold Coast, the Akan serve as a specific case
study.
For the purposes of this article, prostitution is defined as the

commodification of casual sex. This avoids the imposition of a rigid
framework upon the complex gender relations of the southern Gold Coast.
It also enables us to hear the voices of the protagonists as they vied to
construct and contest sexuality, prostitution, avenues of accumulation and
social identity. A distinguishing feature of prostitution in the Gold Coast is
the relative absence of male pimps. Mention can be made of male
intermediaries like the 'pilot boys' of Sekondi-Takoradi in the 1940s, but
they were more like 'brokers' who brought potential clients to prostitutes for
a commission. Their activities peaked during World War II with the
presence of foreign sailors and soldiers. But the pilot boys lacked the
control that characterizes the relationship between pimps and prostitutes.
Instead, prostitutes in the Gold Coast sometimes formed informal
associations for mutual support; moreover, they controlled their sexuality
and their earnings.
Therein lies one important difference between prostitutes and what I refer
to as the 'public women' of the pre-colonial Gold Coast. Public women were
often female slaves acquired by the political elite of Akan villages and
towns, and compelled to provide sexual services for the local bachelors.
Their institutionalized role - indeed, their very existence - sheds important
light on how perceptions of sexuality informed gender relations. Examining
public women alongside prostitutes facilitates a deeper understanding of
the permutations of gender relations within the changing political context of
the pre-colonial and colonial periods. The apparent disappearance of public
women from the late nineteenth century is an important part of the puzzle.
19
Did colonialism exterminate this institution?

Or did it just mutate into a more 'acceptable' or less recognizable
form?
Furthermore, the commodification of casual sex, especially in colonial

towns, and the pursuit of wealth by single women, expanded received
notions of sexuality and assailed the cultural norms that underpinned
gender relations. Thus the implications for marriage must also be
considered.

kabaCouture:
Emmanuel Akyeampong
c. 1650-1950
20
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PROSTITUTES AND PUBLIC WOMEN

IN THE PRE-COLONIAL ERA
European residents and travellers among the south-west Akan groups of

the Esuma, Nzima, Evalue and Ahanta between the seventeenth and
nineteenth centuries documented the existence of prostitution. Referred to
as 'whores' or 'prostitutes', some of these women were, more accurately,
conscripted public women coerced into what was definitely a social
institution designed to alleviate sexual pressures among unmarried young
men. Indeed, Adam Jones has wondered if this was not 'institutionalized
rape', and has used 'whores' and 'prostitutes' cautiously in referring to
them. This element of coercion is acknowledged in the criminal code of the
Gold Coast under 'procuration': Laws of the Gold Coast Colony (Accra,
1920), i, bk III, pt 7, sect. 185:
21
Our main sources on the public women of the pre-colonial era are Olfert
Dapper (1668), Willem Bosman (1702), and Jean Godot (1704). Their
descriptions are set out in detail, as their accounts are crucial to the
analysis of sexuality and political economy. Dapper's comments related to
Axim in the 1660s: Although the Blacks along this coast and in the interior
marry as many wives as they can maintain, it is customary in Atzijn [Axim]
and all the surrounding areas, as far as the Quaqua Coast, for every village
to maintain two or three whores, whom they call Abrakrees. They are
initiated and confirmed for the conduct of this work by their Kabaseros or
headmen in the presence of a large crowd of people, in the following
manner. ...
… Everything she gains in this way she must hand to the Kabasero, and in
return she enjoys the liberty of being allowed to take any food, whether it
stands in someone's house or in the market, for her sustenance, and
nobody may prevent her from doing so, upon a fixed penalty.
It is noteworthy that even the nominal remuneration of the abrakree went to

the chief. The institution did not promote the accumulation of wealth
through the sale of sex; it represented a public service. However, these
public women enjoyed the freedom to take goods or food from homes or
the market-place without fear of punishment. Bosman's description of
public women in Axim, almost four decades later, confirmed Dapper's
earlier account, despite some differences in detail: When the Mancevos
find they want a common whore, they go and petition the Caboceroes that
they will please graciously to buy one for the publick: upon which they buy
a beautiful female slave, or else the Mancevos buy one themselves. The
woman no matter by whom she was bought, is brought to the publick
market-place, accompanied by another already experienced in that trade,
in order to instruct her how she should deport herself for the future: which
being perfectly accomplished, the Novice is smeared all over with earth,
and several offerings offered in order that she may be happy in her future
22
station and earn much Money. This over, a little Boy, yet immature for love
affairs, makes a feint or representation of lying with her before all the
people both young and old; by which 'tis hinted to her that from this time
forwards, she is obliged to receive all persons indistinguishable who offer
themselves to her, not excepting little boys. Then a little out of the way, a
hut is built for her; in which she is obliged to confine herself for eight or ten
days, and lye with every man who comes thither: After which, she obtains
the Honourable name of Abelcre or Abelecre, signifying a common or
public whore; and she has a dwelling place assigned her near one of her
Masters, or in a separated part of the Village, she being for the remainder
of her life obliged to refuse no man the use of her Body; though he offers
never so small a sum." Bosman added the qualifying information that the
Akan 'countries of Commany [Komenda], Elmina, Fetu, Saboe [Asebu],
Fantyn [Fante?], etc., have none of these whores'. Bosman's account
discusses relations between the young men (mancevos) and the chiefs or
elders (caboceroes), two important political constituencies in the Akan
oman (community or polity)." The political and economic significance of
these public women in such communities will be explored later.
through euphemisms - for example, Nyame ayewa (God's little wife). An
Akan woman who refused to marry rejected the social ordering of the Akan
world, which, obviously, was very male-orientated.
In the late 1920s and 1930s, chiefs of villages in Sefwi Wiawso and Asante
rounded up spinsters, detained them, and insisted that they marry in the
shortest possible time.
23
sexuality and procreation. Indeed, Jones examined the etymology of the
purified (through the chicken's blood that dripped on her head and body,
through the washing of her body and marking of it with white clay) and
subsequently displayed in public and celebrated. In addition, Jones
perceptively highlighted the parallels between the rites initiating the public
women and puberty rites and the installation of chiefs.
obaa yen guan a, obarima na oton -

- when a woman rears a sheep, it is the man that sells it
obaa twa bommaa a, etweri barima dan mu -

24
- even if a woman possesses a talking-drum [the privilege of chiefs],

she keeps it in a room belonging to a man.
bit.ly.kabaCOUTURE
THE POLITICAL AND MORAL ECONOMY

OF SEX IN PRE-COLONIAL GOLD COAST
Claude Meillassoux has examined the economic basis of kinship in West

Africa, and how social stratification along gerontocratic lines develops in
face-to-face communities." In Akan society, male elders controlled land and
agricultural production. Labour was drawn from wives, younger kinsmen,
slaves and other dependents.'is Graduation to adulthood was mediated by
rural male elders, who decided when obedient young men had reached
independence. Then, the elders granted the young men land, secured them
wives, and aided them in constructing their separate huts.
25
Ewe and Ga-Adangme societies exhibited the same features.' The

importance of female economic production and biolo- gical reproduction
bolstered polygyny, and the accumulation of women became an integral
aspect of the ideology of wealth and power in these societies. In essence,
there was unequal access to women, turning them into valuable economic
goods.
Wealthy men in Akan society invested in the sexuality of women. Writing on

the coastal Fante in 1853, Brodie Cruickshank remarked: It is customary for
these [wealthy men] to keep a number of women, whom they call their
wives, among whom are included pawns and slaves, as well as free
women, for whom dowry money has been paid, and who are in
consequence, to be considered the most legitimate wives. But as far as
answering the purpose of establishing a charge of adultery, the pawns and
slaves are as serviceable as the most legally-married women in
Christendom. Indeed, it is notorious that many of these women are
maintained for the express purpose of ensnaring the unsuspecting with
their blandishments, and carry on their infamous trade with the connivance
of their husbands, who frequently bestow upon them a portion of the fine of
the damages imposed, as a reward for their successful enterprize, and an
encouragement for future infidelity.
In early nineteenth-century Asante, wealthy men arranged child- marriages

(oyere akoda), a sure means of entrapping on adultery charges
unsuspecting men who even affectionately touched the infant.
Indeed, in pre-colonial Asante, there was an impression that no woman

was 'free'. An Asante proverb stated: mmea se, 'wo ho ye fe' a, ene ka
(when the women say (to you) 'you are a handsome fellow', that
means you are going into debt).
26
Different social dynamics in the smaller, less centralized communities of

Axim, Assini and Ahanta underpinned the institution of public women. Axim
in 1660 probably had a population of about five hundred inhabitants.
Polygamy by wealthy male elders in such small communities caused a
serious imbalance in sex ratios - more social than statistical - and a
potential rupture in social relations between the elders and the young men.
The institution of public women pre-empted this and reinforced the status
quo, maintaining the structures of gerontocracy and patriarchy.
Though public women were meant to alleviate tensions in domestic,

intergenerational politics, they also, ironically, became pawns in
Euro-African trading relations, as Bosman reported at the turn of the
eighteenth century: For example, if our factor at Axim has any dispute with
his subordinate negroes, no way will more effectively bring them to reason
than by taking one of these whores into custody, and confining her in the
fort: For as soon as this news reached the Mancevos ears, they go with
flying sails to the Caboceroes, and earnestly desire them to give the factor
satisfaction, that they may have their whores set at liberty again; urging as
a reason why they request it in such a pressing manner, that during their
imprisonment, those men who have no wives, will be put to the utmost
necessity for a woman, and be prompted to run the danger of lying with
men's wives. The bachelors and their 'flying sails' [flags?] may refer to the
asafo military companies that were a central force in coastal Akan politics,
or the 'flying sails' may describe the haste of the young men. In either case,
this is unlike interior Asante, where judicia and coercive instruments
facilitated the subordination of young men. The result was that in Asante
the young men cohered into a restive and rebellious social group.
Thus, the institution of public women among the south-west Akan served
as an important stabilizing force; however, it also presented two problems:
it could devalue marriage as a social institution; and spiritual and social
crises could result from the sanctioned promiscuity of public women due to
27
the perceived spiritual (and thus volatile) power of sex, menstruation and
procreation.

be controlled, obviously by male and female elders.
through euphemisms - for example, Nyame ayewa (God's little wife).
An Akan woman who refused to marry rejected the social ordering of the
Akan world, which, obviously, was very male-orientated. In the late 1920s
and 1930s, chiefs of villages in Sefwi Wiawso and Asante rounded up
spinsters, detained them, and insisted that they marry in the shortest
possible time.These contradictions and tensions were resolved through the
rituals that surrounded the initiation of public women. The danger of their
promiscuity was spiritually neutralized. A woman's spirit (kra) has great
influence on her sexuality and procreation Indeed, Jones examined the
etymology of the label abrakree or abel(e)cre assigned to public women,
and commented on the possible combination of aba'a, abea (woman) and
akyere (a person to be sacrificed) - in Nzima akyere is akele - making the
public women religious sacrifices.
28
purified (through the chicken's blood that dripped on her head and body,
through the washing of her body and marking of it with white clay) and sub-
sequently displayed in public and celebrated.

kabaCouture:
29
Emmanuel Akyeampong
c. 1650-1950
bit.ly.kabaCOUTURE
In addition, Jones perceptively highlighted the parallels between the rites

initiating the public women and puberty rites and the installation of chiefs.
… It is a reflection of the creativity of the Akan chiefdom or state, that the
sexual politics that pervaded the relations of elders and juniors could be
resolved through an institution of public women, an institution legitimated
and rendered unassailable through its parallels with the practices of
priesthood.
30
These men were obliged to pay a larger sum which was used for the
purchase of new girls for the profession. Of this fee, part was given to the
male or female owners. … In a sense, the public woman was the 'wife' of
the bachelors of the community.
The spiritual and social contradictions inherent in the functions of public

women were thus resolved through their initiation ceremonies. The various
accounts of public women also differ in important respects. They could be
purchased by chiefs, European governors, wealthy men and women, or
bachelors. They lived near their masters' dwellings or on the outskirts of
towns.
Aside from these institutionalized public women, European observers also

documented the presence of prostitutes in pre- colonial Akan societies.
dispensed sexual favours for a negotiated price. Bowdich commented on
early nineteenth-century Asante practices: Prostitutes are numerous and
countenanced. No Ashantee forces his daughter to become the wife of the
man he wishes, but he instantly disclaims her support and protection on her
refusal, and would persecute the mother if she afforded it; thus abandoned,
they would have no resource but prostitution. We lack information on such
31
women to compare them with public women. But they were not slaves; they
were insiders with kinship ties who had been forced into prostitution
because they asserted their autonomy.
A less publicized view of female control over their sexuality existed in the
pre-colonial Gold Coast, as asserted by the Twi proverb that opened this
article: obi mfi bea akyi ntu ne tam (no one can pull the loin-cloth off a
woman without her knowledge). As colonialism, the proliferation of towns
and the extension of the market economy changed power relations,
demography and the economy of the Gold Coast, women found more
spaces within the emerging social order to assert their autonomy, to
accumulate wealth on their own, and to define marriage and what they
expected of it. Prostitution was one of several options available to migrant
women in towns. Urban prostitutes in the colonial Gold Coast definitely
differed from the abrakree or abelcre of the south-west Akan, but striking
parallels in their modus operandi suggest that we need to look for
continuities in the cultural norms that underpinned gender relations and
examine the role of the state as a mediator.
IMIGRANT LABOUR AND PROSTITUTION

IN COLONIAL GOLD COAST
Studies of prostitution in colonial and post-colonial Africa agree that

prostitutes were often outsiders with no kinship ties in the communities
where they practised their profession.
The expansion of commerce and industry within the colonial economy
attracted male migrant labour and increased the presence of Europeans in
towns. Although the colonial urban economy was essentially a male
economy, the unwillingness of the colonial state and capital to provide for
the social reproduction of their labour force, and the sexual imbalance in
working-class towns, created economic opportunities for women in the
interstices of the colonial system. Elderly informants in the railway town of
32
Sekondi noted of the early twentieth century: 'Some of these [male]

migrants didn't even have rooms, so they spent the night with prostitutes
then went to work the next day'. In the Gold Coast census of 1901, Sekondi
had a male population of 3,469 and a female population of 626, a ratio of
five men to one woman.
Interview with Laurence Cudjoe,
J. K. Annan, Arhu, and Joseph Kofi Ackon
Sekondi
Indeed, in Nairobi, prostitutes converted to Islam

and underwent training in Islamic decorum as a trade strategy.
The prominence of Muslim prostitutes in Nairobi and among Hausa

communities in southern Nigeria contradicts Kadri's assertion that
prostitution was alien to Muslim Hausa women and that it was a result of
the 'evil influences' of the Gold Coast. Indeed, in Nairobi, prostitutes
converted to Islam and underwent training in Islamic decorum as a
trade strategy. While it must be emphasized that Islam does not condone
prostitution, it is likely that Kadri found it difficult to accept the assertiveness
of these Hausa women and was embroiled in conflict with them. He sought
the colonial government as an ally in this conflict. In addition, news- paper
reports that categorized prostitutes as mostly from Nigeria.
On Nigerian prostitutes in the colonial Gold Coast, see Naanen,
'Itinerant Gold Mines'.
Kadri English, Hausa tribal ruler, to District Commissioner of Accra,
[Ussher Town (Accra)], 13 May 1925: NAG (Accra), ADM 11/1/922, no.
35.
The preponderance of Krobo prostitutes in colonial and post-colonial

Asante also encouraged the folk tradition that Okomfo Anokye, an
33
indigenous priest instrumental in the founding of the Asante nation and

state, had cursed Krobo women with prostitution.
K. A. Busia's social survey of Sekondi-Takoradi in the late 1940s revealed

127 known prostitutes, only 9 of whom were from the indigenous Ahanta
ethnic group.
The establishment of a railway head at Sekondi in 1898 and a deep water

harbour at Takoradi in 1928 transformed these tiny Ahanta villages into the
bustling, multi-ethnic, working-class city of Sekondi-Takoradi. Here,
prostitutes found an important niche. They came principally from Cape
Coast and Axim, with a significant contribution coming from Nigeria and
Liberia. Ione Acquah's survey of prostitutes in the centre of Accra in
August 1954 revealed a different ethnic mix. Acquah counted 213
prostitutes, and conducted inter- views with 70, all of whom were from
migrant tribes. Of these, most were Ewes (56); there were only 3 Adangme,
5 Guans and 6 from French Dahomey. Acquah assigned economic
pressure, social isolation and the anonymity afforded by the large towns as
causes for the proliferation of prostitution and 'lapses in traditional
standards of morality'.
It is clear from Anita Mensah's account of prostitution in Sekondi-Takoradi

in the 1930s and 1940s that new images - of autonomy, acquisitiveness
and even a touch of glamour - had influenced old perceptions of
prostitution: By then, Kru people [from Liberia] were the dominant group in
Takoradi. The other growing area was Nkontompo in Sekondi. There many
women resided. The men who worked at Takoradi lived in compounds, for
example the present New Takoradi, and when they wanted women came
down from the compound at New Takoradi to Nkontompo in Sekondi. So
the nickname 'Nkontompo Headquarters' emerged. Many single women
lived there.
34
In this period, some of the young men who visited Nkontompo would fall in
love, and ask the women to quit the business of prostitution and come to
join them at New Takoradi as wives. I saw this happening myself. It came
to a time that Kru women took over Takoradi. It is unclear how a
neighbourhood in Sekondi acquired the name Nkontompo, but nkontompo
in Twi refers to 'deceit' or 'false- hood', and the sexual conduct of freelance,
single women may have bequeathed the title of 'Nkontompo' to their
residential area. Inhabitants of Sekondi-Takoradi were fascinated with
them: They were mostly Fante women from Cape Coast. They were not
[indigenous] Ahantas. Only Auntie Lamle was from Dixcove [Nzima].
Auntie Lamle became almost a role model for wayward women. Many
young women became attracted to the business. If you were not properly
trained as a young girl, you could easily join the Nkontompo women. Later,
the Nkontompo women moved to a hotel at Cassava Farm [Takoradi]
called 'Columbia Hotel' in the mid-1940s. Many women hired rooms in that
neighbourhood. Then, the colonial government was very strict on prosti-
tution. If they caught you as a 'harlot woman', they took you to court. If you
couldn't pay the fine, you were even jailed. The prostitutes realized that it
was because they had concentrated in a particular area that the colonial
police easily picked them up. They began to disperse from the Cassava
Farm area to other places. That very 'Columbia' area, women from Ho
[Volta region] came to settle as prostitutes. A Nigerian called Geoffrey also
established a hotel where prostitutes were based. That is how women
ended up in Takoradi.
Mensah's account confirmed that most prostitutes were outsiders, but also
that they were beginning to attract indigenous women through their
independence and their glamourous lifestyle. Even more importantly, in
male-dominated, working-class centres like Sekondi-Takoradi, prostitutes
were considered eligible marriage partners. The absence of social barriers
between 'prostitutes' and 'respectable women' in working-class leisure
activities in Sekondi-Takoradi facilitated the exchange of beliefs and
mannerisms.
35
Social life in Takoradi in the 1930s and 1940s revolved around spots like
Columbia Hotel, famous for its dances. The 'Liberian Bar', owned by a
Liberian in Takoradi, was another active social spot in the 1930s and
1940s. Krus were excellent drummers and guitar players, and they had a
first-rate brass band in Takoradi, the 'Taboo Brass Band'. As prostitutes
and non- prostitutes patronized these places, mannerisms were
exchanged. The ability to chew gum and make it snap was introduced into
Sekondi-Takoradi by Kru women, but it expanded to become the badge of
female nonchalance. With their social drinking at popular bars and their
fashionable clothing, Kru and Nigerian women became the pace-setters
where female autonomy was concerned. Central to the alluring image of
prostitution in urban Gold Coast was the fact that these women were
accumulating wealth for themselves.
Religious ritual remained important in the lives of prostitutes, especially

when they sought social reintegration into their old communities. Acquah
was informed of this by prostitutes operat- ing in Accra: If they visited their
relatives in the rural areas, however, they might be expected to 'purify'
themselves before they were able to be accepted back fully into the village
life. One stated that she had to provide a sheep and rum for the
performance of some rites each time she visited her village before she was
allowed by the chief and the fetish priest to participate in public functions
and celebrations. This reveals that prostitution constitutes an infraction of
custom and is still severely frowned upon in the rural areas, even though in
the large towns it is generally accepted as one of the ways women have of
earning a living.
Public women were acquired, sanctioned and regulated by the political

establishment in a community, whereas prostitutes in the colonial and
post-colonial era had asserted their independence. But the need for
36
political recognition remained important for prostitutes in the colonial Gold

Coast, as the following example from Kumasi illustrates.
In 1943, the District Commissioner for Kumasi forwarded a petition to the

Chief Commissioner for Asante from Ataa Baasi, headwoman of the
'Baasifuo Community', an organized band of prostitutes living in and around
Odum street in Kumasi. The group sought recognition from the colonial
government: After the [restoration of the] Ashanti Confederacy [1935], we
did not hide ourselves. We appeared before Nana Asantehemaa [the
queen mother], and Otumfuo, Osaagyefuo, Asantehene [king of Asante] in
Kumasi, and introduced ourselves to him and explain[ed] to him our unity
with our aim to substantiate to him Otumfuo, Asantehene, that our acts and
doings in the City of Kumasi, are not of the same scale as that of the
Corner-Side women [ambulant prostitutes]. Otumfuo, Asantehene, having
accepted us, handed [us] over to one of his chiefs called Oheneba
Bempah-Worakosehene of Kumasi. Oheneba Bempah had since then
becomes (sic) our chief patron. Although the Asantehene acknowledged
the presence of the community in Kumasi, he gave it no legal recognition.
Hence the petition to the colonial government.
This was not necessarily a futile gesture. French colonial rule in Congo
Brazzaville sanctioned the activities of prostitutes and even established
official brothels during World War II to cater for the sexual needs of
soldiers.
The Baasifuo Community wanted the colonial government to grant it a

license and access to medical attention for a fee. It justified its relevance in
very familiar terms: it would deal only with natives (not Europeans) and
charge very moderate rates; it would maintain strict supervision over its
prostitutes' health; its members would reject any and all marriage
proposals; and finally, its presence would be beneficial to old and young
bachelors. The government declined the request. The arguments advanced
by the community resonate, however, with the philo- sophy that
37
underpinned the institution of public women among the south-west Akan in

the pre-colonial era. The Baasifuo Community was advocating its case
based on old Akan cultural norms that regulated gender relations - men
had acknowledged sexual needs. There is the possibility that the
categories of public women and prostitutes had become conflated in
colonial Asante. The important role of the Akan state in mediating sexuality
and gender relations cannot be ignored.
The timing of the Baasifuo's request is instructive.'" Prempeh, king of

Asante, and his principal chiefs had been deported to the Seychelles when
Asante was colonized by the British in 1896. He was allowed to return to
Asante in 1924 as a private citizen. He was subsequently made king of
Kumasi in 1926, and his successor, Prempeh II, was installed as
Asantehene in 1935, when the Asante confederacy was restored. It is
significant that in the power vacuum between 1896 and 1935 there is no
record of prostitutes seeking such official recognition. When the British
government restored the Asante confederacy in 1935, an obvious shadow
of its former self, the Asantehene sought to extend his jurisdiction through
symbolic acts meaningful to residents of the Gold Coast. In that very year,
wives of nhenkwaa (servants) of the Asantehene in different parts of what
had been the old Asante empire claimed that they had been seduced by
local men.
District Commissioner A. F. L. Wilkinson of Wiawso commented on

developments in Wiawso: 'It seems obvious that the wives of the
Asantehene's Nhinkwas are distrib- uted round the country and that
whenever one of them is "seduced"? is claimed and goes to form part of
the Asantehene's revenue'.
The colonial government's investigation revealed that the Asantehene's

messengers had also been active in Adjumaku (Central Province), Oda
(Central Province), Mpraeso (Eastern Province), and Pepease (Ashanti)
collecting adultery fines. Wilkinson believed this was about revenue, but
38
sexual politics was also the key to status and power politics within Asante,
and to the territorial definition of Asante.' The limits of Asante territory were
reflected in the geographical extent to which the Asantehene could demand
money for adultery. Recognizing the spirit of past times in the activities of
the Asantehene, the Baasifuo Community in Kumasi, 'talking the talk',
presented itself for the Asantehene's official approval. It certainly fit into the
social structure of the old Akan state. The Asantehene entrusted it to the
care of a sub-chief. The irony of the situation lies in the fact that the
Baasifuo Community had turned cultural norms that recognized male
sexual needs and denied the existence of similar needs among females to
the service of female accumulation. It was a subtle play on female
dependence in an era when they were probably anything but dependent.
Women had long been aware of the intimate connection between political
patronage and wealth in Akan society.
The Baasi Community presented what was definitely a radically altered

version of the institution of public women for official approval. In the 1950s,
Ataa Baasi joined the commoners' party, the Convention People's Party, in
the nationalist struggle for independence." Maybe renewed political
recognition for institutions such as hers would come with an independent
African government.

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- coastal life and corruption-

written and copyrighted by

Jean Barbot described etiguafou (prostitutes) as

This essay focuses on the Akan, although references are made to

'fetish women' slaves bought by wealthy men

Women had long been aware of the intimate connection

In 1943, the District Commissioner for Kumasi forwarded a petition to the

The Baasi Community presented what was definitely a radically altered

recognition for institutions such as hers would come with an independent

mmarima ni ho a, mmaa basia yi won ho kyere -

From the standard charge of 2s.,

Perhaps more revealing of popular perceptions of this new mode of

In 1925, Kadri English, headman of the Hausa community in Ussher Town,

As colonialism, the proliferation of towns and the extension of the market

Pieter de Marees (1602) believed coastal Akan women to be prone to

- coastal life and corruption-

highlighting the work of

In addition, Jones perceptively highlighted the parallels

As Eugenia Herbert has emphasized, 'sexuality is too powerful a force,

It is a reflection of the creativity of the Akan chiefdom or state, that the

probably very low. Nonetheless, the "foolish and ridiculous ceremonies"

The spiritual and social contradictions inherent in the functions of

Pieter de Marees (1602) believed coastal Akan women to be prone to

… it represented a public service. However, these public women

female slave, or else the Mancevos buy one themselves.

The pre-colonial and colonial periods -

It is noteworthy that even the nominal remuneration of the abrakree went to

Godot, writing after a visit in 1701, offered a third significant description of

These three descriptions have differences, but they share important

it could devalue marriage as a social institution; and spiritual and social

As Eugenia Herbert has emphasized, 'sexuality is too powerful a force,

be sacrificed) - in Nzima akyere is akele - making the public women

- coastal life and corruption-

Obi mfi bea akyi ntu ne tam.

Mmea se, 'wo ho ye fe' a, ene ka.

This essay focuses on the Akan, although references are made to

and 1750. These societies, however, share important commonalities in

Gifts' and 'rewards' are prominent features in gender relations in the

Prostitution in Africa has been presented as a capitalist, often urban,

For the purposes of this article, prostitution is defined as the

Did colonialism exterminate this institution?

Furthermore, the commodification of casual sex, especially in colonial

- coastal life and corruption-

highlighting the work of

PROSTITUTES AND PUBLIC WOMEN

European residents and travellers among the south-west Akan groups of

It is noteworthy that even the nominal remuneration of the abrakree went to

obaa yen guan a, obarima na oton -

obaa twa bommaa a, etweri barima dan mu -

- even if a woman possesses a talking-drum [the privilege of chiefs],

THE POLITICAL AND MORAL ECONOMY

Claude Meillassoux has examined the economic basis of kinship in West

Ewe and Ga-Adangme societies exhibited the same features.' The

Wealthy men in Akan society invested in the sexuality of women. Writing on

In early nineteenth-century Asante, wealthy men arranged child- marriages

Indeed, in pre-colonial Asante, there was an impression that no woman

Different social dynamics in the smaller, less centralized commu- nities of

Though public women were meant to alleviate tensions in domestic,

As Eugenia Herbert has emphasized, 'sexuality is too powerful a force,

- coastal life and corruption-

highlighting the work of

In addition, Jones perceptively highlighted the parallels between the rites

The spiritual and social contradictions inherent in the functions of public

Aside from these institutionalized public women, European observers also

IMIGRANT LABOUR AND PROSTITUTION

Studies of prostitution in colonial and post-colonial Africa agree that